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Trump's Approval Rating Sink on Economy and Immigration; Nearly 800 Immigrants Arrested in Multi-Agency Operation in Florida; Millions Bracing for Severe Weather from Midwest to Texas; Alleged "Grandpa Gang" Faces Trial Over Kardashian Jewelry Heist; Falcons Coach's Son Apologizes for Prank Call to Browns Draft Pick Shedeur Sanders. Aired 8:30-9 am ET

Aired April 28, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: -- the effort we've seen put forth by the administration and their strident comments, just like we heard about there being some problems, maybe, you know, nothing is going to be perfect when we perhaps will be sending people outside the country that shouldn't be sent outside the country.

But if you look at these numbers right here, it just goes to show you that Donald Trump right now has to work harder at not just implementing his -- his -- his plans, but they need to do a better job messaging it right now, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: When you look across the board at this new polling, is there anything the president is performing well on?

PRESTON: There's always a bright spot, isn't there? Well, yes, there is. There's one issue right now. Take a look at this. It's an issue that really doesn't have a whole lot of sway in people's pocketbooks, but it has to do with gender identity, which really just goes to show you how divided we are as a nation right now, that we're still talking about gender identity right now, when we have wars ongoing and the economy right now is really a big concern, not only for us, but investors around the world.

SIDNER: Yeah, all of that. Thank you so much, Mark Preston. And it is so good to see you this morning. Now to someone who knows exactly what we're talking about when it comes to polling. And I don't mean our fabulous John Berman. Sorry, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm talking about this guy right here. So the president's poll numbers are historically low and they are dropping. The question is, who will that have the biggest impact on and how quickly? One man knows, our Chief Data Analyst, Harry Enten. Sir.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA REPORTER: Sir. OK. I mean, look, it's the congressional GOP. It's the House GOP. If the House GOP is under any illusions that Donald Trump's fall in the polls won't bring them down as well, well, they are living on Fantasy Island. And what are we talking about here?

Let's take a look at the generic congressional ballot, Democrats versus Republicans. We have three polls out within the last few weeks. What do they all show? They all show the Democrats up by two points in the CNBC poll, the Fox News poll that was out on Friday. Look at that. Democrats up by seven.

The New York Times poll that was out this Friday as well. Democrats by three. And keep in mind, the House GOP won the popular vote back in 2024 by a little less than three percentage points. So when you see three, seven, two, averaging four, that is a tremendous shift. That is a shift of seven points from the November 2024 elections away from the GOP to the House Democrats. Donald Trump dragging down the House Republicans.

BERMAN: Where are we seeing this shift in a most pronounced way?

ENTEN: Where are we seeing it? We've spoken about it, Mr. Berman. We're talking about independence. This is how you know that Trump is bringing down the House GOP. Look at Trump's net favorable rating. In October of 2024, according to the New York Times, it was minus nine points. Look at where it is now. Minus 30 points among independents. That's horrific. That's historically awful.

Take a look at the generic ballot. In October of 2024, the Democrats were ahead, but only by three, well within the margin of error. Look at where they are now, up 17 points. There is no way on God's green earth that the Republicans can hold on to the House of Representatives if they lose independence by 17 percentage points.

My goodness gracious. This is what dreams are made of if you're House Democrats, and it's all being driven, or at least in large part being driven, by Donald Trump's rapid drop with independence.

BERMAN: What does history tell us about how a party does heading into a midterm with the type of lead the Democrats have right now?

ENTEN: Yeah, OK. So I went back through history, right? And I looked at the opposition minority party. That of course is the Democrats right now. They're a minority in the House to the opposition to the party in the White House, Donald Trump a Republican. The average House seats won by the opposition minority party 234 when leading the generic ballot this early by at least four percentage points. That happened in 2006 and 2018, two huge Democratic years. Democrats love this number.

BERMAN: Of course, we still have months to go. We'll see if history repeats itself.

ENTEN: We do.

BERMAN: But this is an answer to the question is, oh, why does it matter what these numbers show right now? 100 days into the president's terms? Well, there's some history that shows it might matter. It's exactly right.

ENTEN: Oftentimes, the generic ballot actually is quite predictive at this point.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the men accused of robbing Kim Kardashian at gunpoint and taking off with millions of dollars' worth in jewelry. Those men are set to stand trial. We've got details of that.

And also, we have breaking news coming in this morning about parts of Europe are in the dark, a massive blackout and widespread power outages they are facing right now. What we know, we're going to bring in the details as it seems to be creating quite a mess.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:39:18]

SIDNER: All right, happening now, President Trump's border czar Tom Homan is expected to speak at any moment at a White House briefing that you are seeing happen right now as the administration is ramping up deportations of undocumented immigrants, but also caught in their net children who are American citizens. Over the weekend, ICE announced that the agency arrested nearly 800 people over four days with the help of state law enforcement officials in Florida. They're describing it as a quote massive multi-agency immigration enforcement crackdown.

Joining us now, Executive Director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Tessa Petit. Thank you so much for joining us.

First of all, what have you learned about these arrests that happened? Almost a thousand people arrested over four days.

[08:40:06]

TESSA PETIT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FLORIDA IMMIGRANT COALITION: What we've learned from family members is that a lot of people who've been arrested are in limbo in our immigration system because the immigration system has a lot of flaws. Some folks have temporary status and we've seen the data given by ICE that maybe 300 out of the 800 were actually had a final order of deportation.

So which means that most likely two third of the folks who were arrested are people who are in some form of process and are certainly not criminals.

SIDNER: So you're saying about, you know, most of the people that were arrested because you said about 300 had actual deportation orders and, you know, would it be deported at some point in time, some of them going through the system. What -- what can they do at this point? Once you're deported, it's over, correct?

PETIT: Once people are deported, it's practically over. The system does provide legal avenues for folks if they can prove that they were wrongly deported to return into the United States. That is at a time when there is -- when there was due process in the in our immigration system. We're hoping that a lot of the people who were arrested are actually given due process before they are deported.

SIDNER: Is there any indication that there are U.S. citizens potentially that have been grabbed up in this group of people because we have now seen that there were children that were deported and that there was -- there was a man who was in the country legally that was accidentally deported, according to the administration itself. And there is a battle over that in court. What do you know about the sort of legal status of some of these individuals?

PETIT: Right now, we don't have any information about the legal status of these individuals. We've seen how ICE have made multiple errors because they are rushing through a process that actually, if done properly, would not treat people in such an inhumane way. We hope that they're not only not undocumented, not U.S. citizens in those that were picked up, but we also hope that everyone who was actually detained is given a chance to have access to a lawyer and to prove their right to be in this country.

SIDNER: I'm curious to get your take on hearing from the president when it comes to accidentally sending someone, deporting someone or the fact that children who are U.S. citizens were deported. One of them having stage four cancer. His response to "The Atlantic" in an interview that he has just done and that has just been published was, well, sometimes mistakes are made. What is your response to that?

PETIT: I am from Haiti. I can tell you one thing. Once you start making it OK for one life to not matter, it quickly -- it quickly becomes everybody's habit for every life to stop having any form of value. I would warn America not to fall into that trap of being inhumane or dividing people based on their country of origin to decide whether or not they are worth a fight.

SIDNER: Thank you so much and sak pase. Tessa Petit. Thank you. Appreciate you.

John?

BERMAN: All right, this morning nearly 50 million people are under severe weather threats. Storms and tornadoes could develop across the Midwest today. Let's get right to CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

Derek, what are you seeing?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, John, we're seeing an area of severe weather potential in a region that doesn't normally experience it this time of year. It's more of a June-July setup. We're talking about the upper Midwest, including the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. That's our greatest risk of strong tornadoes today.

But just due to CNN, we have this inclusion of an enhanced risk here, basically from central Oklahoma to central Texas. That's an area we're looking out for the potential of some larger hail over 2 inches. That's baseball-size hail falling from the sky. So here's the current setup. The radar right now, you can see the spin

in the atmosphere, and there's the placement of the severe weather, the greatest risk. But don't just focus on that red region. Remember, we've got 50 million Americans in two different locations from the north to the south, stretching from the Midwest all the way to the southern plains where we could see these storms fire up later this evening. That's our greatest risk of EF2 tornadoes. That's 111 mph winds or greater.

[08:45:12]

And then you can see this hatched region from the Lake Superior region all the way down into central Texas. That's where we could experience some of those baseball-size hails or greater.

And then you can see this hatched region from the Lake Superior region all the way down into central Texas. That's where we could experience some of those baseball-size hails falling from the sky. So tomorrow, this storm system advances eastward.

Then we focus our attention across northern New England. This region here has an enhanced risk. So heads up, Buffalo, Cincinnati to Cleveland just east of Indianapolis with a slight risk extending towards St. Louis and the central portions of Texas. We also have a moderate risk of flash flooding. You can see that across central Texas. They don't need more rain here across Missouri, Arkansas. These regions have been battered with heavy rainfall lately. So a multi-day severe weather setup, John, but the potential for large hail, strong gusty winds, and flash flooding also exists.

BERMAN: A lot of people on alert and for a few days. Derek Van Dam, thank you very much.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: We also have this just in to CNN. Parts of Spain and Portugal are in the dark, a massive and widespread blackout unfolding as we speak.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has the very latest on what's happening. Salma, what more are you learning about these power outages?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: So just two words to take away here, and that is chaos and confusion. Let's begin with the chaos about midday local time across Spain and Portugal. There was a massive power outage that's affected multiple cities, multiple towns.

We're talking everything from trains that have stopped running, airports that are now filled with passengers that don't know where to go next. Even traffic lights in some parts of Spain have stopped working. So authorities are warning people essentially to drive slowly, to be careful, to take care.

Shops, restaurants, banks, all of those, of course, also reeling. Now to the confusion. What has caused this? We simply don't know at this time. But the authorities say that they're working, first of all, to restore power and secondly to try to find out what's happened here. I mean, you can only imagine how concerned people are when it's in the middle of the workday, when people are trying to go on, when people's schools and education is trying to carry through, and people simply don't even know when this is going to end.

So a great deal of chaos, and you can see in those images there, and a lot is coming through on social media of people just gathered outside of train stations that have been shut down, standing at airports unclear where they're going to go to next. We've heard from teachers who say they simply don't know how to support students at this time or how long this is going to take. So the authorities in both Spain and Portugal scrambling to restore power and try to find out what has happened, while we also monitor if these power outages have reached further across Europe, potentially into France as well.

BOLDUAN: Still time to work. It seems that really everyone's just trying to, first and foremost, get a handle on how widespread this actually is. Salma, thank you so much. We'll get back to you.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Hearts heavy in Canada after a car slams into a crowd in Vancouver, the suspect killing at least 11 people. There is movement in that case. We will have more on that.

And after slipping down the NFL draft board, Shedeur Sanders receives a prank call telling him he had been drafted. We now know the phone call came from a coach's son and just how he got Sanders' phone number not a mystery this morning. We will talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:52:40]

BOLDUAN: Happening right now, the long-awaited trial is beginning for the suspects in the jewelry robbery of Kim Kardashian. The trial now underway. This happened back in 2016. You'll remember the headline, at least. Kardashian saying she was tied up and robbed in a Paris apartment. Police say about $10 million worth of jewelry was stolen.

CNN's Melissa Bell is in Paris, tracking all of this for us. Set the scene for us, Melissa. What's expected today?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a trial that's going to attract a lot of attention. Just as you said, Kate, the initial robbery had in 2016. We now know that just in the courtroom behind me, this trial gets underway. It's very first day. There are ten suspects in there. They include nine men, one woman. They've been described in the French press as the grandpa robbers, simply because of the age of most of them. Most of them deny most of the most serious charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping. But this is an extraordinary brazen attack that prosecutors allege took place in October 2016.

They got there on bicycles. This is a hotel, very discreet hotel here in Paris where Kim Kardashian had been staying. They got there on bicycles. They got there on foot. They went in and overpowered the concierge, having presented themselves as policemen before going up to rob Kim Kardashian, who was alone in her bedroom. Now, since then, she's spoken about the ordeal of that night.

Have a listen.

KIM KARDASHIAN, REALITY STAR: He tied me up with handcuffs and then zip ties and then duct tape. And then duct tape my mouth and my eyes. And before he had my eyes, he had -- I saw -- I mean, before he ducked taped my eyes, because that was the last thing, he -- I saw he found my whole jewelry box and, like, held it up like, aha!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: Now, inside that jewelry box were $10 million worth of jewels. Most of them have never been retrieved, Kate. They included a $4 million engagement ring that had been given to Kim Kardashian by her then-husband Kanye West.

And again, none of them have ever been brought back. So much attention had focused on the jewelry itself, but as you heard in her voice there, all that emotion, a lot more on the ordeal she went through. She herself is expected to be here in Paris on May 13th to testify. That, of course, will attract a lot of attention, and we expect the sentencing and the verdict by the end of the month, Kate.

[08:55:12]

BOLDUAN: Yeah, that will be quite a moment, for sure. Melissa, thank you very much, and getting underway as we speak.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Hundreds of people gathered at vigils in Vancouver after a car slammed into a crowd at a Filipino Heritage Festival over the weekend. At least 11 people were killed by the suspect. The youngest was just 5 years old. The suspect now faces multiple murder charges. Investigators are still working to understand what led up to this. Police are calling it the darkest day in the city's history, but say it is not a terrorist attack, according to politicians there. This person was known to have mental illness.

All right. The Vatican announced that conclave will begin May 7th. That's the process to elect a new pope. Cardinals gathered this morning to discuss plans. This decision will play a crucial role in shaping the future direction of the Catholic Church. Pope Francis was laid to rest over the weekend.

John?

BERMAN: All right. This morning, a once-in-a-lifetime NFL draft moment spoiled by a prank that never should have happened. University of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion Sanders, was caught off guard while waiting for a call that, frankly, he'd been waiting for -- for a really long time. Now we know the son of Atlanta Falcons Defensive Coroner Jeff Ulbrich was behind it all. The Falcons released a statement saying Ulbrich's 24-year-old son, Jax, came across Sanders' number in an open iPad while visiting his parents' home. Ulbrich is now apologizing, saying on social media, in part, quote, "I made a tremendous mistake. What I did was completely inexcusable, embarrassing, and shameful. Thank you for accepting my call earlier today. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

The NFL confirmed to CNN the league is looking into additional prank calls made and has been in contact with the Falcons in his reviewing the matter.

With us now, CNN Contributor and Host of "Naked Sports with Cari Champion" podcast, Cari Champion. Let me just explain a little bit more, again, what happened. Shedeur Sanders, a lot of people thought, was going to go in the top 10 of the draft, at least the first round. He kept slipping and slipping and slipping. And then he gets this prank call from someone saying, hey, you've been picked by the Saints. And that was, I guess, in the fourth round, right? Well, it turns out that was a prank. He didn't get picked until a full round later.

You can just imagine how devastating it already was for Shedeur Sanders. And then to be pranked like that, I'm not sure I know what to say.

CARI CHAMPION, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, John, this was a really interesting case study because Shedeur Sanders yesterday on his social media said that he felt like he was in jail for something he didn't do. Alluding to the fact that there was a lot of, there were several narratives, one of which was that his father, Deion Sanders, was going to be very much involved in his career, so maybe some of these teams didn't want to be bothered with it. But that didn't mean that he should be in the fifth round.

Then there was another narrative that he did not interview well, and people thought that he was very entitled when he met with teams. And then another narrative was that he was one of these, he was one of the perfect examples of NIL money, name, image, and likeness. He was making millions of dollars a year in college with NIL.

And there was this narrative that he felt as if he could do no wrong because he had had such money. His father was Deion Sanders. All of these things were floating around the universe and the narrative space when it came to Shadur Sanders.

But at the end of the day, he should have at least been picked as a -- at least in the second round. I mean, everyone would have said that to you. But Tom Brady said something yesterday that I thought was really interesting, speaking for someone who did not get picked very high in the draft.

He said, it doesn't matter. As long as you get there and you show them what you can do. The work begins now, but it's unfortunate that it does appear that Shedeur had to pay for perhaps his father's sins, if you will. BERMAN: Yeah, look, Tom Brady also is a part owner of the Raiders who passed on Shedeur Sanders multiple times in the draft also. So easy for Tom Brady to say at this point. And look, I guess we'll leave the prank aside because I just, I honestly don't know what there is to say about the prank phone call other than it's terrible.

But do you have a theory on why he dropped so much? I mean, look, I paid a ton of attention to the draft and I listened to hours of podcasts before. I was sure he was going to go somewhere in the first round to like the Steelers in the 20s, but to drop five rounds, it's just unprecedented.

CHAMPION: Yeah, the NFL was sending a message. They were sending a very clear message. We just don't know which one of the theories really stuck or was it just everything that came with what they thought would be Shedeur Sanders.

A lot of people didn't like Colorado playing the way in which they played and how they handled the teams and how Deion Sanders came in and changed the narrative. Who knows? It's really unfortunate because he's still, at the end of the day, is a young --