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I will fight for the best deal for Canada and only accept the best deal for Canada. Canada's Prime Minister prepares for an Oval Office meeting. Can he convince President Trump that Canada is not America's enemy? Plus, a 100% tariff on foreign-made films. What would it mean for movie ticket prices? Could streaming services get even more expensive?
And the Transportation Department said to announce a major overhaul of the nation's air traffic control systems. We have new details from Newark where flights are still delayed. Plus this: Breaking overnight, protesters arrested after occupying a building at the University of Washington. Ahead, details on just what they hope to accomplish.
at 6 a.m here on the east coast here is a live look at the white house it's going to be the center of all the action today good morning everybody i'm adi cornish i want to thank you for waking up with me we're going to start with that meeting at the oval office president trump is going to be meeting with the canadian prime minister mark kearney and he does this as he's doubling down on his threat to make canada the 51st state
You don't even realize what a beautiful country it would be. Again, remember this. Yeah. We don't need their cars. We don't need their labor. We don't need their energy. We don't need anything. We do very little business with Canada. They do all of their business practically with us. You and I. They need us.
The thing is, this visit comes as Carney wrote in a wave of anti-Trump sentiment to victory in the recent Canadian elections, after presidents' tariff plans hit a nerve with voters there. And Carney already seems to be lowering expectations for how productive this meeting might actually be. I'm not pretending those discussions will be easier.
They won't proceed in a straight line. There will be zigs and zags, ups and downs. Again, we do not expect white smoke out of that meeting. There will be white smoke probably later somewhere else in the world this month, but do not expect that.
So what can Trump and Carney actually accomplish at this meeting? Joining me now, the group chat, Courtney Brown, economics reporter at Axios, Jackie Kucinich, Washington bureau chief for the Boston Globe, and Michael Warren, senior editor at The Dispatch. Appreciate the Pope reference there from the prime minister coming out of the gate hot. I'm actually going to start with you, Courtney, because you came in and said, I'm so excited about this. And...
I'm excited. So tell me, what is it about his background, but him in this moment in the Oval Office that has you keeping an eye on it? I can't think of a more interesting time for a man like Mark Carney to be running a country like Canada. He used to be the country's top economic official when he led the Bank of Canada. He led the Bank of England. So he's a double central banker, which is very cool for people like me. Yeah.
But if anyone understands how to reshape Canada's economy in a way that is not so dependent on the U.S., it's Mark Carney. And that should scare Trump, because I think there is this idea in the White House that the U.S. has the upper hand. But we've seen already this burst of economic nationalism in Canada. Yeah.
They're politicians. Which comes with boycotts, which comes with action. Yeah, let me bring in the group here because as you can see, the maple leaf has entered the chat. Enthusiasm, I love it. Yeah, and she does have a point, but the position that Trump comes in with, we heard him in that clip.
You have nothing. We have all the cards, right? In a way, it's the same tone. Michael, I saw that eyebrow. Yeah, it's revealing once again. This is not like new. This is not breaking news. The way that Trump thinks about trade, particularly international trade, is you do business with us and we lose out somehow. I mean, because the truth of the matter is, of course, he says Canada does all its business with us. We don't do business with them.
But of course, that's not true. I mean, there's an exchange of money and resources and goods and services across the border. You know, I think this is going to be a real test for that worldview. I think it's a flawed worldview, a flawed understanding of how trade works. And it will be interesting to see if this kind of
economics prime minister from Canada is able to convince Donald Trump. It is wild how much this has come down to personalities. I mean, when I look at Claudia Scheinbaum in Mexico, I actually thought this tariff war would just, we would just be hearing about Mexico forever and ever, right? Because they were talking about fentanyl. But, you know,
In the end, she sent two dozen alleged cartel leaders to be tried in the U.S., helped deploy more troops to the border. It seems like whatever that negotiation was, it went well. Are there lessons here for other leaders, including Akarni, or is this just too different? Akarni's so layered, though, right? Because he kind of
owes his position to Trump in a roundabout way because his party wasn't doing great until all of this started. But I think it's more, he will probably be wise to follow her path, to follow Macron's path rather than a Zelensky, for example, in terms of how even it's presented because the stagecraft
is half the battle here. Right, which is probably why China's leadership is also not sitting down with Trump, right? Like they don't want to engage in that. You know, one other thing is that it's one thing to run against Trump and win. It's another thing to actually govern. And Canada has a long history of succession movements, right? And there was a MAGA movement in Canada. And in fact, there's a leader out of Alberta who's resurrected talk of,
separating as an oil rich state or a province in Canada. So is that something Trump can benefit from, like the divisions within Canada? I think how widespread does said division get? Because I spoke to a gentleman who leads the biggest kind of lobbying group of businesses in Canada and
Canadians are pissed. And I said, are they? I asked him, are they Canadian pissed? Are they pissed pissed? And he's like, no, no. Have you seen a hockey game? Canadian pissed is still a little scary. Yeah, it is. They're really upset about this rhetoric of the U.S. becoming the 51st state. No, that's Canada becoming the 51st state. Yeah, sorry. Canada becoming the 51st state. Because it's also, it's very diminishing. And also, I think,
like the tariff for itself, it's not a self-owned. We don't know that yet. But no one knows why we're here in a way, right? Like no one knows why we're fighting with Canada except Trump is choosing it and talking about it.
it. Again, that's why I do think the personality is important here and how Carney and Trump get along. He might respect a banker. I think so. And again, he might respect a winner. This is a guy who has now won this election. Trump
may want credit for that, who knows. But so how Carney plays this and how Carney appears to Trump, I think could tell us a lot about how this relationship and how this kind of fight between our two countries, which we don't fight normally, how it continues and how it progresses. But again, it is
worth noting that canada does need the u.s i mean trump is right the numbers are clear exactly so so i do think there's um there's a lot that carney has to do and prove here yeah a lot at stake for him uh group chat stay with me because we got a lot to talk about today coming up on cnn this morning cnn goes inside the rock as the president looks to reopen one of america's most notorious prisons we'll look at the history behind the bars of alcatraz
Plus, Earth is about to get a visitor from outer space. Ahead, details on a piece of Cold War history that will soon come crashing down. And why a soccer superstar is apologizing to her teammates after helping them win two World Cup championships. Of course, this victory required Carly Lloyd. And Carly's performance was so good that by the time the game was over, someone had changed her title on Wikipedia from midfielder to President of the United States.
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So the Trump administration planning to unveil its plan to transform America's air traffic control system and hire more workers. We are going to radically transform the way air traffic control looks. We're going to build a brand new air traffic control system. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the plan would be unveiled on Thursday. He also blamed the Biden administration for not updating the nation's airport infrastructure.
Potential jurors in the criminal trial of Sean Combs will be back at the courthouse in New York this morning. They were given a binder full of celebrities and places that could come up during the case to see what they know about them. Combs has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including sex trafficking.
And look out below, debris from a Soviet spacecraft that left Earth more than 50 years ago is expected to re-enter the atmosphere this week. Scientists believe it's a piece of a probe that failed to reach Venus in 1972. Experts say it could land almost anywhere, but the risk is small and chances are it will land in the water.
soccer star and two time Carly Lloyd apologizing t during her induction into Hall of Fame. Now she sa kept people at a distance to push herself and she t vulnerability. In fact, h CNN. I had to figure ou and what was going to ke I was always that person
was in that fight or flight mode and that survival mode of doing what was necessary. Lloyd says she has no regrets, but wishes she had allowed more people to understand her over her 17-year career.
Still ahead on CNN this morning, protests at the University of Washington leading to dozens of arrests overnight. We'll bring you the latest on how the protests unfolded. Plus, President Trump's plan to put a tariff on foreign-made movies sparking confusion in Hollywood and on Wall Street. So how would this idea actually work?
And good morning to Vatican City. A live look at the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel. Rather, good afternoon. Tomorrow we're going to be on the lookout for the white smoke that will tell the world when a pope has been chosen.
I'm going to go off script for a moment about President Trump's plan for a 100% tariff on movies made outside the U.S. Partly because it's like putting another industry in limbo. You got major media stocks going down, closing down yesterday. And a lot of these companies have some of the biggest box office hits this year. There's still more to come, right? We're at the start of summer. Hollywood doesn't do very much of that business. They have the nice sign and everything's good, but they don't do very much.
A lot of it's been taken to other countries and a big proportion. And I'm actually going to meet with some because, you know, there's some advantages, I guess, and I'm not looking to hurt the industry. I want to help the industry.
All right, back from the group chat, Courtney Brown, of course, economics reporter at Axios. You were just sighing heavily because the number of people who have been asking you whether or not it's possible to put a tariff on a service or on intellectual property. This stumped our panel yesterday. So for all of us at home, can you actually tariff something that's not a physical product?
In the sense of, in the traditional sense of how you think about a tariff, a physical good coming across the border, getting stamped by CBP, a company paying the tax that you have to pay. Yeah, but a fee is a fee. People charge me fees all the time. Yeah. So what does this look like for the consumer? Probably higher prices, but like how it gets distributed to the company that's
putting the film out. So literally who do you charge? Exactly. Are you saying that because, yeah, who makes the movie, how and what is the mechanism in which they are charged? Okay, so California Governor Gavin Newsom popped up. He was like, what? Hello? This is my industry? And he proposed something that the industry is already very used to, which is a tax credit. He wants a $7.5 billion tax credit to incentivize the film industry to create more films, to film them here,
in the US. And I have to say, there was this kind of post-Labor Strike flight from California when companies were like,
I'm going to go make my streaming project somewhere else. So like the industry is hurting, right? Right. So I think this is, you know, President Trump has taken the stick approach and something like a tax incentive would be the carrot approach. And it's so interesting because this conversation parallels with the one that's happening in the goods sector. Manufacturers that get inputs from abroad
are asking you know we want to make more stuff here we'd love to but it's not that easy and instead of hitting us with a stick can we get a can we get a carrot you're just begging for carrots here it's only Tuesday Courtney okay um the other thing is the effect on markets the response again even as you said they're not sure how it would happen you saw that sort of again just
just a little bit of a finger in the wind from Wall Street. Yeah, this administration has taken their approach of announcing tariff first, figuring out how later we saw this when they tried to rip off the de minimis exemption. It took months for that to go into the effect because they announced it. And then the Commerce Department was like,
"Oh wait, we haven't done this before. We need to go figure this out." And so they delayed it for a while. And so I think Wall Street is freaked out that, you know, we don't understand how this could work now, but what if the administration does figure it out and there is some sort of tax on intellectual property?
But we need to be ready. I don't know how we got through this conversation without saying uncertainty, but it feels like that can come into play again. Yeah, the U-word is a big one. I think that is part of the stock decline that we saw yesterday. This idea of, you know, is the trade war moving from something that's
all been about goods now into the services sector if you think about the economy as a giant pizza the services sector is three quarters of that pizza essentially it's a huge part of the u.s the u.s economy does that make us vulnerable to counter tariffs if anyone decides well maybe we should figure out how to do a tariff against a service that's so interesting because we're getting little flavors of that thinking about our conversation a few minutes ago with canada they kind of
are doing some retaliation on the US services sector. We've seen tourism from Canada absolutely plummet. That means fewer people are staying in US hotels, fewer tourists are eating at US restaurants that would have been doing so normally. And there's been some boycott of goods abroad in other countries as well. Exactly. So there is a way to hit us, so to speak, if people move in this direction. Yep.
All right, Courtney, thank you so much. I hope to have you back. Appreciate it. Courtney, you can read her reporting at Axios. Now, straight ahead on CNN this morning, Israel's new plan for Gaza, what it involves and what's the reaction to claims that Israel wants to conquer the territory. Also, if you're planning to fly heads up, a new rule goes into effect tomorrow.
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He respects, as others who are good negotiators, and he's one of the best negotiators, they respect strength. That's why we're building Canada strong. Canadian Prime Minister there previewing how he will approach his meeting with President Trump later today. Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me on CNN this morning. It's half past the hour, and here's what's happening right now.
In just hours, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives at the White House for an Oval Office meeting at the top of the agenda de-escalating a trade war and tariffs that are already being felt on both sides of the border. And a jury will soon decide the fate of three former Memphis police officers facing second-degree murder charges for the beating death of Tyreen Nichols. This was back in 2023. All three men were convicted last year on federal charges related to Nichols' death.
And starting tomorrow, if you don't have a real ID, you might run into problems getting through security at the airport or entering federal facilities. The law was passed in 2005 to enhance national standards for identification. Enforcement has been pushed back several times over the years. The Department of Homeland Security offering to pay $1,000 and provide travel assistance to undocumented migrants who self-deport and return to their home country.
A single illegal alien family over the course of its lifetime may cost U.S. taxpayers over $1 million. You're saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. It also saves money relative to us having to go out and find that illegal alien and physically arrest them and deport them. Migrants would be eligible if they use the Customs and Border Protection app,
They would then get the money once it's confirmed that they're back in their country. DHS says at least one immigrant has already taken the offer and returned to Honduras. Group chat is back. When I hear Stephen Miller talking about this the way he is, it makes me think of the fact that this is all very expensive, right? And all of a sudden you're starting to say things like, "Well, wouldn't it be cheaper if we did this and that?" What do you hear when they're explaining?
It seems like just it's another they're kind of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what works when it comes to immigration policy, how this actually would work. I don't think we know because, as I said, I guess one person has taken it yet. But you're right. I mean, when you're telling Americans that they have to save and they have to sacrifice on several other points and then you're talking about this, you're talking about reopening Alcatraz, which is
it would be a lot of money to renovate, to say the least. I think you are going to get American taxpayers saying, wait, what? Yeah, I mean, this app was used to apply, right, to go through the system legally.
So, Mike, what do you see in this pay to leave plan? I see, again, like Jackie said, I think the administration is trying to figure out other ways to get this done. I mean, it's not just the expense of, you know, rounding up a supposed
illegal immigrants, some of which turned out not to be. The selling point was we're going to get the criminals and Americans have seen an expansion of legal and not criminal. Right. And that's because it's difficult to find the criminals. They're like, they,
they can hide pretty easily and so i think they didn't sign up on the app uh it's hard to believe that they did not uh engage with that i mean so i do think the administration is finding a problem which is they're they're in their mind from their perspective uh they're not doing the job
enough. And maybe it's the president, maybe it's people like Stephen Miller who are trying to find new ways, innovations to do this. I'm a little skeptical that this can work and they're going to get more than one, two, three, maybe a few dozen to do this. Right, although Christine Elm is claiming that she expects tens of hundreds of thousands, I think, in a classic kind of
Trump administration response. Group chat, stay with me. We're gonna talk about more this half hour. But first, we're gonna talk about President Trump's push to reopen Alcatraz as a prison. Right now it brings in $60 million annually as a tourist destination. And the president says making it operational would serve as a symbol of law and order. The US Bureau of Prisons says it's actually looking into it, but one state senator in California calls the idea absurd.
We're gonna hear more now from CNN's Veronica Miracle. Alcatraz, one of the nation's most notorious prisons. Notorious for being a prison that no one really could escape from. But it's not because it's surrounded by shark infested waters, which it is. It was the distance to land as well as the cold, frigid waters and the very choppy turbulent seas that made it nearly impossible to escape.
This site inspiring President Donald Trump to make an ambitious proposal to return some of the nation's most violent offenders to what's known as the rock. Nobody's ever escaped from Alcatraz. It's a historical site. These bars are rusting. The piping in the toilets, I mean, that toilet is falling apart, but there's actually no running water here. None of the pipes are connected.
Alcatraz is a popular San Francisco tourist destination that welcomes about 1.5 million visitors every year and annually generates $60 million.
This is the oldest cell block on the island. It was last used in the 1930s. And all of this is original from when it was built. Once a California federal penitentiary, Alcatraz closed in 1963 after almost three decades in operation because, according to the Bureau of Prisons, it was too expensive to continue operating. And it was nearly three times more expensive to operate than any other federal prison.
Infamous inmates such as Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, the Birdman of Alcatraz, and James Whitey Bulger added to the prison's allure. There's a hostage situation on Alcatraz. This island prison was the setting for multiple blockbusters, including The Rock, Murder in the First, and Clint Eastwood's Escape from Alcatraz. I may have found a way out of here. I'm in.
Me too. The 1979 movie was based on a true story, a legendary escape attempt from Alcatraz. The escape triggered the greatest manhunt in San Francisco's history. But there was no evidence that inmates ever made it off the island alive. No one has ever escaped from Alcatraz. And no one ever will. Restoring Alcatraz into a working prison would be an enormous undertaking. This island is not hooked up to utilities to the city, so there's no running water here just to keep it open.
it open every day as it stands is very difficult logistically. But despite questions about the economic feasibility, the Bureau of Prisons moved quickly to respond to the proposal in a statement saying they will vigorously pursue all avenues to support and
implement the president's agenda. The Conservancy, which oversees Alcatraz, fired back, saying in a statement, there is no law, plan or funding in place, nor a clear path to revise Alcatraz Island's current role and purpose. So for now, the future of the notorious prison remains uncertain. Veronica Miracle, CNN, Alcatraz.
Turning to another top story today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing that the people of Gaza will be displaced to the south as his security cabinet agreed to expand its military operation there. One minister described it as conquering Gaza. The military has said it would mobilize tens of thousands of reservists and another official says the blockade of humanitarian aid may be lifted once everyone is moved.
"One thing will be clear: there will be no in and out. We'll call up reserves to come, whole territory. We're not going to enter and then exit the area, only to carry out raids afterwards. That's not the plan. The intention is the opposite."
I want to talk about this with Joel Rubin. He's the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Obama administration. He's also president of the Washington Strategy Group. Thanks for coming to CNN this morning. Thanks so much, Adi. Okay, I wanted to talk to you, not because of your prior experience with the Obama administration, but your experience with this region and the politics here. What is significant about this moment?
Well, you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu is clearly signaling to the world that he wants to go extreme and wants to go in. But if just looking at those pictures as an example, as to define this as not being conquered, Gaza no longer, that somehow Gaza is not being controlled by the Israelis would be a complete misnomer. Look, Israel has devastated Gaza. Everybody knows it. But you said coming in that this is something that actually was so complex it kept you up last night. It is so complicated. Why? What's complicated about what we're seeing if we're hearing the word conquer?
Because ultimately what we're seeing right now is a collapse and a failure of the policy towards Gaza by the United States and by Israel. And it's not as if there's an easy path out. I want to be very clear. We have to find a way out that is no longer the binary debates that we've been having
I do think that the question about a Palestinian state, that has dominated the politics here in Washington and in the region for a number of years. But right now it's about the humanitarian situation for the Palestinian people. It's about the hostages. It's about Israel's security requirements. And the United States, we're stepping back. And that's what's keeping me up late at night.
President Trump, though, is vowing to help the Palestinian people in Gaza while Israel moves to flatten it, basically. Just I want to give you a sound of this. Here's Netanyahu. OK, hold on. We're going to help the people of Gaza get some food. People are starving and we're going to help them get some food.
A lot of people are making it very, very bad. What do you if you look, Hamas is making it impossible because they're taking everything that's brought in. But we're going to help the people of Gaza because they're being treated very badly by Hamas. OK, great. What's the plan for that?
The Palestinian people are near suffering. The Gazan people don't like Hamas. Also, I think something needs to be really pointed out in our debate here in Washington. We are not yet taking into account the concerns of the Gazan people who are not supporters of Hamas, which is an overwhelming number, if not the majority. They've been protesting Hamas for a significant amount of time.
And that means that there's a window. And we need to figure out how to engage and support the Gazan people, get the Arab allies to start to lean in. But the American diplomacy right now is just walking away. And I think we see it now with President Trump's statement there. There's no plan. That's the problem. Yeah. OK. Well, people are going to be watching more of this today. Joel, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.
Still ahead on CNN This Morning, we're learning more about the flight delays and cancellations happening at Newark's airport. So why a close call forced several air traffic controllers to go on leave. Plus, what happened when protesters took over a campus building at the University of Washington.
I thought nothing of it because it was 30, then 30 turned into 40, then 40 turned into an hour, then an hour turned into two. I'm just trying not to know what's wrong, as to not get mad at anyone.
I get that. And this is not what you're going to want to hear, but there are more delays and cancellations this morning at Newark Airport. And that's been happening all week, frustrating travelers. And now we're learning more actually about why. Several air traffic controllers who oversee Newark's airspace are now taking special leave after dealing with a traumatic situation. Late last month, they lost radar and communications with multiple planes.
Now, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is looking to reassure travelers while also promising new updates to air traffic control systems.
Someone will say, well, is it safe? Of course it's safe because what you saw here is when we have problems with air traffic control, we actually shut down the airspace. We will ground flights. They won't take off. But the consequence is the delays and the cancellations.
Joining me now to discuss Harvey Skolnick, a retired FAA air traffic controller. Harvey, thanks for being with us. First, I want to ask, what is it like to be in a near-miss situation? Because I'm trying to understand why these air traffic controllers would be so traumatized that they would need to take leave. Because when we listen to their voices, right, it always sounds calm.
Well, they are calm most of the time because they know what they're doing. This was a situation at Newark when you lose radar and radio at the same time. That is an occurrence which in all my 38 years of the FAA only happened once to me. So that is an extreme situation.
Can you talk about this idea of the shortage of air traffic controllers? A source familiar with the situation told CNN the controllers didn't just walk off the job, they were traumatized because their equipment failed. They said it's written in the regulations that if they experience a traumatic event, they can take time off to see a psychiatrist. The people working that day did that. What more can you tell us
about this kind of program? It's obviously a high pressure job, but I can't imagine what the pressure is like this last couple months. - You know, it is a high pressure job, but most of the people that I have worked with, that is what made the job so charming. The pressure situations that allowed you to make quick decisions, look forward ahead in making your decision, make quick changes when your first decision didn't plan out the way you had expected.
So but it's a matter of having the aptitude for that job. Now, these controllers at Newark, many of them are unhappy to begin with. They were about a year ago working at a facility in Westbury, Long Island, and suddenly they found themselves working at a facility at the Philadelphia airport. So they're not too happy to begin with because they've had to relocate.
So, in addition, they're short staffed. And that seems to be the problem, the FAA right now. The FAA for years, as I can recall, in the busier facilities has always operated short of the required number of fully certified controllers that were programmed for those facilities. I think they might be having a morale issue.
Say more about that because obviously there are being cuts made across federal government. People were told, well, maybe you may want to step away. The president at one point talking about DEI. There's just been a lot of incoming, so to speak, for air traffic control. But when I read what you've written in the past, it was already in a weakened state, right, given funding shortages through many administrations.
Yeah, so, you know, first, these days controllers are working in a fishbowl.
Everyone has a cell phone now and a smartphone, and they hear every transmission every controller makes at every facility in America. And so when they make minor mistakes, which sometimes they do, even those mistakes seem to be become more important than they really are. I'm not sure that the frequency of minor errors is any more now than it ever was, but we just hear about it more.
And so they just find themselves more under the microscope than ever before. I mean, it's a tough job to begin with. And when you make every transmission and worry about how close airplanes are going to come, then it's a difficult way to operate in that job. A question I almost always end these kind of interviews with at this point is, right now, do you have any concerns about flying? Would you fly out of Newark?
I have no problem whatsoever regarding the airspace and the system as it is right now as safe.
I still think they have a staffing problem. They're talking about hiring 2,000 controllers next year. They may have to hire double that or maybe 5,000. That is the issue. Controllers want time off. It's difficult to get time off. They're working mandatory six-day weeks. The fact that controllers are now required to have extra time off in between shifts means
makes it more difficult to swap. I honestly think that controllers are overworked and don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. That's Harvey Skolnick, retired air traffic controller. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Pleasure. Thanks for having me. It's now 52 minutes past the hour. I want to give you your morning roundup. This is your last chance to leave the building. Uniformed police officers will be entering the building.
So new overnight, pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a building, this time at the University of Washington. A spokesperson for the group said they wanted the university to sever ties with Boeing over its military contracts, including for weapons used in the war in Gaza.
Dozens were arrested as police cleared the building. It's unclear how many of those arrested are students. And Mattel warning investors the price of Barbies and other toys could go up. The CEO blamed tariffs for the increases. He says right now those tariffs could cost the company an estimated $270 million this year.
And we want you to take a look at some of these stunning iconic looks from one of the biggest nights in fashion over at the Met Gala in New York last night. This year's theme was super fine, tailoring black style. So the gala brought out celebrities from Sabrina Carpenter, Diana Ross and Rihanna, who, by the way, brought a friend. She revealed her third pregnancy last night.
Now we want to talk about former Vice President Mike Pence. He's now speaking out about his old running mate's return to power. The former vice president sat down exclusively with CNN following his acceptance of the JFK Profile in Courage Award given to him for his actions after the attack on the Capitol. Mike Pence! Mike Pence! Mike Pence! Mike Pence!
During that day, more than four years ago, as a mob of rioters attacked police and chanted, "Hang Mike Pence," the vice president vowed to certify Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. In doing so, of course, he directly defied President Trump, who was telling him to do the opposite. Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you.
And all these years later, Mike Pence is on the outside looking in as President Trump, of course, has returned to power. And Pence has some thoughts about what he's seen so far. I was deeply disappointed to see President Trump pardon people that engaged in violence against law enforcement officers on that day. The president has every right under the Constitution to grant pardons, but in that moment, I thought it sent the wrong message.
The group chat is back. Joel, you stuck around, so I'm going to give you first a shot at this. What's your reaction to seeing him come back into the public space like this and his posture? Well, it was a breath of fresh air to hear that interview. And, you know, he is the definition of leadership. He saved the Constitution four-plus years ago. He stood up to Donald Trump, who clearly doesn't even recognize that he needs to observe the Constitution, as he made clear the other day. So I think for Mike Pence,
He's reminding Americans of what real leadership is, of what real courage is. And while his positions may be at odds, certainly with some of my politics, I totally respect where he's coming from and believe that he has the country's best interests at heart. You guys, he's also reminding people what the old Republican Party was like. He was sort of against tariffs. He was talking about Putin and Ukraine. Actually, that's a good example. I want to play for you what he said.
said in commenting about Trump's negotiations over the war in Ukraine. I really believe that Putin only understands power. And it's the reason why in this moment we need to make it clear that the United States is going to continue to lead the free world, to provide Ukraine with the military support they need to repel the Russian invasion and achieve a just and lasting peace.
The wavering support the administration has shown over the last few months, I believe, has only emboldened Russia.
It just feels like he's talking from a different time when you look at what is happening. And you can really see it. So after watching this interview, my question was, where does Mike Pence go from here? Because he was he ran for president in in 2024. Yeah. Yeah. And the primary voters did not embrace it. Exactly. He really doesn't have that following any longer. Clearly, he's persona non grata within the Trump administration. No one even talks about him anymore.
So I really, I'm very curious to see what Mike Pence does next because he really doesn't have an audience anymore. - Mike Warren, is this why Mike Pence is talking the way he is now, right? I mean, for a while he seemed to hold the praise from Democrats.
at bay. Yeah. I mean, I will say he has been consistent. I covered that presidential run that Mike Pence had. I covered a little bit of after what he said about January 6th and since about tariffs, about Ukraine. Pence has been consistent and he's got this sort of nonprofit that he's trying to sort of
keep that candle alive. The old conservatism. You covered him. Who's the constituency? I don't know, frankly. It's not a constituency in the Republican Party right now. But remember, Pence was added to the ticket in 2016 to give Trump some conservative, some movement conservative bona fides. I think that's what Pence is trying to keep alive, to try to keep saying there is a principle in
at the principles on trade on foreign policy on the Constitution that republicans used to stand for maybe republicans will rediscover it I'm not hold my breath anytime soon but pence's you know trying to stay in that conversation he really is old school
consistent like he's been saying this stuff for four plus years okay I want to ask you guys what you're watching for the rest of the week we were just talking about Tuesdays kind of kick things off in so many ways what are you keeping an eye on Jackie Kucinich
So, Mike Johnson addressed yesterday that the fact that DC might have their funding fixed and you know... So this is a US House Speaker talking about the local politics and control of Washington DC. Which has an effect on the national politics because they are in fact here. So we'll see if that funding fix, billion dollars, actually gets done. Mike Johnson didn't put a secure time on it but you know, he said it'll get done.
- Well, Adi, I'm looking at the devastation to the foreign aid budget. This is coming out now, a cut nearly 85% of State Department USAID being diminished. The Peace Corps, I served in the Peace Corps, being potentially eliminated while we have volunteers in the field. And this is sort of the end, the termination of the JFK legacy on American international issues. - Of kind of soft power and that sort of focus. - And it's happening this week with that budget that was just unveiled. And this is gonna be a big fight on Capitol Hill. - Okay, Joel. And Mike, last word to you.
uh... back here in d_c_ i'm watching the nomination of ed martin uh... for the u_s_ attorney the top federal prosecutor in d_c_ he's now temporary but he's overseas both federal and state cases and many positions correct correct uh... he is temporary in this position his time is running out a hundred twenty days uh... it ends in
may donald trump has nominated him for a permanent position donald trump was on truth social uh last night trying to say republican senators yeah you need to approve this guy usually not a good sign yeah exactly he's got a lot of problems i think a lot of republican senators don't really want to get on his side i've written about this at thedispatch.com you can check it out ed martin has a long history of kind of failing upwards in republican politics
We'll see if he can do it this time. Okay, check out Mike's writing at thedispatch.com, as he says. Thanks to the group chat. Thank you for waking up with us. I'm Adi Cornish, and CNN News Central starts right now. On the Fear Thy Neighbor podcast from ID, we explore true stories told by the victims and their families and discover what can happen when even the most petty neighborhood disputes escalate to horrific heights and pass the point of no return. Ah!
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