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Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) is Interviewed about Tariffs; Immunotherapy Breakthrough for Cancer; Attack Thwarted at Lady Gaga Concert; Court Resumes in Read Retrial. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired May 05, 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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[08:34:00]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, President Trump dismissing concerns that his tariffs could make goods less affordable for Americans. He did this in this new interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm just saying they don't need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don't need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right, with us now is Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican from New York.
Congresswoman, thanks so much for being with us.
I'm not great at math, but that would be like a 98 percent reduction in pencils and a 90 percent reduction in dolls, going from, you know, 250 to five pencils, 30 dollars to three there.
So, how much of a cutback would you be willing to support here?
REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS (R-NY): Well, first, let's - let's remind everyone that they just dealt with the highest rate of inflation under Joe Biden. So, everything has gone up under Joe Biden. Now we're with President Trump. So far, the prices have not gone up.
[08:35:01]
And a matter of fact, your prices of eggs have come down. Gas and oil have come down. Mortgage rates have come down. And we're seeing a lot of economic, in terms of job creation, two quarters now of - this last quarter, 177,000 jobs. We're seeing trillions of dollars of private investment. Things are going to be made here again in the United States. We see foreign companies - foreign countries coming to the table to negotiate better trade deals that would eliminate the need for the tariffs and also create American jobs and make sure our supply chain is solid here. The Democrats keep fearmongering and saying that prices are going up,
yet that has not yet happened.
BERMAN: Congresswoman -
MALLIOTAKIS: And so, I'd rather take what's actually happening right now. And we are seeing, again, like I said, some prices come down, interest rates come down. And that's all good for Americans.
BERMAN: Congresswoman, it was the president, who is a Republican, talking about people need to perhaps have fewer dolls. Little girls, he says, have to get used to having fewer dolls there. So, how much - which is sacrifice, which is something that people have had to preach in past times in this country, you have to do with less. So, how long do you think that Americans should anticipate this having the kind of impact the president's talking about?
MALLIOTAKIS: Well, so far they haven't had any impact. So, I'd rather wait until we actually see some type of impact, because I have confidence that we're going to be able to make some trade deals that will avoid the need for any of that to happen. I think the idea here is that the president, with the threat of tariffs, brought multiple countries to the table, and they're negotiating now. And let's see what the outcome is.
I have said, look, the across the board tariffs, I did not support that because I felt it was too fast, too furious and did create a little uncertainty and anxiety among individuals. Consumers (INAUDIBLE) with the fear mongering we've heard from the left saying that all these things were going to happen, but none of them happened.
BERMAN: Right.
MALLIOTAKIS: They said the same thing about the stock market, and yet it's still hovering in the low 40s. And so, what I would say is that, let's see until something happens and then we'll address it. But right now, it seems that everything is going as President Trump planned. We're seeing people come to the table in terms of foreign leaders. We're seeing the interest rates come down. We're seeing jobs being created. We're seeing trillions of dollars of foreign and domestic companies investing in our economy and here in the United States. And so that's good. What - what are people opposed to from that list?
BERMAN: Again, all I was - all I was doing was telling you the comments the president has made about dolls and pencils. That's not Democrats fear mongering, that's the president saying that.
I want to ask you about the congressional oath of office you took. When you became a member of Congress, you raised your right hand and you swore an oath. You said, "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same."
For you, for a member of Congress taking that oath to the Constitution, what do you think that means? What is your responsibility to the Constitution?
MALLIOTAKIS: Well, to uphold the Constitution. That - I mean it's as simple as that. And I think that we go in there and take our jobs seriously each and every day.
BERMAN: It's as simple as that you say. Well, let me play for you what President Trump said when he was asked about whether he felt he had to uphold the Constitution when it comes to issues of due process.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS HOST: You campaigned on a promise to bring prices down on day -
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I don't know.
WELKER: Your secretary of state says everyone who's here, citizens and non-citizens deserve due process. Do you agree, Mr. President?
TRUMP: I don't know. I'm not - I'm not a lawyer. I don't know.
WELKER: Well, the Fifth Amendment says -
TRUMP: I don't - I don't know if that's constitutional.
WELKER: Don't you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?
TRUMP: I don't know.
WELKER: Is anyone in your administration right now in contact with El Salvador about returning Abrego Garcia to the United States?
TRUMP: I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So, in the middle there, do you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States? I don't know, he said.
For you there was no ambiguity. You said, I have to uphold the Constitution. It's as simple as that. Why do you think the president finds some ambiguity?
MALLIOTAKIS: Look, I think the president knows that he needs to uphold the Constitution. I think his - his question there is regarding people who have entered the country illegally, and he's probably questioning the due process.
And look, obviously people do deserve due process. But when an individual has a removal order, they, therefore, have gone through a process. And maybe they need to have their due process while they wait outside of the country, if they were here illegally. That - the - look, the president has done a good job in removing people who are dangerous criminals. That's the bottom line. We've had people who are murderers, gang members, drug traffickers, all who have come into this country illegally. They were let in by the previous administration.
[08:40:01]
And he's doing what he's supposed to be doing to protect people in New York City, across the country, who have seen their communities really, really affected by the gangs. And you don't hear those stories as much anymore because President Trump has done his job and removed those individuals. As far as I know, those individuals had removal notices.
BERMAN: Right.
MALLIOTAKIS: And so he's acting upon something that was appropriate.
BERMAN: Let me just ask you, I'd be remiss if I did not ask a New York Republican this question. Right now the SALT deduction for, you know, state and local taxes stands at 10 percent. You've been in discussions to raise that. What's the number as things stand right now when you're talking to House leadership?
MALLIOTAKIS: Well, look, obviously we're still in negotiations, but the number is going to be something - is one that's going to protect our middle class families. No one is looking to give a tax break for millionaires and billionaires. Certainly I'm not. What I'm looking for is to protect middle class families in Staten Island and Brooklyn. If we can triple the deduction, maybe quadruple it, that would cover people under $500,000, families under $500,000. And that's what we're focused on, those middle class families in New York City, not millionaires and billionaires. And so, we will get there, and we will achieve this, and we will deliver results for the people of Staten Island, Brooklyn, and New York who are being hammered by our mayor and governor with high income and property taxes.
BERMAN: Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, thanks for being with us this morning. Appreciate your time.
Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so a potential game changer in the treatment of cancer. A new study published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" found an immunotherapy treatment by itself working against a variety of cancers, allowing patients to successfully fight the disease and avoid invasive surgery or harsh treatments like chemotherapy or radiation. Most of the patients in the study remain in remission.
CNN's Jacqueline Howard has the details on this.
And, Jacqueline, this sounds wonderful. It's This wonderfully - like real advancement. But explain to people immunotherapy and what this study could be showing us.
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Kate, immunotherapy itself is where you really harness the power of your own immune system to fight cancer. And in this new study, the immunotherapy that was used is a drug called Dostarlimab. And it was given through IV infusions. And we know in previous research certain rectal cancer patients who are given Dostarlimab alone, 100 percent of them saw their tumors essentially disappear. So, what this new study does, it builds on that previous research where it looks at Dostarlimab being used, not just in rectal cancer patients, but patients with other types of cancer. And it looks at just how durable the treatment is.
And in this new study, which included rectal cancer patients, but also patients with gastric cancers, colon cancer, prostate cancers and some other cancers, researchers saw 80 percent of them were completely treated. They did not need to undergo surgery to treat their cancer. And their tumors did not progress during or after treatment. So, the treatment was also durable.
But this was in a limited group of patients who have a type of cancer where the tumor is what's called mismatch repair deficient. We know these types of tumors especially respond to immunotherapies. But to see whether your tumor is mismatch repair deficient, you need to have it genetically sequenced. If it is, it may specifically respond to this type of immunotherapy approach.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: And, Jacqueline, how available is this treatment right now, or is it still in - in study?
HOWARD: Well, Dostarlimab, just last year, the FDA gave it a designation as a breakthrough therapy for advanced rectal cancer patients who specifically have mismatch repair deficient tumors. Dostarlimab is also FDA approved for certain endometrial cancer patients who have already undergone therapy. But the main takeaway here, Kate, is this appears to be where the future of cancer care is heading. Finding these less invasive therapies where you don't need your organs removed in surgery, you don't need harsh chemotherapies, you don't need radiation, which we know can impact fertility.
And here's one of the researchers behind this new study, Doctor Luis Diaz. Here he is speaking about Dostarlimab as the future of treatment, but also how these immunotherapies may especially benefit younger cancer patients.
Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. LUIS DIAZ, MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER: Imagine going you life without a major organ in your body, your bladder, your rectum, your esophagus or your stomach. This will allow not only individuals to keep those organs, but for them to proceed with their life almost as if they didn't have cancer. And a couple of examples of that is that patients who would have not been able to conceive or carry a child have actually become pregnant and been able to create a - start their families.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOWARD: So, Kate, this is not only where the future of cancer care is heading, but it's happening at a time where we're seeing more cancers at younger and younger ages.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: Yes, that's a great thing to point out as well, exactly, in all of this.
Jacqueline, thank you.
[08:45:00]
Thank you so much for bringing that to us.
John.
BERMAN: All right, police in Rio stopped coordinated attacks on more than 2 million people attending a Lady Gaga concert. New details this morning on who may have been behind the plot.
And an investigation underway into why a multimillion dollar yacht sank off the coast of Florida.
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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, two people are in custody in connection with an alleged bomb plot targeting Lady Gaga's concert in Rio. Brazilian police say they foiled the planned attack on the free concert, which drew 2 million people to Rio's Copacabana Beach Saturday night.
[08:50:02]
The suspects allegedly were trying to recruit teenagers online to carry out the coordinated attack using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails. Authorities say their goal was to target LGBTQ plus people and make a name for themselves on social media. A spokesperson for Lady Gaga told CNN, quote, "we learned about this alleged threat via media reports this morning. Prior to and during the show, there were no known safety concerns, nor any communication from the police or authorities to Lady Gaga regarding any potential risks."
Police say they wanted to, quote, "avoid panic" and the distortion of information.
CNN's senior national security analyst and former DHS assistant secretary Juliette Kayyem is joining us now.
Did police do the right thing here saying, look, we didn't want to cause any panic, so we didn't tell anybody about this, even those putting on the concert, who could have said, look, we're not going to put on the concert, I am assuming?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. Yes. Lady Gaga would have had sort of the ability to cancel it, as Taylor Swift did a few years back in Europe, in Vienna, when she got a similar threat.
I've never heard of an instance where the local and national police, having thwarted at least in their - in their telling, a serious enough terrorist attack to warrant that kind of attention and not telling essentially the talent. You would tell a sports team. You would tell a singer. She then could have assessed with her team whether she wanted to go forward, whether she wanted to put her fans there.
So, there's sort of just a mismatch between the concerns about these people they arrested. It appears that they had not sort of gone forward with planning, that this was just discussions. And the - and what - and the fact that they did not tell Lady Gaga.
SIDNER: I'm curious what you think of the words that police say sort of came out from this group, that they were trying to become, as often happens in these - with these groups that are - that are, you know, terroristic.
KAYYEM: Yes.
SIDNER: They want their name to be known as a recruiting tool, really, but that their goal was to hurt or kill LGBTQ -
KAYYEM: Yes.
SIDNER: Members of the LGBTQ community. Plus, they wanted to become famous on social media. What does that tell you about this particular group of people?
KAYYEM: Yes. Because, look, and so Brazil is not immune to terrorism. And there have been everywhere from Islamic extremist groups to, of course, domestic terrorism. And - and it's an interesting country in terms of ideological dynamics. It is by far one of the most progressive countries when it comes to LGBTQ rights, marriage, adoption, service in the military, strong anti-hate crime statute. So - but it is - it is a predominantly catholic country. So, it has elements of conservative - conservativism that go against that sort of more liberal strain.
And so there have been tensions, nothing like this before. There have been hate crimes but nothing targeted like this. Lady Gaga would have been a perfect for them target because, of course, of her - her vocalness in supporting the LGBTQ community in all of her efforts, she went to Brazil and has been promoting it as well. And so that is - that's the dynamic we're seeing.
It does not appear, again, that they had sort of initiated any planning. They were trying to get recruits. And this would be the kind of attack that would be relatively easy in a free concert on a beach with - with - at this stage with sort of maybe not the most extreme security, as you might have, say, in a stadium.
SIDNER: Right.
KAYYEM: Two million people. You cannot secure 2 million people in a public space perfectly. SIDNER: Yes. Juliette Kayyem, really good points there. Thank you so
much for coming on this morning. Appreciate you.
Kate. Kate.
BOLDUAN: So, former Vice President Mike Pence was honored Sunday with the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Pence receiving the award for rejecting the pressure campaign coming from President Trump and others to overturn the 2020 election. Instead, of course, the Congress, led by Pence, returned to the Capitol after the riots on January 6th and certified the 2020 presidential election results. In accepting the award, Pence said that day turned into a, quote/unquote "triumph of freedom" because Congress did its constitutional duty. Vice President Pence will be on CNN tonight as part of - to have a discussion about that and more, to be sure, on "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" at 9:00 p.m.
This morning, an investigation is underway in Florida after 32 people were rescued from a luxury yacht that started sinking off of Miami Beach. That is one fancy boat to be under water. That happened Saturday night. Teams that first arrived on the scene had to call in for more help because they actually found that there were so many people on board.
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Other boaters that were out on the water came to help as well. Everyone survived.
And one of Pope Francis' popemobiles is being turned into a mobile health care unit for children in Gaza. The Vatican says this is one of his final wishes before the pope died. The vehicle will be retrofitted with medical equipment and staffed with doctors and medics, and then will eventually be sent into Gaza in areas that do not have access to functioning medical facilities.
John.
BERMAN: All right, we are standing by for court to resume in the murder trial of Karen Read. She is accused of hitting her police officer boyfriend with her car and leaving him to die in the snow.
CNN's Jean Casarez has been covering this from the very beginning. She is here with us now with the latest.
What's happening today?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, there's so much that is different in this trial from last time. First of all, the prosecution is going to have much more in the forensic area of Read's car and her driving of that car. They made a mold of the dog, Chloe's mouth and incisors to try to show the jury that the wounds on his arm do not match the space between the incisors. On the defense side, they're still doing accident reconstruction testimony.
But here's a big deal. There is a gag order now with the defense attorneys and the prosecutor. They cannot speak. So, after court, the person that's speaking on the evidence is Karen Read herself.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you make of the blood alcohol extrapolation? Do you think it could have been three times the legal limit?
KAREN READ, DEFENDANT IN MURDER RETRIAL: I think its garbage in, garbage out, and it depends on their assumption of when I last consumed alcohol. And it's an assumption.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will we eventually see those media clips that your lawyers objected to today?
READ: There'll be lots of clips, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will we see those? Will -
READ: Yes, there -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will we see those?
READ: Most likely, yes. They're just - some are taken out of context and the context needs to be added.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: And expert testimony determined her alcohol was up to 0.28. Normal level is 0.08.
Now, a second thing that's different are all of the interview clips that the prosecution is entering into evidence. This was very late on Friday. Listen closely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREN READ, DEFENDANT IN MURDER RETRIAL: John looked like a buffalo on the prairie. It was just, the lawn and a heap that - it wasn't a bush or a hydrant or a dog. It was - it was a - a weird-shaped lump at that time in those elements. And I was looking to find him on the side of the road. I was expecting I'd find him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: So, remember, the jury is watching this. So, when she came upon her boyfriend, dead, she said he looked like a buffalo in the snow. And then she said at the end here that she expected to find him on the side of the road. So, the jury's going to wonder why. We've heard her outside of court saying it has to be explained because they're out of context. So, here's the question, John, who's going to explain it?
BERMAN: So, this is still the prosecution laying out its case right now, correct. CASAREZ: Yes.
BERMAN: With these clips that they're playing in court, which is very different than the last time around. So, when Karen Read is talking about her lawyers introducing clips and video, what is she talking about?
CASAREZ: Well, she says they need to be explained. They need to have, you know, substance of what actually she was trying to say. Who's better to say that? Karen Read.
BERMAN: It really is extraordinary to hear her doing the work of her legal team outside court, because there's a gag order. It does not apply to her, though?
CASAREZ: No, because the prosecution said, you know, your honor - this was before trial, the defense team is trying their case on the courthouse steps every day after trial. We have to have a gag order when this trial begins. So, the judge did.
BERMAN: And then finally, you know, there's so much going on here. People who follow this trial closely I think know some of the issues, but you mentioned the dog. The dog bites. And that's important because, what, one of the - and I - I shouldn't use the word conspiracy. One of the theories out there -
CASAREZ: They're saying conspiracy, absolutely.
BERMAN: One of the conspiracy theories is that the dog may have killed him somehow?
CASAREZ: In part. That once the fight started in the house, and they got him on the floor, because he had multiple skull fractures, that the dog then came in and that the injuries on the arm are from the dog.
BERMAN: And so the prosecution is presenting evidence to show that it's not the dog bites that killed him.
CASAREZ: That's right. But the defense will counter it with their dog bite expert.
BERMAN: This trial really is something. All the twists and turns.
CASAREZ: And she's facing life in prison. We can't forget that. This is serious.
BERMAN: No, serious consequences, to be sure.
CASAREZ: Yes.
BERMAN: All right, Jean Casarez, thank you so much.
CASAREZ: Thank you, John.
BERMAN: A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now. SIDNER: Any moment now jury selection will begin in the federal
criminal trial against music mogul Sean Combs. We're live outside the courthouse as his trial on sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges begins.
[09:00:03]
President Trump saying, I don't know, when asked about whether he should follow the Constitution as president, while considering making his hard
