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Prince Harry Loses Appeal of Rollback on His UK Security Detail; CPB Pushes Back on Trump Order to End Funding for NPR and PBS; Tennessee Authorities Release Bodycam Video of Abrego Garcia Traffic Stop; Prince Harry Tells BBC He Wants Reconciliation with Royal Family. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 02, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Let's get you caught up on some of the other headlines we are watching just about half past the hour now. A U.S. official confirming a Pentagon watchdog is investigating a second group chat on Signal. The Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took part in.

That chat also included his wife, his attorney, and his brother. The official adds the Pentagon's inspector general will be looking specifically at how information about military strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen was transferred from Hegseth's secure communication system to the Signal app.

Prince Harry, just losing his appeal to keep his U.K. security detail from being cut. The British government downgraded the Duke's level of protection when he is visiting England. That's after he and his wife, Meghan Markle, had stepped down as working royals and moved to the U.S. Prince Harry appealed that decision, though, citing fears for his family's safety, also claiming they were being, quote, singled out by the government for different, unjustified and inferior treatment.

Following the decision, Prince Harry told the BBC his father, King Charles, no longer speaks to him because of the security issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: I would love a reconciliation with my family. I've always -- I've, you know, there's no point in continuing to fight anymore. As I said, life is precious. I don't know how much longer my father has, you know. He wont speak to me because of this security stuff. But it would be nice to -- it would nice -- it would be nice to reconcile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Another high-profile court hearing in London today. British comedian and actor Russell Brand granted conditional bail during his first appearance on rape and sexual assault charges. Those charges involve four women and incidents that allegedly happened between 1999 and 2005. Brand denies all the allegations. He is due back in court on May 30th. Tennessee authorities have released video of the 2022 traffic stop

that the Trump administration has been using to justify the removal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

He's the Maryland father who was wrongly deported to El Salvador. We'll take a closer look at that video, what it shows, and doesn't, just after this.

[13:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is pushing back on President Trump's executive order to end funding for NPR and PBS. CPB's president and CEO says Trump just doesn't have the authority to direct the board to make those cuts. The CPB disperses about half a billion dollars or just over one dollar per taxpayer a year to public radio and TV stations and to programming. They provide access to popular kids shows, news programs, emergency alerts.

Joining me now is Vivian Schiller, former president and CEO of NPR. She's now vice president and executive director at the Aspen Institute and also once led our documentary and long form units here at CNN.

Nice to have you with us this afternoon. So we look at where things -- when we look at where things stand here, too. I was struck, you know, the CPB pushing back saying, look, you don't have the authority to do this in the executive order.

It reads unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, the order says today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse and innovative news options. Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but -- goes on to say -- it is corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.

That really stood out to me. What do you make of that language?

VIVIAN SCHILLER, FORMER PRESIDENT AND CEO, NPR: Well, first of all, there's a there's a whole bunch of things going on in what you just read. First of all, the White House does not have the authority to defund CPB, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It's not a federal agency of the executive branch.

It is -- it was created by Congress and the funding comes from Congress. Congress can defund CPB and by in doing so, of course, defund public radio and public television. But that wouldn't happen immediately.

So basically, the president does not have the authority to do what he's stating in this executive order.

As for the media environment today and whether it's different than the 1960s, of course it is. And and yet some millions of people across the country, including and especially in rural areas, many of them in red states rely on public radio and they rely on public television for that content. It's free. It's over the air. Not everybody has cable or satellite. And so that is still a very important mechanism into communities all over the country.

HILL: To your point, it's critical. It's critical. And we keep saying this when it comes to emergency alerts, but also it's critical in terms of local reporting, which there's less and less of today, right? Holding local officials to account, making sure that people know what's happening in their districts.

The percentage is maybe fairly small when people look at it in terms of the federal funding that goes to a number of these stations. But could they survive without it?

SCHILLER: Well, you know, some yes, some no. So just talking about public radio and NPR right now, NPR will survive without it. NPR -- the funding that NPR gets directly from the from from Congress, from CPB is very, very small.

However, they do get funding from the stations, the stations which get more funding on average, 10 percent of their funding from CPB. They pay NPR to license programs like Morning Edition and All Things Consider. So some of those local stations, because that average of 10 percent, that that includes the fact that big urban public radio stations get very little from CPB.

[13:40:02]

But small rural stations are very reliant on that government funding. So many of those would have to go -- would have to shut down or they might not -- or they might have to consolidate. They will provide less relevant local reporting to those communities. And of course, you know, less money will be going to NPR.

So there will be a shrinking of the system. Will it die? Absolutely not. But there will be a shrinking of the system, including in communities that need it most.

HILL: We're really tight on time. I'm just curious your take. I mean, this is whether or not this goes through, right? What it does is it creates a narrative. It creates a narrative -- multiple narratives. But the president has long pushed back against NPR, against PBS. What does that do overall in terms of the credibility of these organizations? How harmful is this?

SCHILLER: I don't think the government's -- sorry, the White House's attack will particularly harm people who have been reliant on NPR or PBS programming for a long time. But this is part of an overall narrative of attacking a free press, an independent free press that reports on things that maybe the president doesn't like. I mean, this is one of many examples. You've covered them amply on on CNN.

And I will also say this is not the only way that they're going after public radio and public television. There's a whole bunch of other things that they're doing, too, and trying to fire trustees of CPB and other kinds of cuts and legal attacks. HILL: Yes, and it's important to keep talking about them. Vivian really appreciate you joining us this afternoon. Thank you.

SCHILLER: All right, thank you.

HILL: So as I noted earlier in the program, we do now have video of a 2022 traffic stop involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He is the Maryland man who the government admits was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. And this is the stop that U.S. officials have said supports their claims that Abrego Garcia was, in fact, a member of MS-13 and involved in human trafficking.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz is following all of these developments for us here and has this video. So, Katelyn, walk us through what we're about to see.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, we haven't seen this video before. So now it is being released by Tennessee state law enforcement. And what we're going to see, it's a traffic stop from November of 2022, where Abrego Garcia was pulled over for driving, speeding on I-40 in Tennessee.

He wasn't detained and there were no charges that came out of this. Let's watch what happened during that traffic stop.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many rows have you got in here? Four?

KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA, IMPRISONED IN EL SALVADOR: Where?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four seats? Four rows of seats?

ABREGO GARCIA: Yes, three seats. Yes, we -- we did, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you all put an extra one in?

ABREGO GARCIA: Huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you all put another one in?

ABREGO GARCIA: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It come like this?

ABREGO GARCIA: The -- the, the truck?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never -- I've never seen one with that many seats in it.

ABREGO GARCIA: (INAUDIBLE)

What do you say? It's my boss.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said I have never seen one with that many seats in it. ABREGO GARCIA: Oh, really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. That's why I was asking if you could put an extra one in.

ABREGO GARCIA: No, it's the same -- like this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Nothing illegal?

ABREGO GARCIA: Nothing sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No drugs or anything?

ABREGO GARCIA: No, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Herbs?

ABREGO GARCIA: No, nothing, nothing illegal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. If I run my dog, he's -- will he tell me anything?

ABREGO GARCIA: Yes, it's fine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POLANTZ: So, Erica, you see in that video, there's an exchange with the officer that stopped him, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, talking about many seats in that car he's in. Now we're hearing about this because the Department of Homeland Security wants to say that this is a suspected human trafficking incident, even though there were no charges that ever came like that out of this traffic stop.

The administration also wants to argue that Abrego Garcia is a bad guy that shouldn't be in the U.S. They have told a court that they believe he could be MS-13, a part of that gang, and that there has no reason for them to bring him back to the U.S. They don't want him here. They want to deport him. They want him to stay in El Salvador. And even though they made a mistake that he shouldn't be in the U.S., his attorney, however, did give us a statement.

Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said, I see no evidence of a crime in this footage, but the point is not the traffic stop. It's that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court. Bring him back to the United States. Return him before the same immigration judge who heard his case in 2019 and let him speak for himself.

So this traffic stop happened between the 2019 immigration proceeding and him being sent to El Salvador this year. And this traffic stop, it really hasn't even come up in evidence in court yet, though the judge is trying to get more evidence about his background and the U.S.'s beliefs about this man -- Erica.

HILL: Yes, and we'll look if we see then maybe there there will be more. But it's certainly interesting to see that video and the interaction, the exchange. Katelyn, appreciate it. Thank you.

[13:45:00]

Joining us now, CNN senior law enforcement analyst, former Washington, D.C. police chief Charles Ramsey. Always good to see you.

When you watch that video and we see the exchange between the officer and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, what stands out to you in those moments?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, first of all, I didn't see anything in the video that would indicate that Mr. Garcia is a member of MS-13 or any other street gang. This is a traffic stop. He apparently was speeding when you read a little further into it.

And I saw a more extended video. Apparently there was a search of the car with a canine. It came up negative.

There were multiple people in the car, which is why the dialogue about how many seats and all that sort of thing. But there was not any indication that people were being coerced into any kind of forced labor, sexual trafficking or anything like that. I mean, so if that's the best they have, I think it's pretty weak.

HILL: To your point about, you know, nothing showed up in that longer cut of the video with the dog. There are questions about the number of seats because there are rows in the car because of the number of people in the car. Would that be a somewhat of a standard line of questioning if you were trying to get at something like human trafficking? How many people can you fit in the car?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, I can understand the questions that were asked. I mean, the trooper did nothing wrong. And there was a second trooper who showed up who speculated that this could be a case involving that.

And it's my understanding they reached out to DHS and told them what they had and they said, you know, it's OK to release them. So the only thing that came of it was a warning. And if this was actual human trafficking or something that serious, then they would have held on to them.

I mean, so they didn't really have a whole lot to hold on.

HILL: Yes, it's an important point. I just want to get your take before I let you go. You know, we saw the president really push back in his most recent interview with ABC about the tattoos, right, on Kilmar Abrego Garcia's hand. Well, the administration is saying that it is the symbols, right? So you have a cross, a skull, a smiley face, a marijuana leaf, that those symbols are proof that he is a member of MS-13. I mean, how would you use tattoos to identify gang members in a similar situation?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, if you see a tattoo that would leave you from an investigative standpoint to ask more questions, to really do more background on this individual, to find out if they have any connection. But you need some concrete proof that an individual is part of any gang, whether it's a foreign gang, domestic gang or what have you, you know. To rest solely on a tattoo or wearing a particular baseball cap from a, you know, particular sports team that unfortunately becomes popular among some gang members.

But not everybody wearing a Chicago Bulls or White Sox cap is part of a gang. They just happen to like the Bulls or the White Sox. So you need something more than just those kinds of things. And that's why you have investigations. You got to dig a little deeper. If you don't, it's pretty lazy, actually, to just rely on that.

HILL: Chief Charles Ramsey, good to see you. Thank you.

RAMSEY: Thank you.

HILL: Just ahead here, Prince Harry opening up, saying he wants a reconciliation with the royal family. Why? He says he wants to mend fences.

Stay with us.

[13:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Following up now on some of our headlines. These candid new comments from Prince Harry just a short time ago. The Duke of Sussex speaking with the BBC after he lost that major legal challenge. He'd been stripped of his security detail when he's back in the UK.

It is the comments, though, about his father, about his family, really gaining a lot of attention. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCE HARRY: I would love, I would love reconciliation with my family. I've always -- I've -- there's no point in continuing to fight anymore. And I said, life is precious.

I don't know how much longer my father has, you know. He won't speak to me because of this security stuff. But it would be nice to -- it would be nice to be nice to reconcile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN Royal historian Kate Williams joins me now. Kate, it's great to see you. You know, a number of us were struck by his comments. They're not just this very direct plea, perhaps in some ways, talking once again about how we'd love reconciliation, but saying, I don't know how long he has, how long his father has. I wonder how you think that comment will sit with the King.

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: Well, as you say, Erica, I mean, this is very significant, getting a lot of attention. Prince Harry has spoken about the failed legal challenge to get security. But as a consequence of that, he's been talking about his family and really bombshell comments about his family.

He wants reconciliation. And of course, most of all saying, I don't know how long he has left now.

Now I don't think we should necessarily read too much into this. You know, Prince -- the King -- Prince Harry, I think is expressing worries, but the King is looking in great health. We are about here in the UK to have them 80 years commemorating the end of World War II. We'll have a big fly past and a royal procession on Monday and the King is going to be there at the head of the occasion and he is about to go on some big royal travels as well.

So I think he is in good health, good form. But obviously, I think, you know, when you have when you when your parent goes through a cancer diagnosis, as the king has, then it makes it -- throws everything to a relief. And we know that when Prince Harry first heard that the King had cancer, when the announcement was made this time last year, January last year, he rushed over, they had a 45 minute meeting.

But when the King went into hospital earlier this year, we understand that Prince Harry wasn't told. And sources said the reason why was because they didn't want to have a big drama. They didn't want Harry to be rushing over.

So Harry was kept out of the loop. And I think he feels that very strongly. And here he is, I think, making a public plea, a public plea.

It's not behind the scenes. It's not, you know, by letter. He's publicly saying, I want to see my father again and I want to see him soon. And I don't know how long he has left, which is, I think, a huge moment. And I think in history, this is going to go down as one of Prince Harry's most significant interviews.

HILL: Yes, certainly nothing is said without some thought behind it, certainly in this case. The fact, too, that he said he won't speak to me because of this. Is that a reference to the fact that he sued?

[13:55:00]

WILLIAMS: Yes, he says that his father won't speak to him because of the security issue, because of the fact that he's saying, I would like security. What he's saying is he and his family should receive police, the Metropolitan Police, the London police. They should protect them when they come to Britain. And the argument has been that they should not get this protection. They're not members of the royal family. They should have a bespoke. They should decide as and when.

And Harry feels that that's not fair. It's not safe. He and his family aren't safe. He's talked about how he feels totally unsafe with this setup. And so he sued, and he now looks to be on the hook for a bill of 1.5 million pounds, about $2 million. I mean, that is a lot of money. So Prince Harry is very upset, devastated, feels excluded.

And I think also, I think he feels very strongly that he wants to have a reconciliation with his father. And he also said in the interview with the BBC, he said some people in the family are never going to forgive me for writing the book. He's referring to his memoir there, Spare, that came out with all kinds of revelations about the royal family.

I think, you know, Harry is the grandson of the Queen, and the Queen used TV, she used television really to make key interventions, for example, to turn public opinion round after the death of Diana on the eve of Diana's funeral, made a big address to the world, to the nation, saying she respected Diana as a grandmother. And I think Harry here, he's really used TV. And he's saying here, I think what's happened is he's saying, you know, I've tried the back issue, I've tried direct, and I want to speak, and I want to have a reconciliation, and I want to really see my family again, and I want to know what's happening.

And I actually think that this interview is going to have an effect. I certainly think it will.

HILL: Well, we will be watching. Kate, good to talk to you, as always. Perhaps we'll be talking about a reconciliation, who knows, in the future. Thank you.

Still to come here, retailers sounding the alarm when it comes to the potential cost of President Trump's tariffs on baby and children's gear, what every parent may need to know, and why this maybe is something you should pay attention to, even if you don't have little ones. That's ahead.

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