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Jury Selection Begins in Combs Trial; Trump Wants Tariffs on Foreign-Made Movies; Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) is Interviewed about Trump and Tariffs; Miller Possible NSA Contender; Israel Approves New Plan. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 05, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Conspiracy charges begins.

President Trump saying I don't know when asked about whether he should follow the Constitution as president, while considering making his hardline White House deputy chief of staff his new national security adviser.

And overnight, a mass shooting at an Arizona restaurant leaves three people dead, five others injured. This morning, no suspect in custody. Police on the search.

I'm Sara Sidner, with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Happening now, in just moments, jury selection will begin in the federal criminal trial of music mogul Sean Combs. He pleaded not guilty to charges that include sex trafficking, racketeering and conspiracy. Last week he turned down a plea deal offered by prosecutors. If convicted on all five charges, he could face life in prison.

CNN's Kara Scannell is live outside the courthouse today.

Kara, this is a big day because it begins the trial. How soon are we - are we expecting it to start? And what are the expectations on this day?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, jury selection is expected to get underway any minute now, though it actually kind of got underway a little bit last week behind the scenes because the judge had written questionnaires sent to a couple hundred prospective jurors. They filled them out and they already began weeding it out. Today they will bring in about 50 jurors, and they will be questioned one on one by the judge. The judge will ask questions such as, what do you do for a living? Where do you get your news? And also questions that get at the main issue in this case, which is allegations of sexual assault. The goal will be to try to weed out any jurors, prospective jurors, who might have some kind of bias or who don't think that they will able - be able to be fair in the case for a variety of reasons. The main - the big number here they want to get to is 45, because once

they qualify 45 jurors, that is when both the prosecutors and Combs' lawyers will use their preemptive (ph) strikes and then whittle this down to 12 jurors and several alternates to hear this case.

This trial is expected to last eight weeks, and the prosecution is expected to call for alleged victims, including Combs' longtime girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. She's the one that filed a civil lawsuit in this case, which kicked off this criminal investigation. Combs has maintained his innocence. His lawyers have said that this was part of a lifestyle, and that all the sexual activity at issue was consensual.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and there's that damning video of him, you know, hitting Cassie, although that particular thing is not on trial, but will be shown to the jury.

Thank you so much, Kara Scannell. We are waiting to find out and may come back to you if jury selection begins.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning, Hollywood on high alert. The president said he wants to place a 100 percent tariff on films made overseas, calling them a national security threat. It's worth noting that a huge number of films, including blockbuster superhero movies, are shot overseas.

Let's get right to CNN's Kevin Liptak at the White House for the latest on this.

So, this a meticulously well thought out plan with a lot of specifics this morning, Kevin?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I'm not sure I would describe it as that. You know, it is kind of unclear what types of films would be subject to this 100 percent tariff. Is he just talking about, you know, foreign language movies that might play in arthouse cinemas? Is he talking about productions that end up on streaming services? You think of all of the foreign TV shows that are on Netflix right now. Or is he talking about any movie that includes a production overseas? Because, you know, a lot like vehicles that are coming into the United States, these movies are produced in a lot of different countries. A lot of movies, if they're scripted in the United States, if they're cast in the United States, even if they're edited here, they might be shot overseas. And that seems to be the issue that the president is identifying here.

And it is actually quite an issue. A lot of movie makers say that shooting films is cost prohibitive in California. A number of other countries provide pretty serious tax incentives for shooting films overseas. And so, if the president is talking about that kind of production, that could have a significant effect on box offices and on blockbuster movies that Americans like to enjoy. But to that - that all said, you know, the motion picture industry is

declining in California. You talk to anyone who lives in Los Angeles. They say a lot of these middle class jobs that go into film production have dried up. And so that seems to be the issue that the president is identifying with this potential new tariff.

It was just one of two California related pronouncements that the president made just last night as he was returning here to the White House. The other involves Alcatraz, the former mega security prison on an island in the San Francisco Bay. The president says he wants to reopen that prison, turn it back into a penitentiary, saying that it would serve as a symbol of law, order and justice.

[09:05:05]

It closed in 1963, in part because it was also cost prohibitive to keep operating. You know, the president says that he wants this to be a symbol of security in the United States. But I'll just note, the year before it closed, three men escaped from Alcatraz. No one knows where they ended up. The current supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, has never had a prisoner escape.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, zero escapes from that.

So, Kevin, I just had Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican from New York, on, and I asked her whether she believed that her oath of office that she took required her to uphold the Constitution. She goes, absolutely. Like, it's as simple as that. It seems that President Trump might have a little bit of a different view. I just want to play a little bit of what he said when he was asked if he thought he had to uphold the Constitution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS: 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, you heard it, you know, do you need to uphold the Constitution? His response was, I don't know.

LIPTAK: Yes, and he's used that phrase multiple times. One, whether he thought that as part of this mass deportation effort that he's trying to carry out, these individuals who are on American soil are owed due process. Of course, that is written into the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.

And then when Kristen Welker pressed him again whether he needed to uphold the Constitution, he said he didn't know, despite taking the oath of office just over 100 days ago inside the U.S. Capitol, vowing to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

I think clearly the president is frustrated that some of these deportations haven't happened as quickly as he would like, and that they keep getting tied up in the courts. He is trying to say in this interview that if he was to afford due process to all of the people he's trying to deport, you would end up with millions and millions of trials. But left unsaid in all of that is how you can ascertain that these individuals are, in fact, undocumented, or are, in fact, criminals if they haven't been afforded that constitutional right of due process. And so, clearly, the president there testing the bounds of his executive authority, in particular when it comes to this effort to try and carry out these mass deportations that were such a critical component of his campaign promise to Americans. You see him here really, I think, going beyond what he has said previously when it comes to his decisions and his pledge to uphold that Constitution.

BERMAN: Kevin Liptak at the White House this morning. All these new questions. Appreciate your time.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about - let's talk about this. Joining us right now is Republican Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas.

Congressman, thank you for coming in this morning.

On that - on that topic that John and Kevin were just talking about, and hearing the president in this new interview say, I don't know, when he was asked if people on American soil should be afforded due process. If the president does not believe in due process, I mean, do you have an issue with that?

REP. PETE SESSIONS (R-TX): Kate, let's be really honest about this. The circumstance that we find ourself in is the prior administration allowed people to come here. They changed the law. Previously the law, not the Constitution, but the law said that people had to let the United States know that they were seeking asylum to come into the United States. And that is the value by which the United States would then evaluate a person, not only coming, but then having then what I consider to be constitutional rights, or the right for some due process that most of these millions of people came across without following that known way that business was done. And that's because President Biden - excuse me, President Biden waived that prescriptive part of the law. And, granted, it was executive order. So now the president, President Trump, is stuck with people who he believes should not have been able to gain that authority or responsibility under due process because they did not follow the law or the executive order to get here.

So, that's - that's the problem. And so the president is not a lawyer. I'm not a lawyer. And we're going to find out through the courts what they think.

But if a person comes here without following the well-established law, giving us notice, letting us make that assertion, and then knowing the facts of the case, I think it is a sticky wicket.

[09:10:08]

BOLDUAN: Not being a lawyer, I don't actually think needs to apply here in one regard, which is that - that Kristen Welker asked, do you believe you need to uphold the Constitution? Just that on its face, hearing the president say, I don't know, it's part of the oath that you took, and you've taken many times when you - when you have - every term that you have won to be a member of Congress. So, are you saying you agree with the president that you don't think people on American soil need to be afforded due process?

SESSIONS: No.

BOLDUAN: OK.

SESSIONS: I do believe in the Constitution. And I raised my hand, just as the president did. But that's not the scenario that he's being asked. He's being asked about people who came here without following the law, who came to this country and hid from us, who committed criminal acts and now does - do they get due process? And then we apply the Constitution. When, in fact, Constitution does say that -

BOLDUAN: Well, on that issue, to ascertain if they have committed crimes, you need due process to ascertain if they have committed crimes.

SESSIONS: Well, and - and - and they - as - in the case of the - the - the man who was from Venezuela, he was under another process, seen at a crime, and - and - and - and tagged to that. He had assaulted his girlfriend, or his wife. He had done things which rendered what he had done because he was here illegally, because he did not seek due process, because he did not do that, that is a question. And it has very little to do with the Constitution, and it has a lot to do with, if a person who comes here, without following the process, would they be entitled the same process that they did not follow? And that, I do not know the answer.

BOLDUAN: It seems to be answered, though, in the Constitution. Anyone on American soil is afforded due process. That's part of it. But, OK.

Let's go to tariffs now because you have -

SESSIONS: Maybe.

BOLDUAN: You - may - OK, you think maybe.

On tariffs, you have candidly said that you would not have gone the direction that the president has when it comes to tariffs. After acknowledging last week that his trade war is going to raise prices on some goods, he used children's dolls as an example. He then defended that position again in this new interview.

Let me play this.

(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)

BOLDUAN: The president telling your constituents how many pencils they can have or how many dolls they can have. I mean, this is - the Republican Party has traditionally long been the party of get the government out of my life, not telling me how many pencils I can buy my kid. Are you comfortable with that kind of message coming from the president to your constituents?

SESSIONS: Well, the message that I have and do - do hold on to is that I felt like that China was the effort, not the other countries that were involved, not Mexico, not Canada, that we have a problem with China. China, as we all know, has taken advantage of the importation where something under $800, a package of total cost, is not looked at. And we receive millions of those packages. And because of that exclusion, it is seen as a gateway for bringing fentanyl in this country.

On the other side, the intellectual property issue, it is very apparent that major businesses and - and - and those who develop intellectual property understand that that - that there are goods and services, as, for instance, a Dewalt saw that would go for $400 here goes for, if it's imported into the country, $40. That's a theft of intellectual property. It's a theft of the work that went into that saw. And they simply took the saw, redid it, used state money to - to influence its outcome and then undercut the American market. That is the problem that we have with China.

I do not share that view that the other countries are a problem. I think I indicated that I had a problem in particular because of Texas and Mexico and Texas and Canada with a strong relationship. And so that - those were my evaluations. I still stand on the side the president, rightfully, has gone at China because they steal intellectual property, undercut our prices and send things back into the country re - redone. And I am very proud of the president doing that. And I think that the

marketplace is responding accordingly now. And I saw where we added, as the world did, we added 177,000 private sector jobs with people who now believe that they can move forward selling their products with their own intellectual property and rule of law.

[09:15:07]

BOLDUAN: Let's see if those trade deals are announced to alleviate some of what you've been discussing, your issues that you've had with some of the trade positions that he's taken.

Congressman, thank you for your time. Appreciate it.

SESSIONS: Yes, ma'am.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, we're following breaking news out of Arizona. Three people killed, five injured after a gunman opened fire inside a restaurant that's just outside of Phoenix.

(INAUDIBLE) south, bringing the risk of damaging winds, hail and tornadoes there.

(INAUDIBLE) and a new survey confirms Americans are skipping handwashing at the worst possible times. You know what that means?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:19]

BERMAN: All right, happening today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with the National Security Council staff for the first time since he became the interim national security advisor, which is a double duty that has not occurred since the mid-1970s, and some analysts feel is ill advised. This all comes after President Trump weighed in on who could be a permanent choice for national security advisor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Stephen Miller is at the top of the totem pole. I mean, I think he sort of indirectly already has that job, you understand, because he has a lot to say about a lot of things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, let's get right to CNN's Kylie Atwood at the State Department with us.

So, I mean, what does this mean for what happens now?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you said, today this means that the secretary of state is going to be over at the NSC meeting with staff there I'm told by a senior State Department official. Obviously, they're still trying to figure out what this looks like. This news just came a few days ago. The secretary of state is still, obviously, the chief diplomat in charge of foreign policy. Now he's going to have to figure out how he's going to fit in his duties as interim national security advisor.

And we are hearing some concerns. Another senior State Department official told me that there's some disarray as they're figuring this out right now. But more importantly, there's concern about consolidating the number of voices that Trump is hearing as he is formulating his foreign policy. And you hear Democrats who are raising alarms just about how one person could effectively do these jobs, which are inherently very different.

Listen to some of those Democrats from over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): I don't know how anybody could do these two big jobs, and they're frankly very different.

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Both of those jobs are too big for one person. To have both of those jobs, including a bunch of other jobs on the shoulders of Marco Rubio, you know, these are people who actually need sleep if we're going to stay out of wars and stuff. So, you know, I'm a little worried about the, you know, no national security advisor idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now, Rubio had already placed a priority on spending time at the White House. So that is not entirely new that he's going to be spending a significant amount of time over there from here going forward.

But we should also note that Trump said yesterday that there is an active effort underway to try and find someone to do this job for the long term. As you said in the introduction there, Stephen Miller is someone that he said is at the top of the totem pole. And obviously Stephen Miller, according to the president yesterday, sort of indirectly has the job. He is someone who is very involved in all of the Trump administration's policies, primarily on the domestic side right now. But also, of course, when it comes to immigration, which has very direct ties to foreign policy. So, we'll watch to see how that plays out.

But we should also note, John, that this is an administration where things often change from the initial goals. And so, if Trump likes Rubio in this role, as the acting national security advisor, and also as secretary of state, it could become the long term solution.

BERMAN: We will have to wait and see on that. With Stephen Miller, it was hard for us to know whether or not he was saying that Stephen Miller's at the top of the totem pole to get the job, or that he doesn't need the official title because he's handling all the responsibilities already. I suppose it could be either one or both of those things going forward.

Kylie Atwood, great to see you. Thanks.

And Kate.

BOLDUAN: And we have some breaking news. Jury selection has begun in the trial of Sean Combs. We're getting some live updates from the courtroom. We'll have that for you ahead.

And also, breaking overnight, Israel approves new plans to expand military operations in Gaza.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:29]

SIDNER: Breaking overnight, Israel's security cabinet has approved plans to expand military operations in Gaza, which one official describes as the, quote, "conquest of the territory," and remaining there. Sources telling us the plan also includes possibly resuming humanitarian aid into Gaza, which stopped weeks ago when the first phase of the ceasefire ended.

Joining me now is CNN military analyst, retired colonel, Cedric Leighton.

Thank you so much for being here in the morning bright and early.

Let me first ask you about what it means for Israel to expand its operations. I mean much of Gaza is already completely destroyed. But to also then decide that they will stay there. What might that mean? And how long do you think that will be the case?

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, this is really a strange development, Sara, good morning, in a way that, because, you know, you mentioned the destruction that has already occurred in Gaza. And as we watch these pictures, you know, you have to realize that about over 90 percent of all standing structures in Gaza have been destroyed. And so what the Israelis are doing is they're going in and they're saying that they're going to not only cut Gaza once again through one of the corridors, but they plan to maintain a big, long term presence there.

This may be a ploy just for the negotiations to get them started again. The hostage negotiations. But it doesn't sound like that because Prime Minister Netanyahu and others in his cabinet have basically said that the first priority is to destroy Hamas, quote/unquote.

[09:30:05]

And what they're trying to do here is by figuring that they could control the