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It is Monday, April 14th. Here's what's happening right now on CNN This Morning. A key ally in President Trump's immigration crackdown gets a White House visit today. What to expect from the man who calls himself the world's coolest dictator. Plus... We are here today because our universities are under attack. International students deported, grants and funding cut. How the impact could spread beyond college campuses. Also...
This type of violence is not okay. The governor of Pennsylvania rushed from his home after someone set it on fire. How the suspect got around security to get inside. And a rocket ride for Katy Perry and Gayle King. They join an all-female crew in a journey into orbit.
It's 6:00 AM here on the East Coast. Here is a live look at Capitol Hill here in the nation's capital. It's spring break. You're probably on an 8th grade trip here like everyone has been traditionally. Good morning everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me.
Now, in just a few hours, the president of El Salvador will visit the White House. This is just three minutes into Trump's second term. Nayib Bukele has made himself a key ally in the president's policies on mass deportation. I think he's doing a fantastic job.
He's taking care of a lot of problems that we have that we really wouldn't be able to take care of from a cost standpoint. And he's doing really, he's been amazing. What about human rights? I don't see it. I don't see that.
Over the weekend, the U.S. deported 10 more men to El Salvador. The latest in the hundreds who have been removed were allegedly being gang members and criminals. Lawyers and family members for some of those men argue they are innocent, that they didn't receive due process. And in the case of one man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the government even admits his deportation was a mistake.
Still, on Sunday, the Trump administration told a federal judge it did not have to work with El Salvador to return him. The president has done an incredible job with MS-13. Who realizes what a threat they are? So this trip to Washington could see the two leaders grow closer on more than just immigration. This is Bukele addressing CPAC during the 2024 election using language straight out of what could have been a Trump campaign speech.
We did the unthinkable to cleanse our society. We arrested the terrorists, but we have to remove corrupt judges and corrupt attorneys and prosecutors. And it wasn't just the gangs. The corrupt system worked in tandem with the so-called international community, the NGOs, and of course the fake news, just like it happens here in the United States.
- All right, the group chat is here this morning to break it down. Stephen Collins in his back, CNN Politics senior reporter, Shelby Talcott, White House correspondent for Semaphore, and Margaret Tulliv, senior contributor to Axios and the director of the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship at Syracuse. And that means, Margaret, I start with you, 'cause that's a hefty title. - Oh, yeah. - It's about democracy. - Cool.
about a visit from a man who calls himself the region's coolest dictator. Now obviously in El Salvador and many countries in the region they have a very serious gang crime corruption problem. So there may be some appeal to people in terms of tackling those issues. But when it comes to Bekele here, what are you going to be listening for as these two men talk?
Actually, economic policy and tariff policy is a lot of what we're going to be listening for. Even though on immigration, they're aligned. El Salvador is hosting deportees in their Supermax prisons. Absolutely. It's that prison, and we have been hearing and seeing a lot of it, and we're going to continue to see a lot more. And that certainly sets up
the idea that these two leaders are allies, but underneath the scenes there are all kinds of other tensions going on. Remember, El Salvador does export coffee, sugar, clothing, things that are going to be impacted by tariffs, but the other number to look for is, you'll remember in the last couple of administrations, including the previous Trump administration,
El Salvador was one of the primary countries that undocumented migrants were flowing from El Salvador across the border into the United States. So much so that nearly one in four dollars of El Salvador's GDP
is because of US remittances. So these are literally the migrants sending money back home. Migrants sending money home accounts for a quarter of the country's GDP. So if you take that number plus the tariffs number, there's a lot to watch here. Okay, Shelby, you just laid out the whole agenda. I don't even know if half of that, Margaret, half of that is on it. I want to let you guys jump in. Shelby, what do you know about what the White House wants to talk about?
versus things the public might be curious about, like can they get El Salvador to return the man who was accidentally deported, I say accidentally, who a judge says bring him back home. Yeah, I think that's going to be really interesting because the El Salvador president has mostly been pretty quiet.
quiet about this case. And of course, the U.S. is sort of arguing that the Supreme Court ruled that they have to facilitate removing barriers to his removal, but not necessarily facilitate his actual removal. So clearly, El Salvador could play a key role in there. So I'm going to be looking out if any, you know, I don't anticipate that
that all of the conversation is going to be made public, but when reporters get brought in, is this going to be a question that gets posed to the El Salvador president? Well, I mean, Kristi Noem is like parading around the Seacrest Prison, so obviously you can get something that you want. Exactly, yes. So that's going to be really notable. I agree on the tariffs. That's going to be sort of an underlying topic. But I also am curious, you know, how much...
the focus really is going to be on immigration because of course that is the big positive that the two countries sort of have in common that's the thing that is that is keeping them together essentially so i'm curious how much the white house plays up those immigration conversation yeah you know i one of the things about the cali is that he's massively curtailed civil rights i think el salvador has been in a state of emergency that keeps getting
extended periodically. There is just like now a full percentage of the population in prison. I just want to do a little context here of who he is and what he likes to talk about. But Stephen, what do you see in this meeting? Well, Bukele is in many senses the kind of leader that
Trump would like to be. He's at this point effectively an elected authoritarian. As you say, he's erased protections of civil rights. He's challenged the rule of law, media freedoms, the prison rule. Successfully. In all these cases, he's wrested control. He's also very popular because his letter cracked down
on crime. So he is a very MAGA-ish leader. Hence we were showing him at CPAC earlier. The fact that he is now, however, in the middle of a showdown between the administration and the Supreme Court about the separation of powers over this Maryland man, Mr. Garcia, that was swept up and sent to El Salvador with very little due process,
I think it tells us as much about our politics and where it is and where it's heading as the politics of El Salvador. What do you mean? Because Mr. Garcia was sent to this prison in El Salvador. Many people believe that he didn't get due process and the protection of the rule of law. It's very questionable, the administration's argument, that he's a gang member.
uh... and the administration is our grand even though we mistakenly sent him become bring him back because that would be an abrogation of the president's uh... right to conduct foreign policy right which you know this is the president also that are who i think did they treat oopsies well i think that's a deportation happens out of the rule of law in the united states as well as uh... in his own country so uh... i think it's a commentary on the friends of the administration likes and the way they
help advance its, some would say, rather authoritarian impulses in the United States. I think they're clearly such close political allies. The issue is not, and the White House is not even really arguing that they can't, that the Salvadoran leader won't allow the U.S. to pull this person back. The White House's argument is we don't have to.
Yeah, which is very different. Okay, you guys stick around. We're actually going to hear from our friends at CNN-E later. We've got more to discuss coming up on CNN This Morning. Constructive talks. Can the U.S. and Iran come to an agreement on Iran's nuclear program? Plus, heading to the edge of space, an all-female celebrity crew preparing for an out-of-this-world trip today. And adding to the chaos, President Trump's team says the tariff exemption on consumer tech, well, it's only temporary.
Some people say I don't know what I'm doing, but I actually I'm playing four-dimensional chess. Okay, bing bing bong bing bing bing bing bong bing King me
I'm CNN tech reporter Claire Duffy. This week on the podcast, Terms of Service. How did your experience talking to the dad bot compare to the expectations that you went into it with? One dimensional. Grief is one of the most human experiences we have. So what happens when AI gets involved? It wasn't my dad. I knew it wasn't going to be perfect, but I was hoping that it was going to be closer than it ended up being. Five years later,
Follow CNN's Terms of Service wherever you get your podcasts. If you're getting ready, it's almost 15 minutes past the hour. And here's your morning roundup. Some of the stories you need to know to get your day going. There are signs of progress in nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran. Delegations from both countries planning to meet again this week after wrapping up negotiations on Saturday in Oman. Iran's foreign minister reporting the two sides got very close to reaching a framework for future talks.
And an urgent search this morning off the eastern coast of Florida. A boat capsized Friday in the Atlantic Ocean near the St. Lucie Inlet. Four people were actually rescued on Sunday. One person was found dead. Five others are still missing.
At least six people were injured, including two firefighters, after a home explosion Sunday in Austin. One house was leveled. At least two dozen more were damaged. One of the victims now in critical condition. The cause of the blast is still under investigation.
And Ecuador's president, Daniel Neboa, re-elected on Sunday. Now, he made fighting crime and the economy two of his main causes. But the country is also facing an energy crisis. They suffer constant blackouts. And Neboa's challenger is rejecting the results and demanding a recount. And you've got to see this. Yeah!
Rory McIlroy winning the Masters on Sunday in a sudden-death playoff over Justin Rose, becoming only the sixth player in history to achieve golf's Grand Slam, the last player to win all four majors in their career. The Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship was, of course, Tiger Woods 25 years ago.
And ahead on CNN this morning, we're gonna give you more developments on that arson attack on the Pennsylvania governor's home. Was it an act of Semitism, of antisemitism? How did the suspect get inside? Plus, President Trump targets universities with funding cuts. Could that strategy have unintended economic consequences?
And good morning, New Orleans. It is 6:15, actually 5:15, Louisiana. Today a judge will hear hearings, will have arguments about the legality of the detention of a Tufts University student being held in that state. We're going to be watching that and more.
So colleges have long served as a hub for political discourse, but now that the Trump administration is threatening to withhold federal funding from universities, as well as deporting international students for their involvement in protests, higher education as we know it is in for a massive shift.
I do think there's a very fundamental threat here right now with two dimensions to it, to America's research universities, that anybody who cares about the strength of this country, our economy, our prosperity, our security, our health should be worried about. And one of those is the threat to this compact between the government and our universities that has produced research that's made a difference in the life of every American.
- Here's the thing, with those changes, there could also come unintended consequences. We're gonna bring in CNN's Ron Brownstein, who's been writing about this. Ron, good morning, welcome to the show. - Good morning.
It's interesting. You reframe this in a different way. We've all been preoccupied with kind of the cultural impact of colleges and universities, which we hear a lot from on the right. You are now trying to reframe it as an economic conversation. Can you describe why you see these schools as economic engines?
Yeah, absolutely. Good morning. Well, you know, the administration and its allies may view the assault in multiple dimensions, as you talk about on major research universities, as kind of a cultural offensive, you know, a way to go after these bastions of the woke mind virus. But it has enormous economic consequences because these universities are at the center
of the regions that are driving most of the nation's economic growth at this point. If you look at the 100 counties that are producing the most economic output in the country, and I did this with the folks at the Brookings Metro think tanks,
44 of those 100 counties have at least one major research university that ranks in the top 100 recipients of federal grants. Those 44 counties are only 1.5% of the whole country. There are over 3,100 counties in the country, but those 44...
account for almost 35% of our total GDP. These universities are the kind of the sun around which big ecosystems of high-tech industries, advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, electronics, computer communications have evolved. And if you disrupt
the original research, which provides the foundation for all this spin-off activity, you have the threat of weakening the places that are driving our growth and are also the key to our competitiveness with China in the competition for the industries of the 21st century, like AV, biotech,
and electric vehicles. Yeah, I really encourage people to read this on the line. You do a great job describing the pipeline, the kind of post-war pipeline between research to companies and startups to venture capital to the marketplace.
Here's the thing, there's always been a town and gown divide, right? And it feels like the kind of backlash against universities is that dynamic writ large. So how do they talk about it now? What are you seeing people do?
Well, it's interesting. You know, you are starting to see alliances form, as I wrote about in the story, of the communities around the country that revolve around these large research universities that are provided. You know, there are two levels of the benefit, right? There's the direct spending of the universities on employment and services that they buy. What people usually talk about meds and eds, right? Medical and educational services.
facilities. But I think far more important are the spinoff effects of all the companies that the biotech companies in Boston and, you know, obviously the development of Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area or software in the Northwest,
or medical technology in Madison. And so you are seeing chambers of commerce in these communities come together. You are seeing mayors, the Boston mayor, Michelle Wu, organized a bipartisan group of mayors to intervene in a lawsuit against some of the administration changes that could have devastating impacts on basic research. I think people are beginning to see more directly the economic impact, which extends
far beyond the gown and really has created a lot of opportunity in the towns that surround these places. And as I say, are important not only for them, but are important for the country overall because these communities are the places that are driving the most dynamic economic growth and producing the technological breakthroughs that give us our best chance to compete for the jobs of the 21st century. - There is a lot more to talk about this. I wish I could talk more with you, Ron. CNN Senior Political Analyst, Ron Brownstein.
Ahead on CNN this morning, we're going to talk about El Salvador's president just hours from a critical meeting at the White House. In El Salvador, he's already jailed hundreds of migrants deported by the U.S. So what does he now want in return? Plus, meta on trial is Mark Zuckerberg's media empire about to come crumbling down. And Katy Perry, one of six women who are about to blast off into space on Blue Origin.
I'm Eva Longoria, and I'm exploring Spain and its 17 regions to see how the land and its people have created one of the world's most exciting cuisines. Eva Longoria, Searching for Spain, premieres Sunday, April 27th at 9 on CNN. I think he's doing a fantastic job, and...
It's taking care of a lot of problems that we have. We have some very bad people in that prison, people that should have never been allowed into our country. More migrants deported over the weekend to El Salvador's mega prison. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the 10 men were members of international gangs. Good morning, everybody. I'm Adi Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me on CNN this morning. It's half past the hour here on the East Coast. And here's what's happening right now.
The president of El Salvador will visit the White House. That's happening in just a few hours. He's a key ally in Trump's immigration crackdown. The administration has already sent hundreds of migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The Federal Trade Commission is looking to break up Meta. Today, a major antitrust trial is set to begin. A federal judge will decide whether the company can continue to operate Instagram and WhatsApp. And some of Earth's biggest celebrities are about to embark on a space launch like no other.
Here on the New Shepard. I think I'm going to sing. I'm going to sing a little bit. I got to sing in space. You might recognize that voice, of course, Katy Perry and Gayle King among the six female passengers, part of the Blue Origin Space Tourism Launch. The flight is set to last about 10 minutes. They'll get a chance to feel a few minutes of weightlessness while they're up there.
And right now, a 38-year-old suspect is facing arson and attempted murder and terrorism charges for allegedly breaking into the home of Pennsylvania's Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and setting it on fire while the governor and his family were asleep inside. The home suffered significant damage. Shapiro, his wife, their four children, two dogs, and another family were all safely evacuated. Hear me on this.
We celebrated our faith last night proudly and in a few hours we will celebrate our second Seder of Passover again proudly. No one will deter me or my family or any Pennsylvanian from celebrating their faith openly and proudly.
We're going to bring in Selina Zaito, national political reporter for the Washington... Zito, sorry, Selina Zito for the Washington Examiner. Sorry about that. I want to find out what more you're learning about what happened. Well, as much as we know right now is that a man has been identified and arrested. His name is Cody Balmer. He is from Harrisburg, not far actually from the governor's mansion on Front Street. And that he...
somehow got over the fence. I'm assuming he climbed. That's the sort of indication that we were given by the state police, Lieutenant Colonel. He got into the residence. The state police, as they said in the press conference yesterday, he was able to elude them momentarily just long enough
to get into the residence, set those fires. He had his own homemade incendiary devices and then get out.
They found him later on that day. I'm going to make the leap that they probably had cameras that were able to identify him and see his face. And no, there hasn't been an affidavit, at least there wasn't late last night, as to what all the charges are. But I suspect it's going to be something that's associated with terrorism and arson and probably much more severe charges. Yeah.
One of the other things people are talking about, because as the governor said, it's Passover and the concern that this is an act of anti-Semitism. What is known, if anything, about the suspect or his possible motives? There are, you know, there are there were some scatterings of his as of last night. His Facebook page was still you're available to go through it. But they're really, you know, it's hard to make a conclusion. But, you know, look,
He did it just hours after the governor posted a photo of his family table setting for Passover. The governor has never been shy about talking about his faith, other faiths, and how important it is in his life.
You know, Governor Shapiro is known to be a great political athlete in terms of he knows how to respond well. He has handled crisis situations, whether it was the Catholic Church, the
prosecution back in when he was Attorney General or I-95 when it collapsed two years ago. However, this is a completely different situation. This involves his family. It is clear that he was targeted.
And there's a responsibility as a parent. I'm sure there's any parent out there that can understand how this feels. Your children are there. Your wife are there. Your other members of your family are there. And you have to protect them. And I think this made him feel incredibly vulnerable. Selena, thank you for your insights here. Appreciate your time.
Now I want to talk about what happened over the weekend in terms of tariffs. The Trump administration announced a pause specifically on those charges related to smartphones, other tech that might be on your wish list. But the tech industry's celebration over a tariff pause might be short-lived. So in a social media post, President Trump says nobody's getting off the hook and hinted at another tariff announcement on those very products coming soon.
The tariffs will be in place in the not distant future because as you know, like we did with steel, like we did with automobiles, like we did with aluminum, which are now fully on, we'll be doing that with semiconductors, with chips and numerous other things. And that'll take place in the very near future. You have to show a certain flexibility. Nobody should be so rigid. We will. You have to have a certain flexibility.
Okay, group chat is back. I'm going to kick it off with you, Steven, my Sunday night read, because you were actually writing about the stakes in this tariff conversation right now. You know, I'm learning that a majority of Americans believe tariffs are going to raise prices over the short term. CBS had some new polling looking at the president's approval on his handling of the economy.
and those numbers are kind of upside down from where he was in term one, which you've mentioned a bunch of times. So what's different about this week to you? Why are the stakes different? I think we've gotten into this situation whereby every time the administration does something that seems to reverse their previous tariff policy, they tell us, well, that was the plan all along, and this is the case again with this. These tariff exemptions came in on Friday.
It seemed late at night on Friday, by the way, it seemed that perhaps the president didn't like the perception that he'd back down. So then he came out and says, well, there's going to be new tariffs on these products in the future. This will get to the uncertainty. I think what it does is it takes away from the main point here is that he set off this confrontation with China, the world's second largest economy upon which we rely for all sorts of goods, pharmaceuticals and everything else.
and he doesn't seem to be able to wait find a way to get them to the table the allies are coming and they want to do deals supposedly with the united states
China has its own political reasons why it doesn't want to be seen to be bending to a U.S. president. So I think in the couple of days ahead, can they get China to the table before this really hurts the U.S. economy? Right. Americans also, I think, are 50-50 on whether Trump does have. You're nodding. You know this. People have some. They're not sure if this is like crazy, like a Fox situation or a crazy situation.
Yeah, right. And again, as you said, we've heard the administration say, you know, I remember Peter Navarro the other day was on TV saying after saying that this was not a negotiation, he said, well, this was the plan all along. Right. Never mind Elon Musk kind of dissing Navarro online repeatedly. But I think, you know,
I think this does hint at the administration recognizing that their tariff policy is going to affect Americans perhaps more than they had publicly alluded to. And you're seeing them consistently sort of shift both on messaging and on exactly what they're going to do with the tariffs as they... Yeah, you can't do like a you break it, you bought it with the economy. Exactly. That's a little harder. The president's branding is as a populist leader. And...
I don't know, $3,000 iPhones, populism. It's hard to see how those two things comport. If you try to flip a switch and make everything made in the United States, you get $3,000 iPhones, which most people can't afford the iPhones that they already have. So I think I look at it this way. Usually when a decision gets rolled out in the middle of the night on a Friday night, it's not something that...
- You're proud of. - An administration is trying to draw attention to. They're like, let's just get this done. And you wonder like that first week of the inauguration, why are all the tech leaders falling all over themselves to be by the president and show that they are supportive of him, give all this money to the inauguration?
Apple lost more than 600 billion, almost $650 billion in market value after those tariffs were first announced. This pulls it back. I think Stephen's right. The idea that there could be more coming, it's, I think, mostly meant to...
offset the fact that they dialed them back. - Okay, you actually just took my breath away with this number. We have to process this for a minute. Stay with me. We've got a lot more to get to this morning. I wanna go back to international news for a minute and that meeting at the White House with El Salvador's leader. He's a top ally in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. That's happening in just a few hours. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele will sit down with President Trump for a meeting that could reshape the region's politics.
ahead of that meeting it's worth taking a closer look at how Bukele and his model of governing actually works. He's incarcerated nearly 2 percent of El Salvador's population, suspended civil liberties and militarized security and this has dramatically reduced crime but at the expense of human rights. Gustavo Valdez joins me now. He's a correspondent with CNN and Español. Gustavo, good morning. I want to start with this Bukele model
How popular is it? Good morning. So basically what he did is he came and said that the whole country needed to be reset. He established a basically suspended some laws that allowed him to go after the gangs, the Maras, as they are known in El Salvador. And he's been successfully stopping the crime,
building these huge jails where he's placed anybody who they find to be associated with a gang to the point that they often tout how few
few crimes happen in El Salvador on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This has turned El Salvador into a safe place. The citizens like their policies. They feel safe going out at night. But it has come at a cost to civil liberties as
Many civil rights groups have pointed out over the past few years that civil liberties have been suspended. Many people have been detained without due process. The government defends their actions saying, well, if somebody is innocent, they can prove it in a court of law and we'll correct that. But it's been a model that, at least for the small country of El Salvador, has worked.
And it's where the United States, Donald Trump in his second or third presidential campaign, saw a model that they thought they could follow by sending the president
migrants they consider a threat to the United States, they found a place where they can say, here, they're going to house them in these high security prisons. We're going to make them pay, keep them from coming. So I think what's going to come out of the White House today is a reinforced message from both presidents. One, we're going to keep sending people we think they're a threat to the United States. And for Bukele, he's going to say, look, our policies are working and they are being rewarded.
Any chance we're going to hear anything about the migrant who was wrongly deported? Well, like we heard earlier, this is going to be on the White House. Bukele is only housing the people. Trump, the White House say they need to be housed there. They're paying him six million dollars to do that. So it's not like Bukele.
Bukele is going to say, here, here's this guy that the Supreme Court said has to come back. I don't think he believes that is his place. He's housing the people sent to him. And if the White House requests a return, perhaps that's when he can free the man to be returned. All right, Gustavo Valdez, thank you so much for this context ahead of today. I appreciate it.
Still ahead on CNN this morning, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump taking center stage this weekend. What their appearances at Coachella and UFC, respectively, say about the state of our national politics. Plus, police in Wisconsin making a disturbing discovery during a double murder investigation. And we're going to have more from the group chat after this.
Today, a major trial that will determine the future owner of your Facebook and Instagram apps. That trial is set to begin. The Federal Trade Commission is looking to break up Mark Zuckerberg's tech giant, Meta. If they're successful, the company could be forced to sell off some of its most popular services. Joining me now, CNN media analyst and Axios media correspondent, and my personal fave, Sarah Fisher. Welcome. Hey. Welcome to the morning. So this has been cooking for a long time. What are the legal arguments that the government is making? What is Meta saying? So the Trump administration is
the first term is the one that brought the suit to bear. So that's an important thing to know. What they alleged is that Meta illegally abuses dominance in social media by acquiring smaller companies and squashing the competition. Basically, you acquire them so that they can't grow and beat you. So those two companies, Instagram, they acquired that for $1 billion.
in 2012, which is crazy, Audie, considering the fact that Instagram is now more than half of Meta's revenue. We're talking tens of billions of dollars annually. And then WhatsApp for almost $20 billion two years later. Meta argues we did nothing wrong. We did not abuse our dominance. We acquired these companies legally. FTC, you approved.
those acquisitions when there's plenty of competition they say right now we're still competing exactly on here's the thing the New York Times wrote this story titled tech CEO spent millions courting Trump it has yet to pay off and of course we have seen Mark Zuckerberg speak very disparagingly of the sort of meta and Facebook of the past people think he's trying to curry favor with Trump getting rid of DEI policies so what are we looking at with that relationship I think some people thought maybe Trump might even somehow step in
So you have this weird dynamic, Adi, where you have these tech companies who are sucking up. But behind the scenes, we talk to sources at the DOJ and at the FTC. They're not planning on going easy on these companies. They still want to break these companies up.
I think, though, that this is helping them, and I'll tell you why. Not only has Mark Zuckerberg done the things you said, he's gone above and beyond every other tech firm. And Donald Trump clearly wants to have a sway over these independent agencies. Look at what he just did a few weeks ago. He fired the two Democratic independent executives.
commissioners on the FTC so I think it's gonna help me I think that the government has a long way to go to prove this case but ultimately if there's going to be a lot of compelling witnesses here if the government feels as though Matt is guilty we'll go into another trial that will determine
what the sort of remedy or punishments might be. And if Meta's forced to divest these companies, oh my gosh, it would change the entire tech landscape. Yeah, you said forced to divest, which is hard to picture. Here's the thing that's complicating this for me. For a time, you had J.D. Vance and a lot of Republicans who were like, big tech needs to be broken up. Their moderation policies are censorship. We don't like these guys. And we actually, like, they had praise for the Biden-era FTC. So help me make sense of this, like, Trump,
removing the Democrats and this case still going forward. I can't tell who's at an advantage here. So when the conservatives thought that the tech companies were censoring them, they were all about punishing them. But then let's revert back to what republicanism really is, right? It's getting rid of big government. It's taking government away from business. And so it's not really a conservative argument to want to break
up these companies. And that's where I think a lot of the switch has been. I think a lot of Republicans want to hold these companies to account for things like content moderation, but to actually go that step further and break them up is a whole other ballgame. Okay, people are going to be watching this because a lot of people do their business through Instagram. Oh my god, millions of businesses. Sarah, you are my fave. Okay, thank you so much. Sarah Fisher, CNN media analyst, media correspondent for Axios.
All right, so it is almost 10 to the hour. I want to give you your morning roundup, some of the stories you might need as you're getting your day going. So a teen was charged with killing his parents in Wisconsin and is now being accused of a plot to assassinate President Trump. Investigators say the 17-year-old killed his parents two months ago so he could fund his mission to kill the president. The FBI says the teen holds neo-Nazi views and the plot was part of a desire to create a political revolution.
And 34 people confirmed dead in Ukraine, another 117 wounded after Russian airstrikes. Ukrainian officials say at least two ballistic missiles hit the city of Sumy during a busy holiday Sunday. The strike is the deadliest attack against civilians in the war this year.
And new this morning, the tour company that operated the sightseeing helicopter that plunged into the Hudson River last week will be shut down immediately. The FAA announcing Sunday it is also launching a review of the company's license and safety records. Six people were killed in the crash.
and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's retrial against the New York Times set to begin today. Originally she sued the paper for defamation, but a jury found that Palin didn't prove actual malice, which is the legal standard she had to meet because she's a public figure.
And finally, Senator Bernie Sanders and President Trump were both taking a break from Washington, D.C., but not from politics this weekend. Both men showed up at venues which could not be more different. Saturday night, Senator Sanders appearing center stage at Coachella after holding a rally in downtown Los Angeles. President Trump was taking the spotlight in South Florida, becoming the first sitting president to attend a UFC conference.
event. So group chat is back to talk a little bit of culture because first let's talk about Bernie Cella, which is what Claro, the singer songwriter who brought him on stage called it. She's 26 and sharing your stage at Coachella is kind of a big deal. And to bring him before this audience, what's significant about this moment?
Well, there are two brands of populism in the country right now, and one is led by President Trump, and the other is led by Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Max Frost, which is the kind of group that's been on tour. But I think you see Sanders messaging here to younger,
Americans, progressive Americans. And remember in the old days, if people booed when they said an opponent's name, like someone like Obama would be like, don't boo, vote. Sanders just said, they booed, and he said, I agree. Right, right. It was a very different vibe. I want to play some sound of kind of what these back-to-back interactions sounded like.
Every one of them came up at the end and they were great. I mean, they're all warriors. You know, they're modern day warriors. You can ignore what goes on, but if you do that, you do it at your own peril. We need you to stand up to fight for justice.
What's interesting thing about this moment is not just that amazing shot of Bernie's hair blowing in the wind, but the fact that that's gonna launch a kabillion TikToks, I think, which is part of the point. While Trump is the first sitting president to be at UFC, he goes constantly. He has been a fight guy since the '80s. He and Dana White are best buddies in terms of combat sports, so he's always been in that space.
But Coachella doesn't have like a podcast row of left-wing bros there. So like what, is this a one-off? Do you guys see something being built? Shelby, you're young. You're supposed to help me here, okay? I'm not Coachella young. Oh, okay. But I'm not Coachella young.
but i think the blazer gave you away i think it's i do think it's kind of a one-off i don't see for specifically coachella becoming could any other democrat could a democrat i shouldn't say any other bernie is a is a independent could you picture another democrat in that space yeah i think
I could picture like an AOC going there, but again, is it going to sort of boost the Democratic Party back into, you know, a focus where they have a ton of young voters focusing on them? No, I think that they have to do more. I think you have to sort of follow the model that the Republican Party did, which was not only go,
to those UFC fights and go to sporting events, but they also went on all of these different podcasts that were targeting towards young men. They have to find their own sort of niche. Maybe a part of that is Coachella. But it was embedded in the culture. That's where it feels different. I feel like the right-wing move from right-wing radio, as we knew it, to podcasting was a very natural evolution. What is the evolution elsewhere? Yeah, I mean, I've been to many Bernie Sanders rallies, and
I thought you were going to say you've been to many Coachella's. I was like, tell me more, Stephen. I'm not even completely sure what it is, but anyway.
But there are a lot of young people at Bernie Sanders rallies. He does appeal to the kind of student, lefty block of voters. And even not student. I don't think it's that much of a stretch. And it's interesting that both of these politicians style themselves as fighters. Bernie Sanders has always talked about fighting for the values of the working class. And the tour is called Fighting the Oligarchy. Right. And UFC is a way of understanding the politics of the smash crowd.
politics of Donald Trump. So I think they're both being actually authentic to themselves and that's something that voters do look for. You know what's interesting is when I think about Democrats they have been traditionally preoccupied with the college educated especially with young people. You would talk to a Democrat like if you're on the campaign trail and they start talking to you about student loans.
But right now we're in the midst of this moment where universities are facing this backlash, we're facing cuts in funding. The war in Gaza also created a cultural backlash as people kind of, the public basically kind of hit back at these students in the way they talked about Gaza. And so it feels like, I don't know if there's a policy, right, that you could appeal to someone who's not in college even, some of these voters in the horseshoe, the Bernie Trump horseshoe.
I don't know if it's about the policy. I think it's about the emotion. That's where you really see him tapping into there. Younger voters want young people to run for office, except Sanders, who's 83. They're like, you go, Bernie. Or maybe they just want authentic people. Like, are they convinced by, sorry, Gavin Newsom, podcasting, because I want you to podcast. But it feels like it's not being thought of the same way. Well, I mean, Sanders is...
like a movement leader, he's an activist. And if when you're young, you are inspired by people who speak a truth that resonates with how you're feeling, and he's tapping into that. And Trump is also a very emotional leader. He taps into emotions. I really do think although they believe in very different things and speak to different constituencies, there is a common element in that constituency. And what he's trying to do is get younger Americans who are not always engaged in the political process
excited, either excited about being against Trump or excited about being for Democrats, whatever gets the job done from his perspective. Okay, in our last minute, what are we keeping an eye on? Shelby, let me start with you. I am keeping an eye on which country is going to be the first to make a deal with the U.S. on tariffs.
and I that's on perhaps which said that it wanted to do zero I can tell you probably not going to be China hot take their bears I'm but I think you know how Salvador could be at I also think Japan is one to look at I asked I'm secretary best last week what they were looking for and one other things he pointed out was that pipeline deal so I think that's I'm key in the administration's even %uh the Italian Prime Minister George a maloney is here this week she's what are these leaders are trying to balance between Europe and
Trump, she's a populist. The administration started to talk about maybe we could get the allies together to help us against China. The European allies, right. But a lot of these allies are not really sure if they're actually U.S. allies anymore. Okay, Margaret, I'm giving you a bonus Monday. First one, FCC Chairman
Images went viral over the weekend because he was wearing a gold Trump bus pin in the place of what might be a flag pin. Are we going to be seeing more of this? White House is denying that they're telling it to happen. You can buy a cheapo version for eight bucks on Amazon. Also going to be watching for Mr. Garcia, who's being held in El Salvador. What happens? How does the administration return him without admitting that they had to?
All right, you guys, thanks for the group chat. Thanks for waking up with me. Thank you for watching. I'm Adi Cornish and CNN News Central starts right now.
This week on The Assignment with me, Adi Kornish. People often say these models suffer hallucinations. They make stuff up. Well, actually, they're designed to make things up, right? We want them to tell us something that we don't know. The CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleiman, on the next era of the tech industry and about what it means to hold on to your values when the industry is moving faster than the rules meant to govern it.
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