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ICE Arrests Nearly 800 In Immigration Crackdown In Florida; Russia Announces Three-Day Ceasefire In Ukraine Starting May 8; First Hearing In Harvard's Fight Against Trump Administration. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired April 28, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening this morning President Trump's border czar Tom Homan is expected to speak shortly at a White House briefing as the administration is ramping up deportations of undocumented immigrants.

Over the weekend ICE announced that the agency, working with state law enforcement officials in Florida, arrested nearly 800 people over four days. They're describing it as a massive multiagency immigration enforcement crackdown.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is tracking all of this. What are you learning about who the targets of this operation are?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sara, good morning.

This marks a major ratcheting up of immigration enforcement. We're seeing, with this raid, for the first time the culmination of this collaboration agreement between ICE and state law enforcement. Now, ICE is calling this mission "highly successful" and a "first-of-its- kind partnership between state and federal partners."

All of this -- this partnership -- this collaboration falls under ICE's 287(g) program. And this is important because this essentially allows for the deputizing of local and state law enforcement to give them duties. Empower them to carry out duties that are normally under the scope of federal immigration authorities. This includes things like questioning, detaining, and processing people that they believe are in the country illegally. ICE calls this program a "force multiplier."

And the Sunshine State leads the nation in the number of state and local law enforcement agencies that have signed on to this ICE collaboration agreement.

Now, this operation you mentioned took place over four days. Nearly 800 people were arrested. And CNN has reached out to ICE for more information as to who was arrested, what their legal status is, and the scope of this operation.

Now, critics -- immigration advocates -- they're warning about this new partnership -- this collaboration agreement, saying that it erodes public trust. And it is designed, they say, to lead undocumented people to be fearful and self-deport -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS KENNEDY, FLORIDA IMMIGRATION COALITION: These police officers became police officers to be police officers, not immigration agents, right? They should be out there policing the highways, not terrorizing undocumented people that are just trying to live in the state of Florida, pay taxes, and work. It's just part of this longstanding effort by state government to basically force local police departments to conduct immigration enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And Sara, across the state we've seen a pressure to cooperate. Last month, Fort Myers City Council rejected this ICE partnership but then backtracked and unanimously passed the measure when they received a letter from Florida's attorney general saying that they were violating state law and warning that the governor could remove them from office -- Sara.

SIDNER: Wow, a lot of developments there. And sort of very different than what you're seeing in places like California, who are standing up against ICE and its policies.

We will see what happens. I know you'll be tracking it all. Thank you so much. I appreciate it -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Breaking this morning damning with faint praise at the highest level. President Trump with his most loaded comments yet about embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

In an interview just published in The Atlantic, the president said of Hegseth, "I think he's gonna get it together. I had a talk with him -- a positive talk -- but I had a talk with him."

With us now, Maura Gillespie, former adviser to then-Speaker of the House John Boehner; and Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha.

Chuck, "I think he's gonna get it together." One other way of reading that is he hasn't had it together.

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, PRESIDENT SOLIDARITY STRATEGIES (via Webex by Cisco): That means I'm going to give you a little bit of a leash and you ain't got far to walk, boy, because you finna to get in trouble because he's about had all he can take of this.

You're probably going to talk about some awful polling numbers that he's got coming out in his first 100 days as well, and he don't need this Pete Hegseth thing hanging over him along with all these horrible polling numbers all at the same time, all as we're running into elections coming up in New Jersey and Virginia. He's trying to get this off of his plate and get it focused on things that are positive around him and not these negative things. BERMAN: Maura, is this a glass half empty or a glass half full? It's like Pete Hegseth, call your office. The president basically says that the doesn't have it together yet but that he's going to get it together, or is it half full in the sense that he still has a job this morning?

MAURA GILLESPIE, FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL, BLUESTACK STRATEGIES, FORMER ADVISER TO THEN-SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE JOHN BOEHNER (via Webex by Cisco): For Pete Hegseth, he still has a job this morning. But for Donald Trump, he doesn't need this distraction or these -- essentially making him look bad, right? He doesn't want his administration or anyone else to be taking away from what he is trying to show the world and the American people he can do for them.

Unfortunately, I think that there are certainly some downsides and some things that people are frustrated by but certainly the inequities and the, really, like inexperience that Pete Hegseth has shown time and time again, even in the two-three months he's been in the job, is pretty egregious.

[07:35:03]

BERMAN: I want to put up one of the poll numbers that Chuck was just talking about there. There are all kinds of polls to mark the president's first 100 days in office, which is officially tomorrow.

In the CNN poll just out, I just think one number that encapsulates everything is his approval rating among Independents, which is at 31 percent. Sixty-seven percent disapprove. That's low, Maura. You know, to put it in perspective that's about what his approval rating was in January of 2021 after the insurrection. So this is really -- these are bad numbers for Independents.

Why do you think it's happening?

GILLESPIE: Because of the economy. I think that there's been this decline in confidence that he is going to actually do what he promised to do in that regard. And so Independents who wanted to vote for him because they wanted a change, and they were not impressed with the Democratic Party -- which Republicans at-large still poll higher on doing something about the economy than Democrats do. But this is a sign that Independents are no longer as confident in Donald Trump to address it because he, thus far, has not.

BERMAN: To what extent, Chuck, is the economy and his ratings on the economy -- the anchor drawing -- dragging everything else down because his numbers on everything have been sinking?

ROCHA: Affordability, affordability, affordability. That's where it's at and the economy is tied to that. Let's be clear. This is the most unpopular president in the history of all presidents.

He likes to be number one. Well, you're number one, big boy. You've got to take ownership of this. But he's only number one in second place to himself four years ago. And I say that not in hyperbole -- and that's my big word this morning -- I say that because it matters when you look at all of things that's happening in this administration.

Think about what James Carville said in his New York Times. He said, "Democrats, if you just sit back, they'll sink their own ship." Well, it looks like he was about right because Democrats haven't done something big to make these numbers go down. You've just seen him do everything wrong.

BERMAN: I'm glad you brought up James Carville and the idea that Democrats should it back and do nothing because there's now a very prominent Democrat saying the exact opposite of that, Chuck.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who happens to be a billionaire but also a very powerful Democrat within the party, went to of all places to New Hampshire. And I like to say no politician ever goes to Iowa or New Hampshire by coincidence. He went to New Hampshire, the first in the nation primary, and he delivered a blistering call to arms for Democrats.

This is part of what he said -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER, (D) ILLINOIS: Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption, but I am now. These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So he went after Trump, Chuck, but a lot of this speech was going after what he called "do nothing Democrats." Democrats who aren't fighting hard enough on enough things.

What do you think about that?

ROCHA: I'm one of the few people in the country who has actually run one of these presidential states and spent a lot of time in Iowa and in New Hampshire. And what he's doing is right. You have to win a primary before you win a general election.

We could talk about Michigan and Pennsylvania later, but you have to do what he's doing in early states and do what James Carville say as half of what's the strategy. The other half is give your vision for what Democrats are going to do to help working people all across the country while, John, to win a primary riling up your base. And that's exactly what he's doing.

BERMAN: But Maura, how does that statement -- the idea of fighting on just about everything -- how does that play with the political center?

GILLESPIE: It'll be interesting to see because, as you mentioned, he is a very, very wealthy man and purporting to talk about, like, kitchen table issues.

Now again, I recognize that Donald Trump is also currently president, but I just think that there needs to be some more relatability there.

And so it'll be interesting to see how the people in the center of the political spectrum find that message and receive it, but it does obviously show us J.B. Pritzker is out for 2028. And I think, you know, looking also at others -- some candidates.

Cory Booker backing Brian Schatz to replace Dick Durbin in Senate leadership for the Democratic side also signals to me, at least, that he's looking at a '28 run.

BERMAN: The season has begun.

Maura, Chuck, thank you both very much -- appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We have some breaking news coming in. We're learning that Russia is announcing a temporary ceasefire in its war on Ukraine.

Let's get right over to CNN's Matthew Chance because clearly, a lot more is needed -- needs to be known about this. What are you learning, Matthew?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, just that in the last few minutes the Kremlin has announced a unilateral ceasefire which will go into force from midnight on the 7th, so next Wednesday -- coming up Wednesday -- through till 72 hours later.

[07:40:03]

It's during the period where Russia and Europe commemorates the end of the Second World War. Victory Day in Russia is marked on May 9 and there's a big parade, of course, of military hardware traditionally in Red Square.

Throughout that whole period Vladimir Putin saying that for humanitarian reasons he has declared a ceasefire, and he says he hopes that the Ukrainians will follow suit.

It's not the first time -- in the last two weeks, in fact -- that we've seen the Russians declare a unilateral ceasefire. There was the Easter truce you may remember which came into force about nine days ago or so over the Easter period which was declared unilaterally again by the Kremlin as a way of bringing to an end, they said, the fighting in the war zone in Ukraine.

The problem has been is that these truces are kind of performative -- they're just announcements -- but they don't see to have any actual impact on the ground. In fact, in the case of the Easter truce, Ukraine accused the Russians of violating the truce thousands of times, and the Russians accused the Ukrainians of not going along with it as well on multiple occasions.

And so it's not clear despite the fact that President Trump has expressed his frustration yet again with the Russians about their peace efforts -- it's not clear whether this truce over the holiday period in Russia will actually hold.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, great point.

Matthew, thank you so much for bringing us the breaking news -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. We're also following breaking news from the Vatican. A source telling CNN that cardinals will begin their conclave on May 7 to choose Pope Francis' successor.

CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau is in Rome with the very latest on this. Barbie, what are you learning this morning about this conclave?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Well, the cardinals who are here in Rome have been meeting for these daily congregations. And the congregation -- they met this morning to set this date, May 7.

This is a date one day later than most people thought it would be. They thought it would be -- start the first available time it could. After the pope's death and funeral there has to be nine days or mourning, so the first available date would have been the 6th.

The fact they're doing it on the 7th probably reflects the fact that these cardinals don't really know each other, and so they're taking more time with the congregations before they go in to vote.

So we do know that 135 eligible cardinals are available but one, so far, has said he will not be able to attend because he's in -- not in good enough health to make the trip.

And they're starting the preparations in the Sistine Chapel. It's closed this week. All those tourists who had tickets are out of luck. They're putting in the stove where they'll burn the ballots after each vote. They'll put in the chimney, and that's what everybody's eyes will be on.

The last two conclaves to elect Pope Benedict XVI and that to elect Pope Francis lasted just two days. But, of course, this is an entirely different conclave and an entirely different situation. And the fight for the soul of the church really is what's on the line here. Whether they'll stick with someone like Pope Francis or whether they'll go back to a more conservative pope is really what everyone's thinking about. We'll just have to wait and see, Sara.

SIDNER: Yeah, wait and see that smoke and know that that's -- the choice has been made.

And we will wait for that, and I know you'll be reporting on it, Barbie Nadeau. Thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Tears, texts, and blood tests. New details in the murder trial of Karen Read accused of killing her police office boyfriend.

And Kim Kardashian speaks ahead of the trial for the gang accused of robbing her at gunpoint in a hotel room.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:48:32]

BOLDUAN: New this morning, a potentially troubling indicator that Americans are struggling to cover every day expenses. A new survey out showing that more consumers are beginning to use buy now-pay later loans to purchase groceries.

CNN's Matt Egan joining us now. He's taken a look at this. And what are you learning about this, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, Kate, look, this is another indicator that at least some Americans are stressed financially, right, because they're using borrowed money to buy essentials.

Now, this comes to us from Lending Tree, which found that one in four buy now-pay later borrowers say that they've used these short-term loans to buy groceries, and that is up significantly from 14 percent a year ago.

Now remember, these are short-term loans that have become increasingly popular because 1) they generally don't charge interest --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

EGAN: -- and 2) they're really convenient and easy to use. They allow people to break up their payments in installments. But they've become so easy to use that some experts worry that they're going to encourage Americans to spend more money than they can really afford.

And it's not just groceries. Other popular categories for buy now-pay later include clothing; technology, like gadgets, smartphones; home furnishings; groceries, obviously; beauty. And it's not on this list but I thought it was really striking that the survey found that 16 percent say they've used buy now-pay later for food delivery or takeout, right?

BOLDUAN: Really?

[07:50:00]

EGAN: Think about that for a moment, right? You're going to break up your -- the cost of your pepperoni pizza delivery in installments.

Billboard also reported that more than half of the people who bought tickets to Coachella used buy now-pay later to buy those tickets, which I think is also striking.

Now, the survey doesn't really get at how much of this is happening because buy now-pay later is new and it's easy to use and it's convenient, and how much of it is because people are struggling right now.

But one telling finding is that a growing share of buy now-pay later borrowers say that they are paying late, especially younger Americans. They found that more than half -- 57 percent of Genzers say that they have paid late when it comes to buy now-pay later. Almost as many for millennials as well. Surprisingly, Kate, high-income borrowers are among the most likely to pay late.

So I think when you put all of this together it is a sign of how prices obviously remain high --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

EGAN: -- interest rates are high too. And even though there's these pretty solid national economic numbers, right -- unemployment is low, consumer spending is pretty solid -- there are some yellow lights flashing in this economy. And this doesn't even fully capture the impact of the trade war or the market turbulence.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, that's exactly right. That's really interesting though, Matt. Thanks for putting it all together.

EGAN: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

This morning the judge in the Karen Read murder retrial is seething over the actions of her attorney as testimony resumes today.

Now last week you'll remember jurors visited the site where Read is accused of running over and killing her police officer boyfriend.

Here with me now CNN correspondent Jean Casarez, and defense and trial attorney Misty Marris.

Jean, I'm going to start with you. Today the judge is letting jurors off early. Why is that?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's going to be a big hearing outside of the jury. Actually, it's voir dire, so -- because they are going to be witnesses. But these are the ARCCA witnesses. You say ARCCA witnesses? These are accident reconstructionists for the defense.

SIDNER: OK.

CASAREZ: And during a pretrial hearing there was a motion that was filed by the defense saying that we are not paying these experts anything, but special prosecutor Hank Brennan actually did some research and work and found that there had been an invoice for thousands of dollars to these ARCCA reconstructionist accident experts.

So the judge was livid. It was a huge deal. The judge stopped the hearing the next week, brought all the attorneys back, and talked to them at sidebar. She was ready, I think, to take some action. She asked Mr. Yannetti, "You are licensed in Massachusetts. You can cover this trial alone, right?" And he said, "Yes." But according to the sidebar by the judge, Karen Read begged the

attorney to not let go some of the other attorneys -- Alan Jackson, actually -- and so the team stayed the same.

SIDNER: OK.

CASAREZ: But here's the thing. There's another side to this story and this is the defense side. They didn't get a lot of information from these accident reconstructionists because there was a federal investigation on the case because of the alleged propriety of police officers. The federal investigation is closed but these were the experts in the federal investigation, and they do not believe that an automobile hit and killed John O'Keefe.

SIDNER: Wow.

So what could happen to Alan Jackson, in particular, because he is the one that said, "No, no, no, we didn't pay these experts. They are coming on their own. They are going to testify that this was not a car accident." Could he be held in contempt? I mean, what could the judge do here?

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE AND TRIAL ATTORNEY: Yeah. So Sara, this is a huge issue because when you have a paid expert it has to be disclosed to the court. It's as simple as that. So if he -- if he makes a statement that is not true -- that is not accurate, even if there might be, as Jean pointed out, the defense's -- their side of the story --

SIDNER: Yeah.

MARRIS: -- there's an argument to support it. But if there was money exchanged -- if that happened then most certainly it needed to be disclosed because it's something prosecutors can use on cross- examination.

So to your point, contempt is absolutely on the table. There's two types. There's criminal contempt and civil contempt. Civil contempt is when an attorney is fined and it's to get them to comply moving forward.

SIDNER: Right.

MARRIS: Whereas criminal is to punish.

So listen, they toe the line and better be accurate. You could see the judge was seething. Absolutely need to watch it moving forward as far as accuracy to what they tell the court.

SIDNER: Right. And the judge -- right -- the judge --

CASAREZ: And the defense argument was that the attorney that filed the motion saying they weren't paid -- she didn't know about the invoice. But the judge said, "one and all." You all represent --

SIDNER: Right. CASAREZ: -- Karen Read. You all are responsible. But that is -- that's a moot issue now at this point. The judge may take some action later on.

But the -- here's the -- the prosecution doesn't believe that they know everything. So they have asked for these ARCCA witnesses to be questioned because they think things are still being held from them. And there is testing that has been going on late in the game, and the prosecution wants information on that. So that's why this is all happening this afternoon.

SIDNER: And why it's all happening outside of view of the jury.

CASAREZ: Absolutely, absolutely.

But the big news on Friday --

SIDNER: Yeah.

CASAREZ: -- was this jury view. I think we've got some video. This is something.

[07:55:00]

The jury went there in silence to look at the home. Look at the flag pole. And Karen Read's SUV is right there.

Now, the prosecution said focus in on the car, on the tail light. You're going to see it's not there. You will learn why. I'll tell you why. It's evidence.

The defense said look at the home. Look at the second floor window. Look how close it is to the front lawn.

The prosecution also said that SUV -- look at the hatchback that -- on the top of the car that comes out and extends itself. That must be important, according to prosecutors. And the prosecution said there is cement that is cupping from the --

SIDNER: We can see it.

CASAREZ: -- from the asphalt to the grass.

SIDNER: Yeah.

CASAREZ: And remember his shoe. One shoe was found flush to the area where the asphalt meets the grass.

SIDNER: I mean, there's so many details here and both sides have extremely strong arguments, yes?

MARRIS: Yeah, and both sides have -- are telling a completely different story --

SIDNER: Yeah.

MARRIS: -- in the case.

And that's why this site visit is really important. Remember the purpose. The purpose is for jurors to get context, which they will use and apply to evidence as it comes out in the court. So everything Jean just flagged -- expect to see that be a central point of both defense and prosecution arguments.

And remember, we've had a lot more to go.

SIDNER: Yeah.

CASAREZ: Yeah.

MARRIS: We have a lot more to go, so --

SIDNER: Yeah, in this retrial, but there are new details coming out in this trial. It is fascinating.

CASAREZ: Constantly.

SIDNER: Misty Marris, Jean Casarez, it's always a pleasure to have you both on -- appreciate you -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning police in Clearwater, Florida, say one person is dead and several are injured after a boat crashed into a ferry overnight. According to one ferry passenger the boat "shattered the whole back of the ferry leaving a huge dent." The boat fled the scene but has since been identified.

New this morning two people are in custody over the theft of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's bag that was stolen at a restaurant on Easter Sunday. The Secret Service says the main suspect was arrested in Washington and a second person in Miami. Inside the bag, Noem's wallet, passport, DHS badge, $3,000 in cash.

The investigation has uncovered possible credit card fraud. And a source says more arrests are expected as authorities investigate a possible theft ring.

This morning in Paris we're standing by for the beginning of a trial for a gang accused of stealing $10 million worth of jewelry from Kim Kardashian in 2016. Prosecutors say during Fashion Week that year the criminals pretended to be police officers and forced their way -- their way in to Kardashian's apartment. She was held at gunpoint, bound, and gagged before the robbers escaped. Kardashian is expected to testify during the trial -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: That was wild when that happened.

So there's -- this morning Harvard and the White House -- Harvard and White House lawyers, rather, will meet in court for the first hearing on Harvard's lawsuit against the Trump administration over that freeze on more than $2 billion in federal funds for the school. Harvard is arguing the freeze violates the First Amendment and more. The lawsuit itself though really now becoming a symbol of a growing resistance from higher education against Trump administration demands. CNN's Kara Scannell is live outside the courthouse in Boston where this is all going to be taking place. Kara, what is expected -- what's today likely to look like here?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Kate, today is a status conference and it will be the first that lawyers for Harvard and lawyers for the Trump administration will appear in court before the judge since Harvard filed that lawsuit last week saying that the freeze of more than $2 billion in federal aid was unconstitutional because they say it violates Harvard's First Amendment rights to academic freedom, and it also violates an administrative law that sets forth a process if the federal government wants to withdraw federal funding they're supposed to take certain steps. Harvard says that the administration didn't do that.

They also say the freezing of the $2 billion was retaliation because Harvard did not agree to the list of changes that the administration wanted them to impose on the school, including canceling the diversity, equity, and inclusion program, making changes to admissions and hiring practices, and also not permitting -- or admitting foreign students that have views that the U.S. government believes are hostile.

So Harvard rejecting those demands in that big showdown and filing the lawsuit.

So at the court hearing today -- this is the status conference. So the judge is going to see both parties and kind of figure out how to have this play out going forward. Harvard wants this to move quickly. They want the judge to set a motion schedule where they could file what's called a motion for a summary judgment, which would be to ask the judge to unfreeze these funds and block the administration from making any other steps about funding by making a ruling based on legal arguments and what evidence they put forward to avoid any sort of trial, and wrap this up quickly -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, an important day today.

Kara, thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.