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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Trump Makes Unsubstantiated Claims of Genocide in South Africa; House GOP Leaders Push for Budget Bill Vote in Coming Hours; Interview with Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY); Expert Witness Testifies About Sexual Abuse, Trauma; Ex-assistant for Combs Testifies Under Immunity Agreement; Two Women Arrested in Connection With New Orleans Jailbreak, Accused of Aiding Prisoners After They Escaped; CNN Investigation Finds Air Traffic Control Outages Not Isolated to Newark; Oregon Man Quits Job and Sets Sail on a Life-changing Voyage With His Rescue Cat Phoenix. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired May 21, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: and also, today, the Iranian parliament said the same thing as well. At the same time, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who of course, is the authority that's above anything else here in Iran, he has said that he's not confident that the talks could lead to a conclusion and he also called on the U.S. negotiators, as he put it, to try not to talk nonsense -- Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right, Fred, thank you so much, Fred as I said live in Tehran for us at this crucial time. Thanks so much to him and thanks so much to all of you for being with us. AC360 starts now.

[20:00:35]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, another Oval Office ambush. First it was Zelenskyy, now President Trump confronts South Africa's President. His facts, however, don't add up. We're keeping them honest.

Also tonight, the trouble in our skies. Turns out Newark Airport isn't alone. Old technology, stressed out controllers and close calls in the air. New reporting on what appears to be a nationwide problem.

And later, the guy who hated his job quit and is now sailing the high seas by himself. We check in with Oliver Widger, whose solo voyage is being followed by people around the world.

Good evening, thanks for joining us. We begin tonight keeping them honest with the President of United States, confronting the President of South Africa, making a string of false accusations about that country with cameras rolling and the whole world watching.

The meeting with Cyril Ramaphosa started amicably enough, with President Trump praising south African golfers and President Ramaphosa talking about the coffee table book on the sport that he brought as a gift. Then, after a reporter's question about the administration making White Afrikaners the only refugees allowed into the country since taking office while moving to deport Haitians and Venezuelans, to name two, the President was off and running.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A lot of people are very concerned with regard to South Africa, and that's really the purpose of the meeting and we'll see how that turns out. But we have many people that feel they're being persecuted, and they're coming to the United States. So, we take from many, many locations if we feel there's persecution or genocide going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, in point of fact, since taking office, the Trump administration has halted refugees from coming into the United States. He signed an executive order effectively shutting down the refugee program, even though there were people who had been approved in the prior administration who actually had faced persecution and were about to come here, they were stopped by this administration.

Now, as far as we can tell, no Black Africans have been given refugee status since inauguration day and the only people being allowed in, and the only Africans whose entrance is actually being expedited by the administration are White, White South Africans. The first ones who arrived, you see them there were recently welcomed at Dulles Airport by senior officials from the State Department, Department of Homeland Security.

This afternoon in the White House, President Trump dimmed the lights and played a video which made the case that White Afrikaners in South Africa are the victims of genocide. Part of the video showed crowds shouting "kill the Boers," which is another word for white farmers who descended from the country's original colonists, most of whom were of Dutch descent.

And the people shouting it were led by a left wing extremist who's not actually part of the South African government. He was expelled from President Ramaphosa's party more than a decade ago. Another portion of the clip showed crosses and mounds lining the road, which President Trump described this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This is a very bad, the these are burial sites right here, burial sites over a thousand of White farmers. And those cars are lined up to pay love on a Sunday morning. Each one of those white things you see is a cross. And there's approximately a thousand of them. They're all White farmers, and it's a terrible sight. I've never seen anything like it. Both sides of the road you have crosses. Those people are all killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: And President Ramaphosa, who had sat silently through the video, had a question afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: Have they told you where that is, Mr. President? No, I'd like to know where that is because this I've never seen. I don't -- okay.

TRUMP:. It's in South Africa, that's where.

RAMAPHOSA: We need to find out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, keeping them honest, it's entirely possible he knows the answer to that, which is that this purported burial ground is not a burial ground. The crosses are, in fact, symbolic, part of a protest against the murder of farmers, yes, but not burial sites. Those are not graves.

Now, crime has been a huge problem in South Africa and has been a problem for decades. And I'm not talking about the crimes of the White Afrikaner apartheid regime, which were horrific. I'm talking about robberies and murder and assaults.

According to the most recent South African official data, there were nearly 20,000 murders from April of 2024 through December of 2024. Of that number, just 36 or about 0.2 percent were linked to any way to farms or smaller agricultural holdings. Of those, 36, only seven of those were farmers the others were farm workers. Now, South Africa doesn't break down these crime stats by race, but farm workers tend to be Black in South Africa.

In any event, according to official stats, the number of murders is a tiny percentage of the overall murder rate. And what's more, those who have studied the problem say the motive for most is robbery, not necessarily political or racial. And finally, none of this, according to the U.N. and others, is in any way meets the definition of genocide, which is what the President has called it before. This is what he said just last week.

[20:05:38]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's a genocide that's taking place that you people don't want to write about. But it's a terrible thing that's taking place and farmers are being killed. They happen to be White, but whether they're White Or Black makes no difference to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, interestingly, today, when asked, the President seemed uncertain about calling it genocide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REPORTER: Genocide is a very strong word. I'm wondering if you can make up your mind as to whether you believe genocide is occurring in South Africa, or are you still in doubt? And if you have made up your mind, why invite President Ramaphosa here today?

TRUMP: Well, I haven't made up my mind. I hate to see it from the standpoint of South Africa, but also, you know, I'm trying to save lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Now, perhaps he just hedged a little out of politeness or musing out loud, which he does at times. But as we mentioned, he's certainly leveled the genocide accusation before. Again, farmers are being killed. A small number. It's tragic. Any murder is, but it is not genocide. And while a law was passed in South Africa allowing for confiscation of land that was stolen from Black South Africans under apartheid, it also allows for judicial review. And according to the South African government, so far no land has been seized yet.

In his first term in office, Mr. Trump wants to ask why there wasn't more immigration from places like Norway, instead of what he termed shithole countries. He now seems to be answering that question with more than just talk.

Joining us now is "New York Times'" White House correspondent Maggie Haberman. She's also a CNN political analyst and author of "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America," was bestseller in hardcover and is soon in paperback.

So, Maggie is there -- I mean, was this -- this clearly was planned out, clearly he had this film ready, not sure exactly where it came from. Do you know how long this was in the making for?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think quite a while, Anderson, although I don't know the specifics on how long this video has been in the works, but certainly the confrontation that Trump initiated in the Oval Office has been on his mind and some of his aides mind for some time.

Now, that video, as you noted, not just, you know, played lights dimmed, but the White House Twitter account or X account, I believe, pushed it out almost immediately after this meeting.

So this is something that Trump wants attention on, and I'm sure he's very happy that there is a lot of news coverage of it now. But regardless of what his desire is, as you said, the facts of what he was lecturing the South African President about sitting there in the Oval Office just are not the case. It does not, as you say, mean that there are not murders taking place of some White farmers and that that, you know, it is always a tragedy when somebody is murdered but the crime rate. And people were saying this to him in the meeting. Crime is bad across the board, it's not just White farmers, it's also -- there's also rapes, there's also murders, there's robberies and that is what they were hoping to have the attention on, not what Trump wanted to talk about.

COOPER: It's remarkable to me that, you know, the South African delegation brought South African golfers hoping that that would somehow, you know, make the President give him something to talk about or make him comfortable. I guess there was a billionaire, White South African billionaire there who tried to impress upon the President the that there is not a genocide going on there. It didn't seem to ultimately obviously have the effect. Where does this go from here? I mean there was -- there were other meetings and Elon Musk was in the office. It was also interesting to hear the President at one point say, Elon Musk wanted this.

HABERMAN: Right, I mean, look, we've seen Elon Musk talking about this on X for some time. President Trump was talking about this with people in his first term. He would talk about it with aides in a number of meetings. It just didn't become the topic that it has now or the cause that it has now for him. You are correct that despite the fact that he had a pretty lecturing and angry tone with a lot of the Black officials who were talking, it was when that that White billionaire executive was talking to him.

That was the first moment that Trump really calmed down. Trump had gotten very riled up at the very beginning of the questions being asked. When he was asked about the Qatari jet that the Pentagon is accepting as a -- to be converted to a new Air Force One, and he just sort of was off to the races after that.

That was the one time that he got calmer. But you're right, he clearly didn't accept what he was being told, which was just factual information. We are seeing him increasingly trying to say that something, and he has a long history of saying things that are not true. But in this case and in recent days, on other matters, he is saying things such as the idea that Abrego Garcia, who was sent to El Salvador, that he actually had MS-13 tattooed those letters and numbers on his hand, he did not.

Trump held up a doctored picture that was used, in this case, he is using a video that the President of South Africa is saying, you know, what is this? This is not anything I've ever seen and Trump would not accept it.

[20:10:22]

COOPER: I just want to ask you about your new reporting. A top aide to the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard was seeking to rewrite an intelligence assessment. Its relating to gangs in Venezuela. Can you just talk about that? Because it's really extraordinary.

HABERMAN: Yes, it relates -- thanks, Anderson. It relates to sort of the same issue here, which is that Trump wants a certain fact set to go in a certain direction. There was a request from the White House to intelligence officials back in February about looking for, information related to this Venezuelan gang, that they wanted to have established the idea that the Venezuelan government was controlling this gang and crimes that was committing or accused of committing in the United States. That assessment did not suggest that the Venezuelan government is controlling that gang.

The President still signed the Alien Enemies Act, an invocation of it, allowing the removal of alleged members of these gangs to El Salvador. Those flights have obviously become very controversial. My colleagues learned that this assessment contradicted what the President had said after that initial story came out.

This official, Joe Kent, who's a top adviser to Tulsi Gabbard, asked for a second assessment, asked for it to be rethought, and another assessment was produced. It confirmed essentially what the earlier assessment had said before that one was produced. Kent still asked for parts of it to be rewritten and some additional analysis to happen so that it didn't get used against Tulsi Gabbard and the President.

So -- it -- look people, his allies of this of this adviser, Joe Kent, say he was, you know, he was simply looking for information. Other people question whether this is injecting politics into security assessments and intelligence assessments.

COOPER: Maggie Haberman, thanks very much, appreciate it. Joining us now is John Eligon, Johannesburg Bureau Chief for "The New York Times," who was in the Oval Office today for the meeting. Also, Cornell William Brooks, professor at Harvard and Kennedy School and former President and CEO of the NAACP.

John, first of all, what was it like in the room? What's been the reaction from the South African delegation? Is it -- did they expect this?

JOHN ELIGON, JOHANNESBURG BUREAU CHIEF FOR "THE NEW YORK TIMES": They certainly thought that something could happen. But I think the way it happened, it really caught everyone off guard. I was standing right next to the screen to the to the big T.V. screen when they turned it on. And I remember you know, when, when they turned it on, President Ramaphosa, he turned to Trump and he, you know, tried to say something and Trump really brushed his hand off and pointed toward the screen. And I was looking at Ernie Els, he had his hands on his hips, just looking totally dejected. Retief Goosen the other golfer in there was just looking, staring at the ground.

So they were all pretty flabbergasted because I think they expected maybe they would be attacked. But to have this sort of big production put on, I think that was really surprising.

COOPER: You're the South African Bureau Chief, I was in Nairobi this weekend. People in Kenya were stunned that this is happening, that the White Afrikaners are the only refugees getting into the United States. What is the response in south Africa itself to the to this?

ELIGON: Well, I think by and large, a lot of people are upset about it because they feel like when you look at the history of the country, when you look at the President of the country, all the stats and data indicate that, you know, obviously there were it was Black South Africans who bore the brunt of apartheid. And in the post-apartheid era, its Black South Africans who continue to continue to struggle in almost every economic measure.

If you look at crime and look at violence, its Black South Africans who are bearing the brunt of being killed. And so a lot of them look at it as sort of a slap in the face and sort of an insult that that White Afrikaners would be the ones who would be singled out for special treatment when they're going through their own very difficult times.

COOPER: Professor Brooks, I mean, what message do you think it sends to America and the world when the White U.S. President lectures the Black South African President on television about a genocide of which is not happening in South Africa.

CORNELL WILLIAM BROOKS, PROFESSOR AT HARVARD AND KENNEDY SCHOOL AND FORMER PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE NAACP: It sends a message that the President is continuing to rewrite history. And in so doing, also dramatically and disastrously impact the President. So, in other words, what we had in the White House today was a cinematic ambush, if you will and anything but diplomatic attack. And this is reminiscent, if you will, of 110 years ago, when President Woodrow Wilson showed a film called "The Birth of a Nation," which was a film that glorified the Klan.

So, here we have this film today, which is an attempt to rewrite history and adversely impact the present. And so the country should be horrified because President Trump is literally using both racism, anti-black racism and xenophobia and anti-immigrant anti-refugee hate to not only divide the country, but divide the globe and what has been made bad and terrible in this country. He's globalizing and exporting in ways that are detrimental to the interests of the United States.

And, Anderson, note that South Africa is a very important trading partner, very strategic ally in the region. And the commander in chief is doing anything but being a good commander in chief.

[20:15:31]

COOPER: John, I mean, the U.S. has cut off foreign aid to South Africa. So this is not just something that has no ramifications. The White House, John, sent out a press release tonight citing a number of articles that says back up the President's claims. Your byline is on one of those articles, it's from 2023, its titled "Kill The Boer' Song Fuels Backlash in South Africa and U.S." They're citing the piece, even though you write in that story that they are citing that President Trump and others, "have seized on attacks on White Farmers to make the false claim that there have been mass killings."

ELIGON: Yes that article, that's the song that's been around since the apartheid era struggle days. It was born out of apartheid at a time when the Black South Africans were fighting a brutal regime. And basically what South African courts have found, they did it at one point found that it was hate speech, but later it was found that that the essence of the song would not actually incite people to violence. And what many of supporters now of the song are now argue is that you can't point to that song actually leading to violence. But of course, the, I should say, the political party that President Ramaphosa belongs to, the African National Congress, they have distanced themselves from the song.

So the song is very provocative. And for many people they think it's inappropriate to sing. But overall it's been found that it's not an incitement to any sort of mass violence or mass killings.

COOPER: John Eligon, Cornell William Brooks, thank you so much.

Coming up next is Maggie Haberman, mentioned a moment ago. Its official, the Pentagon says it has accepted that. 747 from Qatar, the latest on that, as well as my conversation with solo around the world sailor Oliver Widger, with his first destination just over the horizon and a boat ready for some rest and repair.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLIVER WIDGER, 29-YEAR-OLD FORMER TIRE SHOP MANAGER: The boat is constantly in -- It's in a volatile place. It's like almost as bad as being in space, you know what I mean? Like as far as how volatile the ocean is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:21:40]

COOPER: There's breaking news now on Capitol Hill and a phrase we are going to vote tonight. That's what House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said after he and House Speaker Johnson and other House Republicans came out of a white house meeting with the President. They came, some of them, to have their arms twisted on the massive tax and spending bill, which the President badly wants, but which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says could add nearly $4 trillion to the national debt.

CNN's Manu Raju is at the Capitol tonight looking at how this may play out in the hours ahead. How soon could the vote happen, Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it could happen, probably overnight, probably either in the early morning hours, Anderson, or maybe pushed into sometime mid-morning tomorrow. That's probably the most likely scenario. But there is growing confidence among the Republican leadership and the White House that ultimately, after a painstaking negotiations and an intense pressure campaign, that those holdouts, particularly on the conservative side, will fall in line behind this bill to get it out of this bitterly divided House Republican conference.

Now, there's been a division between the more moderate members and conservative members for weeks, and the moderate members seem to be generally okay after some deal cutting over some key tax issues yesterday. But there is still some angst among the moderate members over what we expect to be changes to this bill in dealing with how green energy tax credits are expected to be phased out. It's supposed to be quicker than what a lot of them want because of their districts and jobs in their districts could be impacted.

And then the folks on the right, those conservatives who have been demanding deeper spending cuts far more than what the moderates have been willing to go, they're not going to get nearly as much as what they had anticipated, what they had been demanding.

Now, at the White House earlier today, were told by the Speaker himself that Trump indicated that he could take some actions by executive order to potentially placate some of their concerns about provisions that were not getting in the bill. We don't have the details on that yet, but perhaps that would be one way of winning over some of the more moderate -- conservative members.

But, Anderson, a lot of these conservatives are the ones who are railing about the debt and deficit. The fact that this could lead to about $3.8 trillion to deficits over the next several years, but they may ultimately fall in line after this pressure campaign by the White House, realizing that they didn't get what they want. But they're doing what the President wants.

COOPER: Manu, thanks very much. We'll continue to follow that.

Tonight, breaking news on a story we first reported last night. Now, a federal judge saying today that the Trump administration unquestionably violated a court order when it tried to transfer migrant detainees of various nationalities to war-torn South Sudan. Federal District Court Judge Brian Murphy was responding to a fast moving immigration enforcement action that involves deporting migrants to a third country that's not their own, a move the judge previously said required due process.

At a press conference today, DHS officials distributed a list of the eight people on the flight who have criminal records with convictions ranging from murder to sexual assault. Now, the administration maintains the detainees have been given due process and told the judge to stay out of it. Homeland security officials have not shared the whereabouts of the flight since it took off yesterday. But according to two people familiar who spoke to "The New York Times," it has landed for now in the East African country of Djibouti.

Joining me now is New York Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman, who sits on the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees. So what can Judge Murphy actually do at this point? If the administration isn't going to obey his order, where does that leave the rule of law?

REP. DANIEL GOLDMAN (D-NY): Well, he will have to hold the administration in contempt of court, and he'll have to escalate the penalties if they don't comply with his order. Interestingly, Anderson, in this bill that the Republicans are trying to ram through in the dead of night, there is a clause, there's a section of the bill that will make it harder for federal courts to enforce contempt orders.

So, Congress is literally making it easier for the Trump administration to violate court orders, which they are increasingly doing with more aggression and more brazenness.

[20:25:43] COOPER: The judge isn't saying that these people should be released. The judges are saying that they need to have due process. Is this due process?

GOLDMAN: No, according to the judge, it's not. And by the way, that's what all the courts have been saying. That's what the Supreme Court said in Kilmar Abrego Garcia, nine-nothing that they simply need to have due process to ensure that the law is being followed. I have no idea who they are. The judge doesn't know who they are. His point is not that they shouldn't be deported. His point is solely that he issued an order saying -- do not send anyone to a different country than their country of origin without giving them due process and in the dead of night, once again, the Trump administration whisked these people off in violation of the court order.

All anybody is talking about here is due process. That is a fundamental right in this country, and it is bestowed upon any person that is in this country. And for some reason, Donald Trump and the Trump administration do not think that due process applies if you are here without documents and through a legal entry. That's just false and ultimately, the Supreme Court is going to have to lay down the hammer and my House Republican and Senate Republican colleagues are going to have to speak up for the rule of law

COOPER: I want to ask you about the news The Pentagon has officially accepted that Qatari 747 to be the next Air Force One. The President was asked about it in the Oval Office today when he was with South Africa's President. I just want to play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDER: Mr. President, the Pentagon announced that it would be accepting a Qatari jet to be used as Air Force One.

TRUMP: What are you talking about? Well, you know --

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA: I want to respond to --

TRUMP: You know, you to get out of here. What does this have to do with the Qatari jet? They're giving the United States Air Force a jet. Okay, and it's a great thing. You're a disgrace. No more questions from you.

RAMAPHOSA: I'm sorry, I don't have a plane to give you.

TRUMP: If your country offered the United States Air Force a plane, I would take it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So this is happening. America is accepting the Qatari plane. The President is going to take it, I guess, for his library afterward, which isn't even built when he leaves office. I mean, are you surprised this is actually happening now? And how long do you think do you think he will actually wait for this plane to be retrofitted so that it would pass security muster? GOLDMAN: Well, I'm not surprised it's happening. Donald Trump doesn't think that the Constitution applies to him. But in this case, the constitution is so clear, the Foreign Emoluments Clause says that no country can give a gift to the United States, to a President of the United States.

Now, he's claiming, oh, this is the Air Force, not himself personally. But remember, Anderson, the President of the United States at the time, got permission from Congress, which is what's required under the Constitution to accept the Statue of Liberty, which there's no question the Statue of Liberty was not going to be for his personal use. So, this has a long history of foreign gifts having to be approved by Congress.

And the reason is quite simple, because we have to make sure that there is no foreign influence through bribes, through gifts, through transactions such as this one. And this needs to come before Congress and my Congressional Republican colleagues need to once and for all stand up for Article I authority that Congress has to approve such a gift and not just continue to roll over and allow their power to be usurped by Donald Trump.

COOPER: Congressman Goldman, thanks for your time today.

Coming up next, more breaking news, one of Sean "Diddy" Combs' former assistant sent on witness stand, what a psychologist said about why former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura may have felt trapped in their relationship.

Plus new details, including another insider arrest in the New Orleans jailbreak with five escaped inmates still at large.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:34:23]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CO-HOST OF "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Former assistant to Sean Combs was on the stand when court ended for the day in the rapper's federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial. The assistant whose name is George Kaplan is expected to continue testifying tomorrow. Earlier today, he'd invoked his Fifth Amendment right, citing potential self-incrimination, but was given immunity. Also on the stand today, a psychologist who testified about abusive relationships and trauma.

Joining me now, a CNN Anchor and Chief Legal Analyst, Laura Coates, who was at the courtroom today. So, let's talk about Kaplan and --

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah.

COOPER: -- and why he was compelled to testify.

COATES: Well, he was concerned that the statements he might give, whether it was about providing drugs, I'm sure, or about anything related to the inner circle of Diddy, would incriminate him.

[20:35:00]

Remember, the whole premise of the prosecution's case is there's a big enterprise in the inner circle. Trusted advisers, assistants, high- level employees, and also bodyguards, are all part of this conspiracy under RICO to engage in and facilitate sex trafficking and prostitution. So, he was probably rightly concerned to think I don't want to say anything that might get me in trouble.

COOPER: Wouldn't he have been given immunity long ago? Like --

COATES: Not likely, because it's not necessarily clear that they ever had any intention of indicting anyone else. You can actually charge someone RICO by conspiracy and not charge the co-conspirators.

COOPER: And so, there was the psychologist on the stand today. She's considered a blind expert. What does that mean?

COATES: A very important person, a blind expert is also known as a subject matter expert. Their whole role is, essentially, I know nothing about these specific people in this case, but I know generally about the academia, the research, the different categories of information that might help the jury understand testimony. So she did not know Diddy, did not interview him, didn't know Cassie Ventura, did not interview him.

That became a little bit of a point of contention where the defense on cross-examination thought, well, it's very convenient you know a great deal about every analogy that was raised or every instance mostly that Cassie Ventura spoke about, whether it be in the fetal position or property being taken away.

But ultimately, her role here was to answer this question that seems to be perhaps on people's mind. Why would somebody who has been abused to this extent, why would they remain in an abusive relationship? And she tries to answer that through coping mechanisms, the idea of love bombing and the honeymoon period, also a trauma bond among other things.

COOPER: And Kid Cudi, the rapper, is expected to testify. He had been in a relationship with Cassie Ventura.

COATES: This is important because he was somebody who she dated and incurred the wrath of Sean "Diddy" Combs when he threatened to blow up his car, threatened to harm them, not by his own hands, but by someone else. This goes into the story of how Diddy may have been able to maneuver and have at the helm this entire RICO enterprise with the goal towards violence and force to keep her in a relationship.

COOPER: Well, a lot more to look forward to tomorrow.

COATES: Yeah.

COOPER: Laura Coates, thanks very much. Appreciate it. Don't miss Laura's special edition, Laura Coates live, 11:00 p.m. Eastern tonight, focused on the Combs trial. We're going to have more breaking news. Two women arrested in connection with the New Orleans jailbreak, both on suspicion of being accessories after the fact one for allegedly transporting two escapees to multiple locations. Another alleged to have been in contact with an escaped inmate who was later captured.

Five of the 10 prisoners who escaped last week are still on the loose. Joining me now is CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, John Miller. How big of a break could those arrests be?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the, the arrest of the -- five down, five to go. But the arrest of two civilians, not escapees, but two people who are basically charged with harboring a fugitive, aiding and abetting in their escape by bringing them clothes, food, giving them rides. That's a step, it's also a message to others who are out there who might be helping them. Anderson, what we see here though, is nobody has gotten very far away, which means they're relying on their support systems within their own neighborhoods, which is why they're getting caught at a pretty fast rate.

COOPER: And multiple law enforcement agencies are dealing with the fallout of the jailbreak.

MILLER: Well, that's right. And it's interesting because the sheriff runs the jail, the New Orleans Police Department has nothing to do with the sheriff. And there's the district attorney who's in the midst of prosecuting all of these people in very serious crimes, murder, attempted murder, assaults. The sheriff is saying that the district attorney's office hasn't been prosecuting them when they assault staff. The district attorney has said that's because the sheriff hasn't turned over the evidence. So, the finger pointing has already started.

One other key development from yesterday though, was one jail employee arrested, two suspended. He was charged with actually turning off the water, so that they could break through the walls after they ripped the toilet away without causing a flood and being detected. His attorney has said he did that because there was a leak in another cell. But police say when they interviewed him, he confessed to doing it because they threatened to stab him if he didn't.

COOPER: And is it clear how long the inmates were working on this plan? On actually doing the breakthrough and everything?

MILLER: It's not clear exactly how long, but it's clear that it was long enough because they had to get the cutting equipment to saw through the rebar. They had to figure out that there would be the hole behind the toilet and the way out from there. And they had to do something perhaps that caused the people who were supposed to be watching the screens to not be watching the screens. And one person who did see the escape, who worked in the jail, not reporting it.

So, it seems like while one staff member has been charged, I'm told by my sources, they expect that there will be other arrests of people who worked in the jail, for being at some level in on this.

[20:40:00] COOPER: Yeah. John Miller, thanks very much. Next for us tonight, black screens, silent radios and near misses, a CNN Investigation finds air traffic control outages aren't isolated to Newark Liberty International Airport and go back years in several locations. And later, we'll check in with the guy who hated his corporate job and did what many dream of, he quit, bought a boat and is sailing alone with his rescue cat for Hawaii.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:45:00]

COOPER: It's not just Newark Liberty International Airport, A CNN Investigation found that reports of radar and communication outages at dozens of air traffic control facilities around the country in recent years. And that includes screens going black, radios going silent, and in one incident, controllers describe losing all contact with pilots as two planes were on a collision course resulting in a narrow miss. More now from our Aviation Correspondent, Pete Muntean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just lost all frequencies and communications here.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Newark air traffic control meltdowns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have a radar, so I don't know where you are.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): -- area only the latest in a litany of equipment failures at aging Federal Aviation Administration facilities nationwide. A CNN Investigation found dozens of reports submitted by air traffic controllers and pilots over the last three years, along with more than a thousand FAA alerts of equipment issues, painting a picture of dangerous outages that are far more common than previously known.

Dave Riley worked as an air traffic controller at three different FAA facilities before retiring in 2020.

DAVE RILEY, RETIRED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: It becomes so routine that it feels like it's every day, that there's some sort of equipment issue.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): CNN uncovered in 2023, a controller at the Tampa approach control facility reported the degradation of radio equipment to the point that a commercial flight and a cargo plane ended up on a collision course at the same altitude. I frantically attempted to reach aircraft X to issue a turn the controller wrote, if we could somehow acquire equipment that worked reliably, particularly frequencies that would really assist in the success of separating aircraft. The reports are compiled independently by NASA, though incidents are unverified and not always investigated by the FAA.

RILEY: Those reports just get filed and they just sit there.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): A CNN analysis of the FAA's own advisories warned of radars or radio frequencies being out of service or facing issues once nearly every other day last year. In a statement, the FAA admitted our system is outdated and showing its age. A problem acknowledged by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as the Trump administration is calling for a nationwide overhaul of the air traffic control system.

Nick Daniels heads the Union of Controllers.

NICK DANIELS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS: Most Americans today walk around with more computing power in their pocket than air traffic controllers have at the ready. This will continue happening in more and more facilities around the country, impacting more airports and the time for action is now. MUNTEAN (voice-over): CNN also found a report of a September 2021

failure of radio and radar at the busy Miami Center Facility as weather was rolling in. If these type of events happen once, it's one too many, the controller wrote in the NASA database. When the very same scenario occurred in February of this year, a controller wrote, this is a systemic issue and we don't even have a backup system in place. The controller said, we are running normal operations pretending everything is OK and it's not. This is a very unsafe operation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Pete Muntean joins me now from Washington. I mean those -- the communications are really disturbing. What should the flying public think about all this?

MUNTEAN (on camera): Well, the bottom line here, Anderson, is that these failures will mean delays. The FAA said in a response to our reporting that when these equipment issues happen, the agency has no choice but to slow flights in order to keep things safe, which is really not good news for travelers with the summer rush about to start. The TSA has said it'll screen about 18 million people at airports nationwide over the next week. Just today, the heads of nine U.S. airlines wrote an open letter to Congress pleading with them to fund the air traffic control upgrades that the Trump administration wants.

COOPER: And how much would all that cost? The upgrades?

MUNTEAN (on camera): The estimates really vacillate here, Anderson, sometimes $12 billion, sometimes $15 billion, sometimes $30 billion. The big thing here that the Trump administration wants is not only replacing old copper wiring with fiber optic cable at 4,600 facilities nationwide, but also upgrading 600 radars, building six new air traffic control centers. The Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy calls it a bold and aggressive plan that he says can be accomplished in two to three years. Although, we will see some have said that it would take much, much longer.

COOPER: All right, Pete Muntean, thanks very much. Next, an update on the man who ditched his job and set sail for Hawaii with his rescue cat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLIVER WIDGER, ATTEMPTING TO SAIL AROUND THE WORLD WITH HIS RESCUE CAT: It sounds corny, I guess, but the only regret I have is not doing it sooner. Like if I started doing this when I initially had the thought to do it, which was three years ago, I could already be, who knows? I might have already been all the way around the world by now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:54:23]

COOPER: An update now on the man who quit his job, liquidated his 401(k) and bought a sailboat. He's on the first leg of his journey to sail around the world with his rescue cat, Phoenix. And he's been posting videos on Instagram to a growing legion of followers. It all started with this video he posted online about how much he hated his old job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WIDGER: I'm a corporate guy. I absolutely hate this life, this kind of life, this lifestyle. So, I'm taking this video now because I'm going to just start logging everything about this journey. And maybe at some point, my brother will put a movie together.

[20:55:00]

But, yeah, I'm going to buy a sailboat and I'm going to sail around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: And that's what he's doing. He left from Oregon. Tonight, he's nearing his first visit destination of Hawaii. Oliver Widger, once again, joins me from the Pacific Ocean.

So, how close are you to Hawaii now?

WIDGER: I think I'm like under 400 miles now, maybe something like that. I'm sort of pretty close though. Right now, I'm flying so --

COOPER: I've been watching you on Instagram and I was worried about you earlier this week. It seems like you started to like take on water, not like a huge amount of water, but what happened, like the thing in the back started getting loose and water was coming in.

WIDGER: Yeah, so that's my hydrovane. So that's how the boat is steering right now. So it's like a secondary rudder.

COOPER: Even right now, you're not above -- you're not outside. It's -- I understand, it's pretty, pretty windy. I can see the thing above you is kind of rocking back and forth. You're even now, rocking back and forth.

WIDGER: Yeah, yeah. Always. It's a hundred percent of the time we are rocking back and forth. Sometimes more than others, but right now, we're just -- we're going pretty fast.

COOPER: Do you have -- what do you -- do you know what you're going to do once you get to Hawaii? Or are you going to -- are you going -- I know you would like to keep on going. What would be the next destination?

WIDGER: I'm going to take like a month and just chill out for a minute and like snorkel. And then, I need to do some big repairs to the boat, and then I need to do some big upgrades to the boat. So I'm going to do that. And then I want to -- I want to explore the Hawaiian Islands and kind of just do that for a bit. And then, I think the appropriate window for me to leave to -- so from there, I would go to French Polynesia.

COOPER: Have you had any regrets? I mean, you -- we played the video earlier of you deciding, announcing that you hated your job and you are going to quit and you're going to do this. You came up with this idea. You've done it. You're about to make it to Hawaii. Any regrets at this point?

WIDGER: No. I mean, it sounds corny, I guess, but the only regret I have is not doing it sooner. Like if I started doing this when I initially had the thought to do it, which is three years ago, I could already be, who knows? I might have already been all the way around the world by now and I'd be doing it again, you know? I don't know.

COOPER: I mean, everybody dreams about doing this. I'm just wondering, how's the reality versus the dream?

WIDGER: I was pretty realistic as far as like how -- it is a constant, incredible amount of work. Like the boat is constantly trying to dissolve being in salt water. And it is --

COOPER: Well, that doesn't sound great.

WIDGER: -- an unimaginable amount of work. What was that?

COOPER: That doesn't sound great if the boat's constantly trying to dissolve.

WIDGER: Yeah. It's in a volatile place.

COOPER: How's your cat Phoenix doing?

WIDGER: She's good. The reason I'm sitting like this is because I can't get her to move. I don't have the courage to get her to move. It's too hard. But she is just sitting right here.

(LAUGH)

WIDGER: Well, she's good.

COOPER: Is she the actual -- you don't want to move her. Is she the actual captain of your boat?

WIDGER: She's the boss, yeah. She's in charge. The world -- it's her world. I'm just living in it.

(LAUGH)

WIDGER: You know? And --

COOPER: Do you have people who are going to welcome you in Hawaii? I mean, you must have some followers there at this point.

WIDGER: From what I've been told, there's like a -- there's going to be, I think a lot of people that greet me, which is cool.

COOPER: What is -- what -- to other people watching this and they kind of have similar dreams to you or hate their jobs and dream of doing something like this, what's your advice?

WIDGER: Oh, well, the hardest part is taking the leap and going for it. And like, what I discovered, I don't know how to put it into words really. In my head, I'm a poet, but it doesn't -- the words never come out.

(LAUGH)

WIDGER: But, I get -- my advice would be to, like, there's a point where there's no return, where you're all in. You have to like recognize what that point is and then do everything you can to cross that point. And then once you've crossed that point, everything after that is just game on, you know? And I think the fear of everything that happens after you're -- at that point is what prevents people from crossing that point. And so, don't think about the fear, just focus on crossing the point of no return. Yeah.

COOPER: Oliver Widger --

WIDGER: That's what I would recommend if you're looking to chase your dream. Yeah, sorry.

COOPER: No, don't be sorry. It's all -- I love talking to you Oliver, and I'm rooting for you and I can't wait to see you hitting -- or not hitting but getting to Hawaii.

(LAUGH)

WIDGER: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Anderson. I appreciate that.

COOPER: All right, I'(LAUGH) -- we'll keep following you. Keep talking. I'll see you soon.

WIDGER: All right, man.

COOPER: All right. Take care.

WIDGER: Take care. COOPER: A programming note before we hand things over to "The Source." George Clooney starring in Broadway's "Good Night, and Good Luck" presented live on CNN in a first of its kind broadcast. It's going to air Saturday, June 7th at 7 p.m. --