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CNN International: Police Clear Protestors From Building At Columbia University; Violent Clashes Between Rival Protest Groups On UCLA Campus; Donald Trump Campaigns Today In Swing States. Aired 11a- 12p ET
Aired May 01, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
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RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning or good evening, depending on where you're watching. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
The Mayor of New York City accusing external actors of hijacking the protests at Columbia University. There were about 300 arrests across Columbia and City College of New York. We will take you there. And in Los Angeles, police move in after a night of clashes between rival groups at the UCLA. The counter-protesters tried to tear down an encampment. And Americans wake up to discover a controversial six-week abortion ban, now in effect in the state of Florida. It's another key issue for voters ahead of the presidential election.
All right. We want to begin this hour at Columbia University. We are standing by to see what happens next, now that New York police have retaken Hamilton Hall. Student protesters had occupied this building, demanding that the school sell off its investments in companies tied to Israel. But, overnight, law enforcement sources say that the NYPD arrested some 300 protesters at Columbia University and also at City College of New York. Columbia is asking those officers to stay on campus for at least the next couple of weeks.
CNN's Gabe Cohen is standing by live at Columbia University, and he joins us now. Gabe, give us a sense first of what things are like on campus. Where do things stand?
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, definitely a quiet morning here on Columbia's campus. You can see the police presence behind me. NYPD officers are here. They have been asked by the school to remain here until May 17, after graduation. You can also see the entrance here. These are very restricted entrances at this point. A line of students and faculty trying to get in. There has been a lot of confusion today as to who is allowed on campus, and a lot of frustration as well.
And I want to give you a look at Hamilton Hall. That's the building right behind me. This was the center of that dramatic scene you talk about last night, where NYPD officers, dozens of them, entered this building through a second floor window. This is where protesters had been holed up, occupying this building for close to 24 hours. Police officers late last night entered the building. They also entered the campus. A large group of officers on foot right here at ground level. And they arrested, as you said, more than 200 people between the encampment and inside this building.
Look, I spoke with a student journalist here at Columbia a little while ago, Rahel, who was here covering the protests. One of the things that's making this difficult, it's a closed campus. Media is not allowed inside. It hasn't been for a couple of weeks now except for these very short windows during the day. Student press has been allowed inside. But, last night, this journalist described the students being asked by NYPD to leave the area before they actually made those arrests. He basically said that very few people as a result could actually witness what was unfolding here on the campus. Those arrests being made. As a result, most of the images that we've seen, videos, pictures, are being sent out either by the NYPD or by the protesters. Of course, both sides have their own interest at play here, Rahel. So, that is a big concern.
In terms of the mood on campus, I spoke with a freshman here, who was heading out to have a bite to eat for the first time in 12 hours because of the lockdown on campus, as this one was unfolding. He sounded somewhat relieved by the way things stand this morning. But, he said last night, as he and his fellow students were watching this unfold, and he was not part of the protests, he said, look, there are mixed feelings here. There are those who were very upset that police were on the campus. They were worried about the safety of the students, the protesters who were involved in this, but there were also plenty who are feeling anxious about the fears that Jewish students here at Columbia have been feeling now for a couple of weeks.
And so, Rahel, again, a quiet morning. We're waiting to see if perhaps those protesters hold any kind of press conference today, or if there is any type of counter-protests in response to what happened last night, and we will, of course, keep you posted if that happens.
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SOLOMON: Yeah. Quiet for the moment. We'll see if that holds. Gabe Cohen live for us on the campus there at Columbia University. Gabe, thanks so much.
All right. Let's go now to the University of Texas at Austin. A local county prosecutor says that law enforcement resources are, quote "dwindling under the strain of the protests". There are calls for the university to initiate a compromise with student protesters. This comes after nearly 80 people were arrested on campus Monday. We've almost had been hearing today from the Mayor of the City of New York, Eric Adams, who is walking a thin line on this, trying to show support for students' rights to protest, but also delivering a stern warning to what he calls external actors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NYC, NY): Young people are being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalizing our children, and I'm not going to allow that to happen as the Mayor of the City of New York. So, the men and women of the New York City Police Department should be proud of yourself at the request of Columbia University, after speaking with them throughout the week, at their request and their acknowledgement that outside agitators were on their grounds, training and really co-opting this movement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: All right. Let's discuss this further. I'm joined now by CNN's Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller. John, good to have you. John, help us understand the conversations that happened within the NYPD, as they decide now is the right time to approach campus, as we hear the mayor there say external actors were involved, professionals likely were involved, according to their intelligence. Walk us through those conversations.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So, the conversation started 48 hours ago as the protest that's on the West Lawn at Columbia is dwindling. These are kids in tents who are camping out. And then, it takes a turn as the negotiations with the college administration meet an impasse. They seized the building in the early morning hours of Monday. And there are a couple of security people and some maintenance staff inside who called 911 and saying we're being held hostage. The university negotiated, letting them go out of the building. But then, the students held the building, barricading the front with large refrigerators, vending machines, blocking doors with chairs and other furniture.
So, the university said to the NYPD, we are at that line again, where we want you to come back on campus for the second time, not just to clear that lawn, the quad, but to take back this building. It's all offices, not dorms. It's not student housing. It's basically the administrative offices for Columbia University, and they had been locked out of it.
So, the NYPD plan was about, what is everything we could possibly need? What do we need to breach the barricades they put in the doors? How do we come in from above? If we can enter through the second or third floor? Do we need cutting tools? And also, showing up with an overwhelming force on the theory that if you show up with several hundred or just under 1,000 police officers, you're probably not going to have to use much force, which was there gold going in, and they said so ahead of time.
SOLOMON: John, help me understand, less than 24 hours ago around this time yesterday, Columbia had not yet called for the NYPD to show up the way they did, and that has obviously changed. They're expected to be on campus for the next couple of weeks. What do you make of that, especially this point that they're expected to remain there at least through graduation, or at least through the next few weeks? What do you make of that?
MILLER: Rahel, I think that's a learning curve for the university, and in some measure for the police in the mayor's office, which is, the police came in a couple of weeks ago and cleared the tent city that was on the West Lawn that the university uses for graduation, which is in two weeks. And then, they left, and then the students came back and a second camp was set up there.
So, this is about, if you're going to take ground and leave, you're going to see the return of the issue you had before. If you're going to take ground, you have to hold that ground. And I think that's where they're going now by asking the NYPD to maintain a presence there through graduation and a couple of days after graduation to see if, can we actually keep this piece of land not have any other buildings seized, and if we start to see that, let's have immediate action and rapid deployment and solve that problem before it becomes a bigger deal that's going to require a lot more people and much more drama.
SOLOMON: John, talk to me a little bit about the calculation about how much resources are necessary, balancing that against the appearance or the optics of perhaps being heavy handed. This is obviously a very sensitive issue with tensions high on both sides of this. Walk me through the calculation for law enforcement in terms of how much is enough and not too much.
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MILLER: Well, it was a discussion that went on all day yesterday and much of the night before about, well, how many people are in the building? That was an unknown. Are we dealing with a couple of hundred people in a multi-storey building, or is it just a small core group? How many people are outside the building? That number was set at a couple of hundred. But then, last night, at five o'clock, you saw another 100 coming from the north, another 100 coming from the east, converging on the campus before police were there to remove them. So, they saw this growing.
Their theory was two things. One, let's estimate what is the largest number of people we think we might have to deal with there. And two, let's bring more than enough police officers to deal with that crowd, but also to set a perimeter around it, so we don't have people joining in from our flanks. And three, to be able to place demonstrators outside the campus in sidewalk areas in pens where they can continue to protest while we take back this campus.
They also had to bring every kind of piece of equipment you could think of, lawyers from the legal division to watch what was going on and to make sure that they stayed within the agreed parameters. Videographers from their technical response unit to make sure that they recorded what both sides were doing during this confrontation, the emergency service unit with bolt cutters, wire cutters, things to get through those chains and to move those heavy machines, vending machines and refrigerators out of the way and to break into rooms that had been locked with chains and bicycle locks.
So, the idea was bring everything you have, and if you need it, it should be there. And if you don't need it, it's there anyway.
SOLOMON: OK. John Miller, we appreciate your insights and perspectives today. Thank you, John.
MILLER: Thanks, Rahel. SOLOMON: Yep. And these protests have hit coast to coast across the
country. In Madison, Wisconsin, for example, police have moved protesters out of an encampment at the university. Sheriff's deputies and state troopers with riot shields have pushed back protesters. The campus newspaper reports that police gave protesters 15 minutes to remove their tents before they moved in. Now, this was the scene, as police battled demonstrators. We're going to continue to follow this and of course bring you the very latest here.
We want to now go to California. Things are much calmer at the moment there at the University of California at Los Angeles. This after violent clashes erupted between rival protest groups. A video shows that police barricades were being ripped away and in some cases even used as weapons. An editor for UCLA student newspaper tells CNN that she has heard reports that pipes, tasers and pepper spray were all used. She says it's not clear how things escalated. Fireworks also added to the chaos there. Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators threw punches, shoved, kicked each other, even swinging sticks in a dangerous campus face-off.
Let's go to CNN's Stephanie Elam, who is in Los Angeles. She has been covering this from the very start. Stephanie, give us a sense of what things are like right now on campus.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are so much calmer now, Rahel, for sure. But, you can still see the aftermath of what was happening here. In fact, I'm just going to have our photojournalist Mike pull up here so you can see exactly what's going on here. There has been this sort of no-man zone that just security was in that the university set up between these barricades. I was here yesterday. It was fine. It was kind of basically calm, like there is nothing really happening. But then, last night, closer to around midnight, you can see how this all deteriorated. In those videos, you can see how that barricade was pulled on, how they were pulling on the plywood and destroying it. They looked like they were launching things into the pro-Palestinian camp last night.
And you saw some -- looked like some sort of liquid, maybe pepper spray or something coming from the other side. But, if you look down in this -- into the ground, you can see that it looks like blood is in places here, because it did look like a got violent at points last night. And now, you have the Daily Bruin, the school newspaper, those journalists who are out here, some of them were injured in that, and they're just wondering, where was law enforcement, and they put out an OpEd today, saying that the university is complicit in the violence that happened here.
Then, we saw the mayor come out, and she said that what she saw was abhorrent and that LAPD would be moving here. We saw law enforcement officers from different agencies when we got on campus in the middle of the night, and they started to push people out. They set up a barricade and that calmed things down. We saw some skirmishes outside of that barricade overnight, but nothing that was rising to what we saw on that video. And as you see this way, you can see that officers are still here, Rahel, on campus, present known, present being felt -- their presence being felt, but not actually actively moving in on these encampments or moving in on these students. It's a much calmer environment at this point here today after what we saw last night.
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But, still questions about how law enforcement, how long it took for them to get here, and what the plan is for today.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Absolutely. Here is hoping that that calm remains for the safety of everyone on campus. Stephanie Elam, we appreciate your reporting. Thank you, Stephanie.
All right. Coming up, a major election issue back in the spotlight, courtesy of the state of Florida. A six-week abortion ban taking effect there today. Coming up, we're going to take the national temperature on this with brand new polling numbers. Plus, what would a second Trump term look like? Well, he is giving some hints in a wide- ranging interview. We'll discuss when we come right back.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. The court today for Donald Trump's hush money trial. Instead, he is campaigning in the swing states of Wisconsin and Michigan. The presumptive Republican nominee for President is also featured on the cover of Time magazine. In his interview with Time, Trump offered a glimpse into the potential aftermath of the election if he loses, and what a second term may look like.
Joining us now is CNN's Steve Contorno. Steve, really interesting there. You see the title, "If he wins." The reporter notes he had more than an hour with Trump. What did Trump tell him? What did he say?
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Rahel, it was quite interesting, because in a lot of respects, Trump was talking about a lot of the issues and concerns that he had during his first term. But, he seemed like a more determined President, someone who knows how to get things done, after all the chaos that surrounded his White House the first time. And there were some interesting parts of this conversation that really laid out what this would mean for a second term and what America will look like, and it include things like, let me read a few of them because it's really interesting. States could punish women for getting an abortion or monitor them during the women -- during their pregnancies to see if they've had an abortion. This is a continuation of Trump's push to let states decide.
He said that he would mobilize the military and local police to gather up the 11 million people who are in the United States illegally. He also said he would pardon every person accused of the January 6 violence, including some of those already convicted of very violent crimes. This is in keeping with something that we've heard from him on the campaign trail, and the reporter pressed him, do you really mean you would pardon everyone? And he said he would pardon all of them.
And then, he was also asked what would happen if there was -- if he lost again. Did he believe that there would be political violence again? And he was non-committal. He essentially said, look, if I win, then everything will be fine. If I don't, then it depends. SOLOMON: Yeah. Non-committal in some ways, in other ways, sort of raising some eyebrows today. Steve, talk to us a little bit about, of course, because of his trial, he is forced to be in New York for most of the week, but he has Wednesdays, which means he has to be really strategic about where he spends his time. Why Michigan? Why Wisconsin? What do you think?
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CONTORNO: Well, look, let's be clear. Donald Trump has had opportunities to campaign throughout this trial so far on Wednesdays and in weekends, and he hasn't taken advantage of them so far. This actually will be the first time he is on the road and on the campaign trail. And yes, Wisconsin and Michigan are going to be two states that he is going to emphasize. This is his second time in Wisconsin just this month alone. And these are two states that he won in 2016. Joe Biden won them in 2020. And they are going to be critical again. And constantly, these polls that keep coming out just show a very tight race. We have our CNN poll of polls, which shows Donald Trump and Joe Biden are within the margin of error of each other nationally. That's been the case in most of these individual state polls as well.
So, you can expect Donald Trump and Joe Biden to be spending a lot of time in Wisconsin and Michigan over the coming months. We'll be watching closely tonight and over the next few hours to see how Donald Trump balances this trial and in trail presidential campaign. How does he talk about the case itself, given what happened yesterday in the hush money trial, where a judge ordered him to pay a $9,000 fine for violating the gag order? Will he violate it again? So, all these things will be closely watched by us throughout the next 12 hours here.
SOLOMON: For sure. Well, every vote always matters, but this time around, it seems like if you're in one of these key swing states, your vote matters just a little bit more this time around. Steve Contorno live for us. Steve, thank you.
And one of the most divisive issues in the country right now could be a major factor at the ballot box come November. New CNN polling shows that nearly half of Americans want to see federal politicians protect access to abortion nationwide, and nearly a quarter of Americans say they will only support a candidate who shares their view on abortion. Also, a majority of voters are unhappy with President Biden's handling of abortion policy. Hoping to raise that number, the Vice President, Kamala Harris, is heading to Jacksonville, Florida. That's where today a ban on abortion after six weeks goes into effect. Now, in her remarks, Harris is expected to blame Donald Trump for that band and call it a quote "Trump abortion ban".
CNN's Meg Tirrell is outside an abortion clinic in Jacksonville, and has this report.
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MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, people are starting to show up here at this Clinic in Jacksonville, although it is a very different reality today than it was yesterday. This clinic called "A Woman's Choice" told us they'd been scheduling two to four times as many patients as they would normally schedule in the days leading up to today to try to get those patients seen. Now, Florida has been an important access point for abortion, not just for people living in this state, but really across the south. There were about 7,000 abortions done in Florida every month in 2023. That's about one in 12 of abortions nationwide, and one in three in the south.
We spoke yesterday with a patient here at this clinic, who is here for a medication abortion. She was only comfortable sharing her first name, Candice (ph), and not putting her face on camera for privacy concerns. She said she is already the mother of two. And here is how she explained how she feels about this law change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've experienced traumatic births. And we also have to help the children but it was very touch and go is high risk. And now being over that 35 mark, it's even more high risk for me to get pregnant. So, it's very scary that these laws are being put into place. My life matters, and it's just a tough thing that I have to go through. I don't think anybody claims to do something like this until it happens to them when they're faced with that decision.
TIRRELL: Now, this has an impact not just in Florida, but across the south, as many bordering states and nearby states have had stricter laws. We've seen from state data that an increasing number of people have crossed state lines into Florida to obtain abortions, about 8,000 in 2023. Now, the closest states for access will be North Carolina, which has a 12-week ban but also a 72-hour waiting period, which makes that difficult for many patients. And beyond that, Virginia, beyond 12 weeks.
Of course, this is not the end of this story here in Florida. There is going to be a ballot initiative in November for voters to vote on abortion access in Florida, and we are seeing this morning really playing out in front of this clinic here are, a handful of anti- abortion protesters as well as escorts who are here at the clinic to help patients get inside. This is going to be a continuing fight, and this clinic tells us they're just trying to stay open until then for their patients. Rahel.
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SOLOMON: All right. Meg, thanks so much.
Let's get to our political panel now. We have Maria Cardona. She is a CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, and Alice Stewart, she is a CNN political commentator and Republican strategist. Good to see you both, ladies.
ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, & REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thanks, Rahel.
SOLOMON: Hard not to notice.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, & DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Hey Rahel. SOLOMON: Hey. Hey guys. Hard not to notice in Meg's piece there, the emotion of that Florida woman who was talking about her health challenges and why she needed to get an abortion according to her interview.
Alice, I want to read for you something Trump said in this interview with Time. So, he was asked, do you think states should monitor women's pregnancy so they can know if they've gotten an abortion after the ban?
[11:25:00]
Trump says, "I think they might do that. Again, you'll have to speak to the individual states." Alice, obviously, this is something that Trump continues to do, punt the issue back to the states. I'm wondering if you think this is enough distance for Trump from the issue, or does this come back to hurt him?
STEWART: Look, this is a very emotional issue. We can all agree on that. But, I think what President Trump has been doing since Roe v. Wade was overturned is recognizing the reality of the post-Roe world. And while he has been extremely pro-life and nominating justices to the Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade, the reality is whenever this issue is on the ballot in states, the pro-abortion crowd has won. And what he is saying here is that, look, the effort by the pro-life community for the past 50 years was to take this difficult decision out of the hands of nine unelected justices, and put it in the hands of the states. Now, it's in the hands of the states.
And the current law that is going into effect in Florida was passed as the will of the elected officials of the people of Florida. And if the sentiment has changed and the idea and the concerns about abortion have changed, they have the opportunity to go to the ballot in November and vote on this issue. And I think Republicans would be better served, having a more nuanced position on this and talking about abortion limits, and not abortion bans, and making sure we educate people that laws, like the one in Florida, do have exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother, and that's an important component of this very emotional issue.
SOLOMON: Maria, let me ask, abortion access is supposed to be an issue that is a winning issue for Biden. And yet, in our new CNN polling, a majority of people polled actually say they disapprove of Biden's handling of abortion policy. What do you make of that?
CARDONA: I think a lot of those folks are people who want to have Roe v. Wade codified legislatively. And so, when they don't see that happen, they're going to blame the guy at the top, which tells me that this is absolutely will continue to be as it has been already, Rahel, as you have seen in elections past.
This will continue to be a huge benefit for President Biden and Democrats electorally, because as long as Republicans feel, like my dear friend Alice feels, that this decision should be in the hands of the states, they're going to keep losing, because you know what? This decision should be a no one's hands, except the hands of the woman who needs the abortion for her reproductive health, who needs the abortion perhaps to live, who needs the abortion perhaps in order to keep her reproductive health intact, who needs the abortion because she wants it.
This is about bodily autonomy. This is about rights and freedoms. This is about one party wanting to take away a right and a freedom that women used to enjoy before Roe v. Wade, and the vast majority of women, who is the largest electorate in this country, saying, no, we do not want to grow up. We don't want to live in a country where our daughters will grow up with less rights than we did. So, as long as Republicans don't understand that, this issue will continue to be political and electoral kryptonite for them.
SOLOMON: Alice, let me switch gears here and ask about these campus protests. Obviously, Biden has had some issues with mobilizing young voters, and now you have these campus protests which show no signs of dying down. Republicans had been hoping to maybe pounce on this issue and attack Biden on this issue. And just hours ago, Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that she was going to be -- she plans to call for vote to oust the Speaker Mike Johnson. Is this a mistake? Is this a mistake to be sort of going down that road when Republicans, at least according to them, thought they had an opportunity to attack Biden on this issue?
STEWART: Well, they will. Marjorie Taylor Greene is on an island. She is not going to get the support on that motion. And thankfully, even Democrats are going to help make quash this effort before it takes ground, because look, this issue on college campuses, the turmoil and the protests and the frustration, has been simmering for weeks and months now. And look, this is all a result of President Biden's handling of the Hamas invasion of Israel, and the deep division in the Democratic Party and those in the Democratic Party who are anti-Israel and are spouting antisemitic views, and that is permeating on college campuses.
And thumbs down to the way Columbia University handled this from the very beginning. And I appreciate New York City police officers for going in and taking charge of this. We heard mayor -- New York Mayor Eric Adams saying, yes, this is a global effort to radicalize college students. But, these university should have taken steps long ago.
[11:30:00]
And the reality is, these young voters on both sides of this critical issue are frustrated with Joe Biden. Jewish students, young students that I speak with every day, they have been fearful on their college campuses. They are fearful of the antisemitic rhetoric that they're seeing and hearing. And then you have those on the other side, the anti-Israel students, who are frustrated that Joe Biden didn't do more to support Palestinians from the very beginning. So, he is losing tremendous support from young voters on this issue, as we have seen also on the abortion issue. He is losing support across the board on the economy as well as the border and national security. So, he is doing everything he can possibly do to shore up these younger voters. But, as we're seeing on college campuses, they are frustrated. SOLOMON: Maria, your response. I'm going to give you the last word here. I mean, what are Biden's options in terms of dealing with these protests on campuses? I mean, what does he need to say? I mean, obviously, tensions and sensitivities are high on both sides of the issue.
CARDONA: Right. There is no question about that, Rahel, and there is no question that this is an emotional issue. It's a tough issue. And it's certainly a challenge. But, what President Biden needs to continue to do is to say two foundational things. The first one is, is that we are a country that is based on the law, and part of that law is allowing peaceful protests, underscore peaceful. So, he is saying that allowing the people who are wanting to have their voice heard on the huge, huge sentimental emotional issue about what's going on with Palestinians in the war against Israel. And he continues to do that, continues to listen to that important commentary.
On the other side, he is absolutely disavowing violence, hatred, antisemitism, any kind of language that causes that. And I think the contrast with those two things, Rahel, with Donald Trump is an important one. Donald Trump, who has already said he wants to bring in the National Guard. We know how he would treat protesters, bashing their heads in, and at the same time, he is the only one of the two who has supported white supremacists, who has not only not disavowed hatred, the kind of language that white supremacists talk about, but he has encouraged it. He has encouraged it to the point where we saw on January 6, Capitol -- the Capitol rioters come in, attack the Capitol, killed police, and want to overturn a fair and free election at Donald Trump's bidding.
So, I think that contrast, Rahel, is an important one to keep in mind, as we move forward with those two very critical issues that frankly are not just foundational in the country, but are foundational for our democracy.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Certainly critical issues. Well, I thank you both, Maria Cardona and Alice Stewart. Thank you, ladies.
CARDONA: Thanks, Rahel.
SOLOMON: We're going to take a quick break. Yep.
STEWART: Thanks, Rahel.
SOLOMON: And we return. Yeah. Our ongoing coverage of the protests on American campuses continues, including a live look at UCLA where a violent confrontation broke out overnight.
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[11:35:00]
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. Here are some of the international headlines we're watching for you today.
Turkey now plans to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel. The Turkish Foreign Minister made the announcement, saying that his country will join the case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. In January, the court ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocide in Gaza after South Africa accused Israel of violating international laws.
World Central Kitchen has now resumed operations in Gaza after seven of its workers there were killed by an Israeli airstrike about four weeks ago. The kitchen said that it served 200,000 meals to Palestinians on Tuesday, and trucks are preparing to enter Rafah with enough food for eight million meals.
And improved humanitarian aid to Gaza was one of the topics discussed in a meeting Wednesday between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They also talked about ongoing efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire as part of a hostage release deal. A statement by the U.S. said that Secretary Blinken emphasized that Hamas is standing in the way of any ceasefire agreement.
Let's go to CNN's Paula Hancocks, who joins us from Abu Dhabi. Paula, give us a sense of where things stand in terms of a deal. We heard Netanyahu say that with or without a deal an operation into Rafah is likely. Where do things stand right now?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, when it comes to the hostage talks themselves, it does feel as though there is a small window of opportunity for a deal to be done, at least if you are listening to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He has said that he thinks that this could be done in the coming days. But, he has put the onus on Hamas. He has said that the proposal on the table at this point is extraordinarily generous by Israel, and that it is up to Hamas now to show that they want this to happen.
Now, we are waiting for a response from Yahya Sinwar, who is the leader in Hamas. We've heard from another senior leader who has said that Israel will not achieve through negotiation and pressure what it hasn't been able to achieve in these months through war. So, not rejecting the deal on the table, but implying that Hamas may not be ready to accept this deal at this point. But, we are waiting for the official response through the Egyptian and the Qatari negotiators. Now, the effective deal is up to 33 hostages would be released in return for several weeks of ceasefire in Gaza. There would be Palestinian prisoners released as part of that as well. And then that would be the first stage in the hope that the second stage would see a more substantial ceasefire, and then further hostages and Palestinian prisoners being released.
The U.S. officials pointing out that there has been some movement from Israel, for example. Hamas had insisted they wanted all displaced Palestinians to be able to move unrestricted, unmonitored to northern Gaza, and Israel apparently has agreed that it will allow that movement back to northern Gaza at this point. So, there does appear to be some progress, certainly more than what we
have seen in recent weeks. But, of course, we have been in this position before. There have been very optimistic words issued by the Biden administration, only to be unrealized in the end. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. No. It's a fair point. Important distinction. Paula Hancocks live for us in Abu Dhabi. Paula, thanks so much.
And the possible escalation of the Israel-Hamas war into a wider regional conflict was again tested recently in tit-for-tat Iranian and Israeli strikes. Iran said that it was a show of force. It is now showing off its weapons.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen got an exclusive look at Iran's aerial arsenal. Here is his report now from Tehran.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): When Iran attacked Israel in mid-April, they fired hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones developed by the elite Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Forces.
PLEITGEN: So, these two were used in the Israel operation.
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PLEITGEN (voice-over): Now, the Revolutionary Guard showed us the types of weapons they use to strike Israel, including two ballistic missiles, the Emad and the Qadr, with a range of more than 1,000 miles, able to carry about a half ton warhead.
PLEITGEN: How accurate are these?
BRIG. GEN. ALI BELALI, IRAN REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS: Accurate. Less than five meters.
PLEITGEN: Less than five meters --
BELALI: Less than.
PLEITGEN: -- you can target.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Brigadier General Ali Belali was himself once a missile commander in the Revolutionary Guard. He says Iranian missiles managed to hit two targets in Israel, including an airbase, in retaliation for the bombing of Iran's embassy compound in Syria. While the U.S. and Israel claimed to have shot down nearly all of Iran's missiles and drones, the general says Tehran showed the power of its aerospace forces.
Today, our drones and missiles have become an important factor of strength and the execution of power in the world, he says. He also showed us this cruise missile, a type also used in the strikes, and arguably currently the most infamous drone in the world, the Shahed 136. PLEITGEN: Can you show me a warhead? I've never seen the Shahed
warhead before.
BELALI: Penetration.
PLEITGEN: Yeah.
BELALI: And then, it goes in the side of --
PLEITGEN: Until the missile and then it explodes. OK.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): While the Iranians acknowledged using Shaheds against Israel, the U.S. and Ukraine accused Iran of also giving hundreds of these drones to Russia, Moscow, using them to attack Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure. The Iranians continue to deny those accusations. The general tells me that Shaheds attack in swarms often fired off secretly from unmarked trucks like this one. Everything is pre-programmed, he says. The flight route is chosen according to the enemy's capabilities and blind spots of radars and all the elements that can help us reach the target.
Well, tensions between Iran and Israel have somewhat eased after they traded direct military blows for the first time. The general warns Iran has even more modern weapons at its disposal. The only path for them is to have logical and wise negotiations with us, he says. In our defense capabilities, we don't depend on anyone. We've had good progress in this field and we will progress more. There are achievements that have not yet been talked about.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.
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SOLOMON: OK. Our thanks to Fred there.
We want to return now to the ongoing student protests across the U.S. Right now in Los Angeles, there is an active police presence on UCLA's campus. This comes after violent clashes erupted between rival groups overnight. A student newspaper editor said that there were reports of tasers, pipes and pepper spray being used in the brawls.
Let's bring in CNN Security Correspondent Josh Campbell, who joins us now. Josh, we talked to Stephanie Elam a short time ago, who was also on campus, and she talked to us a little bit about the conversations and the questions this morning about where were police at the time. Give us a sense based on your conversations and your reporting what you're hearing.
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. That is actually the major question right now, as this kicked off, these skirmishes between the protesters who are inside this encampment, and as you mentioned, some of the counter demonstrators who came. We saw violence. We saw clashes. We saw items being thrown. It looked like chemical irritants being sprayed at one point. But, as a local student paper notes that it was a quite a bit of time that passed before we actually saw the police. Now, you can see right here, as we walk over, there are law enforcement officers that are still here. This is multiple agencies. You have the California Highway Patrol. You have the Sheriff's Department. You have obviously local police.
And Rahel, it's worth noting that for law enforcement, this is somewhat of a precarious situation, because as we've covered so many of these protests, we've heard protestors saying we want law enforcement to go away. But, of course, when something bad happens, who do people call? They call the police. And so, they're walking really a fine line and trying to calibrate whether their own presence can actually escalate things. But, as we saw last night, there was certainly violence here. Today, much different, a much quieter scene, and dozens and dozens of police officers here on site, Rahel.
SOLOMON: And Josh, give us a sense based on your experience, you have really strong law enforcement connections, give us just sense of its calm right now on campus. Obviously, it's broad daylight. It is 8:45 in the morning. What conversations may be taking place as police locally assess whether they need to beef up their presence for tonight? I mean, how are those conversations going?
CAMPBELL: Yeah. No. That is the big question about whether we will see some type of repeat. And we've seen lessons learned from law enforcement agencies across the U.S. during these protests. A lot of them have -- from the get go, have approached these protests quite differently. We saw, for example, at the University of Texas at Austin, where as soon as this small encampment started to get set up, police moved in very quickly to try to disperse that. We've seen other places like Columbia University, where they tried to negotiate with protesters over a period of time until some of the demonstrators actually took over a building, smashing their way inside.
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That was enough for them to say, look, we need to bring in the NYPD. So, again, different agencies are handling this very differently. I can -- I would expect that we will continue to see this robust law enforcement presence here on this campus. Again, the big question, will there be a repeat? And we're still waiting to hear whether -- what the number of arrests might have been? If there were individuals who were here where they were engaged in this violent clash that then maybe fled? And of course, the big question, will they come back? We'll have to wait and see.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Certainly lot of watch. Josh Campbell, we appreciate you being there. Thank you for the reporting, live in Los Angeles.
All right. Still ahead for us, some big decisions face the U.S. Federal Reserve and central bankers. After the break, an economist joins us to try to help us read the tea leaves. We'll be right back.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. It's that day. We're waiting for the U.S. Federal Reserve to announce a decision on interest rates in just a few hours from now. Now, economists expect largely that the Fed will keep rates steady yet again at this meeting. But, they're also looking for hints on the future. Inflation remains an issue, and recent data suggests that it may take extra time to get to the Fed's desired two percent inflation rate.
Joining us now is the Chief Economist from KPMG, Diane Swonk. Diane, great to see you. Let me ask, we are in this holding pattern. We continue to be in this holding pattern with the Fed. We do not expect rate cuts today. What are you listening for?
DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, KPMG: Well, what we're going to be watching for is the statement. There is one part of the statement that says the Fed is sort of being cautious on when it's going to reduce rates, and whether or not they strike that and say change, because there is no doubt within the debate today, they're going to be talking about the potential, not that it's eventuality, but the potential for rate hikes as well as rate cuts. And I think in order to get a unanimous vote on that statement, they're going to have to change that part of the line. And that seems really parsing the words, but it's a much more hawkish tone from the Fed. The Fed thought that the rate cuts were imminent, and they've had to keep backing that out.
We now don't think they'll be able to cut until December, if at all this year, and much of the rate hikes that were in the pipeline, still have some lags on them. So, that gives them some cushion, but they need financial markets to cooperate as well. Part of the reason we saw the acceleration in inflation we did is that financial markets front run the Fed on rate cuts in late 2023 and early 2024, and that actually juiced the economy and sort of added fuel to, where are the coolly (ph) numbers of inflation?
SOLOMON: Yeah, and I guess the last thing they would want to do right now is stimulate any more spending or simulate any more growth. And I just want to emphasize something for our viewers, just in case they thought they misheard you, you did say that there is a school of thought. It's small, but that there could be rate hikes, again, unlikely, but there is that debate happening right now.
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And Diane, walk us through sort of where you expect rates to go this year? I mean, how many rate cuts are you expecting? What can people at home at least right now expect?
SWONK: I think the -- at this point in time, what looks like the most optimistic scenario is one rate cut in December. That's a long time, although a lot can happen between now and then. The good news is the threshold to hike rates is much higher than the threshold to cut rates, because the Fed has that sort of ability to hopefully manage expectations in financial markets and get them, helping them to cool off the economy. The goal is to cool the economy without sending it into a deep freeze. And we've made an enormous amount of progress on inflation.
But, what the Fed has got to be concerned about at this meeting today is that the dispersion of things that were going up in price picked up again. The number of things going up in price picked up again, after falling quite dramatically at the end of last year and early this year. And that's something -- it's no longer just whack a mole. One thing here one thing there. That more broad-based acceleration in inflation, particularly in the service sector, which can be more dependent on compensation games, which also accelerated in the first quarter. Those are things they're going to be worried about.
SOLOMON: Yeah. We saw that really spooked the markets this week. Diane, let me ask you lastly, are you concerned at all -- I know, you look under the hood really closely, and you and I have talked for years now about how inflation disproportionately impacts those who are at the lower income spectrums. Are you concerned that when we look at the data, when we talk about the data, it's a broad picture, but that there may be those at the bottom of the spectrum who are not spending freely that are really suffering? Because when you look at the data sort of broadly even in terms of the labor market, in terms of consumer, things seem to be humming along. But, are you concerned that for those -- that not everyone is partaking in that?
SWONK: Well, actually, the data we just got out this week really was quite telling on that front. And it was really sad. And that is that food service and accommodation workers, they've seen a sharp deceleration in wages again, and the little bit that they regain, they're losing again. They're now seeing their wages go up slower than inflation. These are the workers that were hit hardest by initial pandemic layoffs. And I think that's important because they also tend to hit women harder with a high school degree or less, particularly women of color. These are people who are not only struggling with the already high level of prices for everything, from shelter to getting to and from work with insurance costs and vehicle costs and the cost of food, but they also have to deal with childcare.
And what we're seeing is more and more people unable to work in any given month because of the childcare crisis we have in this country as well. And so, all of those things, these are workers that had their moment in the Sun, where their wages were leveled up, coming out of the Pandemic, only to find out after they're in the shadows as non- essential becoming essential workers to all of a sudden be burned by inflation. And that is one of the reasons why it's so critical for the Fed to derail this inflation because it hits those people the most.
SOLOMON: Yeah. You could argue it's a double whammy for those people who are also dealing with higher borrowing costs -- higher prices, higher borrowing costs. It is a really an unfortunate situation for a lot of people right now.
Diane Swonk of KPMG, always good to have you. Thanks so much, Diane.
SWONK: Thank you.
SOLOMON: All right. When we get back, one more thing. You've heard of a rain delay in baseball. But, what about bee? Yes, a bee delay. We will tell you about the hero who saved the game. We'll be right back.
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SOLOMON: All right, finally, one more thing. The biggest star at Tuesday's baseball game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers wasn't a player. No, it wasn't. The game was delayed for about two hours after a swarm of bees took over the netting behind home plate. Now, the hero here was a local beekeeper, who got the emergency call to safely remove the bees. Now, according to Major League Baseball, you spray them, as we see here, with a non-pesticide and then vacuum them up for humane release. As a reward, he got to throw out the first pitch, before Arizona went on for the win. I have so many questions. It's really unbelievable. I'm sorry. That was so corny (ph).
All right. We know your time is money. So, thank you for spending some time with me today. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. Stick with CNN. One World, it's coming up next.
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