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Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) is Interviewed about the Immigration Crackdown; Disney Announces New Theme Park; Numbers on Conclave Voting; Ken Rogoff is Interviewed about Interest Rates; Another Fighter Jet Lost off the USS Harry S. Truman. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 07, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Advance notice for some of these deportations, would Democrats then be OK with the administration's decision of deporting gang members?

REP. LAUREN UNDERWOOD (D-IL): John, absolutely. We support the rule of law. And what I heard from Secretary Kristi Noem yesterday was an ambivalence about protecting and defending the Constitution. And that is unacceptable.

BERMAN: But the deportations themselves, what issues, if any, do you have with those? Or is it just based on due process?

UNDERWOOD: It's based on due process. We are a nation of laws. The rule of law is the foundation on which our democracy is built. And the Donald Trump administration, Secretary Kristi Noem, and all their other staff have been flagrantly operating outside of the law. We've heard judge after judge after judge issue those rulings. And this is not an area where there is confusion. There shouldn't be. The Constitution is not a suggestion. It is the law. And they are falling outside of the law.

BERMAN: What would your plan be on deportations? Who would you target for deportations?

UNDERWOOD: Well, it's very clear that people have orders of removal. There are obviously individuals who are violent, who, you know, should not remain in the United States. And those individuals would need to go.

But it's also clear that there is an orderly process. And every single piece of the law should be followed.

BERMAN: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is the man at this point famously deported to El Salvador and still there. If he were brought back to the United States and received a hearing, would you then be OK with him then being deported to another country besides El Salvador, because there is a judicial order saying he can't go there?

UNDERWOOD: If Kilmar Abrego Garcia was - had the opportunity to appear before a judge, and that judge issued a ruling, I would support that judge's ruling.

BERMAN: Congresswoman, I want to ask you, if I can, about an interview the former President Biden gave. It just was published overnight. The BBC had the first interview with the former president since he left the White House. And he was asked what has become now a very loaded question for Democrats trying to figure out what to do next and what happened last time, which is, should he have dropped out earlier? I want to play a clip of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, did you leave it too late? Should you have withdrawn earlier, given someone else a bigger chance?

JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, I don't - I don't think it would have mattered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, what do you think of that answer? And what do you think, at this point, he should have done in retrospect?

UNDERWOOD: Well, I think we heard President Biden being honest. I know he's had a lot of time to reflect on what happened over the last year and certainly over his presidency. I know he's writing a book. And, you know, I think it's great that he's sharing those thoughts with the public at this point in time.

BERMAN: What lessons did you take away from what transpired in the last election, and how he ran until he didn't?

UNDERWOOD: Well, my lessons learned include, you know, you got to fight hard and compete everywhere. I think it's very important that if someone attacks you, you fight back. I think it's very important that we coalesce as a party. And, you know, we have an opportunity, as we look ahead in the upcoming 2028 elections, because I know y'all are already talking about that, to make sure that we have a robust slate of candidates that are offering a clear vision for our country as we move forward out of these dark days of Donald Trump's administration.

BERMAN: On the subject of looking ahead, since you brought it up, there will be an open Senate seat in the state of Illinois.

UNDERWOOD: Yes, there is.

BERMAN: Senator Dick Durbin.

UNDERWOOD: Yes.

BERMAN: Yes, I - it's interesting that you've noticed. There have been a number of members of Congress already who say they are jumping into the race, Democratic members, as is the Democratic lieutenant governor.

UNDERWOOD: Yes.

BERMAN: What are your plans?

UNDERWOOD: You know, I don't have an announcement for you today, but I think it's a very exciting opportunity. Senator Dick Durbin has been a tremendous voice for the people of Illinois for 30 years. And now the people of Illinois are going to have a real choice. It's going to be a rigorous, robust primary. And I am certainly taking a look at running.

BERMAN: So that's not a no?

UNDERWOOD: I didn't say no.

BERMAN: Yes, exactly. Or yes. You said you're looking at it. Very good.

Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, I appreciate you coming on. Nice to talk to you this morning. Thank you.

UNDERWOOD: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: John.

BERMAN: It's like - it's like, you know, I was born to ask members of Congress if they're going to run for higher office, because those answers, I just couldn't love them more.

BOLDUAN: What was it that Candy Crowley always said. She said, they're always a no until they're a yes.

BERMAN: Exactly. But that wasn't a no. I mean, that was more than not a no right there.

BOLDUAN: So, you're saying it's a yes.

BERMAN: It was definitely a maybe.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, the secretive process to pick a new pope. It starts today. The longest conclave on record lasted nearly three years. That was back in the 1200s. The shortest conclave took just ten hours. So, how long could it take this time to pick a new pope?

[08:35:01]

And the Federal Reserve meeting today to make their next decision on interest rates. President Trump trying to apply pressure on the Fed chairman. So, what will the Fed chairman say today? And how will investors respond?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we've got some breaking news. A whole new world. For the first time in 15 years, Disney is announcing it's building a new theme park. And guess where? Abu Dhabi. It's Disney's seventh destination around the world, and the first in the Middle East. [08:40:03]

Natasha Chen is at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

Natasha, what do you know about this theme park? And everyone should know, Natasha is an avid, like, I think she might be the biggest Disney fan in the entire world.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fully admitted Disney adult, Sara. So, this has been incredible news to be sitting on until this moment. Disney has announced their seventh global resort destination, as you mentioned, in Abu Dhabi. It's the first time they will be in the Middle East. That really opens up a lot of possibilities for them to reach much of the world's population that currently may not easily be able to get to one of their existing parks.

Now, this is a very interesting decision for Disney because they say that they've been in talks to develop this for about ten years. And the way it's going to be done is there is an Abu Dhabi company called Miral that will actually build, develop and operate the resort, while Disney imagineers lead the creative design and oversee the operations.

And that's a little bit like how the Tokyo Disney resort works.

Now, Josh D'Amaro, he's the Disney Experiences chairman, sat down for an exclusive interview with our Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi to talk about why they chose this location.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What are the new groups that you're looking for? Where have you identified as growth markets that you think you can take advantage of here?

JOSH D'AMARO, CHAIRMAN, DISNEY EXPERIENCES: Well, first of all, right here in the -- in the Middle East. We know that we've only scratched the surface in terms of catering to this population. While we'll see guests from this area in our theme parks in the U.S. and in our international parks, again, we're only scratching the surface. We think about a market like India, which is a massive market for us, and the Indians love of the Disney brand is significant. So, throughout this whole region, although we've catered to these guests before, we haven't been able to serve them in a proximate way, and we're going to be able to do that now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And you're seeing a map of existing Disney parks resorts. The numbers there represent how many parks are at each resort. We're anticipating that, at least initially, this Abu Dhabi resort will have one theme park, an unknown number of hotels. Anticipated to be the most technologically advanced park they've ever built. And we've been told it may incorporate a lot of gaming and immersive experiences so that what someone does on Fortnite might translate into what they experience in this park, and vice versa. SIDNER: Clearly, a little known fact, I used to live in Abu Dhabi.

Clearly they're trying to rival Dubai, which has the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world. And so, it would be interesting to see what happens here. They're only 45 minutes apart. You could, I guess, do both if you wanted to go to both things.

Thank you so much, and enjoy if you end up staying there at Walt Disney Studios today. We will see if you show back up at work, Natasha Chen.

All right, over to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: A few hours from now cardinals from around the world will begin their first round of voting to choose the next leader of the catholic church.

CNN's Harry Enten is looking at the numbers around this conclave for you.

Good morning, Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Good morning.

BOLDUAN: All right, who are the favorites? Are their favorites going in?

ENTEN: Yes. Look, favorite is a relative term in this particular case.

BOLDUAN: Should we be going like this?

ENTEN: Favorites. There are favorites. The betting market checks -- chance to be the next pope. Look --

BOLDUAN: It feels wrong to be betting on this.

ENTEN: I will tell you, we've been betting on popes since 1503. That was the first time Roman markets took bets, actually. So, this is actually one of the longest traditions in terms of betting. I am not kidding you on this particular one. And, in fact, I would bet --

BOLDUAN: I will top of your fun fact. 1503 was the year of the shortest conclave. It only took ten hours.

ENTEN: Excuse me, we're going to be getting to that later in the segment, Kate Bolduan. You are ruining this segment for the audience and for me.

Betting markets chance to be the next pope. Parolin comes in at 29 percent. He's pragmatic. You see Togle coming in here. He's progressive, at 19 percent. Ten percent for Zuppi. Again progressive. Of course, there's this whole slice, 42 percent. Maybe it's a conservative. Maybe it's Arundell (ph), who's a hard conservative from Hungary. Maybe it's Pizzaballa, who, of course, is a softer conservative. But the bottom line is, at this particular point, it's either the progressives or the pragmatists who seem to have the top of the chain. But again, this 42 percent in the other, maybe it's a conservative. We don't know.

BOLDUAN: We don't know. For sure we don't know.

ENTEN: No.

BOLDUAN: What does recent history say about the favorites going in?

ENTEN: Yes, OK. So, you see Parolin right here at a 29 percent chance. You know, that looks an awful bit like what we saw with Benedict back in 2005. He was coming in. He was a favorite at 25 percent. But again, Francis, back in 2013, he was just a 4 percent chance, according to the bettors, to be the next pope.

So, this gives you an idea. Sometimes the bettors are pretty gosh darn good and the favorite goes on to win, but sometimes the bettors ain't too hot to trot.

[08:45:02]

And so, it wouldn't be surprising if we see someone come out of nowhere, like perhaps they did in the film "Conclave."

BOLDUAN: Yes, exactly. Because art must imitate life, and life must imitate art.

ENTEN: Of course.

BOLDUAN: OK, now to my spoiler. Apologies.

ENTEN: Yes, it's OK. Don't worry about it. If you look, the shortest conclave length, as Kate so kindly put it at the beginning of the segment, not ruining anything, was less than a day back in October of 1503. The longest, oh my God look at this, the longest was 2.75 years, from 1268 to 1271.

Look, the median length over the centuries is about a little bit less than two weeks. I should note, since 1900, the longest conclave length has only been five days, but that would be considered quite a long one given that the last few have been under a few days.

So, look, we'll have to wait and see. But politics sometimes -- even politics, when it involves the pope, you just never know.

BOLDUAN: For some reason this entire one is making me giggle. And you're so funny.

OK, thank you, Harry.

ENTEN: I --

SIDNER: I want to -- I want to jump in here. I want to jump in here.

BOLDUAN: It's just --

ENTEN: Go ahead, Sara. SIDNER: So, Father Beck has been reporting that in the many, many,

many decades ago, before we were all born, thank God, that they actually used to try to starve out the cardinals to make them come up with the pope much earlier than three years, like that 2.75 years. So, they would only give them bread and water. But I said, if you give me Italian bread and water, I can live on that forever. (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: No, I think we now know how to get Congress to actually pass a budget on time.

SIDNER: Wow.

ENTEN: We should ask Berman about this.

SIDNER: Quite rough.

ENTEN: I think he was around in 1503. I don't know.

BOLDUAN: No, you were.

SIDNER: Wow.

BOLDUAN: You're from Vaudeville days at least.

ENTEN: He was around -- I'm sorry, 1268 to 1271. I want to get my facts right. Facts for CNN.

BOLDUAN: We're getting in so much trouble. Just let it go.

Sara, please take it

SIDNER: All right, sorry for stirring up trouble. Our poor EP.

Anyway, happening today, it is decision day for the Federal Reserve on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to keep rates steady, potentially setting up another clash between Fed Chair Jerome Powell and President Trump. The president has toned down, though, his attacks on Powell, but he's still calling on the Fed to lower borrowing costs, saying the central bank is behind the curve.

Joining us now is Ken Rogoff, professor of economics and public policy at Harvard University, and former chief economist at the IMF. He is also the author of the new book, "Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance and the Road Ahead."

I will get that book because it sounds really interesting, but I want to start with this, what should we all be listening for when it comes to what Powell is going to say today?

KEN ROGOFF, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Well, Powell is going to speak the truth as he sees it about the economy. He's not going to be bullied by Trump. The - it's not a clear sign yet to cut interest rates. I don't think they're going to. Inflation is still above where they'd like it. Jobs were pretty good. I mean it's mixed signals on the economy. And the president always wants the Fed to cut rates. Let's understand this. But Trump is very crude about it. You could go back and hear Nixon in the 1970s, and he was saying the same thing.

SIDNER: This is, though, a critical time for the economy. A lot of people - the reason why Donald Trump is in office, in part, is because the number one concern on American's agenda was that the prices were too high. So, several major banks have increased their recession risks after this trade war and this up and down sort of indecision, not knowing - no one knowing exactly where they're going. Is consumer confidence going to be smacked by this, you think?

ROGOFF: The tariffs? Absolutely. I mean prices are going to go up. I mean they're going to say it's a one time, don't worry about it, but Powell's not so sure. So, this is absolutely going to undermine consumer confidence. I mean Trump will try to do other things to regain it with his tax bill and such.

SIDNER: Are you concerned, in looking at the economy as a whole, that we are headed for a recession? So many places like Moody's and, you know, you go down the list of big, economic sort of juggernauts and indicators. Are we headed that way if these tariffs really take hold? We know we have the first shipping coming in today that has the 145 percent tariff from China on it.

ROGOFF: I don't want to sound like the typical economist, one hand, other hand, but the hard numbers just haven't been that bad yet.

SIDNER: OK.

ROGOFF: Which is why Powell is not going to cut interest rates. But on the other hand, the surveys, the confidence, everything looks like it's more than 50 percent it will be a recession. That's what many of the big players are calling for, and I would say the same.

Now, who knows. You know, in Trump world he may change his mind, but it's certainly looking that way.

SIDNER: Right. And the markets are still at about 41,000 points. The Dow looking good, although it's been up and down. So, like you said, there's a lot of, like, mixed messaging happening here.

ROGOFF: A lot of mixed messaging.

SIDNER: Yes.

I do want to talk to you, because you mentioned this, Trump really has repeatedly attacked Powell and tried to get him to - to have a rate cut.

Here is something that he said just recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He should lower them.

[08:50:01] And I wish the people that are on that board would get him to lower because we are at a perfect time. It's already late, but he should lower interest rates.

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS: Do you rule out removing Fed Chair Jerome Powell?

TRUMP: I'm not - you know, I get to change him very quickly anyway. You know, it's in a very short period of time.

WELKER: In 2026. You're not going to remove - you don't have plans to remove him before 2026, when his time's up?

TRUMP: No, no, no. That was a total - why would I do that? I get to replace the person in another short period of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: It's an interesting change because he was saying that he was going to remove him, but he - but he couldn't do that anyway, right? The law isn't - the policy isn't that way.

ROGOFF: Ah, he - he - he could if he really wanted to press. The Federal Reserve chair, and the Federal Reserve in general, is not the Supreme Court. It's a creature of Congress. If they really wanted - for example, if there were some wartime situation or he declared, you know, the border war or something, there's - there's actions you could take.

I have to say, I'm following this segment on betting odds on the pope, and I feel like the betting odds on the next Fed chairman is pretty tame stuff. We've only had an independent Fed for a short time.

SIDNER: Yes. Yes. I like how you went back to that segment where we had so much fun and you brought it here. You know, economists can be fun, too. That's what most people don't know, right, John Berman?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: They are a party. Non-stop party.

SIDNER: Thank you so much.

BERMAN: All right, turn down the volume over there.

ROGOFF: Thank you for having me.

SIDNER: All right, over to you, John.

BERMAN: All right, not one but two multimillion dollar U.S. fighter jets now somewhere in the Red Sea. How do two planes fall off an aircraft carrier in just over a week?

And then nightclubs, potatoes and an a-list celebrity. My hardship assignment. A meal with Eva Longoria ahead of a new episode of CNN's original series "Searching for Spain," airing this Sunday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [08:56:03]

SIDNER: For the second time in just over one week, a $60 million U.S. fighter jet docked on the USS Harry S. Truman has been lost in the Red Sea. Sources say there was some kind of error when that jet was trying to land on the massive naval carrier. The pilot and lone crewmate were forced to eject upon landing and were later recovered by a rescue helicopter.

CNN's Zach Cohen has the very latest.

I guess the big question is, what is happening here? Two in a week?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Sara, that's the question that the U.S. Navy and the Pentagon is going to face today after a second fighter jet from the USS Harry Truman was lost in the Red Sea in just a matter of days. And look, this is something that we understand some preliminary details here as the investigation is still ongoing. But our general understanding is that the fighter jet experienced some sort of a system failure as it was trying to land on the aircraft carrier. It's what's known as the arrestment system. This is a system made up of hooks that really slows the plane down as it approaches the ship.

And look, this is the -- again the second incident involving a fighter jet on the Harry Truman. Just about a week ago, another fighter jet on the deck of that ship fell off as the Truman apparently had to make a hard turn to avoid incoming fire from the Houthi rebels. That's what the Truman is there in the Red Sea to do. They're part of that mission, that bombing mission that Donald Trump recently announced a ceasefire in against the Houthis in Yemen. And look, this comes separately as the Truman, we're told, was shot at yesterday, even after Donald Trump announced that ceasefire with the Houthis.

This all really does speak to the activity that's going on in the Red Sea as the U.S. tries to, you know, wage this campaign against the Houthis while simultaneously trying to engage in negotiations with the Iranians. That's the group the Iranian government backs, the Houthi rebels. And that is really sort of the complexity of this entire situation here. And for the Harry Truman, it's really been a tough couple months. They've seen their deployment extended multiple times. And they've experienced several difficulties outside of just these latest two incidents. Back in December, the Truman was miss -- a jet from the Truman was mistakenly fired upon by another U.S. ship. And a few months ago, the Truman collided with another ship in the Red Sea. So, a tough couple months here for the Harry Truman.

The Navy is going to face multiple questions, though, especially given where the Truman is operating.

SIDNER: Indeed they will.

Zach Cohen, thank you so much for all your great reporting on that.

Kate. Or John. Or John.

BERMAN: It's John.

SIDNER: Hi, John.

BERMAN: All right, this Sunday, Eva Longoria explores Madrid in her CNN original series, "Searching for Spain." I sat down with her to talk about Madrid's culture, food and my own days there as a broke college grad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVA LONGORIA, HOST, "SEARCHING FOR SPAIN": This is a tortilla de patatas. Tortilla de patatas. It's like an omelet. Mexicans call tortillas something else. In Spain this is a tortilla, which is egg with potato inside.

BERMAN: My story with tortillas is, I was in Madrid after college.

LONGORIA: Yes.

BERMAN: And I was broke. And my friends all wanted to spend any money we had at the clubs at night.

LONGORIA: Yes.

BERMAN: So, during the day, the only thing I could afford was tortilla. So, for like two weeks I ate nothing but this.

LONGORIA: Tortilla de patatas. Yes, it's everywhere, in bars. It's a very common tapas that you get, along with the croqueta.

Cheers.

BERMAN: Cheers.

LONGORIA: We did a Madrid episode.

BERMAN: How did you like Madrid?

LONGORIA: I love Madrid. And I love Madrilenos, the people of Madrid. They have a saying in Madrid. It's Madrid al cielo, which means, after you've experienced Madrid, the last thing to experience in life is heaven because that's how high they think of Madrid.

It's a beautiful city. Obviously very cosmopolitan. Even though it's landlocked, it has the best cuisine of the country.

BERMAN: I felt, and this was years ago, right after college, it was electric.

LONGORIA: Yes.

BERMAN: It was -- it was just pulsing, electric.

LONGORIA: Yes, it still is. Yes.

BERMAN: So vibrant. LONGORIA: The streets are alive in Madrid. I mean, it could be 11:00

at night and people are still outside drinking in the pubs and the bars, eating.

[09:00:01]

Spain does clean eating. Very clean eating. Very minimal ingredients. And in the way they cook, and how they present things.