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Five Killed Including Eight-Year-Old in Texas Mass Shooting; First U.S. Government-Organized Convoy Reaches Port Sudan; Justice Alito Claims He Knows Who Leaked Draft Abortion Opinion; Pence Testifies to Federal Grand Jury Probing Trump's January 6th Role; Florida Gov. DeSantis Slams Disney's Lawsuit Against Him; Poll: Trump's Numbers Up, DeSantis' Numbers Down; U.S. Officials Brace For Migrant Influx When COVID-Era Restrictions Lift. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired April 29, 2023 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:35]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. And we begin this hour with a manhunt for the suspect in yet another horrifying mass shooting.

Police say the rampage started after a family asked a neighbor to stop firing a rifle in his front yard because their baby was trying to sleep. Now five people are dead, including an 8-year-old child. This latest horror unfolded in Cleveland, Texas, about 40 miles northeast of Houston.

CNN's Ryan Young is following all the latest developments for us.

Ryan, what do we know about the manhunt that's happening right now and this suspect in just another case of a terrible mass shooting in this country?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, troubling details in this, Jim. And if you think about all the pieces that have been laid out so far, we know the FBI has just joined this manhunt for this man. His name is Francisco Oropeza. That's Francisco Oropeza. That's the man that you see on your screen. He apparently is the next-door neighbor. Sheriff deputies have been able to talk to his wife after the shooting.

But if you think about how you laid that all out, he was the man who lived next door. He was apparently firing that rifle when someone from next door asked him to stop shooting that gun because of that baby. He then apparently, according to the sheriff's department, went next door. They have a ring camera that actually captured someone entering the building. Used the gun to shoot the people execution style.

Listen to the sheriff talk about this horrific crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF GREG CAPERS, SAN JACINTO COUNTY, TEXAS: When they got here they found four people deceased inside of the residence and there was an 8-year-old that had been shot. Everybody that was shot was shot from the neck up almost execution style, basically in the head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Jim, when you think about that, we did say five people were dead. That 8-year-old was struggling clinging to life, was taken to a hospital where that 8-year-old died. They were also in this case two other children that were covered by women inside that house. They had been shot. Looks like they were shielding those children. They were covered in blood.

The sheriff says in his 41 years of being a sheriff he's never seen a scene like this. They believe they've isolated the man to an area in the woods about 12 miles away from this location. But right now there have been no updates in terms of how this active manhunt is going. You obviously this entire community is looking for a man who could be still armed. They did find other weapons inside his house.

This is a troubling situation with so many families have been broken up. When you think about it 10 people lived in this home. You see the information about him there. 38 years old. They do believe he's armed. And so this manhunt continues at this hour -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Right. You have to think that this suspect is armed and desperate and very dangerous at this point.

YOUNG: Absolutely.

ACOSTA: Ryan Young, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Joining me now, CNN's senior law enforcement analyst, Charles Ramsey. He's a former Washington, D.C. police chief, former police commissioner for the city of Philadelphia.

Chief Ramsey, the police believe the suspect is contained in a wooded area. You have to think at this point after what he's been accused of doing that he is going to be desperate. He is going to be dangerous and probably very armed at this point.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes. There's no question about that. They have to be very careful. It's a wooded area. It's very easy for an individual to conceal themselves and actually ambush the police. So they have to be very careful as they go through there. They'll be using dogs. They'll be using helicopters equipped with flares which is a heat seeking type of instrument, to look for body heat and determine whether or not he is in that particular area.

So they'll be using a lot of technology to try to pinpoint him, but it's going to boil down to them actually combing through those woods, with is dangerous.

ACOSTA: And that's a very densely wooded area in that part of Texas so it could take some time.

Chief Ramsey, the sheriff says all the shooting victims were shot from the neck up, in his words, almost execution style. What does that tell you about the shooter and apparently, you know, as Ryan Young was just saying a few moments ago, some of the victims were shielding children. It just goes to the grisly nature of what took place.

RAMSEY: Yes. There's no question his intent was to kill. I mean, if all the shots were either head shots or to the neck with an AR-15, I mean, you know, the damage inflicted from that type of weapon to your body is just absolutely incredible.

[16:05:03]

And so his intent was to kill, there's no question. That shows a great deal of rage. There were 10 people, my understanding, in that house. Why he didn't kill all 10, I don't know. He probably could have. But he did kill five. Thank God he didn't get the rest of them. And those two kids that were shielded by their mother or other women in the house are certainly very, very fortunate. But, I mean, look at the trauma that everyone involved in that has to go through now.

This is just absolutely incredible but it's just one more example of the senseless violence taking place in our country. It makes no sense at all. And nothing is going to be done to really put a curb to it.

ACOSTA: And this horrible attack really started over something as simple as a noise complaint. And it's the latest example, Chief, of a, you know, some kind of, you know, usual circumstance that happens between neighbors escalating to gun violence. A teenager shot for ringing the wrong doorbell, a 20-year-old woman is killed for pulling into the wrong driveway, a 6-year-old and her father shot after a basketball rolls in their neighbor's yard.

And it's one of those kinds of circumstances combined with the problem that we have in this country that we talk about all the time, these mass shootings. What in the world is happening in this country right now?

RAMSEY: Well, we've got a lot of people that shouldn't have access to guns, but it's so easy now. They have them. And they aren't afraid to use it. And in fact, in situations that just is mind boggling, I mean, you mentioned that noise complaint. Think about what that complaint is. He's firing an AR-15 in his yard, in a neighborhood. I mean, that is by itself, to me, nuts but, again, you know, that's what we're dealing with now.

There are some people who act as if this is 1883 as opposed to 2023, and that includes some of our legislators that fail to take any kind of action. Something has to be done to curb this gun violence and keep the guns out of the hands of people who just should not have them. Some are mentally ill but others are just evil and they just do what they do. And we've got to find a way to really rid our society of those kinds of folks and their access to weapons.

ACOSTA: Right. The fire power that's available these days is way beyond what we had in the 1800s, that's for sure.

And Chief, the sheriff has said no one should have to see the scene inside that house, and apparently Ryan Young was saying a few moments ago there might be some ring doorbell video available to investigators. That, I suppose, will show the kind of intent that this person is alleged to have had.

RAMSEY: Yes. There's no question about that. Now don't be surprised if they don't find this person dead committing suicide or dying suicide by cop once he realizes and it really sinks in what he actually did. That wouldn't be unusual, but the grisly nature of the scene also points toward mental health care for our police officers, people that have to process these scenes. This stuff isn't normal.

ACOSTA: Yes.

RAMSEY: And, believe me, police officers need the same kind of counseling and assistance as others when they're exposed to those kinds of traumatic events. And so hopefully they're going to make arrangements for those individuals to receive some kind of treatment and counseling.

ACOSTA: And there are so many police officers and first responders who are coming onto the scene of these types of tragedies way too often. Way too often.

Chief Ramsey, thanks as always. We appreciate it.

RAMSEY: OK. Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. And now to the escalating conflict in Sudan. The first U.S.-led convoy to evacuate citizens from Khartoum has reached Port Sudan. The U.S. initially resisted spearheading a civilian evacuation despite last weekend's successful airlift of American embassy personnel.

CNN's Oren Liebermann joins us now from the Pentagon.

Oren, another tricky operation. What more can you tell us about this evacuation that's unfolding?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Jim, this comes after we saw some growing frustration, even growing anger on the part of the American citizens, private citizens who were still in Khartoum, in Sudan, waiting for the U.S. government to assist in some greater way.

You're right to point out that last week we saw the military evacuation on military helicopters, embassy staff and family members and some other nationals, but the U.S. had said it was too dangerous of a situation on the ground for another operation like that, even as we watched many other countries conduct their own operations to evacuate not only their own citizens but also Americans.

Now we learn of this convoy of buses arranged by the State Department and the Department of Defense to get out American citizens. You can see the journey they took there. An hour's long journey over hundreds of miles from the capital of Khartoum out to Port Sudan. There are navy ships there from the U.S. Navy as well as other ships. The U.S. will get them from there to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia where they'll get assistance to where they're going from there.

The U.S. wouldn't put a number on how many people were on this convoy, only saying hundreds of American citizens have been evacuated through this convoy, but also through the convoys of other countries and other military aircraft.

[16:10:10]

In terms of how this played out over the last several days, on Thursday American citizens who had registered with the embassy and said they wanted to get out got a notification essentially saying, get ready, we're putting together an effort. It could be in the next couple of days. On Friday, so just yesterday they were told to pack some water, food, a travel bag. They met at a golf course and then convoyed out of town.

Jim, some people who'd spoken with CNN, American citizens, after they made a similar journey said it was pretty much a harrowing experience. Long, arguably dangerous, encountering the two warring factions before they made it to Port Sudan and onwards.

And one last point, Jim, the U.S. says those American citizens still in the country who want to get out should reach out to the embassy suggesting -- or, rather, the State Department, suggesting there may be more efforts like this possible.

ACOSTA: Right. It sounds like they need to take the U.S. government up on this offer as things are escalating in a major way there in Sudan.

Oren Liebermann, thank you very much.

These evacuations are life altering upheavals for people fleeing Sudan. I want to bring in Muna Daoud. Within the past few hours, her Sudanese American parents finally made it to Saudi Arabia.

Muna, I'm so happy to hear that. And thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. How did the U.S. government get them out? How did that go?

MUNA DAOUD, PARENTS JUST LEFT SUDAN: Actually, first I want to, you know, express my -- that my heart goes out to all the Sudanese people, all the Sudanese Americans that have gone through traumatic events in the past two weeks and have yet to reach safe harbor.

Actually the American government did not assist my parents in any way to help them leave Sudan. They left by themselves. We arranged a way for them to get out. They simply hopped on a bus to Port Sudan after two weeks -- of almost two weeks of barely no communication whatsoever from the American government. We've e-mailed. We've called. We've written to the White House.

We've begged and pleaded for them to assist my parents who are both 66 and 69 years old, who are on a visit to Sudan. And three days in the fighting broke out and there was no way to get them out. They basically hopped on a bus to Port Sudan, took them around 12 hours. My father was held up at gun point by the RSF on the way there. It was a very difficult, emotional, traumatizing journey, and the U.S. government did not help at all. Once they reached Port Sudan they still have to go through a lot of

trouble in order to get on the ships. Thankfully the Saudis were very gracious and were assisting American citizens to get aboard the ships in Jeddah. But no time during this entire harrowing process and journey, during these two weeks were my parents ever comforted or contacted by anybody from the U.S. government or assisted in any way, shape or form.

ACOSTA: Wow. Wow. Well, and what Oren Liebermann was saying a few --

DAOUD: Yes. And that is not just their story. That is --

ACOSTA: Please go ahead. No, keep going.

DAOUD: No, that's not their story. This is the story of all the Sudanese Americans, of all the American citizens currently in Sudan. There are around 16,000 Americans in Sudan that want to be evacuated. None of these people want to be in a war zone. None of these people want to have their kids' lives endangered or their loved ones in harm's way, and the United States government evacuated 70 diplomats on three helicopters and left the rest to rot.

ACOSTA: Well, let me ask you about that, Muna, to follow-up on that. Yes. Let me follow-up on that. We've got a little bit of a delay here. But, you know, my question is, you know, when you saw what was unfolding last week and then you were just talking about that a few moments ago where the U.S. government was evacuating those diplomats but they were saying very flatly that they weren't going to help American citizens, and that they had to heed these warnings and get out there on their own, what was your response to that?

What did you think about that at that time when you heard that? Did you think, no, the administration should be doing more because there are just so many people there?

DAOUD: Of course. Of course I thought they should be doing more. In fact, I was insulted at their response when John Kirby came on TV and said that, oh, no, no, no, no, you have to be careful to call them citizens because they are merely dual citizens, and a lot of them want to stay there. First of all, nobody wants to stay in a war zone. Second of all, being a dual citizen does not make you less of a citizen of the United States. I believe it makes you more. It was the chosen land for a lot of these people.

[16:15:02]

We chose America to be our home. And it let us down when we needed it the most. So I was just insulted by the response. I was hurt by it. I was heartbroken by it and quite frankly, I don't know what to make of it. I don't understand how they could do this and somehow celebrate evacuating 17 diplomats and leaving the rest to simply fend for themselves.

And when they go on TV saying that they are facilitating the evacuation, nobody facilitated anything. This is the first -- yesterday was the first time the American embassy attempted to evacuate any of its citizens in Khartoum. The other nations were picking up the slack. Saudi Arabia was helping to evacuate us. The Dutch were helping to evacuate us. The British were helping to evacuate us.

Not the Americans, although arguably the Americans are the most capable. However, they claimed it was more dangerous but the other countries did not see it the same way. They cared about their citizens. They cared about keeping their citizens safe and out of harm's way. And right now at the border a lot of American citizens are dying and are going through the worst conditions imaginable to man with no assistance.

Not only are they not facilitating American citizens to leave or get out of harm's way but at the border right now, away from the war, as these citizens are attempting to cross into Egypt, into Eritrea, into Ethiopia, into South Sudan, no American officials are there providing no assistance. And in fact, when contacted they simply shrug off the concern and do nothing.

I heard today of a woman, an American woman, who was at death's door basically. She collapsed at the border in Egypt and when the consulate was contacted, they simply shrugged it off like it was not their problem.

ACOSTA: Wow. Well, Muna Daoud, we're going to take your comments and the harsh criticism that you have and try to get some answers for you. That's just unacceptable. And we're very glad to hear that your parents are out and getting out of that part of the world and getting somewhere safe.

Muna Daoud, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate your account. Thank you so much.

DAOUD: Thank you, Jim. Thank you very much.

ACOSTA: All right. You're welcome.

All right. We're watching developments on one of the troubled banks that have been in the spotlight in recent weeks. First Republic is still an independent lender despite expectations that the FDIC would take control on Friday. Its share prices plunged from more than $120 on March 1st to around $3 yesterday. "Bloomberg" and "Wall Street Journal" say JPMorgan Chase and Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial are in the process of submitting bids to buy First Republic.

If there is a buyer, the FDIC would likely still be stuck with some money-losing assets as was the case after it found buyers for the viable portions of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month.

We're going to stay on top of that. That's a developing story here in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll stay on top of that. Get any new developments that come in on First Republic Bank. So stay with us on that.

Coming up, the Supreme Court is still reeling from the leak of its draft opinion overturning Roe versus Wade. And now one justice says he has a pretty good idea, he says, who was behind it. And is Ron DeSantis's feud with Disney damaging him politically? We'll break down the numbers ahead. And later, officials say detention facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border are maxed out as the end of a COVID-era border restriction draws closer. What officials are doing to address this spike?

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:45]

ACOSTA: Several legal stories making big headlines this week. Justice Samuel Alito told "The Wall Street Journal" that he has a pretty good idea who was behind the leak of the draft abortion opinion overturning Roe versus Wade at the Supreme Court. He says it was someone who didn't want the landmark case reversed while saying the leaker was not a conservative. Justice Alito stopped short of naming names, we should note, leading to renewed speculation of who leaked the draft opinion.

And I want to bring in former federal prosecutor Michael Zeldin. He's also a former special assistant to Robert Mueller over at the Justice Department.

Michael, great to see you. Is Justice Alito offering any proof to back up what he is saying?

MICHAEL ZELDIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Absolutely not, and in fact, the marshal of the court who was entrusted to conduct this investigation could not determine who was the leaker. So Justice Alito was able to do what the marshal of the court couldn't done. So I don't know what his clandestine, independent investigation process was.

But I think it was quite irresponsible of him to say that the leaker was a person who was opposed to the Dobbs decision because no conservative would do that because they faced threats after the Dobbs decision. Of course they faced threats long before the Dobbs decision. So this is a really rather self-serving "Wall Street Journal" article. Actually it makes me suspicious of Alito even more.

ACOSTA: Well, and speaking of that, Michael, there was a lot of suspicion that the leak was from someone who wanted Roe overturned. But Alito says no way. Quoting the article Alito says this, he says, "Look, this made us targets of assassination. Would I do that to myself? Would the five of us have done that to ourselves? It's quite implausible." What do you think?

ZELDIN: As I said, Jim, I think these threats against justices on the left and on the right have been long in our nation's history. I don't think that there's causation between a leak of this and these death threats. What Alito says was that this leak was an assault on the criminal justice process, the judicial process, and frankly, I think the Dobbs decision was the assault on the judicial process and he ought to take a long, hard look at the way in which he decides cases rather than make accusations about liberals opposed to choice being leakers in a case that he authored.

[16:25:13]

ACOSTA: Yes. Well, let me skip ahead to Mike Pence. A couple of other big legal developments this week. On Thursday the former vice president testified behind closed doors in the federal investigation into Trump's role on January 6th. His appearance this week follows months of back-and-forth negotiations. We don't know what Pence said, but how important is that appearance before the grand jury? Does it indicate that maybe the special counsel might be getting close to wrapping things up?

ZELDIN: Yes. A couple of things. One, it does probably indicate that we're late in the game for the special counsel investigation and, second, what Pence has to offer, Jim, is knowledge of what Trump knew. So Trump is in conversations with Pence. He's telling him things that only Pence now knows. He's at the heart of this investigation and he can offer evidence of Trump's intent and knowledge, and those are prerequisites to a criminal prosecution.

So, yes, he's very important, as is Mark Meadows. Those are critical evidence gathering devices for the prosecutor, these two witnesses.

ACOSTA: All right. Michael Zeldin, great to talk to you as always. Thanks so much.

ZELDIN: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Good to see you.

Coming up, Disney versus DeSantis. How it will play politically as DeSantis seems ready to ramp up a presidential run. We'll run the numbers next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:55]

ACOSTA: Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is slamming Walt Disney's lawsuit against him. The entertainment giant is accusing DeSantis and his allies of violating the company's federal constitutional rights.

What kind of impact is it having on the voters out there?

CNN senior data reporter, Harry Enten, joins us to run the numbers.

Harry, looks like you're getting ready for the Correspondents' Dinner. You look like 007 there.

Let's do some business if we can in other entertainment news. What's going on with DeSantis and Disney? Is this hurting him?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Look, there's two ways to look at it. You can look at him among the general electorate. You can look at him among the primary electorate, among Republicans. What do we see? Certainly, among the general electorate what we're

seeing right now is a good question, is DeSantis punishing Disney unfairly or is he right in rolling back special treatment?

Among all voters, just 37 percent believe DeSantis is right. And 63 percent believe he's wrong. Among the Republicans, it's flipped. Two to one think he's right.

But I point out, Jim, this is still an issue with Republicans. You still have one-third of Republicans who disagree with Ron DeSantis.

When you have an issue that is two to one among the general electorate that's against you and still only two-thirds of your part that's for you, I'm not sure this is the best issue for Ron DeSantis.

ACOSTA: Harry, has the battle with Disney helped DeSantis in his match-up with Donald Trump? That is the ultimate question at this point.

Tell me what's happening here. The latest polls I've been seeing, it looks like they are moving in the opposite directions. Trump going up, DeSantis going down. But you tell me.

ENTEN: No, I agree with you, Jim. You can take a look at the FOX News poll trend line that we've seen over the last few months. And it shows that Donald Trump's lead is growing ever larger, right? In February, Trump was up 15. In March, Trump was up 30. In April, Trump was up 32 points over DeSantis.

And this is what I was talking about in terms of the Disney factor helping or hurting him. Yes, the majority of Republicans are for him but there's a significant minority against him.

And I point out that Ron DeSantis' path to the nomination is probably through the middle of the Republican Party, among moderates that make up one-third of the electorate.

They're not turned on by something like this. They are the type of folks who probably do not like what Ron DeSantis is doing with Disney.

ACOSTA: Harry, President Biden officially declared his election campaign this past week, put out an ad that was very splashy.

How did his numbers look? Is he facing sort of the same prospects that he usually faces, the president that is, in that, you know, sometimes the numbers aren't as favorable as he might like?

ENTEN: You know, it's interesting. We can look at the general election match-up and look at a trend line from this and it gives you a very interesting look at this race right now.

In March, what we saw was Ron DeSantis and Joe Biden, according is Ipsos polling, were neck and neck. Biden plus two, well within the margin of error. If you look at the Biden versus Trump match-up, you saw Biden was ahead by five. Flip forward to April. This gets to what we were talking about with

Disney. What do we see? We see Biden runs better against DeSantis than he does against Trump. We see Biden plus nine against DeSantis.

ACOSTA: Wow.

ENTEN: We see Biden plus five against Trump.

This is a very different race than we were looking at a month ago. I would make the argument that DeSantis, if he runs to the right, that will help him in the primary but will hurt him in the general electorate.

And makes that case that he's more electable than Donald Trump part of the sale of the general electorate.

ACOSTA: Right. That really changes things because, Harry, you and I have talked about this, in polls in the past, it was -- Donald Trump was the Republican who would lose to Joe Biden, not Ron DeSantis or other Republicans.

Now that is not the case anymore. Very, very interesting.

Finally, Harry, we want to congratulate you on winning a Webby Award for your podcast, "Margins of Error.

That is not why he's wearing the Tuxedo. But there are some of the results right there.

Way to go. We appreciate your work as always.

Look at this, before Acosta, audience vote down 3 points. After Acosta, audience vote ahead 21 points.

What is this all about? Did we give you a good plug --

[16:34:58]

ENTEN: Remember -- yes. I think you remember that, right? I came on, you gave me 45 seconds. I threw up a Q.R. code. We had a link running across the bottom of the screen.

I was trailing in that race. I was down three points before your audience went out and voted and I bumped it ahead.

ACOSTA: Wow.

ENTEN: You guys came out for me. You won me the Webby. And I'd like to say thank you to all.

If I knew all of your names, I might send you some Popeye's. Instead, next week, when I'm back in New York, I'll have some Popeye's. Maybe send some to you as well, Jim?

ACOSTA: That sounds good. I always like Popeye's chicken. That's terrific. Check out Harry's Webby Award-winning podcast "Margins of Error." You

don't have to vote anymore but can still listen to it. You can find it on your favorite podcast app.

Let's show Harry one last time. Attention to the bartenders across Washington, D.C., tonight, Harry likes his martinis shaken, not stirred.

And make sure you -- there he is, 007 himself. Join Harry.

And make sure to tune in for one of the businesses nights in the nation's capital. President Biden and host, Roy Wood Jr, host The White House Correspondents' Dinner. It is live here tonight on CNN. Stay tuned for that.

Coming up, why New York Mayor Eric Adams is taking on FEMA about money it's giving out to cities. It all has to do with the migrant crisis. That story next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:40:18]

ACOSTA: A Homeland Security official tells CNN migrant detention facilities along the U.S.-Mexico border have surpassed capacity. The surge comes as the federal government gets ready to lift pandemic-era restrictions down at the border.

Meanwhile, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is calling on FEMA to stop sending federal money to cities that are bussing migrants to New York. Mayor Adams said the city's overtaxed shelter system is struggling to keep up.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is following this from New York, and so is the White House reporter, Priscilla Alvarez.

Priscilla, what are the latest numbers on migrants in U.S. custody? Is the administration ready to handle the surge that is likely to take place?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Jim, I spoke to a Homeland Security official this morning who told me there are more than 20,500 migrants in custody along the U.S.-Mexico border.

This official stressed numbers fluctuate throughout the day. But this is an indicator perhaps of what is to come. That is an increasing number of migrants are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in anticipation of the May 11th date.

You see on the screen there, there are now 7,000 daily encounters on the U.S. southern border. That is among the numbers that is expected to rise in the coming weeks.

The reason this date is important, Jim, is because that is when the Covid-era border restriction invoked under former President Donald Trump is going to end. It's ending because the public emergency for coronavirus will also be ending.

That means migrants will not be quickly expelled as they were before. The administration, therefore, is racing behind the scenes to set up a number of preparations for what they anticipate will be a larger number of people.

That includes a regional processing center or more than one regional processing center in Latin America for migrants traveling up to the U.S. southern border so they can apply legally to come to the U.S.

Launching programs so that migrants can also apply from where they are to come to the U.S., instead of coming to the U.S. southern border.

And setting up new restrictions to be able to push people back into Mexico or to their origin country.

So all of this is underway right now. And Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said this week, while they're doing that, they anticipate the next few weeks are going to be challenging.

So a lot ahead in this space -- Jim?

ACOSTA: Absolutely, Priscilla.

And, Polo, how about how things are going in New York City? We're hearing from Mayor Adams on this. I know he and his city have been struggling to keep up with all of these buses of migrants that are being sent to them. What's the latest there?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Struggling for the last year now, Jim. Those figures that Priscilla just shared, those are not lost on New York City officials that are closely watching them.

If they've learned anything in the last year, they're very well aware of the fact that an increase at the southern border will almost certainly translate to a significant increase here in the northeast.

Specifically New York City, which continues to be one of the major, most popular destinations because they either know people here or they've heard of the services that are being provided.

Already 36,000 currently in the city's care. The concern now with the potential increase in a post Title 42 world, is the daily arrivals of some 200 days is likely to increase, and with that, the cost of caring for these asylum seekers, including providing housing.

Because we need to remind viewers, many of these are still stuck a year later in unemployment limbo. So they cannot work on the books to make a living. So the price tag for the city has been $817 million at least.

And if these projections continue until the end of June, we could potentially see close to $1.5 billion. Not to mention what we'll see the year after. That's why there's some potential political friction here between Mayor Eric Adams and the White House as he has really increased the pressure that he's trying to put on the Biden administration to respond, at least officially.

The mayor calling for a potential solution in the form of calling for the expansion of TPS protocols that could possibly include Central America, Venezuela. That is certainly easier said than done.

But also calling on some sort of executive action from the White House to perhaps expedite the work authorization applications for the tens of thousands of migrants.

But as many people in Washington would tell you that is certainly easier said than done. We'll have to see what happens.

In the meantime, the city is hoping for about $600 million temporary Band-Aid, requesting that amount from FEMA officials to try to recover some of their losses ahead of what we'll see this summer.

ACOSTA: All right, Polo Sandoval, Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much for those updates on that critically important issue down at the border. We appreciate it.

Still ahead, days after settling the massive defamation lawsuit for airing election lies, FOX News fired its top-rated host, Tucker Carlson. Why that is just one of the headaches the cable news channel is dealing with over there. We'll talk about that next.

[16:45:10]

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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ACOSTA: FOX this week not only fired top-rated host, Tucker Carlson, it also agreed to give more documents to lawyers for Smartmatic, the second voting technology company suing the organization.

Smartmatic wants FOX to pay $2.7 billion for endorsing Trump's election lies. That's more than twice FOX's settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over similar claims. And Smartmatic wants a retraction, something Dominion did not get.

[16:50:01]

Let's talk about this with "Mediaite" editor-in-chief, Aidan McLaughlin, who joins us now.

Aidan, what do you think? Do you think FOX will try to settle this case, too? We saw -- you know, they took it right up until the 11th hour, right at the edge of the cliff, and then they settled right when the trial was about to get going with Dominion.

Might that happen again?

AIDAN MCLAUGHLIN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "MEDIAITE": I think there's a very good chance that Smartmatic and FOX News settle this case.

For one, the idea that FOX News would let all of this information come out as part of the Dominion discovery and then settle the case at the last minute for close to a billion dollars and then go to a trial in the Smartmatic case just seems to me is really implausible.

I think Dominion was really holding out for a lot with FOX. The reason that that case didn't settle until the last minute is that their numbers, when they were doing these settlement negotiations, were just too far apart.

Dominion was asking for $1.6 billion in their case. FOX News was offering to pay them way less. In the end, they ended up coming to an agreement.

And I expect that FOX News will pay a lot of money to see the Smartmatic case also come to a settlement and not go to a trial.

ACOSTA: Smartmatic says they want a retraction from FOX, and FOX did not do that after Dominion. Do you think that could happen?

MCLAUGHLIN: I think there's certainly a possibility. Remember, FOX News did air fact checks of their own reporting about Smartmatic back in 2020 when these false claims about the 2020 election were being made on the air.

So it's certainly something that FOX News has done before. And it wouldn't surprise me if, in an effort to avoid this going to trial and having their top hosts -- Rupert Murdoch, testifying on the stand, it would not surprise me if FOX News did agree to a condition like that.

Especially since a lot of the reason FOX News really wanted to avoid a correction or an apology in the Dominion case is because there was this looming Smartmatic case and they didn't want to put themselves in a position where they were conceding defeat on the Dominion before going into the Smartmatic case.

This Smartmatic case is the last remaining defamation case over the lies of the 2020 election. So I think FOX News might be in a little bit more of an eager position to settle it with a correction as well as a payout.

ACOSTA: And a FOX statement, we should note, claims this lawsuit is intended to restrict the First Amendment.

Saying, "As a report prepared by our financial experts show, Smartmatic's damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on its face, intended to chill First Amendment freedoms."

But you know, Aidan, also this week, just days after settling the Dominion lawsuit, FOX fired its most popular host, Tucker Carlson. Carlson did a video statement on this, which I know you've seen. But let's play a little bit for our viewers and talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TUCKER CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: When honest people say what's true calmly and without embarrassment, they become powerful. At the same time, the liars, who have been trying to silence them, shrink. They become weaker. That's the iron law of the universe, true things prevail.

Where can you still find Americans saying true things? There aren't many places left, but there are some, and that's enough. As long as you can hear the words, there is hope. See you soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: You know, Aidan, it's remarkable to hear Tucker Carlson talk about honesty and telling the truth when he himself has admitted he does lie.

But let me ask you this, Aidan. I mean, apparently, Carlson's firing, according to some reports, did not have everything to do with the Dominion lawsuit, that there were other factors.

What are you hearing?

MCLAUGHLIN: That's right. And I think the best way to sum up what we know about why Tucker Carlson was ousted from FOX News is the day that he was let go, I called up a bunch of sources, from FOX News hosts to executives to producers.

Every single person gave me a bunch of different reasons why they thought Tucker Carlson was fired from the network.

That not only goes to show that there wasn't really one reason why he was let go by Rupert Murdoch, but there was a number of different reasons that any one of them could have been a fireable offense on its own.

And that stack got way too high for Rupert Murdoch to handle and he decided he didn't want to deal with, one, the hit on FOX News' journalistic institution that Tucker Carlson presented with his coverage of January 6th and vaccines and everything else.

And, two, Tucker Carlson was posing a serious legal liability to the network, from the lawsuits from Abby Grossberg, his producer, to the Ray Epps, the January 6th rioter that Tucker Carlson claimed was an FBI informant on his show, who is now threatening legal action against Tucker, his involvement in the Smartmatic case.

ACOSTA: There was certainly a lot piling up over there at FOX when it came to Tucker and perhaps Rupert Murdoch decided to clean out that inbox.

All right, Aidan McLaughlin, great talking to you as always. Thanks so much.

[16:55:04]

MCLAUGHLIN: Thanks, Jim. ACOSTA: All right, appreciate it.

This weekend, Eva Longoria explores Veracruz, the birthplace of Mexico's key ingredients. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS: It's like the Mexican flag.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LONGORIA: Si.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE.

LONGORIA: That's so beautiful. I need my phone!

Thank you.

(voice-over): But it's not just the food at this restaurant. Even the drinks are smoked.

(on camera): Oh, this is so beautiful. The smoke. Stanley Tucci has to see this.

Salute. Gracias. Si.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

LONGORIA: This is amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Don't miss the new episode of "EVA LONGORIA, SEARCHING FOR MEXICO." That's tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

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