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California Sues Second Trump Administration More Than a Dozen Times; Trump Says He's Bringing Columbus Day Back, But it Was Never Gone. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 28, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Since President Trump took office a second time nearly 100 days ago, California has filed at least 15 lawsuits against his administration. The state filed its latest one on Friday, leading a coalition of 19 states that opposed President Trump's order trying to eliminate school diversity programs. Other legal challenges from California include the Trump tariffs, his push to end birthright citizenship, the role of Elon Musk, Musk's DOGE efforts to access people's private information, funding cuts to public health, research grants, and more.

With us now is the Attorney General of California, Rob Monteser. Sir, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

OK, so you've probably seen three judges, including two Trump appointees, have ruled against the Department of Education and this anti-DEI policy, and these judges have said that it's constitutionally vague. It's not really saying what's valid DEI and what's not valid DEI, which is what you and other states are alleging in your suit.

[14:35:00]

What kind of clarity do you want from the Trump administration on that issue?

ROB BONTA, (D) CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Trump administration needs to provide enough specificity so that we can know what they're talking about and we can comply with it. Honestly, I think it's just a buzzword that they bandy about as they wage the culture wars. We definitely don't know what they mean.

I don't think they know what they mean, and there's certainly not enough specificity for us to be able to comply with whatever it is that they're asking.

But in addition to the vagueness of this order on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in K-12 schools in California and in other states, it's also completely lawful for these programs that promote anti-discrimination, prevent harassment, provide inclusive environments where all students can learn. So we think it's not just vague. We think that what they're suggesting, whatever it is that they might be suggesting, the programs that we have are very compliant. We will certify our compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,

which is what is at issue, all day and all night, and we have. But they cannot redefine the law to create an additional set of conditions and restrictions that we need to meet.

They're not Congress. They don't make laws. And they can't withhold funding that Congress has already stated and appropriated should go to the states.

KEILAR: If the Trump administration does delineate what is valid DEI and what is not, there is at this point, I think, about $8 billion of Department of Ed funding for California at stake. If they were to delineate that, whether it's, you know, hiring a teacher who speaks Spanish or not, right? That's something that is very important in California, where you have a big ESL population in the schools. Would the goal of yours then be to sort of litigate each of these individual line items about what is valid or not valid DEI?

BONTA: I'm confident that whatever it is that they come up with, if they do know what they're talking about and do provide some specificity, that when you look at the programs that are actually in place in California, that they're completely compliant. And they actually promote the very lawful and appropriate mission of tackling discrimination with anti-discrimination policies, of addressing harassment with anti-harassment policies. Certainly some of the examples you provided, including hiring a teacher that speaks Spanish, is completely lawful.

And they cannot rewrite laws, modify the Civil Rights Act of 1964, one of our core pillar civil rights laws. So the executive branch wants to be the legislature. They're just not.

They can't write laws, they can't rewrite laws, and they don't have the power of the purse. Congress does. So there are so many things wrong with this order. Vagueness is just the tip of the iceberg.

KEILAR: President Trump has an EO signing we're expecting later this afternoon. Sanctuary cities, immigration crackdowns. Are you anticipating, at this point now you've got well over a dozen lawsuits, are you expecting to sue on this?

BONTA: This just happened today, so as we always do, we will evaluate it. We will be thorough, fair, and comprehensive in our analysis. And if we think it's unlawful, we'll sue.

So we're still analyzing it. But we have sued 15 times in 14 weeks, more than once a week, because that is how many times the president has violated the law or the Constitution. We want to sue him zero times because that means he's following the law and complying with the Constitution.

But each and every time he violates the law or violates the Constitution and our state is harmed, we will sue him and we will meet him in court. And we have so far to much success where we're getting restraining orders and preliminary injunctions fairly regularly. KEILAR: Your parents were civil rights activists and advocates, including with United Farm Workers. And that's really the environment that you grew up in, including in the Central Valley of California, which is the breadbasket, really, of our country. I say this as a Californian.

I wonder what you are hearing, what you're experiencing in California, what you're hearing from growers and what you're hearing from farm workers and how it's affecting the economy and how you're concerned that it will, these immigration crackdowns.

BONTA: Yes, a lot of chilling and fear in the immigrant community generally, including in the farm worker community. Some workers not going to work, children not going to school. Certainly a great concern among employers about their employees being safe and able to continue to be productive members of their businesses.

KEILAR: Is that widespread?

BONTA: Yes, and it crosses multiple sectors, certainly including in our ag industry, but other industries as well. I think there's a concern of racial profiling. There's a concern of violation of Fourth Amendment rights, of unlawful searches and detentions and entering of homes.

[14:40:05]

This president has shown a willingness to violate the law, and he's done it frequently and consistently, and that's not lost on the American people or Californians. He's violated due process blatantly in some of these deportations, deporting a 2-year-old citizen of the United States without appropriate due process, sending someone to another country into a prison who has a court order saying he shouldn't be returned to that country.

That's a failure to comply with the law and with due process, and that's not lost on Californians or Americans, so there's concern across many sectors. But we know our rights. We will stand up for and defend and protect our rights.

We'll make sure if our rights are violated that they're vindicated, and we will exercise our rights.

KEILAR: California Attorney General Rob Bonta, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate it.

BONTA: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: Thank you.

And when we come back, the comeback of Columbus Day. President Trump planting a flag to claim he's bringing back the holiday from the ashes, but did it really go anywhere to begin with? We'll check the facts here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like it took guts to murder people and put them in chains.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was a victim of his time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who cares? It's what he did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He discovered America is what he did. He was a brave Italian explorer. And in this house, Christopher Columbus is a hero. End of story.

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SANCHEZ: Hero, colonizer, victim of his time. What's old is new again. That clip from HBO's The Sopranos highlights a now decades-long debate over the legacy of Christopher Columbus. A debate raised once again by President Trump.

In a post on Truth Social, he wrote, quote, I'm bringing back Columbus Day from the ashes. The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much.

Just to be clear, Columbus Day is still a federal holiday. Though in hundreds of cities and multiple states, it's been replaced or put alongside Indigenous Peoples Day. That's a shift that began in the 1990s and gained traction, especially after this proclamation that President Biden issued commemorating the day back in 2021.

We should note, multiple bills were presented to make Indigenous Peoples Day a federal holiday in 2023. None of those pieces of legislation made it to a floor vote. So let's step back.

What makes the second Monday in October so controversial? It starts with the facts surrounding Columbus himself. Now, critics of Columbus argue that he didn't actually discover America.

Despite reaching the Bahamas, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti, he never reached the United States, which celebrates Columbus Day as a federal holiday. They also point to Columbus not actually being the first European to set foot in the Americas. That was Norse explorer Leif Erikson, who doesn't get a federal holiday despite arriving some 500 years before Columbus.

And if this is really about who got to North America first, Indigenous People had been living in the Americas for centuries, many in massive metropolises, especially in Central America.

Still, it doesn't diminish the fact that Columbus bravely ventured into seemingly uncharted parts of the Atlantic Ocean, literally putting them on the map for Europeans. His arrival also sparked a new world of change, including what's known as the Columbian Exchange, a term coined by historians as an interchange of people, animals and ideas, which became the foundation for global trade and globalization at all of the nice things we now have.

He did also exchange diseases and slaves. Decades after his first voyage, the Taino people, one of the most populous tribes of the Caribbean, were near extinction because of the diseases brought by the Spaniards. His arrival also meant the enslavement of native populations.

In fact, this is what he wrote to Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who financed his trip about his first voyage.

Quote, There I found very many islands filled with innumerable people, and I have taken possession of them all for their Highnesses, done by proclamation and with the royal standard unfurled -- and this is important -- and no opposition was offered to me.

Keep that in mind. He also wrote that natives should be very good servants. To that point, the year after his arrival, Columbus began sending enslaved Tainos to Spain for sale, something that in his day and age during colonial times was accepted as good business. A slave business that over the next four decades contributed to the death of seven million Tianos.

And back to that no opposition line. There it is. During his time as governor of the Dominican Republic, various accounts point to Columbus massacring natives in response to their opposition and their efforts to fight being enslaved.

His heavy handed response alarmed even his fellow Spanish colonists who reported him and accused him of mistreatment. Columbus was arrested for misconduct, though he was ultimately acquitted and did lose his governorship. So does Columbus Day deserve to be celebrated? Clearly, the president thinks so.

[14:50:00]

Still to come on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, the insult that added to injury for Shedeur Sanders during his dramatic drop at the NFL draft, a prank call that triggered multiple apologies. And now a league wide investigation.

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JAX ULBRICH: But you're going to have to wait a little bit longer, man.

SHEDEUR SANDERS: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Way to go!

SANDERS: What does that mean?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: New Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders has had an excruciating weekend. First, he had to wait as no team picked the college star in the first, second, third or fourth round. Then he had to endure a childish prank on day two of the draft.

[14:55:02]

Here's CNN's Coy Wire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi Boris. 21-year-old Jax Ulbrich, son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, apologized for a prank call made to Shedeur Sanders on Friday.

JAX ULBRICH: This is Mickey Loomis here, GM of the fence.

SHEDEUR SANDERS: How you doing?

ULBRICH: Good. How are you, man?

SANDERS: Good. Been waiting on you.

ULBRICH: Yes, we have. It's been a long wait, man.

SANDERS: No, for sure.

ULBRICH: We're going to take you with our next pick right here, man.

SANDERS: Yes, sir. Let's be legendary.

ULBRICH: Yes, but you're going to have to wait a little bit longer, man.

SANDERS: OK.

ULBRICH: Sorry about that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Way to go!

SANDERS: What does that mean?

WIRE: The Falcons released a statement saying he came across Sanders' number on an open iPad while visiting his parents' home and wrote the number down to later conduct a prank call. Sanders, who was thought by many to be a first-round pick in this draft, was in the middle of a confounding draft slide when the prank call came in.

He was eventually picked almost 24 hours later in the fifth round by the Browns. Jax Ulbrich apologized to Sanders on social media, saying in part, 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, Boris, that the league is looking into additional prank calls that were made, and the league has been in contact with the Falcons reviewing this matter with Shedeur Sanders -- Boris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Coy Wire, thank you so much for that reporting.

Still ahead, the suspects accused of taking millions of dollars of cash and jewelry from Kim Kardashian at gunpoint now go on trial. We're going to tell you when the billionaire reality TV star is expected to take the stand.

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