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It is Wednesday, May 28th, and here's what's happening right now on CNN This Morning. Both my parents aren't coming home.
Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley pardoned the latest in a long list of Trump supporters to receive a get-out-of-free-jail card. Are we starting to see a pattern? Plus, playing with fire, tough talk from President Trump as Russia escalates its assault on Ukraine. And now the U.S. is weighing sanctions on Russia. Then, explosive testimony from Diddy's ex-assistant. But can she help prosecutors build a racketeering case? Plus this.
Build here or be tariffed, says the president. But is it actually possible for Apple to move its productions to the U.S.?
It is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Good morning to New York. Good morning, everybody. I'm Adi Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with us. And we're going to turn to that reality TV couple found guilty of tax crimes and bank fraud. A sheriff convicted of taking bribes and a Florida nursing home executive who admitted to cheating the IRS. All of them pardoned by President Trump. And that's where we start this morning.
So take Todd and Julie Chrisley. A jury convicted the former reality TV stars of defrauding banks out of more than $30 million. The president believes they were victims of the Biden Justice Department. And so they're going to be freed soon.
-It's a terrible thing, but it's a great thing because your parents are gonna be free and clean, and I hope we can do it by tomorrow. I don't know them, but give them my regards and wish them -- -Thank you so much, Mr. President. -Yes. How are you? -I just want to say thank you for bringing my parents back. -Yeah, well, they were given a pretty harsh treatment based on what I'm hearing.
Their daughter Savannah spoke at the RNC last summer and campaigned for the president and now another Trump supporter is also getting help. The New York Times reports that Elizabeth Fago attended a $1 million a person fundraising dinner last night at Mar-a-Lago. Then a few weeks later, her son got an unconditional partnership
He's a nursing home executive who pleaded guilty to withholding millions in payroll taxes to buy a yacht and other expensive things. But the White House claims the Biden administration targeted him. Then there's Virginia Sheriff, who is due to report to prison this week. Scott Jenkins was convicted in March of accepting more than $75,000 in bribes in what prosecutors called a cash for badges scheme.
Now, he's been pardoned as President Trump claims he is, quote, the victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice. So we want to talk about what we are seeing here with the group chat. Today, we've got Jonathan Allen, senior national politics reporter for NBC News and co-author of Fight Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House. And Jaime Moore, former chief of staff to DNC chair Jamie Harrison and Kristen Soltis Anderson, CNN political commentator and Republican strategist.
Okay, group chat. Thank you guys for waking up with me.
The reason why we wanted to talk about this is this reporting. First of all, I feel like any time there are pardons, there are a bunch of questions about who got the pardons and why. It never works out for any administration. But what stands out about these? I mean, what stands out about these is that there seem to be two routes to Trump pardon. One is you can make a colorful argument that Biden went after you politically. Or two, you put a lot of money into electing Donald Trump. And
Maybe those things combine in some cases to make an even stronger argument, but it seems like there's a pretty clear pattern here. But when you're in the kind of echo chamber conversation of sort of how people were treated because of their beliefs, right? I feel like that's the ongoing argument from kind of MAGA world that these people were targeted. I don't know for you guys, like, do you get the sense that
that is something that the average person hears and believes, or do they raise the questions Jonathan is?
I mean, I think that the average voter looks at the pardon process and thinks this is all kind of gross and broken. I mean, remember on Donald Trump's first day in office, the thing that he did that was perhaps the most outrageous and certainly tested the worst in the polling I was doing was pardoning the January 6th folks. But that very same day on his way out of office, Joe Biden had pardoned his whole family. There have been shameful pardons. I mean, I remember, I don't want to say how old I was, but I remember there being a lot of consternation about some of the
Bill Clinton pardons on his way out of office. And so it's not new that the pardon privilege has been kind of abused and something that people think is a little tawdry. But the other thing that I think is a real shame is actually Donald Trump in his first term used the pardon power, I think, to some good effect in some ways. Remember, he ran an ad during the Super Bowl about his pardon of, here was a grandmother who she was put away for marijuana, and now I've let her out as part of his whole First Step Act criminal justice reform effort. But we're in
It's a very different. That's what I was going to say. I think sometimes these pardons have been used to sort of reinforce a narrative that you want to sort of be an umbrella of your administration. And I don't know what Donald Trump's doing right now with these current pardons and what's happened over the last couple of months. It's like you are pardoning people who've been prosecuted for fraud. It seems like a bad narrative, particularly when you are taking a plane from a foreign country, when you have
questions about your own ethics and the ethics of your family, the Bitcoin stuff. And so it just feels like an unforced error for Donald Trump to go this far on these pardons. And I think people are going to care about it at some point, but maybe not right now. OK, you guys stick around because this story is not going away. As more and more comes out, we've got a lot to talk about. Coming up on CNN this morning, a subtle rebuke from the throne. King Charles stands up for Canada in the face of annexation threats. Plus, the end of an era.
How much will you now have to pay to check a bag on Southwest? Also, President Trump says Russia is playing with fire and he's weighing sanctions. Is he going to follow through? He's playing with fire. Well, that should do it. That should... Vladimir Putin poisons people and throws them out windows. You think you're going to scare him with the title of a John Cena movie?
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A lot of talk, but so far no action from President Trump when it comes to punishing Russia. Vladimir Putin vowed last week to send President Trump a framework for a ceasefire with Ukraine. Trump is still waiting for it. He says Putin is, quote, playing with fire and that he's considering new sanctions. In Russia, they don't sound too worried about those threats.
And suddenly Trump says terrible things. Trump is going back somewhere to the 19th century. Trump suddenly says, no, we're not going to do this anymore. I am somehow seriously worried about his life and health.
Pressure is mounting on the Russians to agree to a ceasefire. Meanwhile, Germany's new chancellor declaring there are no longer any restrictions on the use of long-range Western missiles by Ukraine. The Kremlin calling that position dangerous. Right now, Ukraine's president is in Berlin to meet with the chancellor. And that's where CNN's Sebastian Shukla is. Good morning, Sebastian. Thanks for being with us. Morning.
I wanted to talk about this because we're seeing European nations feel like they have to step up as the US kind of withdraws or does a lot of finger wagging about how they protect Europe and get involved in its security. How has this new chancellor approached things differently?
Well, Udi, Chancellor Merz has taken a very different line to Chancellor Scholz, who was his predecessor. And in the 21 days that he has been chancellor, we've seen a big change in the way that Germany and particularly Merz is trying to position this country and its support of Ukraine.
The thing to remember in all of this is that Germany has been for a long time one of Ukraine's most ardent supporters. It's the second most in terms of overall aid delivered that could be militarily humanitarian and the others. But it's also the second most after the United States in terms of military aid total after the U.S. And today, that's what we're going to start to hear from Ukraine.
from the Chancellor with President Zelensky about the potential delivery of these lethal long-range weapons called the Taurus missiles, which will trump anything else that is able and has been deployed and delivered by the US and the Brits in terms of being able to strike targets deep into Russia. So this is an important meeting, Audi, and a very, very significant one when it comes to Germany's positioning both within NATO and for its support of Ukraine. Thank you.
And to be clear, it's not just any missile system, right? I mean, it is considered possibly the best in the world. Yeah, that's right. It's a Swedish-German developed missile system. It's known as Taurus, and it's able to reach targets deep, deep, deep inside Russia. We're talking about being able to launch these things to be able to hit the Russian capital or other strategic targets, perhaps further south that
that famous bridge that bridges the illegally annexed peninsula of Crimea to the Russian mainland. It's known as the Kerch Bridge. It's come under attack various times by Ukrainians' naval forces. So we're talking about extending this fight to take it
more to the Russian mainland, which is something that President Zelensky has said he's wanted to do for quite some time, to bring the war home to Russians. If they agree, this will be a pretty major and significant step towards it. But, but, I caveat the but here, it's not agreed yet. There are various difficulties here in Germany about the proposal to get that signed off that Merz is fighting within his own party and coalition to, or the...
Sebastian, I want to ask you about one more thing, because the German chancellor isn't just talking about this geopolitical issue. He's also criticizing Israel and its military operations in Gaza. For a minute, let's just listen to the former chancellor, Olaf Scholz's position on Israel. And now we can get a sense of how Murs is changing course. My country stands by the people of Israel. From day one, our message has been clear.
Israel has the right to defend itself against the terror of Hamas. What the Israeli army is now doing in the Gaza Strip, frankly, I no longer understand what the objective is. To inflict such suffering also on the civilian population, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified on the grounds of a fight against Hamas terrorism.
Sebastian, you've also been writing about this at CNN. How significant is this shift?
Yeah, it's very significant is the short answer to that. And it marks a departure from the longstanding tradition which goes back to the Second World War and that persecution by the Nazi regime against the Jewish people here. And it's a theory, it's a feeling that's known as Staatsräson here in Germany, which is that it started under the premiership of Angela Merkel. It's that Germany has a right...
and will always defend Israel to the hilt, ultimately. And it will never question the defence and support of Israel. Merz has said in the last two days, he's turned that on its head completely, almost. And it's made people think here in Germany, oh, the Chancellor is taking a different line here. He seems to be saying...
that Israel has crossed some red lines even for its closest partners in the world and Germany is included in that. And so it marks a real shift here and it's starting to build up the picture of the Merz chancellorship in Germany and that he's looking for this country to become less of a backseat player in all of this and lead from the front on so many issues. We've
We've spoken about Ukraine already this morning, and now we seem to be talking about Israel. That is a broad spectrum when it comes to international relations. And I'll just throw it forward just a little bit more, if you'll allow me to, Audie. We're expecting the German chancellor to be in D.C. in the next few days, few weeks, to meet with President Trump, which will be another meeting.
a bellwether meeting where he has to be able to put forward his idea and vision for Germany, particularly important at this time where the president is saying that, look, we want to reform NATO in a way, we want spending to increase, and also we're taking a step back on Europe's security. Merz is clearly saying in all of this, OK, fine, if you're going to do that, me and Germany, we're going to try and find a way to lead from the front.
At CNN, Sebastian Schuchla in Berlin. Thank you.
And still ahead on CNN this morning, the president threatens to withhold federal funding from the state of California over just one athlete at one sporting event. Will Governor Newsom fall in line with the administration? Plus, Apple facing a steep potential tariff, so will the company start making iPhones in the U.S. to avoid it? A live look at my hometown of Boston. Coming up, I'll talk to a student from Harvard who has a simple message for the Trump administration. Come at me, bro.
The army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little, little screws to make iPhones. That kind of thing is going to come to America.
Okay, so is it really? This is a question we've been asking over and over again, and this is what we're going to dig into today on this morning's Offscript conversation. Because it's coming as President Trump is putting pressure on Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, to bring iPhone manufacturing to the U.S., warning that if it doesn't happen, the company will face a tariff of at least 25%.
They build their plant here, there's no tariff. So they're gonna be building plants here. But I had an understanding with him that he wouldn't be doing this. He said he's going to India to build plants. I said that's okay to go to India, but you're not gonna sell into here without tariffs.
But making the iPhone or any other gadget in the U.S., it's not so easy, according to a new article on CNN this morning. Joining us now is CNN business tech writer Lisa Edichico. Lisa, thanks for bringing your writing to us. Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me. So I feel like there is this Dave Chappelle joke where he talks about how he doesn't want an iPhone to cost $9,000, so he doesn't care that it's not made in the U.S. But at this point, because people have started looking into it,
Do we know why it's so hard to make this technology here? Yeah, absolutely. It comes down to a few things, but the biggest factor here is that we just don't have the workforce with the right skills in the US to build
iPhones and other similar products at scale. Now, this is not the first time this has come up. Apple CEO Tim Cook has talked about this in the past, about how the skills at the workforce in China and India, the skills over there are a bit different than the manufacturing skills here. And speaking at a Fortune magazine conference in 2017, he kind of described it as this intersection of computer science, advanced robotics,
and craftsmanship. So in order to bring iPhone manufacturing to the United States, Apple would either have to build up that workforce or try to automate things more in the production process, which would probably be the more likely option.
One of the things Jonathan just said on the panel here is like, why would any company kind of change everything for a president who might be in office for just another three years? Can you talk about that calculus for any of these tech firms?
Absolutely. It's a really tough position that Apple is in for that exact reason. The Trump administration has been pushing Apple to bring its iPhone manufacturing to the U.S., but to do that, it would have to upend its entire production system. And Apple is really good at this. It spent decades really building out its supply chain and its network of suppliers and its manufacturing processes. So to upend that and bring that to the United States for Apple,
what might not have to be a long-term bet would likely not be the right move for Apple and possibly not the right move for consumers either because it could potentially lead to price hikes. I want to talk about something, though, because back in 2018, during Trump's first term, he actually took credit for bringing Foxconn and their factory to Wisconsin. They're a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer. And here's how he talked about it back then.
Moments ago, we broke ground on a plant that will provide jobs for much more than 13,000 Wisconsin workers. America is open for business more than it has ever been open for business. Between our low taxes, our cutting of regulations, and we're not finished with the regulations. And we'll have regulation, but it's sensible regulation. You'll be able to get things approved quickly.
So a lot of this rhetoric is the same, but you were digging into like what actually happened. And I think they were supposed to employ 13,000 people. As of December of last year, they had employed just over 1,000 people. Is this a Foxconn problem or is this a sign of like how this kind of plays out?
I think it kind of speaks to the broader issue here is that the United States just doesn't have the workforce with those skills at scale and building that takes a lot more than just opening up a new facility or a new factory. There's very specific specialized training that has to be involved. So I think it speaks to that larger issue and also the fact that
manufacturing jobs in the United States just aren't as big as they used to be. There's lots of other types of jobs that are more in demand. So I think that what happened with Foxconn kind of speaks to this broader issue that just because you build it doesn't necessarily mean that they will come. Lisa Edichico with a good film reference there, tech editor for CNN Business. Thank you so much for waking up with us. Thank you.
All right, next on CNN this morning, a big day of testimony in the Sean Combs trial. It came from a former assistant who alleges she was kidnapped by the hip-hop star. Plus, what happened when SpaceX tried another test of its mega rocket? Things didn't go as planned. There's your family room. Scare your family? Do you have wall-to-wall carpeting on your walls? Did you willingly shipwreck your home? I'm Retta.
We'll be right back.
Good morning everyone, I'm Adi Kornish and thank you for joining me on CNN This Morning. It is half past the hour and here's what's happening right now. Ukraine's president meeting with Germany's chancellor today as he looks to shore up support with European allies. And overnight on the war front, Russian officials claim Ukraine launched an aerial attack on Moscow. The city's mayor said at least 26 drones were shot down.
A final boarding call for free bags on Southwest starting today. If you're booking a flight on that airline, the first bag is going to cost you $35 and the second $45. Southwest had offered free checked bags for about 60 years.
And in just a few hours, jurors in the Sean Combs trial are expected to hear from members of the L.A. Police and Fire Departments. They helped in the investigation involving Kid Cudi's Porsche that they say was set on fire. Jurors heard testimony from one of Diddy's ex-assistants about allegations involving Kid Cudi. Capricorn Clark claims that while working for Combs...
He had kidnapped her, forced her to go with him to get revenge against Cuddy. She says it happened in 2011 after he found out his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, was dating Cuddy. She says, quote, Puff came and got me with a gun and took me to Cuddy's house to kill him. Joining me now to discuss this testimony, defense and trial attorney, Misty Maris. Welcome back, Misty. You know, Capricorn Clark was supposed to be this pivotal witness for the prosecution.
because she could shed light on the idea of Diddy's business empire and him using it to create, to conduct criminal acts. So did the prosecution get there?
Yes, good morning, Adi. So they did get some critical testimony out there, and that's because of the racketeering conspiracy charge. It requires proving that there are underlying crimes being committed called predicate crimes. It's basically what are Combs and his co-conspirators crimes they are committing in furtherance of a criminal enterprise. And in the indictment, there are what's
two acts of kidnapping. And those two acts of kidnapping came out in Capricorn Clark's testimony. One in 2004 when jewelry was stolen and she was brought to a building in lower Manhattan and underwent a five
day lie detector test with one of Combs security guards named Uncle Paulie, who said, if you lie, we're going to throw you into the East River. And also in 2011, as you laid out when she was forced to go to Combs house to confront Kid Cudi when he was in a relationship with Cassie Ventura.
So those two acts of kidnapping are part of the prosecution's argument that crimes are being committed by Combs in conjunction with co-conspirators. So that's really critical to the RICO conspiracy part of this case. And we're beginning to see that formulated. It's been, you know, we're in week three now, but really Kid Cudi and now Capricorn Clark are witnesses where we see how the prosecution is bringing that case to the jury.
Can we talk about the defense? Because I understand that the defense team is actually trying to get some of the testimony from Kid Cudi thrown out. What's the plan here? What are we looking at?
So the defense argued that some of what Kid Cudi had said was really just opinion, that there was no evidence that Combs was actually involved in this arson incident where Kid Cudi's car, a Molotov cocktail, was thrown into his car. And that is, again, part of this racketeering conspiracy
portion of the charge arson is another predicate crime that's in the indictment and prosecutors are seeking to link to combs and other co-conspirators now what the defense has argued is that a lot of what kid cuddy testified to that combs was responsible for the arson that's completely speculative that it's really not appropriate evidence it serves as
inappropriate character evidence meaning evidence that tends to show that combs has a bad character that's not allowed against the defendant so because it was so conclusory they're looking to have it struck but but as a trial lawyer myself look
Whenever the jury has heard something, you really can't unring the bell. Whether it's struck or not, the jury knows what they heard. And so really what the defense attorneys are doing is also preserving appellate issues where they will go back and say that this testimony should not have been admitted. So in any case, you're seeing the defense work on a dual track, not only trying to raise reasonable doubt, of course, but also preserving appellate issues if, in fact, the defendant is convicted.
Of course, we talked about more witnesses who are going to be on the stand this week, including some investigators, first responders. Misty Maris, thank you so much for this update. Appreciate it. Thank you. And if you can't get enough of the Diddy trial, check out the CNN podcast hosted by my friend Laura Coates. It's called Trial by Jury. New episodes are out almost every day. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts.
Now, turning to this: King Charles giving a subtle rebuke to President Trump while making a rare appearance before Canada's parliament, as the president threatens to annex the country and make it the 51st state. Today, Canada faces another critical moment. Democracy, pluralism, the rule of law, self-determination, and freedom are values which Canadians hold dear.
and ones which the government is determined to protect. - So to be clear, this is the first time in nearly 50 years that a monarch delivered the parliamentary address. It's a show of support for Canada. And the group chat is back to talk more. Now, obviously you don't care about monarchies that much here in the US, but what do you think is significant about King Charles kind of showing up here with all the medals, you didn't make these very specific comments.
Well, let me start with where you started. I don't think Americans want to hear a lecture from a British monarch. Well, it wasn't for the US. It was for the Canadian Parliament. What are you talking about? No, but we're talking about here. He knows that there's a national audience.
250 years ago, we told British kings that they could keep their views on freedom to themselves because they weren't so good, right? So let's start with that for like the American audience. But what is he trying to do? I think he's trying to reassure Canada that the relationship with the UK is strong. Look, there's not going to be a war between the UK or Europe and the United States or
over Canada. I don't think that, but I also think we never thought the US would talk about annexing Canada. Am I the only one who was shocked by this turn of events? I think you're right. I think the King's hands off President Trump. But two things I'm interested in seeing coming up. He's invited President Trump to come to see him, so we'll see how that goes.
And will we come to America next year for our anniversary? I don't know. So I want to see over the next year what the relationship between Donald Trump and the president, I'm sorry, and the king looks like, because it could get really interesting over the next couple months. Yeah, I mean, let's pretend I have a theme of the show for today, and it's your friends and allies, right? Talking about Germany, talking about Canada, talking about King Charles. You know, Trump claims that Canada is actually considering becoming the 51st state, posting on Truth Social.
I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome system, which is a proposal, that it would cost them $61 billion if they remain a separate but unequal nation, but will cost $0 if they become our cherished 51st state. They're considering the offer. I'm sure we will probably need to fact check that soon. Kristen, you were sort of shaking your head earlier. We're not annexing Canada. It's not a thing that's going to happen. It's not going to happen.
What is this? Why am I reading Truth Social posts then? But Canada does benefit from being within the general defense umbrella of being a next-door neighbor to the United States. And so that's not incorrect that Canada benefits by being our next-door neighbor. I think
- The king of it all is really interesting because Donald Trump famously really, really enjoys the pomp and circumstance. He loves a state visit to London, getting the dinner at Buckingham Palace. He loves all of that. So I think in some interesting way, this could be meaningful to at least get Trump to knock off some of this. - Yes, 'cause he cares about pageantry. - And he cares about the king liking him. - We also have a little benefit from Canada
in that we have this huge buffer, this huge physical buffer. We've got two oceans, the east, the west, the Atlantic, the Pacific. We've got Mexico as an ally. That's a buffer. We've got Canada that's a buffer. So it's not just a one-way thing where Canada benefits from this. We also, and I'm not suggesting, Kristen, that that's what you're saying, but we also benefit from that huge physical barrier. Part of the
- The reason I talk about this is because why are we talking about this? Like every time I have to read a Truth Social post or something, it's just like, I don't, maybe you can tell me someday what's floating in the ether that makes this a persistent talking point beyond distraction. - I mean, look, I think Donald Trump probably views the world in some ways like a little bit of a Monopoly board, right? Like where can I put a hotel?
But that doesn't mean that we're not going to annex Canada. I feel, look, you can replay this clip the day that we do and say, look what a moron Kristen was, although I think at that point we'll have other bigger pictures. Yeah, we'll have, the group chat will be very different than it, okay? Please stick around. We've got a lot more to talk about. Still ahead on CNN this morning, we're going to talk about a case of kidnapping and torture and crypto because another person is behind bars in connection with the abduction of an Italian Bitcoin trader in New York.
Plus, we're also going to talk with one Harvard student who has a simple message to the Trump administration. Come at me, bro. More from the group chat. I don't know fully what the motivations are, but I do know that there are people who are fighting a cultural battle. I don't know if that is what is driving the administration.
So that was Harvard's president defending his school from yet another new threat from President Trump. This time it's a vow to cut all federal ties with the university. So the General Services Administration actually sent a letter recommending that agencies terminate any federal contracts with Harvard. The remaining deals are about worth $100 million.
So you also have more than $2 billion in research grants, which have already been canceled, and an attempt to ban foreign students from enrolling there. The moves are being met with defiance by many on campus, including our next guest, whose recent op-ed in the Harvard Crimson is titled, "Come at Me, Bro." Opinion writer Iona Sperling Milner joins me now. Iona, thanks for being here.
And I feel like I need to explain the come at me bro bit, which is that you did this satire directed at the education secretary, Linda McMahon, who of course is involved with the WWE in her past. And you wrote, "In my Jewish name, you and your entourage have destroyed research on cancer and heart disease, threatened to essentially deport my friends,
and tried to increase Harvard's tax burden 15-fold. Stop it, put that down. Let's settle this like biological women knock down TKO cage match. Can you talk about why you're leaning into that particular history? 'Cause it's definitely a vibe shift from what we're hearing from Harvard's president.
Oh yeah, so I think it's clear to me at least that the Trump administration cutting funding from Harvard's ability to do critical research does not directly combat antisemitism. It doesn't even directly counter DEI, which is another one of the stated reasons. And instead it's about this highly visible process of basically punching Harvard in the face.
and trying to bring this really powerful and really symbolic institution to heel. I think it's just sort of unnecessary that in this very, very symbolic battle between these two giants that so many other things need to be caught in the crossfire. My international friends and again all this critical research. So instead, what if it was just one-on-one, me and Linda McMahon, both of us wearing those sparkly sequined unitards and just punching each other in the face?
Yona, I'm scared of you right now, so I appreciate that pitch. I want to put something to you, though, because we heard from Harvard's president. He was talking to NPR. They also asked him this question about anti-Semitism at Harvard.
right, which is the thrust of so much of the Trump administration's arguments. And the president said the main, the president of Harvard said, well, the main manifestation of anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli bias that we've grappled with has to do with social exclusion. It has to do with shunning. If a student sits down at a dining room table and they have good conversations with students who don't know them, other students find out that student is Israeli, if they refuse to continue to speak to them, we have a serious problem that we need to address.
I wanted to put that to you because it's so specific, right? It's giving an example about student life. I don't think you represent all American Jews on campus, but what do you think when you hear that?
You know, that strikes me as very, very true because the ADL has research that shows that the most educated Americans are actually the least likely to harbor anti-Semitic sentiments. And instead, I think the phenomenon we're seeing on campus is that students just don't know how to deal with people they disagree with. And they've been terrible for so long to conservatives on campus. And now, in a very visible way, they've been terrible to Zionists and to Jewish students on campus.
And this inability to parse like, okay, I disagree with you, but you're still a human being and I'm going to treat you like a mens is I think what's really driving a lot of the problems that we've been seeing on campus.
We heard from one of your fellow students that they felt like this they were being used essentially as poker chips in this battle I want to understand can you reconcile these two things one this concern you've raised about intolerance on campus but to the way the administration is Focusing on it because in the middle are just regular students and I haven't heard from your alumni to defend you. I
- Right. I think it's very tricky for me at least to figure out how these external pressures are impacting the serious internal work that our elite universities really do have to do. Because on one hand, some might argue that without this kick in the butt, nobody was ever gonna do anything. But on the other hand, it's very, very difficult to critique yourself and to improve yourself when you're actually defending yourself from all these outside influences who say that you're X and Y. Well, yeah, you're a little X and you're a little Y, but not all to the extent that they're saying,
And it's not really clear that what the Trump administration is doing is helping so much as making this process much, much harder. And for students, is the lesson of the last few years you can and should speak out or that maybe not so much? That's a privilege, not a right.
You know, I think it's really interesting. I think the pendulum has been swinging for a few years now in the direction of more speech on campus. I think that might be in part the work of FIRE, but in part just like things reached a breaking point and people realized that the way that speech was on campus was simply just could not continue. And I've been really impressed both in my couple years on the editorial board in the Crimson and just in my day-to-day conversations with students that people really are willing to engage in difficult conversations much more than they were two years ago.
Yona Sperling Milner, opinion writer at the Harvard Crimson, who will probably have my job in three to four years. Thank you for being here. Thanks so much, Adi.
It's 52 minutes past the hour. Here is your morning roundup. Chaotic scenes at the first day of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid distribution in Gaza. These images showing thousands of people rushing to get food as Israeli troops fired warning shots. Palestinian health officials say one person was killed in the chaos. 48 others confirmed wounded. They did not give more details.
A second suspect has turned himself in surrounding the alleged kidnapping and torture of a cryptocurrency trader. Prosecutors say the victim was held hostage in an apartment in Manhattan for weeks, but managed to escape. Another suspect, who was arrested on Friday, will be in court today. The police report said they wanted the password to the victim's Bitcoin wallet, which had millions of dollars in it. And then there's this.
SpaceX launched its ninth test flight of its mega rocket. It did not go as planned. The company says it lost contact with it. And then here's how they described what happened. A rapid, unscheduled disassembly. Or in layman's terms, it fell apart. But this test did go farther in flight than the ones from earlier this year. And snakes on a plane? Fiction.
Birds on a plane? Real. Delta passengers in Minneapolis had to deal with two stowaway pigeons flying back and forth. Some even tried to catch it in a jacket. Eventually, the birds were safely removed from the plane.
And President Trump says he'll stop federal dollars from going to California if it allows a transgender athlete to participate in an upcoming track and field event. The group that oversees school sports there is allowing more biological female student athletes to also compete. And here's what California's governor said about the issue back in March. Would you say no men and female sports? Well, I think it's an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness.
OK, group chat is back. We're going to talk about this, although I feel like I need to process all the things I just said in the last few minutes between the snakes and Harvard and that rocket coming apart, disassembling, which is going to be my new code name. Yeah, that's what I'm going to use. Can we talk about how a place like California politically works?
reconciles with this kind of policy push. We've talked a lot about Democrats and trans athletes in this issue. Kristen, I always come to you first because you talk to people about it. Yeah, I mean, this is one of those issues where there are lots of things where you say Donald Trump did X
Democratic voters go, "No, thank you. I don't want any part of it." But actually, this is one of those issues that I even find majorities of Democrats going, "You know, I think we may have gone too far. I worry about young biological female athletes and the effect on them." And so this is the sort of thing, that's why you see somebody like Gavin Newsom sitting across a table from a conservative influencer like Charlie Kirk going, "You know, you might have a point."
Look, I don't think it's really about the sports. I do think, to your point, what we learned over the last election, I think people care more about it than we thought, Democrats thought. And it's not just about sports. It's about kids. It's about a right for parents to allow their kids to identify, you know, with their gender. And so I don't know. I think Gavin Newsom, who probably wants to be president, I think he's made clear recommendations
moves to distance himself from that and the Democratic Party. And I think he represents a lot of people, not only in California, but around the country. The other thing that's interesting is I think it's all the execution sometimes. Like how far are you willing to go to enforce these things? What is going to be involved with
parents, kids, and coaches, and saying, well, what is your gender? You need to start sending us information about your menstruation, et cetera. We see how far this can go in state-level legislation. Jonathan, when you hear this discussion, especially when it's about federal purse strings, right, like being able to leverage policy through money, what are you thinking about the approach?
I mean, look, I think the Trump administration learned from past Democratic administrations that said, if you're not going to play by the rules we want you to play by to various states, then we're going to cut off your funding. I think the Democrats were more limited in what they've done in the past. And both parties have done it some. I mean, you know, there was a the good example is transportation. Louisiana for a long time wouldn't raise its drinking age to 21 in the federal government 30%.
cut off federal funds for transportation there. But when you look at Gavin Newsom, he watched Kamala Harris run for president from California with California values on this issue, where there was video of her saying that she thought
that transgender prisoners who are illegal immigrants should get state funding to have transgender surgeries. - And answering, I think it was an advocacy group, right? Was saying, what do you think of these things? - Right, but there's video of her saying, and if you're Gavin Newsom, you wanna run for president,
You just watched this movie play and your own party said to Kamala Harris, don't worry about it, her campaign, don't worry about it. The data show that this isn't an effective ad. And I'm here to tell you, for the millions of Americans watching football games and watching that ad and watching the World Series,
Men, women, regardless of race, regardless of religion, they looked at that and said, "That's not what the mainstream values are." So if you're Newsom, you're trying to get yourself as far away from that as possible. - Okay, you guys, I wanna leave us some time to talk about what you're keeping an eye on.
And I want to start with you, Jaime. Great. So I'm very deep internet. So a popular streamer, Kai Sinet, just launched this new sort of online thing called Streamer University, where he's teaching content creators how to be better streamers. But I think the greater point is here, a lot of, particularly Zinzi, they're consuming media differently.
It's authentic, it's more direct, it's minute by minute. And so I'm really interested to see how this is going to permeate through society over the next couple months. - Streaming university, an option if you can't get into Harvard. Okay, go ahead Jonathan. - I'm gonna go real quick, there's on the front page of the New York Times. - Citizens may feel migrant aid cuts.
And this is what I want to say. If you play us versus them politics, and Donald Trump definitely does that, there is a point, and we're going to see this here with citizens maybe feeling migrant aid cuts, where some of the downstream effects of the policies start affecting people that are part of the us, and you start losing bits of your coalition. And it's something that they got to watch out for. Kristen, last word to you. When a bar fight breaks out, a child's game is often
to blame, apparently, Gen Z, which I've always thought of as nostalgic for the 90s, are really into the 1970s these days, and Uno is all the rage. And apparently, this now warrants the Wall Street Journal saying, hey, the kids are actually getting perhaps a little too violent at their game nights. Which feels just right for our politics. You guys, thank you so much for waking up with me. Thank you for waking up with us. We know there's a lot of places you can spend your time. I'm Audie Cornish, and CNN News Central starts now.
Take a journey with your favorite stars to their favorite places in the new CNN original series, My Happy Place. Join Alan Cumming, Taraji P. Henson, Simu Liu, and more. A new episode of My Happy Place premieres Sunday at 10 on CNN.