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Interview With Brad Raffensperger (R), Georgia Secretary Of State: Asks DHS Not To Deport Afghan Christian Refugees Yet; Trump Officials Discuss Making It Harder To Qualify For Disaster Aid; Tina Knowles Speaks Out About Her Life, Career And Motherhood. Aired 3:30- 4p ET

Aired April 25, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Georgia's Republican Secretary of State has just sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem asking the Trump administration to reconsider deporting Afghan Christian refugees. In the letter, Brad Raffensperger asks DHS to hear the refugees' asylum claims, stating, Many of these Afghan Christians had risked their lives for religious freedom and democratic values in service of American forces in country, and we should make sure we hear their asylum claims before sending them back to a government that is known to persecute Christians.

Since the end of the war in Afghanistan in August of 2021, more than 180,000 Afghans have resettled in the U.S. Secretary Raffensperger is with us now to talk more about this.

Secretary, have you heard anything from Secretary Noem?

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER (R), GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: They just received my letter, so no, I haven't heard back from him yet. But my position was quite clear. I believe that these Afghan Christians, these Afghanis, they stood along with our military forces, and then during the haphazard withdrawal, they got trapped and couldn't get out, and then they have refugee status.

I just asked for a 90-day review period. So we really did do a deep dive in this, because if they got sent back, I would be fearful for their lives and their safety.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. So this is expiring next month, right, as we expected. And a lot of Afghans who did come to the U.S. have since changed their status to be a special immigrant visa or to have asylum, but there are still a lot of people who have this temporary protected status. I think almost 15,000 at last look. Hard to know the exact number now, but there are a lot of folks.

So what would happen? They would just be shipped back to Taliban- controlled Afghanistan if this goes through?

RAFFENSPERGER: I know that if they were shipped back, they'd be facing certain death, definitely torture, imprisonment, and perhaps death itself. And because of that and because of their religious values, but also standing with our military forces, I think we should stand with these people. I think we need to give them some pause, do a deep dive, and decide what the appropriate action is.

I've stated my position, and hopefully we'll get a favorable hearing from Kristi Noem.

KEILAR: So we have seen this aggressive deportation agenda, of course, from the Trump administration. In many recent cases, it's been deport first and deal with the due process questions in court later. Do you have concerns that may be what happens here?

RAFFENSPERGER: I believe this is really a totally separate issue. These are people that risked their lives during the service with American forces in Afghanistan. You know, while we were going after the Taliban after 9-11, they came alongside of us and really provided valuable service for our troops.

And so this is really a set alone, but also it sets a precedent when we ever have these situations, these foreign, you know, battles that we have, and people come alongside of us in country and help us, we want to make sure that they're protected after we do depart. And so in this case, I think it requires a special review. That's why I've said, let's give them 90 days, let's take a hard look at this.

KEILAR: So the last line of your letter says, our nation's moral leadership is defined not just by the policies we enact, but by the people we choose to protect. So let me ask you this, if America does not protect folks like these Afghans who helped American service members, how do you think other countries will view the U.S. as a prospective partner or a model of democracy?

RAFFENSPERGER: I think really the important question is how do we view our own country? You know, I view our country as we have just great ideals. It goes back to the Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, you know, the values of our founders.

So what would their high ideals be? And I think they had noble, high causes that they fought for. They believed in religious freedom, they believed in political freedom.

And that's why many of us came to this country hundreds of years ago, our forefathers was for religious freedom. So it's really been enshrined in our DNA. And so I just say, let's lean into those values of our founders. We do that, it always works out.

KEILAR: And then just real quick before I let you go, are there other avenues here? We know that a judge has blocked the rescission, for instance, of temporary protected status for Venezuelans that Secretary Noem moved forward with. Is that another avenue perhaps?

RAFFENSPERGER: Well, I can't say, I'm today just concerned about the Afghanis that came alongside our U.S. fighting forces after 9-11 and, you know, served with us.

[15:35:00]

And I would hope that we can extend the hand of fellowship to them so that they could stay in America.

KEILAR: Secretary Brad Raffensperger, thank you so much. We appreciate your time.

RAFFENSPERGER: Thank you.

KEILAR: And with just weeks until hurricane season, the Trump administration is considering changing the rules on who can qualify which states for federal disaster aid and in which circumstances. We'll have details on that just ahead.

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[15:40:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: With the start of hurricane season just weeks away, emergency management officials are discussing major reforms that would add new hurdles for communities to qualify for federal disaster assistance. The recommendations were outlined in a memo obtained by CNN. And while it's not clear if they've yet been implemented, they do follow an executive order from President Trump, which places more of the burden on states to handle disasters.

CNN's Gabe Cohen joins us now. So Gabe, walk us through what's being proposed.

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so Boris, Trump's made it clear he wants to shift more of that responsibility for disaster response and recovery onto states. Now we are getting a clearer sense of what that could look like. I say could, because to be clear, this is just a proposal.

But we've obtained this memo that went up from FEMA's acting administrator, who is a Trump appointee, really laying out recommendations for the president to implement potentially ahead of this upcoming hurricane season that would drastically reduce the number of disaster declarations that get approved by the president and the amount of federal dollars that actually go out the door to the states and the communities that are hit by these storms.

There are several recommendations on the list. We are talking about denying all disaster declarations for snowstorms moving forward, limiting the federal share when a recovery does get approved when a disaster gets approved, making sure that states are paying their share. But by far the most notable recommendation on this is this proposal that would quadruple, quadruple the threshold of damage necessary in order to qualify for federal assistance.

What that means is that community states would have to suffer four times as much damage from a storm as they currently do in order to qualify for federal aid. It goes back to something I was talking about on this show yesterday. We were discussing Arkansas having recently been denied federal assistance for tornadoes, severe storms that had come through the area.

What this appears to be is this administration saying, hey, we want to focus this dollars only on really large scale disasters, the Katrinas, the Helenes. And what that's going to mean is that for these, let's call them small to medium sized storms, it's going to be on the states to handle it and to pay for it.

Now, to be clear, the idea of raising this threshold in some way it's really not that controversial. I talked to top FEMA officials from the Biden administration, the Obama administration who said, this threshold really should be raised. The federal taxpayer has been paying into these storm recoveries way too much and states do need to handle it. But when you're talking about raising it fourfold ahead of hurricane season, well, what is that going to mean for the states that perhaps don't have as good emergency management infrastructure, who by the way, have not budgeted for this because for years now they've known they can rely on FEMA if a storm like this hits.

Now they might be on the hook to distribute supplies, to get roads back up and running, to potentially call the National Guard out. That stuff is very expensive. We spoke to a couple state emergency management teams for this story.

One told us this proposal is alarming. Another said, quote, That is a massive increase. We are fully anticipating that states are going to have to take on a larger burden to respond to emergencies, but we just need some clarity. We're trying to develop a path forward without really knowing what that path looks like.

So it tells you what's on the mind of these states as they try to sift through this and sort of predict the future. Now we don't know if any of these have been implemented at this point.

Again, it is a proposal, but I do want to note that we recently saw Washington State get denied federal assistance for a bomb cyclone that hit last year. They were denied by President Trump. Their damage was more than twice the current threshold. That raises a lot of questions.

And so this is something, if you're an American who lives out there in an area that is high risk for disasters and maybe in an area, a state that doesn't have a massive budget for this, you need to pay attention.

SANCHEZ: Yes, especially as storms are getting stronger, getting stronger faster and affecting areas that they historically haven't really impacted. Gabe Cohen, thank you so much for the reporting -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. St. Peter's Basilica is now closed after approximately 250,000 of the faithful paid their respects to Pope Francis. After three days of public viewing, Vatican officials are now making the final preparations for the Pope's funeral tomorrow.

A short time ago, they officially sealed his coffin in a private liturgical rite. Dignitaries from around the world, including President Donald Trump and a small delegation of members of Congress will be attending tomorrow's service. Also in a New York courtroom today, Luigi Mangione pleading not guilty

to all federal charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson. Mangione was arraigned on murder, two counts of stalking and a firearms charge.

[15:45:00]

This coming one day after the Justice Department filed a formal notice that it intends to seek the death penalty for the 26-year-old. That prompted Mangione's legal team to ask the court to allow his federal case to go to trial before his New York state case.

And California has officially become the world's fourth largest economy overtaking Japan. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the state's GDP reached $4.1 trillion in 2024 and that edged past Japan's $4.02 trillion GDP in the same period. Governor Gavin Newsom announcing the news while also warning the state's economy is being threatened by President Trump's tariff policies.

And coming up, Tina Knowles, Beyonce's mother, opening up about raising two daughters, her cancer diagnosis and growing up during segregation. We'll have that next.

[15:50:00]

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KEILAR: Beyonce's mother, Tina Knowles, is warning women to always get their annual mammogram. Knowles revealed this week that she skipped one and then was later diagnosed with stage one breast cancer.

SANCHEZ: She's also telling her personal family story as she sat down with our CNN colleague, Sara Sidner, who joins us here in D.C. What a treat to have you on set.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What a treat to be here. I never get up here. Why is that? You guys don't invite me.

SANCHEZ: You're more than welcome here. You know you're more than welcome.

SIDNER: Because it's the Miami thing, I get it. You don't want two Miami people.

SANCHEZ: Hialeah and Miami Lakes. It's cool.

KEILAR: Tina Knowles, y'all. Tina Knowles. Focus.

SIDNER: Stick to the program.

KEILAR: Well, we are so glad to have you.

SIDNER: It's so good. So, I read her book, and it is incredibly linked to American history, and particularly African American history, her family history. She's only two generations away from slavery. Her great grandmother was a slave, and she grew up in segregation in Galveston, Texas.

But she talks a lot about how important it is to have her family around her, and to teach them how to be with one another, and how to stick together, because she was the youngest of seven children. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TINA KNOWLES, BEYONCE'S MOTHER: I knew Beyonce didn't have a choice. This is what she was born to do.

SIDNER: You said she found her home on stage.

KNOWLES: She found her home. She found her confidence, her, you know, it just made -- it was what she lived and breathed. Solange, on the other hand, had the choice to do whatever she wanted to do.

And so, absolutely, I didn't want her to be in this business. And I still hope, like at some point, I love the fact that they've been so successful, but I cannot wait till the day that they don't have the pressures of this, and they can just live their lives and not under a microscope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (on camera): So, she there talks about the two of them, and how there was a wall that began to grow between them. When Beyonce was just 10 years old. She noticed that Beyonce and her friends were sort of saying, mom, come get Solange, get her out of here. She's trying to, you know -- because Solange is the younger sister, and she was very young, and she's really into this.

And her mother sent them to therapy. And back then, that was like not done, especially in the Black community. It was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?

People in her family were like, you're going to make those girls crazy sending them this early. Like, what are you doing? But she did it, and now you cannot separate.

She goes, you could not put a wedge between them for anything. So, I thought it was pretty incredible.

KEILAR: Yes, they're ride or die.

SIDNER: Yes.

KEILAR: Right?

SIDNER: Yes.

KEILAR: I mean, for sure. OK, so it was also really interesting, and also to have you here as a breast cancer survivor and a vocal one, who spoke to Tina Knowles about her battles.

And it is very important to hear someone who says, I skipped one mammogram and look what happened to me.

SIDNER: She said, I did what a lot of women tend to do, and especially mothers. I was too busy. I was running around. I was doing all these things. I thought I had gotten it the year before. She was very diligent to get it every single year, and then she skipped one year.

And in that one year, she ended up with stage one breast cancer. She's like, if I had have gotten it earlier, it probably would have been stage zero. Yes, that's a thing.

But with stage one, she ended up, she said, I got a breast reduction, I got it cut out. But for her, she was like, I just want everyone -- and I feel the same way -- go get it done. Do the self-exam.

Go get the mammogram, because it could save your life, or save you a lot of pain. Because I told her, I was like, I'm stage three. So mine grew very quickly. I got my mammogram. So you really just have to watch out for yourself, and really just make sure that you're advocating for yourself. And that's what she is telling women, now that she's gone through it.

And thankfully, she's gone through it, she's gotten the treatment, and she's doing great.

SANCHEZ: Such an important message that bears repeating, obviously, given your personal experience, too. Now that that's out of the way, Beyonce's going on tour.

SIDNER: Oh, I thought we were going to do a little dance.

SANCHEZ: Did she give you a wing? Do you have tickets?

SIDNER: No, no, now you know ethically, I cannot take these sorts of things. But she's so excited for her girls. Like she's so proud of them, and she's like, they can do -- I don't care what they do. I don't care if they quit right now. Like she's a ride or die mom. OK, one last little thing.

So she sewed almost all of their outfits when they were Destiny's Child. But here's what I didn't know. There was one point in Beyonce's career, very early on, where she wanted highlights.

And her mother's like, no, no, no, we're not going to do that. So she went and bought hair to put into her hair, but there weren't enough. And Beyonce's like, mom, you promised.

So she cut the highlights out of her own hair and stuck them on her daughter. That's a mother's love.

SANCHEZ: Wow!

KEILAR: Wow!

SIDNER: Come on, come on. Would you -- I think you'd do it. I know you would.

[15:55:00]

KEILAR: I have boys, I don't even have to come up with this. This is a hard question to answer.

SANCHEZ: If only someone would do that for me.

KEILAR: Boris.

SIDNER: You know what? There's a lot of love here. I think you'd do it for Boris.

We will check that out.

KEILAR: You'd look really funny though.

SANCHEZ: It would be weird. We appreciate you coming and joining us.

SIDNER: It's my pleasure. I'm happy to be here.

SANCHEZ: Sara Sidner, always great to see you.

You can watch more of Sara's interview with Tina Knowles today on cnn.com. Don't go anywhere, NEWS CENTRAL returns in just a moment.

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KEILAR: You know, you can knock out stuff at work so much quicker by simply using AI. At least that is what Google says. I wouldn't know because I don't do it.

But the company just released the findings of a new report that apparently found workers could save more than 122 hours a year by using AI on administrative tasks.

SANCHEZ: Google says its AI pilot programs in Britain show that the country could gain 400 billion pounds or 533 billion U.S. dollars from artificial intelligence-driven economic growth if it trained its workforce. Google also says that just a few hours of AI training increased workers' confidence in the technology, leading them to using it twice as much.

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KEILAR: Saving time and saving money. What do you think about it? There are ethical considerations.

SANCHEZ: I was preparing for us to close the show on the huge news that Gwyneth Paltrow is eating carbs again. This is like a seismic --

KEILAR: And cheese.

SANCHEZ: And cheese.

KEILAR: Some pasta. SANCHEZ: Seismic stuff.

KEILAR: Sourdough bread. It is big news. It's important you mention it.

SANCHEZ: Breaking news.

KEILAR: I'm glad you did.

SANCHEZ: I haven't stopped eating carbs and cheese.

KEILAR: I know it's surprising, but I as well have not. "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.