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YouTube Star Ms. Rachel Sings with Double Amputee Toddler From Gaza; Rapper Kid Cudi May Testify This Week About Dating Combs' Ex- Girlfriend; Two Arrested for Assisting New Orleans Escaped Inmates. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 21, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Adding to his calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, Pope Leo is renewing his plea for Israel to let critical humanitarian aid into Gaza. During the first general audience of his papacy, the pontiff said conditions in Gaza are getting worse and he implored Israel to act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV (through translator): The situation in the Gaza Strip is increasingly worrying and painful. I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entry of fair humanitarian help and to bring an end to the hostilities, the high price of which is being paid for by children, the elderly and the sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: We are seeing images here underscoring the dire situation that the Pope described. Dozens of young Palestinians in Gaza, they're in Gaza City scrambling to grab pots of boiling hot food.

And here in the U.S., popular YouTube star and children's educator Miss Rachel is bringing awareness to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Here's CNN's Meena Duerson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL ACCURSO, "MS. RACHEL", YOUTUBE STAR: Let's go back to sleep, Rahaf. We're so tired.

MEENA DUERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Miss Rachel hanging out with her new friend, Rahaf. Miss Rachel is like YouTube's Mr. Rogers, with millions of subscribers and billions of views.

ACCURSO: Can you nod yes?

DUERSON (voice-over): And Rahaf is a three-year-old double amputee from Gaza. She lost her legs when her home was bombed and months later was medically evacuated to the U.S.

RAHAF'S MOTHER (through translated text): We are heading to the U.S. to continue our treatment. DUERSON (voice-over): Miss Rachel saw a video of the little girl now living with her mom and a host family in Missouri watching her show.

ACCURSO: She's just so precious. Hopping like a bunny. And, you know, she was kind of hopping on the couch.

DUERSON (voice-over): And arranged to have Rahaf come visit her in New York. Rahaf is part of a new group of fans Miss Rachel discovered last year, refugees of the war in Gaza.

ACCURSO: I was tagged in a video of a toddler and a brother and a sister watching in a tent. And I saw the toddler swaying and the little girl smile. And I was just so touched that I could bring a little bit of joy to them during unimaginable circumstances.

DUERSON: Did you know that you had this audience?

ACCURSO: No. I was completely surprised.

Someone wrote, This made me realize that these kids are like mine and like ours. And I know so many parents that enjoy our show feel the same way. They say, as a mom, I just think about, I see my babies.

ACCURSO: All children are worthy --

DUERSON (voice-over): She's posted more and more about Gaza as the war has gone on, highlighting the humanitarian crisis and launching a fundraiser for kids. She's gotten supportive comments, but there's also been backlash.

ACCURSO: The bullying is so bad. It's so bad. But I can handle this.

DUERSON: You seemed very emotional about the bullying that you said you'd gotten for speaking out.

ACCURSO: The idea that caring for one group of children means that you don't care for another group of children is false. And it's so hurtful because I care so deeply for all kids.

DUERSON (voice-over): In April, an advocacy group called Stop Antisemitism called her a mouthpiece for Hamas.

DUERSON: A group accused you of essentially acting as a foreign agent and asked, you know, for the attorney general to investigate you for spreading propaganda.

ACCURSO: Obviously, that's not true. I care deeply about all children, Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish, Muslim, Christian. I wouldn't be Miss Rachel if I didn't speak up for them and speak up for all of them.

ACCURSO: This is a prayer for all the children please stop hurting them.

DUERSON (voice-over): Miss Rachel has also used her platform to express grief over the deaths of Israeli children. And said she's met with the family of hostages still in captivity. Here in the U.S., Rahaf was fit for prosthetics and has learned how to

walk again.

[15:35:00]

A group called Palestine Children's Relief Fund helped her and her mom get out. But her dad and two brothers are still in Gaza.

RAHAF'S MOTHER (through translated text): Rahaf is very lucky of bourse because Rahaf was able to leave but there are other children still in Gaza. I wish those kids would get out and get treatment like Rahaf. And many children are still under the rubble. I see how it affects my children. How they just talk to Rahaf and they see her holding bread and eating. They ask about it. Of course, this hurts me so much.

ACCURSO: Anything is possible for Rahaf. She has healthy food, and she has clean water, and she has wonderful medical care. This girl is thriving. We have to do this for all kids because they all deserve that.

DUERSON (voice-over): Meena Duerson, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Thanks to Meena for that report.

And coming up, the jury has been dismissed for the day in the sex trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean Diddy Combs. We'll take a look at some of the biggest moments in court today right after a quick break.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Moments ago, testimony wrapped up for the day in the sex trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean Diddy Combs. The music mogul's former executive assistant, George Kaplan, is set to return to the stand tomorrow. He was actually granted immunity for his testimony.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: People closely following the case may remember that Cassie Ventura, Combs' ex-girlfriend, testified that Kaplan quits after he witnessed her being physically abused. Jurors spent much of the day hearing from the prosecution's expert witness, Dawn Hughes. She's a clinical and forensic psychologist tasked with explaining why some victims remain in abusive relationships.

CNN's Laura Coates and CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister were both inside the courtroom today. Laura, first to you, what were your takeaways from today's proceedings?

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: It was a really important day. Everyone wanted to hear from this psychologist. The lingering question in the air, as prosecutors believe for the jurors, might be why, if somebody has alleged such extensive abuse, why would they remain in a relationship?

Not a judgmental question, but really an exploratory one that that psychologist had to testify to today. She focused on a couple of areas, including why she believes some victims stay, what coping mechanisms they use, why they start to tell their story, and also the toll it takes on one's memory to have this happen.

But ultimately, the cross tried to undermine her and suggest, you might know theoretically and academically about this, but you've never interviewed these witnesses. You don't know the facts of this case. And whatever you might know comes from drafts that were provided to you from the prosecution, which they vehemently opposed. Ultimately, she was a blind expert.

We'll see how the jury ultimately looks at that testimony. Will they credit her as somebody who is informational and authoritative, or somebody who is just opining generally?

KEILAR: And Elizabeth, earlier today, the jury heard more testimony about weapons, sex toys, drugs, other items that were recovered from Combs' beach mansion in Miami -- Miami Beach mansion, I should say, as a special agent in charge of the search was wrapping up his testimony. Tell us a little bit about what they heard.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we heard from a special agent today who was there, as you said, that day that we all remember when Combs' homes were raided, both in Miami and Los Angeles. Now, this special agent was there in Miami in charge of the search warrant, and he spoke about some of the items that were seized. They seized guns, actually two AR-15s and a handgun.

It was a very dramatic moment in the courtroom when they actually took those guns and showed them to the jury in person. Now, they also found some pills, some residue of drugs, and becoming a pattern now in this trial, many bottles of baby oil. In fact, this special agent testified to the fact that 25 bottles of baby oil were found in just one closet.

Now, is it criminal to have baby oil? No, it's not. But as the defense said in their opening statement to the jury, there may be some things in this case that are freaky and things that you are not used to. But our client is not guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking.

Obviously, what the prosecution on the other side is trying to convey here is this pattern that Sean Combs always had baby oil. And typically had drugs. And with somebody who had guns in his homes and hotel rooms, they are clearly trying to paint the picture that these freak-offs and these supplies were par for the course for Sean Combs.

SANCHEZ: And Laura, we understand that rapper Kid Cudi is going to testify tomorrow about his relationship with Cassie Ventura. He has a unique role as he takes the stand.

COATES: He does. Remember, this is somebody that was in a relationship with Cassie Ventura, who then ended one with her at the behest of Cassie Ventura herself because they were fearful of their own personal safety after Diddy threatened to blow up his car or engage in physical violence, not by his own hands, but that it would occur while he was out of the country by somebody else. That's going to be crucial to putting one more piece in the jigsaw puzzle that people were acting at the direction and the behest of Sean Diddy Combs as a part of a criminal enterprise, allegedly.

He'll talk a little bit about, I'm sure, their relationship, but the fans will want to go in this and say, now, hold on a second. I thought that Cassie Ventura was unable to leave, unable to date anybody else.

[15:45:00]

The fact that he was aware of this and that he was aware and had these videotapes and they were not published of these so-called freak-offs, they're going to try to suggest is indicative of the fact that Sean Diddy Combs was a jealous person, a drug user, a domestic abuser, but not somebody who was the head of a criminal enterprise. Now, of course, I don't know how long he will testify. We know there will be about five witnesses tomorrow.

That's a very ambitious schedule for any prosecution strategy. We're told they'll be way ahead of schedule and they're asking for a little bit of time to end early if that's the case. They have to fly in other witnesses from the West Coast, which includes, back to Elizabeth, even a hotel witness. Who might that be?

WAGMEISTER: And that, of course, to the night in 2016 with that video that our team here at CNN first obtained. We've already heard from one hotel witness, a security guard, who saw this all go down and now tomorrow we expect to hear from yet another hotel witness.

SANCHEZ: We will, of course, be watching it closely. Thanks to you, Elizabeth Wagmeister and Laura Coates.

And we just got a major update on the New Orleans jail break. We have the very latest after a quick break.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We're following breaking new details surrounding that jailbreak in New Orleans. Louisiana State Police just announced that they've made two more arrests in the case.

KEILAR: Ryan Young is here with us. Do we know who these folks are, Ryan?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they're not one of the five inmates that are still on the run. These are people who they believed helped the suspects, sort of, after they escaped. And we'll put the names up on the screen so far.

And this is what we're told. 32-year-old Cortnie Harris, she allegedly helped transport two of the escapees and was on the phone with one of them before the escape happened. And she transported them around the New Orleans area. They were able to track that down. And Corvanntay Baptiste, of Seidel, 38, allegedly helped to facilitate getting food for Corey Boyd. They both were captured and charged with felonies.

And as you heard in one of the news conferences earlier, they stressed to the public, do not help these men. You can see they've been able to track down through social media, through cell phone calls, that these folks had contact with the suspects after they were on the run. We know people got help here, especially after all the things that have been moving in terms of the five -- the 10 of them running across the highway and after that, them scattering through New Orleans area.

But these two arrests being made this afternoon, of course, now this investigation continues to go on as Crimestoppers gets more and more tips.

KEILAR: And you have some new information on the investigation?

YOUNG: Yes, one of the things we've all been talking about is what's happening at this jail? How were they able to disable the locks? How were they able to convince somebody who worked there to turn off the water so that when they broke through that wall, the water wouldn't rush into the cell?

We've been told the AG's office, the attorney general and the DA of the area spent two hours there. We also know that auditors showed up, 10 of them, to go through that jail once again, to figure out exactly what's going on and how it's being run at this point.

This investigation continues as those five escapees continue to run -- Boris and Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Ryan, thank you so much for the very latest there. We know it'll continue to develop.

The FDA is cracking down on off-brand versions of Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs that come from compounding pharmacies. This means that it may become harder to buy these other versions of popular weight loss and diabetes drugs. CNN Health reporter Jacqueline Howard has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Starting tomorrow, Thursday, May 22nd, that's when the FDA's crackdown on certain compounded versions of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic is set to begin. We know in some cases, patients may still be able to access and use their compounded versions, but this broader agency crackdown is expected to stop the production and sale of off-brand compounded versions in some cases.

The way the production of these compounded versions even started was in 2022. That's when there was a significant shortage of these popular drugs. Because of increased demand, the FDA allowed compounding pharmacies to step in to fill the supply gaps. But then in February of this year, the FDA announced that the shortage has ended, and therefore these allowances for compounding is ending.

The hope is that most patients will be able to switch from the off- brand compounded versions to branded versions. It's estimated that tens of thousands of people each month here in the U.S. were using these off-brand products. Compounded versions were often cheaper options, but they are not FDA-approved like the branded versions are.

With this crackdown starting tomorrow, we might see many people potentially could be impacted. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for that reporting.

Still ahead, we are 106 days away from the NFL opener between the Cowboys and Eagles, but nobody's counting, right? We're all excited for kickoff.

Are we going to see the tush push at that game? We have the results from a vote to potentially ban the play next.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The tush push, the brotherly shove, whatever you want to call it, it lives to see another season after surviving a push against it from certain NFL owners. The short yardage play involves multiple offensive players pushing the quarterback as far as they can as the offensive line surges forward. But the tush push faced fourth and inches at a league meeting today, thanks to a proposal by the Green Bay Packers to outlaw it on the grounds of safety and competitiveness.

SANCHEZ: Yes, they needed 24 teams to pass the ban. The measure only got 22 votes. So if you're keeping score, that means that 10 teams voted to keep the play, including for some undiscernible reason, my beloved Miami Dolphins, the team that parlayed that play into success.

The Philadelphia Eagles posted this after the vote, push on. Interesting to note who was at today's meeting. Eagles legend Jason Kelce argued on behalf of his former team in favor of keeping their signature play.

[16:00:00]

I don't understand why a team that has not won a playoff game since I was a boy. There have been four popes since the last time the Dolphins won a playoff game would vote to allow another team to have a distinct competitive advantage. We don't try the tush push because we can't do it because offensive line has been terrible for years. Nevertheless, push on.

KEILAR: You're taking sides against the Dolphins.

SANCHEZ: I find some of their decisions questionable, yes.

KEILAR: I'm speechless.

SANCHEZ: Are they going to win the Super Bowl this year? You bet.

Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END