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Manhunt Underway After Suspected Arson Fire At Pennsylvania's Governor's Home; Commerce Secretary: Tariff Exemptions On Electronics Not Permanent; Multistate Measles Outbreak Hits At Least 643 Cases. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired April 13, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN HOST: Hello, and thank you for joining me, I am Isabel Rosales in for Fredricka Whitfield.

Breaking news: At this hour, multiple agencies are investigating a suspected arson fire at the home of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

Shapiro says he and his family were asleep when loud bangs on the door from the State Police woke them "an arsonist set fire to the house."

In a post, the Governor said in part: "The Harrisburg Bureau of Fire was on the scene, and while they worked to put out the fire, we were evacuated from the residence safely by Pennsylvania State Police and assisted by Capitol Police. Thank God no one was injured and the fire was extinguished."

Officials say the home was left with a "significant amount of damage." You can see it right there. Police are now offering up to a $10,000.00 reward for information leading to an arrest.

I'd like to bring in former Boston Police Commissioner, Ed Davis into this conversation.

Ed, thank you for being here with us. What are your thoughts about this incident?

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, it is extremely nerve wracking to have something like this happening. It is a very serious incident. I think the State Police responded very well and were able to evacuate, so thankfully nobody was injured.

But now, you need to look at a few different things. One is the protection around the Governor. In many instances, there is a very light police staff protection detail, and unless there is some type of increased threat and unfortunately, we know there is an increased threat now. We didn't -- apparently it was not anticipated that something like this would have happened.

So they need to really look at their protection detail, increase the numbers, look at the envelope around the house as far as hardening a target, making sure that there are not only cameras and sensors, but also, ground sensors and fence sensors and things like that.

I looked at the mansion profile, and it is in a residential area, but it is a large, open area that has some brush around it that creates problems for looking at the whole structure. So they're going to look at not only the, the protection around the Governor, but also what kind of threat streams have been out there online. And they probably have a list of people that that have made statements, negative statements about the Governor. They will be looking at all of that today.

ROSALES: It sounds like an all-hands on deck situation right now to make sure the family is secure and to find out how this happened.

DAVIS: Right, and this is a very serious assault, you know, from the looks of the video that I saw from the scene, there was fairly heavy smoke in the interior of the building. It is hard to say whether the fire started on the exterior, it probably did.

But you know, to have that much damage inside the building while the Governor was there and it wasn't picked up is a serious problem. So you know, all the systems are going to be tweaked today. The Governor is in a much better place, his family is in a much better place today than they were at 2:00 A.M., but there has to be some really serious work done here to try to find the person responsible.

ROSALES: We don't yet know the motive behind the fire, but Governor Shapiro did say on social media that hours before that, his family had just celebrated Passover. Here is a picture of that post. Ed, what do you make of the timing of all of this? And how quickly to investigators are pointing to arson as being the cause of this fire?

DAVIS: Right. Well, there are two questions there. The first one is sometimes arson is very easily discernible. It clearly, you know, if the fire didn't originate near an electrical socket or some other means of ignition, and especially if there was an accelerant used, arson is most likely the issue. So sometimes that can be determined really quickly, even by the untrained eye.

As far as you know, the day, many friends of mine celebrated Passover yesterday, and you know, we have a fraught political environment here. We have significant threats on a bunch of fronts. And Governor Shapiro is one of the highest profile politicians in the country, arguably a leader in the Democratic Party, and so someone like this with this type of profile, you need to take everything very, very seriously in this environment that we are in.

You know, we look at these things every day. We have a vast executive protection business with the highest level of corporate leaders and political leaders that we take care of every day.

So we are looking at these things, but it is all about the intelligence. It really starts with a really good understanding of what the threats are, and Passover does increase, any kind of a holiday like that increases the potential for trouble.

ROSALES: I am curious to think of what you think about the timing, not just that it happened right after Passover, but also as they were asleep inside in the overnight hours.

[15:05:08]

And secondly, if you think other governors, high profile politicians should be looking at this and thinking about beefing up their own security.

DAVIS: Well, without a doubt. As I said, with the things that are going on in the world right now, everyone who is responsible for executive protection in the State Police or the Capitol Police or in the Secret Service, have to be at the highest level of alert. These are dangerous times.

And so by looking at the threat profile and tweaking the systems that you have out there, frankly, no one should be able to get on the campus of a mansion like that without some alarms going off and notifications made, and there should be more than one person -- and I don't know what the profile of protection is there, so I am not criticizing anybody, but I can only say that one person can't watch a facility that size. Those numbers have to be increased. And so those steps have to be taken, not only in Pennsylvania, but across the nation.

You know, we hear stories every day of crazy things happening, and unfortunately, that where we are right now.

ROSALES: And I hear you based on what you're saying there, but do you think the fact that they got so close to the mansion there, there is fencing, is that -- does that reflect a failure on the part of security, or is it just too soon to know?

DAVIS: Well, I think no matter how you cut this, it is a failure of security, I don't know -- again, I don't know if it is Capitol Police or the State Police or the Harrisburg Police, but when someone got close enough to that residence and had the few minutes -- it takes a few minutes to do something like that. I've investigated those cases. This is not something that you can just throw, you know, a Molotov cocktail from a distance and have something substantial, a substantial fire like that happened. It is most likely somebody that was there for a few minutes. You know, that clearly is a failure.

And you hate to say that, but they have to take a really critical look of what they were doing, increase the resources for protection, and understand that there really is somebody out there who, you know, he did this in the middle of the night, the person responsible for it, he was attempting to injure people. There is no other way to look at this.

This is not a property crime. This is an attempt on the life of the Governor of Pennsylvania and his family, and so that's -- you know, that's the way I am sure, all the law enforcement officials are looking at this right now.

ROSALES: Yes, certainly. Very serious situation as they continue to look for the person responsible.

Ed Davis, thank you for your time.

DAVIS: Great. Thank you so much, Isabel.

ROSALES: Well, turning now to President Trump's trade war. Major exemption for tariffs on electronics is spurring optimism for U.S. tech companies, but that could be short lived.

Late Friday, Customs and Border Patrol put out a notice clarifying that items like smartphones and semiconductors would not be subject to President Trump's sweeping 10 percent tariffs, or the 145 percent tariffs placed on China.

But then today, top White House economic officials said those exemptions would not be permanent. CNN's Kevin Liptak is in West Palm Beach, Florida near where President Trump is spending his weekend.

Kevin, the administration saying this isn't permanent, the exemption is not permanent. So just how soon until these electronics are hit again with new tariffs?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, the timeline we have on this comes from the Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who said this morning that these new tariffs could potentially go into place on these high tech items from China in the next month or two after the administration has conducted a National Security review of the semiconductor industry.

Semiconductors, those tiny computer chips that power smartphones, computers, laptops, all of these items that we thought had been exempt from these tariffs, we got that notice Friday night that had led to expectations of a tech stock rally once the markets open tomorrow, but which now seem as if they're only going to be a temporary reprieve from these tariffs.

Now, Lutnick did say that the President would also be examining pharmaceuticals that could potentially be subject to more specific tariffs down the line, all of this is an attempt, in his view, to bring manufacturing of these products back to the United States.

Listen to more of Howard Lutnick from this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY: Remember, those products are going to be part of the semiconductor sectoral tariffs, which are coming. So you're going to see this week there will be a register in the Federal Registry. There will be a notice put out that is different types of work.

So we are going to do that. We did that in autos. The President is going to do it for pharmaceuticals, and he is going to do it for semiconductors. So all of those products are going to come under semiconductors, and they are going to have a special focus type of tariff to make sure that those products get re-shored.

(END VIDEO CLIP) [15:10:08]

LIPTAK: So the message from the administration today is that this is all going to plan, that those carve outs for the electronics were all part of this grander vision for the tariffs, but I don't think you can escape the reality that there is now a cloud of uncertainty hanging over all of this. This back and forth, the lifting of the tariffs, the application of the tariffs, saying for weeks that there would be no exemptions, but now hearing that there are exemptions but they are only temporary, you can only imagine how business owners, big business, small business are trying to ascertain how exactly they should be investing in this environment.

It is very chaotic, but according to the President and the President's team, this is all how it is supposed to be going -- Isabel.

ROSALES: All right, Kevin Liptak, thank you.

Let's talk more about this, digging in a little bit deeper. I am joined now by University of Michigan Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Justin Wolfers, also senior politics reporter for AXIOS, Marc Caputo.

Thank you both for being with me.

Let's start with Justin.

The White House now says these exemptions on electronics will be temporary. How do you think the market will respond?

JUSTIN WOLFERS, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY: I think, look, there is good news that maybe they are backing off the tariffs a bit and bad news, which is they are signaling to the market something that I think the market has been very worried about. There is a crisis of confidence in the competence of this administration.

Just over the last few days, the tariff on semiconductors was 85 percent, then it was 125 percent. Then they woke up the next day and remembered their own rules. In fact, it was 145 percent. Then it was dropped. And then we woke up this morning and here, it is getting its own new set of tariffs. This seems like it is not very well thought through.

And it also seems like the sort of tariff regime that gives no one the sort of certainty they would need to bring manufacturing onshore. So no, Intel is not going to build a bigger, better plant tomorrow based on a set of tariffs that could be gone by the day after. But worse than that, these are things -- these are goods that are used in the manufacture of so many other things, in computers and phones and drones and throughout defense, and all of those industries, they are not making big investments.

Now, they are standing on the sidelines waiting to figure out where the heck any of this is going to fall out, and frankly, no one knows.

ROSALES: It is like trying to walk after getting out of a car crash, trying to make sense of all this and the back and forth.

And Marc, we've certainly seen a lot of uncertainty driven by all of these changes day by day with these tariffs. The White House says they've been contacted by over 130 countries trying to renegotiate their own tariff deals. Is the chaos the point?

MARC CAPUTO, SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER, AXIOS: No, and the chaos is the issue, as the Professor just mentioned, though, you're seeing a lot of commentary on social media that Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, is the problem, the reality is he went out there with the knowledge of the White House. He is saying what the White House team wants him to say and what he believes, which is that there is more of this process.

The problem they have is the President. The President tacks one way, he tacks the other way, and he is not as clear on his messaging as he could be. There have been times also where Howard Lutnick, the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent have not had the same sort of messaging. That seems a little more aligned, but by and large, the chaos isn't the point.

But when it comes to the markets, unlike, say, public opinion, there is actually a financial cost to this sort of tacking back and forth.

ROSALES: And we know the markets like stability and predictability. And Justin, we've seen just how volatile the markets have been over the course of the last few weeks, but these tariffs are also taking a toll on consumer sentiment, which is now down to levels not seen even during the Great Recession.

If people are not buying because there is so much uncertainty, what does that mean for the U.S. economy?

WOLFERS: It means that were on the brink of a recession. What you just saw is measures of consumer confidence that have never fallen as far and as fast as they have in the last two months. Expectations of inflation have never risen as far or as fast as they have in the last two months. Fears about rising unemployment have shot absolutely through the roof, and it is not just moms and dads and consumers and folks at home who are worried. Measures of business optimism are absolutely through the floor.

So, you know, on the one hand, some part of this is about uncertainty. People dislike uncertainty. Uncertainty gives you a good reason to wait a couple more weeks or a couple more months before you start spending money, but it is not just uncertainty, it is also incompetence.

And if you're worried that the economy is being steered by an economic team that appears to be changing its mind more often than a teenager, that would be a reason to hold back to save for a rainy day.

Now, if my family does that and your family does that, and a few other families do that, and a few CEOs put on hold their plans for investment, waiting for a clearer scenario then that would cause spending to stop pretty much tomorrow, and if that happens, that's the beginning of the recession.

[15:15:12]

ROSALES: Yes, the bankers are worried, too. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs says that the likelihood of the U.S. and the global economy is going into a recession this year essentially amounts to a coin flip.

Marc, a new CBS poll out today shows that 58 percent of Americans oppose Trump's new tariffs, and when asked who these tariffs benefit? An overwhelming majority of respondents believe the wealthy and large corporations stand to gain the most from all of this. People, clearly they're not on board with this. Could that hurt President Trump as he tries to tackle other issues like immigration, disrupting federal bureaucracy and other of his top agenda items?

CAPUTO: My guess is probably no, unless it affects the way Congress operates. Ultimately, the President is in his second final term, and I tend to believe what I am being told by everyone who talks to him is that he is not as really concerned about the polls. He is more interested in his legacy and following through with his campaign promises. Now, that's a whole other area to be able --

ROSALES: But is this the legacy that he wants economically? He said time and time again, he came to Washington with a mandate from the people and economics was a large part of that. The people are not happy.

CAPUTO: Sure, if it comes as a surprise to anyone that Donald Trump wanted to impose tariffs, I really question the degree to which they paid any attention. Now, we are seeing the results of that, and the policy aside, the messaging has been pretty poor, which we are seeing that reflected in the polling, but as long as the Senate and the House remain in Republican hands, it is going to be easier for him to press his agenda. And if it is not, then it won't be.

So short answer is, right now, these polls are meaningless. If these polls actually translate into votes in the midterms, then they matter, but until then, we are all along for the ride.

ROSALES: Yes, just about, I believe, two hours and 45 minutes until futures open. So we will get a clearer picture here.

Marc Caputo and Justin Wolfers, thank you both.

WOLFERS: Thanks.

ROSALES: Coming up, as measles cases rise nationwide, what does a doctor turned Governor think about the federal government's response in fighting the outbreak? Hawaii Governor Josh Green joins us to discuss.

And later, a shocking police-involved shooting the wife of a member of a popular rock band is arrested after allegedly firing at officers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:13]

ROSALES: All right, let's get back to our top story this hour. Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a fire at the home of Governor Josh Shapiro, a suspected arson. The Governor and his family were home asleep at the time.

I want to bring in Josh Green, who is the Democratic Governor of Hawaii. He and Governor Shapiro are both members of the National Governors Association. And I understand, Governor, he is a dear friend.

And you were raised in Pennsylvania. You got your M.D. from Penn State. Have you been able to speak with him?

GOV. JOSH GREEN (D-HI): Not yet. I texted Josh. You're right, he is a dear friend. He is a great human being, and this is outrageous. I view this as a hate crime. This is the high holiday. This is Passover for the Jewish people, and I think there is little doubt that somebody has decided to do something to attack this extraordinary family.

So I can't wait for them to be caught and prosecuted, but our hearts are with Josh and his family. He gives so much of himself to the people of Pennsylvania that this kind of thing should never happen, there should be no political violence in our country, and there certainly should be freedom of religion.

So hearts with you, Josh, and we are all behind you.

ROSALES: And does this personally bring up any concerns for you and your family, especially given the heightened political environment that we seem to be in right now?

GREEN: A little bit. You know, my father is Jewish. I was raised Jewish. My mom is Russian Orthodox, and so we had a mixed family. But sure, these kind of things happen. There have been lots of death threats against me and my family over the years. I was -- like you shared, I was trained in Pennsylvania. I did my residency at Pitt, where one of my mentors was one of the victims in the Tree of Life shooting, one of the dearest doctors I ever knew.

And so this, you know, this is a concern for our country. It is why everyone has to come out against political violence and antisemitism right now, because it may start there, but believe me, it doesn't stop there. It breaks a country down. We are going to have to heal our country, and it has to stop right away.

So I hope that the President and his team will condemn all of this violence quickly, and I would love to see the Congress come together in a bipartisan way and send a very clear message that there will be no tolerance for hate crimes in our incredible country.

ROSALES: And to be clear with our audience, we don't yet know the motivation behind this alleged act. Investigators are looking into this.

I want to shift now to the original reason we asked you to be here with us today, which is the measles outbreak in the U.S. You are not just a Governor, you're also a medical doctor.

One unvaccinated child in Hawaii did contract measles. So far, we've seen also what has been happening in Texas and elsewhere. What are your concerns for your state.

[15:25:03]

GREEN: For my state, I am concerned that we could have an outbreak. The child was traveling overseas with their family and he was not vaccinated. He contracted the measles, he is doing fine. Recovering now, thank goodness.

But it is likely that another family member will ultimately test positive. They had symptoms, and measles can spread very rapidly, especially when the vaccination rate is less than 95 percent, which just so everybody knows, there are 14 states in our country. My state is one of them, where the vaccination rate for kindergartners is under 90 percent, and that means you will see outbreaks if measles is anywhere near those schools.

We now have 25 of our 50 states that are having cases of the measles, and it is no joke. One out of five people will be hospitalized when they get the measles.

When we were in Samoa, we had 83 fatalities and 5,000 cases, and that was because people were made vaccine hesitant, unfortunately, when RFK, Jr. was in his private capacity spreading misinformation about the measles with the Children's Health Defense.

This is a really serious disease. Not only could it kill one out of a thousand people or more, but also it causes encephalopathy, which is swelling of the brain. It can cause brain damage that way. It can cause deafness. It can cause all sorts of terrible disability, and measles will spread like wildfire if it catches the wrong group and that happens especially in rural communities.

So what I want to see Mr. Kennedy do and I want to see him do it right now, is call for a national movement to vaccinate.

In our state because, you know, like I said, was some vaccine hesitancy, I signed an executive order to allow people to even keep their religious exemptions if they wanted to get the MMR vaccine, because we want to be kind and thoughtful to all different ideologies. But the measles will really hurt us, and though there is only 700 cases confirmed, I can absolutely guarantee you there are ten times as many cases right now because people don't want to admit that they've caught something that could have been prevented.

ROSALES: Now, you mentioned Robert Kennedy, Jr., the HHS Secretary. He did say last week that people should get their kids vaccinated. He is also continuing to support those seeking alternate therapies. And now, he is saying that new research will find the cause of the autism, what he calls the autism epidemic by September.

Do you have confidence in the Secretary? GREEN: Of course not. The Secretary has no experience in health care. He has no training whatsoever. So I actually testified against him, and it is not personal. I mean, look, this guy is a Democrat, supposedly. So it wasn't a partisan political thing. I think he is doing President Trump no favors by being there.

Let me tell you this. The alternate therapies he is talking about are confusing. People should simply get vaccinated, then they will be 94 percent protected from catching and spreading the measles with one shot. They can get a booster if they were born in that window, between 1958 and 1967, where there might be some ambiguity about their vaccine status.

The point is, get your two shots. One when you're a year-old and then one when you're five years old. That's what you do to prevent the measles.

Now, to say that were going to suddenly discover the cause of autism after its been investigated for decades is so fantastically stupid to say that that is how science works. I really don't know why we are letting anybody get away with that kind of comment. That is not how science works. You don't just wave a magic wand and suddenly know how something like that, which is so significant happens.

We've led in our state --

ROSALES: Governor Josh Green, I appreciate you, sir. I've got to end it there. That's as far as we've got. Really appreciate your time, sir.

GREEN: You bet. We will be there for the country. Look, let's get vaccinated, please, everybody.

ROSALES: I hear you, and, hey, you're welcome back. We will have further discussions. Thank you.

GREEN: Fantastic.

ROSALES: Well, just ahead, a potential challenge for investigators looking into the cause of that helicopter crash in the Hudson River.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:33:24]

ROSALES: We are now learning that the sightseeing helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River Thursday had no flight recorders. The NTSB continues to sort through the recovered parts of the wreckage, and at this point, no onboard video recorders or camera recorders that could help with the investigation have been pulled from the river.

The main fuselage, including the cockpit and cabin, have been recovered, along with a section of the tail boom.

We are learning new details about an officer involved shooting between the LAPD and the wife of the bassist in the rock group, Weezer. Jillian Shriner was released on a $1 million bond following Tuesday's incident.

Investigators say they found evidence showing Shriner fired a handgun at officers after "repeatedly ignoring" their commands to drop her weapon.

CNN's national correspondent, Natasha Chen has those details.

Natasha, what else are investigators saying happened here?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isabel, they updated a statement late last week about what happened before Jillian Shriner's arrest. In their updated statement, they said that "Our investigation revealed evidence such as a shell casing and video footage showing she repeatedly ignored police commands to disarm and that she fired her weapon at LAPD officers."

Now, Jillian Shriner no longer in police custody. She bonded out of that million dollar bond, according to the Associated Press. She was earlier in the week arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a peace officer. But as of Thursday, prosecutors have not decided on any potential charges.

[15:35:03]

And just to remind people what happened here: On Tuesday, police were in the East L.A. neighborhood of Eagle Rock searching for a suspect in an unrelated hit and run incident when they noticed a woman, later identified as Shriner, with a handgun, asked her to disarm. They say that she refused. That's when they say an officer involved shooting happened and that she was struck by gunfire, then she fled inside her home, later was taken into custody, and they said they found a nine millimeter handgun in the house.

She was transported to a local hospital, where she was treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. And again, she is no longer in police custody at the moment. Prosecutors have not decided on any charges, and we have not heard from her publicly nor her husband, Weezer bassist Scott Shriner, who was actually at Coachella performing yesterday.

All we know is that on Friday, Scott Shriner told "The New York Post," "She is fine. Thank you for asking. See you at Coachella."

So we have yet to hear from her point of view what happened that day -- Isabel.

ROSALES: Natasha Chen in Los Angeles, thank you so much.

CHEN: Thanks.

ROSALES: Well, coming up, the President of El Salvador is in Washington to meet with President Trump tomorrow. Ahead, we will hear Trump's thoughts about that infamous mega prison in El Salvador where his administration has deported many undocumented immigrants.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:41:05]

ROSALES: Welcome back.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, will meet with President Trump at the White House tomorrow. The Trump administration is currently carrying out mass deportations of immigrants with alleged criminal backgrounds to El Salvador's mega and notorious prison called CECOT.

When Trump was asked about any human rights violations or abuses at the prison, here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think he is doing a fantastic job and he is taking care of a lot of problems that we have that we really wouldn't be able to take care of from a cost standpoint, and he is doing really -- he has been amazing.

We have some very bad people in that prison, people that should have never been allowed into our country, people that murdered -- drug dealers, some of the worst people on Earth are in that prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Now, so far, Trump's mass deportations have led to at least one undocumented immigrant being mistakenly sent to that prison.

Ahead of tomorrow's meeting with President Trump, here is a closer look at his counterpart from El Salvador.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES (voice over): Nayib Bukele swept into office in 2019, becoming El Salvador's youngest ever President at just 37.

The former advertising executive adopted numerous unorthodox policies, such as making El Salvador the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender.

In March 2022, he declared a State of Emergency and began a mass crackdown on gangs, suspending constitutional rights and giving police the authority to detain anyone they suspected to be involved in gang activity, resulting in more than 80,000 people being in prison since.

Crime rates have plummeted since the crackdown, boosting Bukele's popularity both in his own country and in the surrounding region. In 2024, he easily secured a second five-year term, winning with more than 80 percent of the vote.

But many human rights organizations say Bukele's government has wrongfully imprisoned thousands of innocent people.

ANA PIQUER, AMERICAN DIRECTOR, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (through translator): The testimonies we have obtained of arbitrarily detained people under the state of alarm affirm tortures, cruel, inhuman or humiliating treatments have become habitual practices in prisons.

ROSALES (voice over): Part of this crackdown included the building of the massive and now infamous CECOT prison complex, or a terrorist confinement center that can house up to 40,000 people.

In recent weeks, the prison has housed alleged gang members deported by the Trump administration in exchange for money. And Bukele reached an agreement with the administration to potentially even imprison criminals who are U.S. citizens.

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: He has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of U.S. citizenship and legal residents.

ROSALES (voice over): Bukele has been accused of authoritarianism and has even described himself as the worlds coolest dictator.

In recent years, he has worked to align himself with conservatives in the United States, including speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2024 and promoting himself as the United States top ally in Central America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES (on camera): And in a social media post, President Trump says he is looking forward to their meeting tomorrow.

Well, right now, Ecuadorians are choosing their next leader. It is a runoff presidential election in a country plagued by violence and drug trafficking.

Conservative and incumbent President Daniel Noboa is fighting for his first full term in office, that is, against opposition left wing leader, Luisa Gonzalez. The first round of voting in February ended in a near tie.

Joining me now is CNN anchor Fernando Del Rincon.

Fernando, thank you for being with us. Good to see you. What is the mood in Ecuador like right now as citizens elect, who will govern the country for the next four years?

[15:45:04]

FERNANDO DEL RINCON, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Isabel. Thanks for having me. Well, let me tell you, first, polls opened very early here in Ecuador and are set to close at 5:00 P.M. local time.

So far, we've seen a lot of movement happening in several cities as voters head to the polls. But, there are no violent events to report by now.

Let's remember that this country is very polarized politically. We have two very different candidates in this runoff elections. But right now, the situation is peaceful. The country's National Electoral Council said that we may know who the winner is in the evening, but given how tight the race is, it may go down to the final vote counted until we know who the winner is.

ROSALES: Okay, and what are the top concerns? The main issues for Ecuadorians as they choose their next President?

DEL RINCON: Well, without a doubt, it is security.

This country used to be known as Latin America's island of peace, and now has the highest murder rate in the region. Over 2,500 people have been murdered so far this year. The spike in crime is tied to the trafficking of cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru.

Candidate Daniel Noboa, who is seeking his first full term as President, as you said, has declared war on local gangs and is even pushing for international help, including the United States, and has also announced an alliance to fight organized crime with Erik Prince, the founder of the controversial private defense contractor formerly known as Blackwater.

On the other hand, challenger Luisa Gonzalez has said she opposes international military help and has said she will seek to enhance the Ecuadorian military to fight crime.

As you can see, we have two very different approaches on security. Now, well, it is just a matter of time of waiting and see who voters choose to run the country for the next four years.

ROSALES: Yes, that homicide rate, eye-opening indeed.

Fernando del Rincon, thank you.

Well, this just in, we've learned that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro will speak here in the next hour alongside investigators. They will give an update after a fire broke out at the Governor's Mansion. We will bring you that event live once it starts.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:52:13]

ROSALES: The final round of the Masters teed off today. Rory McIlroy roaring to a two-shot lead Saturday, prompting one commentator to say that the Northern Irishman was playing "out of his mind."

CNN Sports anchor, Don Riddell joins us live from Augusta, Georgia.

Don, how are things looking?

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT HOST: Well, it is as exciting and as compelling as we thought it was going to be, Isabel and Rory McIlroy made a completely polar opposite start to what he did yesterday. HE came out and double-bogeyed the first hole, so he started the round with a two-shot lead, and within a few minutes that lead had evaporated.

But things have turned around and then turned around again in the short period of time since then. So currently, McIlroy is actually leading by three. This really is quite a remarkable final day, and this is exactly what we hoped it was going to be, because these two men are so fascinating.

For different reasons, they really are crowd favorites with the patrons here at Augusta and when they are on, they can both play electrifying golf.

After the round last night, I asked the American, Bryson DeChambeau what he thought it was going to be like to play in such a cauldron of an atmosphere. This is what he said.

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BRYSON DECHAMBEAU, PROFESSIONAL GOLF PLAYER: It will be the grandest stage that we've had in a long time and I am excited for it. We both want to win really, really badly and it is about who can control themselves, who can execute the golf shots the best. And in regards to the patrons, it is going to be an electric atmosphere.

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RIDDELL: So this is what's at stake. Let's first start of all -- fast start with Rory McIlroy. He has been around a long time. He is the world number two. He has had a fabulously successful career. He is a four-time Major champion, but he hasn't won a major in 11 years. And this is the one that has always eluded him.

If McIlroy can win here today, his first green jacket will cement him as a member of just a select group of players who have won the career Grand Slam, all four Majors and these guys are the titans. We are talking Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

But McIlroy very clearly remembers what happened to him in 2011, when he was four strokes clear going into the final round, and he had such a monumental meltdown that in the end, he just limped home into 15th place. He just completely disappeared from the leaderboard.

There has been a lot of scar tissue as a result of that. It has taken McIlroy a long time to recover mentally from that. The question is, has he healed enough? Is he mentally tough enough now? After the first hole today, I wasn't so sure. Right now, it looks as though he has recovered and he has reset and he is going again.

DeChambeau is a hugely popular American golfer. That wasn't always the case, but he has rehabilitated his image with a very, very successful social media campaign. When he is not playing on the LIV Tour, he is out there having a lot of fun and games on his YouTube channel.

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And you can just tell by the way he interacts with the patrons just how massively popular he is. So you've got the fans, the patrons here, kind of rooting for both. I think so many of the spectators here witnessed personally what happened to McIlroy back in 2011, so they are rooting for him for that reason. And of course, you've got DeChambeau, who is just so popular. They kind of want him to win as well.

Hopefully, they can go toe-to-toe for the rest of the afternoon, and we will have the grandstand finish that we expected. But so far, it is certainly very, very compelling -- Isabel.

ROSALES: Hey, just a lot of excitement all around.

Don Riddell in Augusta with the dream job, thank you.

Well, a quick programing note. Be sure to catch this week's new episode of "Have I Got News For You." Now streaming on max.

Pollster and commentator Kristen Soltis Anderson and comedian, Eugene Mirman joined the crew. Join Roy Wood, Jr. and the rest of the panel as they break down the week's headlines on "Have I Got News For You" right now on Max.

We'll be right back.

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