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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Trump Digs In On Tariffs During Volatile Day On Wall Street; Trump Says "Not Looking" To Pause Tariffs, Markets Closed Mixed; Supreme Court Allows Alien Enemies Act Deportations To Resume; Supreme Court Pauses Midnight Deadline For Trump Admin. To Return Man Mistakenly Deported To El Salvador; Attorney: Deported Client Has No Ties To Venezuelan Gang; Harriet Tubman Photo Removed From National Park Service Website, Then Returned After Backlash; Video Showing Final Moments Of Gaza Emergency Workers Casts Doubt On Israeli Account Of Killings. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired April 07, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And that's when he said that he would -- when the U.S. military would try to deter what he called communist Chinese military aggression. We know China's been ramping up the frequency and complexity of these drills around Taiwan in recent years. Analysts say they've served several purposes. They send a political message, of course, and they also provide crucial practice for a future invasion. All of this as tensions are rising over tariffs and restrictions on the kind of advanced tech- semiconductors that they make here in Taiwan that China wants --Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Yes, crucial all part of the tariff story. Thanks so much Will Ripley.

And thanks to all of you. Anderson starts now.

[20:00:33]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, more Trump tariff turbulence, there's rumors he would change his mind, shook financial markets, then sent it reeling when he tripled down on them instead.

Also tonight, the administration deported him to notorious prison by mistake, but refuses to bring him back. A judge says it shocks the conscience and now the Supreme Court has just weighed in on that and many more deportation cases as well.

And later, more whitewashing of American history. The heroic story of Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad, and their fight to bring enslaved men, women and children to freedom is rewritten and distorted in the name of the President's campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion. New developments in that within the last hour.

Good evening, thanks for joining us. And for everyone worried about their 401 (k)s, perhaps the best that can be said about today was that Wall Street was only a multi-trillion-dollar roller coaster, and not something worse. Unlike Asia, where markets fell as much as 13 percent today, in Europe, which had heavy losses, too, stocks here held on only just. The DOW losing about one percent, the NASDAQ closing slightly up, the S&P slightly down. It was anything but smooth, however, with investors following every bit of tariff news from the White House and one rumor which seemingly hinged on a single word from a single White House official.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL ANCHOR, "FOX & FRIENDS": Will you do a 90-day pause? Would you consider that?

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR OF THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Yes, you know, I think that the President is going to decide what the President's going to decide. There are more than 50 countries in negotiations with the President.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Kevin Hassett said that on Fox at about 8:25 this morning, his little yep or yeah or yeah, depending on how you heard it was apparently enough for a social media user who goes by the name Walter Bloomberg, no relation to the billionaire or the business news outlet, just someone who amplifies a lot of Bloomberg content.

Walter Bloomberg is posting about it, which has since been deleted, went up at 10:13, complete with siren emoji, by 10:15 a CNBC anchor was saying this on air.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we do have some headlines --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we can go with this headline from apparently, Hassett has been saying that Trump will consider a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except for China.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, a couple minutes later, the Dow industrials had shot up 1,000 points, only to collapse again at 10:39 when the White House quick response team put up this three word post -- wrong fake news.

In fact, the President today threatened to hit China with an additional 50 percent tariff on top of the 54 percent importers now have to pay on Chinese goods. This would go into effect on Wednesday if China doesn't suspend retaliatory tariffs that it imposed by tomorrow.

And this afternoon, with Israel's Prime Minister in Washington in search of relief from the new tariff, the President doubled down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's the only chance our country will have to reset the table, because no other President would be willing to do what I'm doing or to even go through it.

Now, I don't mind going through it because I see a beautiful picture at the end, but we are making tremendous progress with a lot of countries and the countries that really took advantage of us are now saying, please negotiate. You know why? Because they're getting -- beaten badly because of what's happening.

They're getting beaten badly. They're being devalued as countries. But it's the only chance we are going to have to reset the table on trade. And when we do, were going to come out unbelievably well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, judging from markets here and around the world, investors have their doubts. And today, a top global banker, JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon, told shareholders, "The recent tariffs will likely increase inflation and are causing many to consider a greater probability of a recession."

Just a couple of months ago, you'll recall he was downplaying the anticipated downside of tariffs and telling doubters to "get over it." Last Thursday, you'll recall JPMorgan raised its projections for a recession this year to 60 percent, up from 40 percent before the tariffs.

There's breaking news as well tonight on the marketing of all of this. CNN has learned that the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, flew to Mar-a-Lago this weekend to tell the President it was imperative to get everyone on the same page and to focus their messaging more on the end game for Americans. That's according to people familiar with the conversation. The risk, he reportedly said, would be further market turmoil.

Joining us now, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Paul Begala; CNN global economic analyst Rana Foroohar, a columnist and associate editor for "The Financial Times"; and Alyssa Farah Griffin, White House communications director during President Trump's first term.

Rana, what do you make of the volatility today and that reaction to that one social media post?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Well, it just shows you how much wishful thinking there is here. I mean, that kind of reaction is usually what you see when the feds, the rare occasion that the feds says something amazing and the markets react. I mean, to be waiting for a President or those around him to speak in this way just shows you how incredibly anxious people are.

And, I honestly think there's more turmoil to come. I don't think that you're going to see China pulling back quickly. I know a lot of countries are negotiating amongst themselves right now. Not maybe not only with the U.S., but together. We are in a really unprecedented situation. We haven't been here in you know, since the Great Depression, really, you know, before the Great Depression.

[20:05:43]

COOPER: Alyssa, what do you think of the Treasury Secretary's visit to Mar-a-Lago?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, listen, they don't really have -- they do have a messaging problem. Everyone's saying different things about the end game. Today, Peter Navarro had an op-ed out saying that there's no concessions. There's no deal to be made. This is the end game and you have others saying we are open to negotiations.

But messaging is secondary to the policy issue here. These tariffs are devastating in every traditional economist, every Republican economist for decades would have said that this is something that would hurt wealth in this country, that would have the impact it did on the markets.

And what I'm stunned by, I worked with Peter Navarro. I liked Peter Navarro, but Peter Navarro was actively kept out of key economic meetings in the Oval Office by people like Steve Mnuchin, Larry Kudlow, members of the NEC, because he often didn't have all the facts and all the details and gave half-baked ideas to President Trump.

So, I'm not surprised to know he is a chief architect of what was a disastrous rollout of this task.

COOPER: Do you think anyone has the much idea -- I mean, is this being driven by Trump? And is he the one who will know when does this end or --

GRIFFIN: I mean, Trump does believe in tariffs. This is something he says, one of the most beautiful words in the English language. He does truly believe that we can onshore more American jobs and have more built in America. But he now has advisers around him who are telling him this is going to work, and he doesn't have the voices who are giving him the other side of it, which he had in the first term.

FOROOHAR: Well, and it's interesting, even when he has those voices, I mean, Steve Miron at the council of economic advisers actually put out a big report kind of outlining the idea that tariffs can be used as a tool to reindustrialize. But he also said in that report, it's very complicated. There's a lot of balls in the air, and the President isn't even following that blueprint.

So, even amongst the folks that would say, you know, what, we need to do this economic nationalism is okay. Tariffs are okay. They're one tool in the toolbox. He's not following that playbook. He is on some totally different page.

COOPER: Well, what do you think Democrats should be doing.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Blame assignment, right, politics is all about taking credit and giving blame.

FOROOHAR: Right.

BEGALA: And this is pretty easy, this is right now it's a one man show. It's Donald Trump, this is not like the Great Depression, which, you know, Smoot-Hawley and all these big things were going on. It's not like '08 when whatever credit default swaps are like, you know, what that is? That's way above my pay grade. And it's not some mysterious virus out of Wuhan. This is one guy who's taken $11 trillion away from Americans in 11 weeks. That's a lot of people's retirements. It's their college funds. He didn't have to do it. It was complete -- this is this is economic arson.

It's not a lightning strike. This is a guy setting fire to your savings. And I think the comment from Jamie Dimon is really prescient because he said more pain is coming and he means inflation. So, right now it's a stock market. Soon it's going to be the supermarket. So, if you drive or dress or drink or eat, your costs are going up. And it's the one thing he got elected to do was cut the cost of living. But Democrats need to spread that now to Republicans and say, you could stop this. Congress is supposed to control tariffs.

Years ago, they ceded that authority to the President, but Mr. Trump is doing is not illegal. I just think it's unwise. But Congress should claw back that power and every Democrat would be for it. The Republicans have to own this because they could take that power back away from the President.

COOPER: That would require Republicans being on board with clawing it back.

BEGALA: Absolutely.

COOPER: Doesn't seem to be the case. Rana, what do you think is the ultimate goal for the President here?

FOROOHAR: So, I think there's sort of two ways to think about this. There's Donald Trump, the individual and his psychology. And I'm not going to predict to know what that is from day-to-day. There is a thesis within the administration that you have to reindustrialize, in part for security reasons. You need to make ships, you need to make, you know, have critical minerals--

COOPER: But all that takes a lot of time.

FOROOHAR: But it takes a lot of time. And what I --

COOPER: He's talking about, all the investments that, you know, Sam Altman talked about doing stuff here, the infrastructure, the rebuilding the grid.

FOROOHAR: Indeed, I mean, look, he's turning back the good things that happened in Trump one. In Trump one, I was actually a fan of Bob Lighthizer, the USTR at that point coming out and saying, you know what, the trading relationship between China and the U.S. is fundamentally flawed. We have to reset it.

Tariffs on China, very strategic. They actually didn't cause inflation. Biden then comes in and says, yeah, were going to do that, but were going to add some industrial policy. We're going to rebuild chips in America, which we did in 18 years, and we are now dismantling in 18 months, and we're now dismantling that.

You know, you have to do things at home and abroad, and you have to do them surgically, and you have to work with allies and you have to communicate them. That's not what's happening here.

COOPER: Alyssa, Maggie Haberman on Friday was talking about how the President seems to have given up caring about the optics of things. I mean, going off to play golf after, of course, mocking, you know, President Obama and many others for playing golf. I mean, I think he's played golf pretty much every weekend while, you know, there was the return of U.S. service members who died overseas and the market meltdown.

[20:10:25]

GRIFFIN: I think it's even beyond not caring about optics. I think that he doesn't feel constrained by reelection. He knows he's got two years to get his agenda through, and he doesn't even really care about the midterms. He doesn't care as much if other Republicans don't get elected as long as in two years, he can put a stamp on the Trump legacy.

So, that's why you're seeing him take big, bold, swift actions the way that he is. And I think he's kind of just going to let the chips fall where they may. But what I would say is, I think you're absolutely spot on that in the first term, there was an understanding of targeted ways that we should onshore certain industries, certain aspect. But what these are going to do are so much more sweeping.

Every basic good and service clothing, food and things that he just -- there isn't a plan. From what I've seen from the White House to deal with how we're going to meet those immediate needs and it's just going to mean huge cost to consumers.

FOROOHAR: There's also, I think, not enough understanding that America doesn't run the global economy anymore. You know, China is a huge player. They're not just going to sit back and play Trump's game. I think there's going to be a lot of wheeling and dealing. And in some ways this is an incredible opportunity for China to come in and reset global trade to their own liking.

COOPER: Rana Foroohar, appreciate it. Alyssa Farah Griffin. Thank you. Paul Begala, great to see you.

Coming up next, former White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel's take on how this is going for the President.

Later, more breaking news, the Supreme Court handing the administration a big victory on those deportations under an obscure law that's only been used a few times since it was enacted in 1798. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [20:15:56]

COOPER: Part of the breaking news tonight on Treasury Secretary Bessent's trip to Mar-a-Lago to counsel the President about the framing of his tariff policy was underscored by a question in the White House today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: There have been some mixed messages from your administration. You're talking about negotiations, and yet others in your administration are saying that these tariffs are actually permanent. What is the actual --

TRUMP: Well, it could be. They can both be true. There can be permanent tariffs and there can also be negotiations because there are things that we need beyond tariffs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: The President this afternoon.

With us tonight CNN senior political and global affairs commentator Rahm Emanuel, who served as White House chief-of-staff in the Obama administration. He's also the former mayor of Chicago and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan. There has been this whole question of, is it negotiation that he's after? Is this going to be long tariffs? Where do you --

RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I think there are -- They got you right where they want you. I think they are -- There's a negotiation camp and there's retaliation camp. And you can see through the leaks or comments that depending on who the President talks to last both are being said.

I mean, as a Trump-ologist, I would say that he's going to negotiate pretty soon with one or two, Japan, Israel are in and say, look, this was always the planned. See, how they came running to me? Because I think the devastation is far more severe and serious than they predicted. On the stock market side, that's rippling now into the economy.

COOPER: Do you think they would not have seen the effect this would have on the stock market?

EMANUEL: Look, I mean, I'm going to try to pace myself here. I'm going to try to -- I think they had -- I think you have a Cabinet that has a grasp of the English language is limited to four words. Yes, sir. Mr. President, I've walked in many times to President Obama and President Clinton, many times into the Oval Office over eight years and told him, you're absolutely wrong and they want you to do that. That is not a President that wants you to disagree.

I don't think they saw three -- not only one move, three moves ahead. And why you would even from the front end, say to your allies, we're going to treat you worse or more damaging than we treat our adversaries. In this situation, just take one part of the world I'm very familiar with in Asia.

China, you can't get tariffs high enough for me because they steal intellectual property, economic espionage. They take our A.I., et cetera. We work tirelessly to get Japan and Korea, who were not exactly on the best of terms, to work with the United States on export controls, agreements. Japan is the number one foreign direct investor in the United States. A million Americans work for them for the last four years. They are the biggest investor. They now have a meeting where rather than isolate China, they're working together and they're isolating us.

Samsung just announced a major deal with the Chinese semiconductor when they were part of the export control. So this is rather than they -- let me say it this way -- they gave China a get out of jail card and now we're back in the prison box. And this is not going to end well. And let alone, you know, its 11 weeks and $11 trillion. In 80 days of being a President. He destroyed 80 years of a brand of the United States. We have no idea how powerful the brand is around the world, and it's going to affect American companies, American products, whether that's on the consumer shelf or our technology.

So, that's kind of -- and I think that I'm a little shocked at how naive they've been about not just the market. And when we think the market, but this is, you now have -- and I'm, you know, I'm going to say shame on you to the business leaders, they're all walking around, you know, they were high fiving each other. They're like, no, were going to get tax cuts. We're going to get, you know, were going to get regulation cuts. The American people wait and see.

Now, they realize it's the largest tax increase in American history, $600 billion on the U.S. taxpayers. That's what's going to happen.

COOPER: And the effect on our allies, I mean, not just Japan, Korea, European allies and others. I mean, what is it?

EMANUEL: You could have sent a trade to say, look, you can simply say to allies, we're not going to do this. We're giving you this on defense, very legitimate. You have access here, very legitimate. But we don't have access there. You would have given the security situation in Ukraine and given where the United States role and they want us there, given the concerns about Russia. You could have probably cut a sweet deal in Europe would have done. We find another word before I just caught myself my own editing. We threw that away.

No, but think about this, we just negotiated in Trump one, a new deal with Canada and Mexico, and he blew it up. You know, in your business, my business, you know, in your life and my life, you throw away trust and credibility, it takes you decades to build. It goes like that. And once it goes, nobody will ever do another deal. Nobody will and what's happening now, Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, they're going to make their own way. We had China, as they said, isolated in a box. They were angry. Now, we're in the box.

[20:20:51]

COOPER: Rahm Emanuel, thanks very much, appreciate it. EMANUEL: Thank you.

COOPER: Coming up next, breaking news on two fronts from the Supreme Court and the President's deportation effort on the Alien Enemies Act just now.

Also today, in the case of one man sent in what the government admits was an administrative error to that draconian prison in El Salvador. And we'll speak with a lawyer for another man who was sent there, a gay make-up artist with no criminal record in this country or in his home country, Venezuela.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:25:24]

COOPER: More breaking news tonight.

Just moments ago, the President was up on social media praising what he calls "A great day for justice in America." He was reacting to the Supreme Court ruling tonight permitting immigration officials to deport alleged gang members under the 18th century Alien Enemies Act for now, and there are new limits.

The court said that those being deported need to get adequate notification that they're subject to the wartime authority and be allowed to have their removal reviewed. Perspective now from CNN senior legal analyst, Elie Honig, former federal prosecutor . So, what does that mean -- they get to have their case or the chance to have their case reviewed.

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So, Anderson, those are the really important guardrails that the Supreme Court put in tonight. Now, this is a win for the Trump administration because the majority here, the six conservative justices, said that the deportation process under the Alien Enemies Act can continue, can resume for now. The liberals wanted to keep it all on pause.

But the two key guardrails that you hit on, first of all, all nine justices agree that any deportee under this act does have a right to go to the courts and to challenge it. And the second part is they have to be given reasonable advance notice so that they actually, as a practical matter, can get to the courts and not be whisked away in the middle of the night like was originally done in this case.

COOPER: The White House Deputy Chief-of-Staff for Policy, Stephen Miller, posted on X in reference to someone who had been removed from the U.S. under this act was, "ineligible for any form of relief under the law. The only process he was entitled to was deportation."

So, it sounds like the Supreme Court did not exactly agree with that.

HONIG: That's flat out wrong by Stephen Miller. Even the six conservative justices say anyone is allowed to go into court to challenge this. The difference, though, is that the majority, the conservative justices, said, you have to do it through this thing called 'Habeas', which has to be filed in the district where the actual person is being held.

The liberals wanted to give broader rights to challenge this in court more broadly, geographically and with respect to how they challenge it. But what Stephen Miller said there is straight up wrong. Everyone agrees you can challenge this in court.

COOPER: All right, Elie Honig, thanks very much.

Also tonight, the Supreme Court has paused a midnight deadline that would have forced the Trump administration to bring back a Maryland man who was deported out of the U.S. to El Salvador on March 15th in what the government admitted in a court filing last week was what they called an administrative error.

Now, today's order came down from Chief Justice Roberts after the Trump administration appealed a lower court's decision that had put the midnight deadline in place. The Supreme Court didn't give any kind of timeline of when they expect to actually rule on the case. That means that the man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who's El Salvadoran national, is going to remain in that notorious El Salvador prison for now.

By the way, the Department of Justice's own attorney who argued this case in a lower court just last week, he admitted in court he had limited information and couldn't answer many of the judge's questions. He seemed frustrated, as did the judge. That did not sit well with the Attorney General, Pam Bondi. She's now placed that government attorney on administrative leave.

Joining me now from El Salvador. CNN's David Culver. David, you spent time in this prison. What are you hearing about where Garcia is now, what he's experiencing there?

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You mentioned little information that seems to be a running theme when it comes to trying to get information out of CECOT. This maximum security prison here, just outside the capital of El Salvador, in San Salvador. And it's interesting hearing, Anderson, from two different contacts who are familiar with how the deportees are being held within CECOT right now.

Now, I specify the deportees and they're distinct from the regular prison population, who are mostly Salvadorans who are alleged MS-13 and 18th Street gang members. The deportees, however, are split between two different groups.

You've got the Tren de Aragua suspected gang members, and then you've got about a couple dozen alleged MS-13 gang members who were deported from the U.S. just last month. Among them Abrego Garcia.

What I'm hearing is that they are being kept separate from the rest of the prison population and that their conditions, according to these sources, are, dare I say, a bit better. And by that I mean it's believed that they may even have access to sheets, bed sheets, because they don't have that in the main part of CECOT that we have visited and seen firsthand. It's just a metal bunk bed, essentially.

And they're able to basically converse a bit more with each other to be a bit more relaxed.

When we visited, it's almost like a militant aspect that they have to respond to orders from the guards that they're standing up. They're not really talking or engaging with each other and certainly not engaging with us.

So, it does seem that there is a bit of a distinction. And it's possible, Anderson, that that's the case, because perhaps while it's often said, once you go into CECOT, you never come out, but in a casket, that the government and prison officials here in El Salvador are preparing for the possibility that at some point these individuals might leave and either go back to Venezuela or to the U.S.

COOPER: Are prisoners there -- I mean, do -- does anyone actually leave? I mean, are they actually convicted of crimes? And I'm not talking about the deportees, even just the prisoners who are down there. Do they get out and do they have sentences or actually serving like limited time sentences?

[20:30:36]

CULVER: So we've spoken to one who admittedly was chosen by the guards to speak with us when we visited late last year, and that individual said that he was convicted. He admitted to what he said was killing 20 to 30 people.

However, I think what you point out is a really important aspect of all of this, is there's a question of due process or lack thereof. They do have these screening rooms where they can have virtual meetings with their lawyers, and prison officials say they can also talk into a courtroom proceeding, for example, but it's not clear if that's actually playing out or if most of these individuals or all of them have been, in fact, officially convicted.

But certainly, when you talk to the people here, they stand by it. That's the one thing that really, I think, comes across.

COOPER: Yes. David Culver, thanks very much.

There is another man who was sent to that prison in El Salvador. His name is Andry Hernandez Romero, a 31-year-old gay makeup artist with no criminal record in the U.S. or in his home country of Venezuela. He had only recently come to the United States and asked for asylum. He had a pending asylum claim moving through immigration courts when he was suddenly deported.

Now, according to his attorney, Hernandez Romero left Venezuela because he feared he was being targeted or feared being targeted over his sexual identity and political views. She says the United States government found the threats against her client credible and that he had a strong case for asylum.

Last month, he didn't show up for a scheduled court hearing. He'd been removed to El Salvador by the Trump administration. His attorney says she was not notified ahead of time. Take a look at some photos here. They were taken in the prison by Time magazine photographer Philip Holsinger, who then they appear to show this man, Hernandez Romero. They were featured last night in the report on 60 Minutes.

Holsinger describes hearing a young man in the prison say, quote, "I'm not a gang member. I'm gay. I'm a stylist", before crying, crying out for his mother and then being repeatedly slapped.

The Trump administration is arguing that Hernandez Romero's tattoos prove he's actually a member of this Venezuelan gang, something his attorney denies. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security provided this statement that reads, "DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media. Tren de Aragua is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet Earth. They rape, maim, and murder for sport.

President Trump and Secretary Noem will not allow criminal gangs to terrorize American citizens. We are confident in our law enforcement's intelligence. We aren't going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane".

Well, we examined Hernandez Romero's social media going back nearly a decade, finding only these professional photos you see here on his Facebook page from his career as a makeup artist.

Joining me now is his attorney, Lindsay Toczylowski. She's also the co-founder and president of the Immigrant Defenders Law Service. Thanks so much for being with us. What more can you tell us about your client and his asylum case?

LINDSAY TOCZYLOWSKI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF IMMIGRANT DEFENDERS LAW CENTER IN LOS ANGELES: Thanks for having me, Anderson. Andry came to the United States last year. He did it in the way that we were asking people to at the time. He had a CBP-1 appointment. He applied for asylum.

He came here because he was persecuted in Venezuela, both because of his sexual orientation but also because of his political views against the Maduro regime. He was doing, you know, exactly what he was supposed to be doing in terms of presenting evidence in his case.

We were prepared to move forward to seek protection here, and unfortunately he disappeared before we were able to do that. We were supposed to be in court on March 13th, and that was the last time we spoke with Andry.

He was removed on March 15th, sent forcibly to El Salvador, and we have never been given any documentation, no notice, no piece of paper that explains the circumstances of how he was forcibly sent to El Salvador to this moment.

COOPER: The issue of his tattoos seems to be what the government is largely pointing to. We're showing you picture. There's two crowns. They're saying that's indicative of a gang member in this gang.

He's actually from a town where the Three Kings celebration, I understand. I read a lengthy piece in The New Yorker and also 60 Minutes last night, is a huge thing, which he took part in. There's even a photo online of his parents in crowns, and his tattoos are crowns with each of his parents' names underneath a crown. What do you say his tattoos mean?

[20:35:06]

TOCZYLOWSKI: This is really a tragic cultural misunderstanding. Andry is someone who has been in a theater troupe since he was seven years old. And as you mentioned, the Three Kings, a Christian play pageant that happened every year in his hometown, these tattoos are really an homage to that, to his artistry. He's also someone who did makeup for the Miss Venezuela pageant. He was even in pageants himself.

To have somebody with that background sent to the CECOT in El Salvador with no due process, with no opportunity for us to refute the allegation that these crown tattoos, which have such an easy explanation to them are -- make him a member of Tren de Aragua is just -- it's absolutely astonishing. It's one of the most astonishing things, shocking things I've seen in my entire legal career.

COOPER: I mean, I haven't heard of a lot of like deadly Venezuelan gangs or El Salvador gangs that really like gay people and have openly gay people who are makeup artists in them. In the statement we received from DHS, the government says they aren't going to share intelligence reports that, quote, "undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one".

Do you think it's possible that they have evidence beyond the tattoos that you may be unaware of, linking him to this Venezuelan gang?

TOCZYLOWSKI: I think it's highly unlikely. We have absolutely zero reason to believe that he is a gay makeup artist masquerading in that manner when he's actually a gang member. It's preposterous. And in fact, if there were such evidence, they had an opportunity to file it in court, and they did not.

All they filed in his case were those crown tattoo photos. Nothing else. He has denied from the --

COOPER: Yes, sorry. Go ahead.

TOCZYLOWSKI: He has denied from the moment he arrived here that he is a gang member. And to think that without due process, without a hearing, without the notice that the Supreme Court tonight said is due to every single person when they intend to invoke this act is just -- it's an astonishing thing to imagine that they have done this.

COOPER: How concerned are you about his well-being? Obviously, it was a big decision to even say publicly he was gay. I know his mom, your attorneys were concerned about it, according to what I read in The New Yorker. His mom said, you know, whatever will help get attention to him, you know, just tell the truth. Are you concerned about him in that prison?

TOCZYLOWSKI: We are gravely concerned for his safety in the CECOT. We know the conditions there. We know that there are reports of torture. The images of Andry when he arrived there, the -- what we heard that he was crying for his mom, that he was pleading for help, I can only imagine how scary this situation is for him.

And given that he is a gay man, knowing the vulnerabilities that that creates for somebody in a custodial setting like this, knowing that he is in one of the most dangerous places that he could be, is something that we are gravely concerned about. And it's the reason why we are calling for the Trump administration to bring him back here, give him the due process that he was denied, so that we can go in court and talk about what those tattoos actually meant and prove that he is not a member of Tren de Aragua.

In fact, he's someone that was fleeing, you know, the very things that he is now being accused of being.

COOPER: Lindsay Toczylowski, I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. We'll continue to follow this case.

Coming up next, the Trump administration continues purging websites to fulfill the President's anti-DEI mandates, and it's facing charges of whitewashing history. Now, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. New developments on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:43:02]

COOPER: We've been reporting for months now on the Trump administration's efforts to rewrite American history, apparently as part of their mandate to eliminate all references and efforts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, which the President, as you know, signed an executive order against on his first day in office.

His administration has purged from a number of Department of Defense websites and other government sites specific references to the struggles and accomplishments of black Americans, gay and lesbian and transgender Americans, and trailblazing women who fought for equality, among many other groups.

In late March, President Trump took aim at our national parks and museums, specifically the Smithsonian, and signed another executive order, this one titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History". It reads in part, and I quote, "The Smithsonian Institution has in recent years, come under the influence of a divisive, race- centered ideology".

And the effort to whitewash American history now continues. The National Park Service, which has already removed the word transgender from its website discussing the history of the Stonewall Rebellion, they've even removed the letter T from LGBT. They now just say it's LGB. Anyway, we found out yesterday they had rewritten the history of the Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman. This is what the webpage from the National Park Service on the Underground Railroad originally looked like, leading with a photo and quote by Harriet Tubman and an opening line that read, and I quote, "The Underground Railroad -- the resistance to enslavement through escape and flight through the end of the Civil War -- refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage".

So that's what it was before they changed it. It then became this, gone were the photo and quote from Harriet Tubman in their place, images of U.S. Postal Service commemorative stamps that highlight, quote, "black-white cooperation". Also gone any reference to enslavement or slavery or enslaved people in the opening line.

The story was first reported by the Washington Post yesterday and other outlets took notice, including CNN. One historian we spoke to called the omissions offensive and absurd. The Washington Post also found that edits on dozens of other National Park Service webpages since Trump's inauguration had, quote, "softened descriptions of some of the most shameful moments of the nation's past". That included the website for the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site in Arkansas.

[20:45:16]

Now in 1957, nine incredibly brave black students known as the Little Rock Nine were to be the first to integrate this all-white school facing an angry white mob and Arkansas National Guardsmen actually blocking their entrance.

Once they finally did get inside, they were beaten, spat at, spat on, endured racist verbal attacks. And yet according to the Washington Post, six different webpages that said they opened doors for, quote, equality and education around the world were edited to remove the word equality.

One of the surviving Little Rock Nine members is Elizabeth Eckford. That's her in the middle of a photo being screamed at by white students. When asked about the changes to the site, she told the Post, quote, "We can never have true racial reconciliation until we honestly acknowledge our painful but shared history" -- or excuse me, "our shared past".

By the way, just before we went on air tonight, after it was roundly criticized for removing Harriet Tubman, the National Park Service actually switched the Underground Railroad webpage back to the original. We reached out about the back and forth and a spokesperson claimed the change was made without the approval of leadership and that, quote, "The webpage was immediately restored to its original content".

Joining me now is Sherrilyn Ifill, former president and director council -- director of council of the NAACP Illegal Defense Fund and currently the Vernon Jordan Chair in Civil Rights at Howard University Law School. Thanks so much for being with us. Despite these pages being restored, as we mentioned, Harriet Tubman's photo was removed, replaced with this Postal Service stamps highlighting black-white cooperation and references to slavery were also removed and restored. What message does this send do you think?

SHERRILYN IFILL, HOWARD UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: Well, I think the principal thing that we're seeing, Anderson, is that people who are working in these agencies and these offices are responding to what they think the president and his aides, Stephen Miller and maybe Chris Rufo want. None of these changes are warranted by any of the executive orders that the President has issued.

In fact, these would distort history and he, you know, his executive order about restoring the truth of history. This is, in fact, in contrast to that. And indeed, to the extent that his executive orders talk about portraying this country in a negative light, what could be more positive than the overcoming of injustice? What could be more positive than ordinary Americans fighting against injustice and making this country better and bringing it closer to democracy?

The only way you can think that recognizing the accomplishments of Jackie Robinson or of Elizabeth Eckford or of Harriet Tubman, who you know, conducted the Underground Railroad and led scores of black people to freedom from slavery in Maryland, the only way you could think that that was somehow divisive is if you think that black people are not Americans because their heroism as Americans makes the country better.

And so I think you have people in these agencies and departments who see the intention of Mr. Trump and they believe that they are meeting what his intention is, but what they are doing is not compelled by law, not compelled by the Supreme Court, not compelled by these EOs and offensive to the very concept of historical integrity, which is a sacred trust of the federal government.

COOPER: Yes. I mean, as we mentioned, it wasn't just Harriet Tubman, Washington Post review found that edits dozens of pages, softening descriptions of really some of the most shameful --

IFILL: Yes.

COOPER: -- moments of our history. It seems like any reference almost or acknowledgement of blackness at times from some of these sites has been removed that somehow acknowledging a person's race in a context of American history just seems like that is not something that -- it seems like that goes against the idea of that's dividing people in some way, which as opposed to just acknowledging the, you know, the many different people that make up this country.

IFILL: Well, in a way, the people who are responding to this are right. They understand that Mr. Trump is using the phrase DEI as a substitute for black, as a substitute for race, or as a substitute for gender. And that's why it's so important on members of your profession, the media to have been careful about defining what does DEI in fact actually mean? It does not mean that you can't talk about slavery or that you can't recognize the accomplishments of Harriet Tubman, but that is how Trump and his coterie have used it. They have used it as a synonym for anything referencing race or recognizing the truth of America's past and contemporary entanglement with white supremacy.

[20:50:01]

And so those who work for the federal government are intuiting correctly that that is what the President means and wants. And it's very important for those who have the microphone to disentangle these concepts. This is not DEI, this is not rewriting history. This is accurate history.

And there's a remarkable story to be told about this country if this President had the sensitivity to want to tell that story. But instead what he wants to do is to use the blunt instrument of race as a way of erasing black accomplishment and setting black people up as other rather than as Americans whose accomplishments actually add luster to this country.

You know, he's got to be pressed on these executive orders, what they actually mean. And I always start and tell my students to start looking at the definition section. Don't allow him to get away with broad brushing things. Make sure that you know what the words he's saying actually mean.

COOPER: Yes. It doesn't seem like a sign of strength in this country to kind of recreate our history and to not acknowledge terrible things that happen and injustices that occurred and the changes that have occurred and the changes that have not occurred. And that seems to me a sign of strength of a country, weak countries rewrite their history, weak countries, you know, literally airbrush people out of history.

IFILL: Yes, no, that's exactly right, Anderson. And, of course, Trump is not the only person, we saw Governor DeSantis doing this in Florida where he insisted on the sanitizing of education. The inability to confront the truth about your history, to confront the truth about the faults of your nation, even as you celebrate its accomplishments and its great promise, that is the sign of weakness.

And what the President is currently doing with these EOs is encouraging Americans to feel a sense that they cannot withstand the truth and cannot withstand their history. And that's not true.

COOPER: Yes. Sherrilyn Ifill, really appreciate your time. Thank you.

IFILL: Thank you.

COOPER: Up next, the new video that emerged over the weekend, casting doubt on Israel's claims about an incident where Israeli troops shot and killed 15 Palestinian emergency workers and buried their vehicles. More on that ahead.

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[20:56:24]

COOPER: With Israel's prime minister in Washington tonight, a shocking video has emerged showing the final moments. More than a dozen Palestinian emergency workers shot dead by Israeli troops last month in Gaza. What Israel originally said about the incident is contradicted by the video and raised major doubts about Israeli claims about the killings.

A report from CNN's Jeremy Diamond comes with a warning. Some of what you'll see is graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Emergency lights flashing in the pre-dawn sky. A convoy of ambulances and a fire truck pull up to the scene of an Israeli attack. Palestinian paramedics and civil defense responders get out of their vehicles when suddenly, amid a hail of gunfire, emergency responders drop to the ground. And the paramedic who is filming begins to pray.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language)

DIAMOND (voice-over): It is the single deadliest attack on emergency responders in Gaza during the war, killing 15. The Israeli military says it is re-examining the incident after this video debunked their claim that the ambulances were advancing suspiciously and without emergency lights.

Now, new testimony from a survivor further undermining the Israeli narrative, indicating Israeli troops opened fire on ambulances not once but twice that same morning. Less than an hour before the attack on the convoy, paramedic Munther Abed says his ambulance also came under fire.

They opened fire directly on us in the vehicle, Munther says. I survived by lying down in the back of the vehicle. If I had stood up, I would have been killed.

He listened as two of his colleagues, Mostafa Khafaga and Ezzedine Shaath, drew their last breaths. Israeli troops then detained Munther. The Israeli military has described that first attack as targeting a Hamas vehicle, killing two Hamas members and detaining a third.

An Israeli military official said they were not uniformed paramedics. But Munther says they were driving a well-lit ambulance and were wearing their uniforms.

As Israeli troops questioned Munther, other medics were dispatched to look for him. The Palestine Red Crescent Society says this is Munther's ambulance, lights extinguished after coming under fire. No comment from the Israeli military.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): They're lying there, just lying there. Quick!

DIAMOND (voice-over): Munther saw the convoy arrive. MUNTHER ABED, PARAMEDIC (through translation): I was lying face down and a soldier had an M-16 rifle pressed against my back, with my face turned toward the street. In the street, there were civil defense vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances parked nearby. They opened fire directly on them.

The Israeli military buried the bodies in this shallow grave. They say it was to prevent the bodies from being scavenged. But they also crushed and buried the ambulances and fire truck. The U.N. only reached the site a week later.

Paramedic Hasan Hosni nearly ended up in that grave. But he called in sick that day, and his son Mohammed took his place. He soon called him one last time.

HASAN HOSNI, PARAMEDIC (through translation): Help me, dad. Help me. I asked him what was wrong, and he said, we were targeted by the Israelis, and they are now shooting at us directly. Then the call disconnected.

A week later, his father identified his body.

"They wouldn't let me wash the dirt from his face. I don't know why. He had a wound on his mouth here, another on his forehead, and another on his back, all from gunfire," his father says.

HOSNI (through translation): God bless his soul.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

DIAMOND (on-camera): Anderson, the Israeli military chief of staff was briefed today on the preliminary investigation, and he directed that that inquiry be, quote, "pursued in greater depth". We expect that will conclude in the coming days.

But in the meantime, the Palestine Red Crescent Society is calling for an independent investigation. No indication from the Israeli military that they will pursue that avenue. Anderson?

COOPER: Jeremy Diamond, thanks very much.

The news continues. The Source starts now.