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Syracuse Hazing Suspects Surrender; Polls on Trump Being the Right Choice; Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) is Interviewed about Sanctions on Russia; CNN Dives into Misinformation Rabbit Hole. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 01, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:32:22]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Eleven high school students in Syracuse, New York, are now facing charges over an alleged hazing incident. All of them turned themselves in to authorities yesterday after the district attorney laid out really what was an ultimatum, come in willingly or face kidnaping charges.

They're accused of staging an abduction of younger members of the schools lacrosse team last week, wielding what appeared to be at least one handgun and at least one knife says the district attorney while they were carrying this out. The D.A. also says that the Westhill High School student athletes went, quote, "way beyond hazing."

Here with us now is CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Joey Jackson.

There's a lot in this, Joey. I feel bad just for the community there. Whether these athletes are 18 and over or under, that's going to make a big difference, right?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It does.

Kate, good morning to you.

And it does for a reason. So, just in terms of a little history.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

JACKSON: What New York did was they raised the age. Raising age, that was known as the Raise the Age Legislation back in about 2018. And they did that because we had 16 and 17-year-olds that were being treated as adults. So, right now, the age of criminal responsibility in New York is 18. And that was done for a reason. And that's, to your question, there's really a school of thought that when you're younger and when you're an adolescent, right, you're not as developed, you're not going to make decisions that would be made by an adult, who has more judgment, right, who has more seasoning, more experience, et cetera. And as a result of that, the criminal justice system takes that into account. And so, depending upon the ages of these individuals, many will be treated in family court where the impetus and really the focus is on rehabilitation. You got a lot longer to go. And when you're 18 and over, the focus, of course, now you're in adult court, but there are programs that you could qualify for that would not give you a criminal record throughout.

BOLDUAN: Some of the details of how the district attorney describes what played out, they go - the team invites all - this was premeditated. The team, the older members of the team, invite the younger members to go with them to see another game. On the way out, they say they're going to take them to McDonald's. And that is where this ambush, or however you want to describe it, they allege, occurred, not only some of them got away, one did not, not only kind of tying the - tying the student up, but also putting something over their head and putting them in the trunk of the car. This is some of the details of how this played out.

JACKSON: Yes. So, that in and of itself is problematic, to your point, right?

BOLDUAN: Right.

JACKSON: It appears to be that the older students hatched a plan which they thought would be amusing.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

JACKSON: And in hatching that plan, they thought that perhaps they would scare the bejesus out of the younger students.

[08:35:04]

And in doing that, there's some indication that there may have been, whether it's real or not, a gun and a knife involved, that goes to the facts. It goes to the nature of what they were planning, plotting and what they were doing. But it also goes to how it will be treated and charged.

But just to be clear, what ends up happening, right, they thought it was funny. It's not. They thought it was not a big deal. It is. And I think that there's certainly a couple of components. One, obviously, the criminal - the other component. The other is what the school is going to do in terms of not reinforcing this culture.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

JACKSON: There's some indication that the season has been canceled.

But as it relates to the actual charges, what you'll see in family court, Kate, is you'll see programs. Programs like what? Programs to make you a better decision maker. Programs that you could atone for your conduct. That's what we'll see there.

BOLDUAN: One of - one of the things that is interesting here is the district attorney's approach, which was, turn yourselves in or you're going to face kidnaping charges. They turned themselves in. They threatened - they were threatened with kidnaping. They turned themselves in. And now they're charged with unlawful imprisonment. How different are these charges?

JACKSON: So, here's the distinction, unlawful imprisonment. You're talking about, generally speaking, a misdemeanor. You're restricting someone against their will. It could be a felony, right, if there's some component of physical injury or you're looking as a threat, et cetera. And then, of course, the kidnaping is like an abduction. But a kidnaping with an abduction, you're talking about causing some other type of problem, coercion, in fact, and just, you know, doing it in a way where you're actually representing a serious physical threat or serious physical injury. So, there's a distinction.

I should say this, though. Look, the D.A. has taken a hard stance for the community. He needs to. This is a parent's nightmare. This is a nightmare for many people in the community. At the end of the day, what charges are is certainly at the discretion of a DA, but it's predicated upon the facts and the law, not the blustering of turn yourself in now or I'll charge you with some crazy crime.

BOLDUAN: Right.

JACKSON: It shouldn't have happened. It did happen. Hopefully the kids will learn from this. They'll grow. They'll be better. The community will be better. And, you know, ultimately, it's a moment we can all learn from.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Thanks, Joey.

JACKSON: Always. Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, still ahead, past the 100 day mark of the President Trump second term, but do voters still think he was the right choice over Kamala Harris? Our Harry Enten here to run those polling numbers for you.

And, two brains, one body. The rare two-headed snake born in a California pet store.

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[08:41:56]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We heard from Kamala Harris overnight for the first major speech since she lost the presidency to Donald Trump. She called the state of the Trump economy the greatest manmade economic crisis in history. Many of the polling numbers have been very unfavorable for President Trump, and his work on the economy in particular. But do Americans still believe that Trump was the right choice compared to Harris?

CNN's chief data analyst, Harry Enten, has been digging through these numbers to try to find the answers.

So, what do you got? HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: What do I got? Well, we asked the

question in our last CNN poll, who would be doing a better job as president? Guess who comes out on top, within the margin of error but comes on top, this looks a lot like the election result, right? Trump 45 percent, two points ahead of Harris at 43 percent, 12 percent say they'd be doing about the same.

But this is the key nugget here. It's not just about regretting that vote, it's literally saying, who would be doing the better job right now? And Trump continues to score a higher percentage of the vote than Kamala Harris. This looks a heck of a lot like the election result. We have just seen this in poll after poll after poll. Despite the fact that Trump's favorable ratings aren't too hot to trot, when he's matched up against who he was matched up in 2024, he, still, across the polls, scores a higher percentage than Kamala Harris does.

SIDNER: Even if they don't know exactly what she would have done, they still went for Donald Trump.

OK, what about when he's matched up against congressional Democrats, who we know have had some pretty rough numbers?

ENTEN: Yes, they have had some pretty rough numbers. So, Kamala Harris, obviously, has - doesn't hold elected office right now, but Democrats in Congress sure do. So, who do you trust more on the U.S. main problems, the main problems in the United States? Well, what do we have here? It's the same exact picture, folks. It's the same exact picture. When you match Donald Trump against his actual competition, Donald Trump comes out ahead. Look at this, 40 percent to congressional Democrats, 32 percent. I'm going to make a big circle here.

But the bottom line is, when you look at Donald Trump in a vacuum, it's one thing. But when you actually match him up against folks in the real world, all of a sudden his numbers look considerably better. And when you match him up against his main competition at this point, Democrats in Congress, he is more trusted on the main problems facing the United States right now. In fact, it's not even close. It's an eight point advantage, which, in this politics, well, that's a wide ocean.

SIDNER: It's huge and maybe tells the Democrats that their messaging is not working at this point in time.

ENTEN: Correct.

SIDNER: All right, speaking of the big issues, which party is better trusted when it comes to things like the economy and immigration still?

ENTEN: Right. OK. So, we kind of talk about it a little bit up here when we match up Donald Trump against the Democrats in Congress. But what about the parties up against each other, right? Donald Trump has not seen those favorable polls when it comes to the economy, when it comes to immigration. But look here, which party has a better plan - and this is the margin

- among registered voters. Look at this, on immigration, the GOP crushes the Democrats. Look at that. That's a 19 point edge. My goodness gracious, you rarely ever see leads like that in politics these days.

How about on the economy, where Donald Trump's numbers have been struggling a little bit? But even there, Republicans hold a nine-point lead. If Democrats think that at this particular point, just because Donald Trump is unpopular, that they're going to run away with it like a Heisman Trophy winner, that is not necessarily the case.

[08:45:07]

These numbers should be a major wake up call for Democrats. Despite Donald Trump's unpopularity in the polls, when you actually go up against him and you put Democrats' names against him, when you put Republicans as a whole up against him, Republicans and Donald Trump do considerably better. And that is why Democrats, in fact, cannot count their chickens just yet because those eggs have not cracked at this particular moment.

SIDNER: I think you said the pivotal thing, the important thing, which is, Democrats are not going to be running away with anything. They have to start thinking about what their message is going forward.

ENTEN: That's exactly right, because at this point the Democratic message ain't selling a thing.

SIDNER: All right, Harry Enten, thank you.

ENTEN: Thank you.

SIDNER: Over to you, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, Senator Lindsey Graham is pushing for a new crackdown on Russia. The Republicans introduced a bill that would place new sanctions on Moscow and steep tariffs on any country that purchases Russian oil, gas, uranium or other products. There's a companion bill in the House that's been introduced by Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. Both bills have received strong bipartisan support.

With us now is Congressman Brandon Gill, a Republican from Texas.

Congressman, great to see you this morning.

So, Brian Fitzpatrick, your Republican colleague, is introducing or trying to introduce this bill into the House. I mean, obviously, there is the mineral deal today. But if Moscow doesn't come to the table, is this a bill you would support, new sanctions on Russia?

REP. BRANDON GILL (R-TX): You know, listen, we're going to have to take a look at this bill in particular and go through the text and take - make a prudent decision once we've had the chance to do that. But what I'm glad about is that we have a president who wants peace between Russia and Ukraine. We haven't had that for years. There have been hundreds of thousands of people who have died in the war in Ukraine. And what is best for the United States and best for Ukraine is a path to peace. And that's what President Trump is pushing here.

BERMAN: Can you tell me any specific measure you would support that would be tougher on Russia, trying to push Russia toward peace?

GILL: Well, I'll tell you what I would support, which would help the United States at Russia's expense, which would be drilling for oil right here in the United States. We have energy domestically that we can produce that over the past four years we've seen the other side of the aisle intentionally hamper - hamstring, excuse me, domestic energy production, which means we have to purchase oil in other forms of energy from hostile foreign nations. That's wrong. We need to be producing it right here. That will make America stronger on the world stage and will hurt some of our adversaries.

BERMAN: Any new sanction or tariff you'd be willing to place on Russia?

GILL: You know, we'll - we'll have to take a look at these on an individual basis. This is moving fast. We haven't had a chance to go through it yet, but we will certainly take a look.

BERMAN: Congressman, I'm sure you saw some of the comments the president made at the White House yesterday talking about tariffs and the possible impact on store shelves.

Let's listen to a little bit of what he said.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Somebody said, all the shelves are going to be open. Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know. And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.

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BERMAN: So, fewer dolls, more expensive dolls. This is how the - "The New York Post" put it this morning. The Rupert Murdoch owned "New York Post." "Trump admits tariffs will raise some prices, cause shortages. Maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30. Skimp on the Barbie."

How do you feel about that messaging?

GILL: Well, listen, the president has been very clear, and Republicans have been very clear and consistent, that what we want to see is jobs come back into the United States. We'd like to see us revive our manufacturing base and put the American people and the American worker first. Tariffs are one part of that.

As you can see, according to the approval polling that you guys just showed in the last segment, the American people continue to trust President Trump on the economy. This is a key part of what he ran on, is bringing jobs back to the United States, reviving our heartland. Tariffs are one part of that. He said that there's going to be some short-term disruption. There has been. But hopefully we can get through this quite soon. And I think we're going to see some major successes with bilateral trading agreements brokered by President Trump.

BERMAN: The junior senator from Texas, Ted Cruz. I won't read the whole statement here, he has - he's supportive of the president's efforts to get trade deals, but he's concerned in the long term about the impact of tariffs. He says, "here's one thing to understand, a tariff is a tax."

Do you agree with the junior senator from Texas that a tariff is a tax?

GILL: Tariffs are a form of - to raise revenue. But here's the purpose of this. For so long we have seen one-sided taxation here that foreign countries are taxing American products as we're trying to export, and we are not doing the same to them. We want free trade, but we want fair trade as well.

[08:50:02]

We've also noticed a serious problem that is against our national interest, where we are reliant on hostile foreign countries, like China, for key pharmaceutical inputs, for key semiconductors, for other key goods that we need here in the United States. We should be producing these things domestically. And that's something that we should be able to agree with across the aisle.

BERMAN: All right, very last question on a - on an offbeat topic here. You represent the Dallas area. I imagine you're a Dallas Mavericks fan. What was it like for you to see the Lakers with Luka Doncic get pushed out of the playoffs last night? Any gratification?

GILL: Well, listen, the Mavericks are going to be just fine here. Huge supporter there. A huge Cowboys fan. They're going to - they're going to do just fine.

BERMAN: Did it hurt watching him play for the Lakers though?

GILL: It's always a little painful. But we'll get through it.

BERMAN: Yes, boy, I feel you. Been there a thousand times.

Congressman Brandon Gill, appreciate you joining us this morning. Thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sticking with the sports. Coach Bill Belichick and his 24- year-old girlfriend are now speaking out after his recent interview ignited a pop culture sports media frenzy.

We'll be back.

Oh, also this. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan is -

BERMAN: Right now. We'll be back right now.

BOLDUAN: Stop.

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan inside - has an inside look at misinformation, the misinformation rabbit hole, speaking with cult survivors, psychologists and family members impacted by conspiracy theories.

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[08:55:56]

BERMAN: All right, this morning, two NASA astronauts getting ready for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Astronauts Anne McClain and Nicole Ayers will install a mounting bracket as part of a larger project to increase the station's power generation.

It is May 1st. Thousands of protesters are expected to take part in May Day protests. Many of them over the Trump administration's policies on immigration, federal job cuts and more. Organizers say they're planning 50 protests across 50 states.

A rare, two-headed snake has been born in a California pet store. The reptile, with a fused spine, is a male California kingsnake. The owner named one Snakehead Zeke, the other, Angel. They are now seven months old. And we're told they do not always get along.

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ALEX BLANCHARD, PET STORE OWNER: At this point we expect it to live - you know, a typical kingsnake's lifespan can be anywhere from 20 to 30 years. We think these guys will be here just as long.

ANGEL HAMILTON, PET STORE EMPLOYEE: Like, you can see they're both thinking different things. You know, you - sometimes you see them fight, like one wants to go right, one wants to go left.

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BERMAN: Look, as a twin parent, I can tell you, sometimes it's hard. The odds of this happening are one in 100,000. And in case you're wondering, Zeke and Angel, this two-headed snake, not for sale, Sara.

SIDNER: No. No, no. Can we just stop at those pictures? Oh, that is disturbing.

All right, thank you, John.

In this golden age of conspiracy theories, from cults to QAnon, can people free themselves from a life of conspiracies? In a new, deeply personal podcast, CNN's Donie O'Sullivan debunks common misconceptions with help from cult survivors, psychologist and families who have tried to pull their loved ones out of the rabbit hole.

Here's a preview. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: So, first, would you mind telling me why - why doesn't the approach of trying to confront a person's beliefs or to try - encourage them to think even more critically, or to teach them how to think critically, why doesn't that work? Because that - that does sort of seem to be, you know, the, I think, the most - it's probably the approach people feel like is the most common sense.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I think, first, in terms of, you know, behavioral science in - in how people come to develop a particular understanding of the world, human beings are not really convinced by facts. They're not - they don't - human beings don't select, you know, information based on whether it's true or not or on whether it's high quality or low quality. They select information in terms of who they get it from, in terms of who they trust.

So, confronting people about, you know, deeply held beliefs and - and really values is something that does not work because its stigmatizing. And when people feel attacked, they're on fight or flight mode, you know? We're - we're also mammals and we don't like being under threat. So, when people feel, you know, attacked, they have no empathy for their interlocutor. Dialog is not possible anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN's senior correspondent Donie O'Sullivan joining us now after that really, really interesting conversation that you've been having with a lot of different people. And we all assume that if you just tell them what the facts are or you say, look, you're not right about this, that that's going to help, but they push back. Is that sort of what you learned throughout this?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly, Sara. And look, I mean, been reporting on this topic for a good few years now. And anytime we do a story on conspiracy theories or QAnon or anything like that, we always hear from people all over the country, all over the world who say, you know, I have a friend or a brother or a sister or a mom or a dad who is poking around in these conspiracy theory rabbit holes as well and I'm worried about them, and I don't know how to talk to them about it. And so that is what we're attempting to do in this podcast, to look in to see, how can you - because, you know, this issue is now so pervasive in our society.

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