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Donald Trump Approval Rating Drops To Only 41 Percent; Power Returning In Portugal And Spain After Widespread Outage; Ukraine Skeptical Of Russia's Ceasefire Announcement; Tensions High Between India and Pakistan After Militant Attack; Canadian PM Carney's Liberals Win Election; Vatican Says Conclave to Elect New Pope to Start on May 7. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired April 29, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:36]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Canada's Liberal Party is projected to win another term, a remarkable comeback made possible by Donald Trump.

Getting back online as Spain and Portugal have their power restored. Questions remain about what caused Monday's massive blackout.

And 100 days into Donald Trump's presidency, one thing is certain, despite his promises, Americans are unhappy about the economy.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, Canada's Liberal Party has made a stunning political comeback in a federal election driven in large part by anti-Trump sentiment. And that means Mark Carney is set to continue as prime minister. He took over as party leader after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided to step down.

It seems U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods and the U.S. president openly talking about annexation, saw voters coalesce around the Liberal leader and his anti-Trump campaign. The Prime minister spoke just last hour and said, Canada is not facing idle threats from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Now more than ever it is a time for ambition. It is a time to be bold, to meet this crisis with overwhelming positive force of United Canada. Because we are going to build, build baby build.

We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons. We have to look out for ourselves, and above all, we have to take care of each other. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Four months ago, the Conservative Party led by Pierre Poilievre held a significant lead in the polls and looked to be heading for an election win, he expressed his disappointment in conceding the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERRE POILIEVRE, CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADER: We didn't quite get over the finish line yet. We know that change is needed, but change is hard to come by. It takes time. It takes work, and that's why we have to learn the lessons of tonight so that we can have an even better result the next time the Canadians decide the future for the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Votes are still being counted, but the Liberals look like they will fall short of the 172 seats they need for an outright majority government. We will have more on the elections a little later.

Well, President Trump will celebrate the first 100 of his second first 100 days of his second term with a rally Wednesday in the battleground state of Michigan. The Wall Street Journal reports he's set to announce a deal easing auto tariffs, avoiding stacking them on top of one another.

But a new CNN poll shows the American public is losing faith in the president's economic policies. 59 percent say they have worsened conditions in the country. Only 27 percent say they have made things better.

Wall Street is also reeling from the president's first 100 days back in the White House, the Dow has dropped nearly 4,000 points since the inauguration, resulting in trillions of dollars in losses for investors.

More now from CNN's Alayna Treene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Trump administration is leaning in heavily this week to mark the president's first 100 days in office on Monday, they chose to focus on immigration. One administration officials tell me behind the scenes is really a bright spot for Trump right now in this point in his second term. That's why you saw them focus so heavily on talking about the number of deportations to this point compared to the Biden administration at the same point last year. You saw the White House's borders are Tom Homan speak in a briefing on Monday morning.

But on Tuesday, the focus is going to shift to the economy, and it comes the CNN has new polling that shows many Americans, 59 percent believe that the Trump administration has worsened conditions for the economy. That's compared to 27 percent who say that they have improved conditions and 14 percent who said that they have no effect. [02:05:09]

Look, these are pretty dismal numbers for President Donald Trump, particularly on an issue that he had vowed to repeatedly on the campaign trail to improve. He often said he was going to be ushering in the golden age for America. There would be an economic revival, but these poll numbers show that Americans remain broadly unhappy with where the economy is and disillusioned by his trade policy.

Now, of course, all of this comes as the stock market has been kind of ping ponging. People are questioning what is going to happen with these tariffs. And despite the White House saying that they have had around 100 countries approach them with trade proposals, we haven't seen any hard evidence or tangible evidence of what those deals will look like.

Now, Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, is expected to give a briefing Tuesday morning to talk about this. You can anticipate he'll be facing a lot of tough questions from reporters on the status of these deals.

We heard him on Monday say that he believes India could be the first country that they will strike a trade deal with. That deal could come as soon as this week or next week.

But again, a lot of people are running out of patience. We have in this poll as well that six in 10 Americans are saying Trump's policies have increased the cost of living in their community, and just 12 percent say his agenda has helped bring prices down.

One of the most striking things in all of this, to me, at least, is how different this is from the president's first term, when he used to dictate some of his policy based on how it was performing in the stock market. We know that Trump has said publicly, but also privately, that he is willing to have Americans deal with a little bit of short term pain, and that he genuinely believes in the long run, the economy will even itself out.

But again, this has been one of the areas that hasn't been a bright spot for this administration, and it also comes as we know that he's been frustrated with the status of talks with certain countries, including on China, which has really dug in on its position on trade policy.

All of this as we know that the Trump administration officials, and in my conversations with them, argue that, behind closed doors, you know, they notice that the 100 -- the first 100 days is really when you're able to get a lot through, you have more leeway, particularly when you look at how Republicans in Congress are responding to some of this.

And now some of the attention will quickly turn to wanting to make sure the policy is in the right place before the midterm elections. All of this weighing on the president's first 100 days in office.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Tens of millions of people in Spain and Portugal are waking up with electricity and questions about what caused Monday's big blackout.

Cheers erupted in Madrid around dusk as the lights flickered back to life, power is almost entirely restored now in Spain, authorities have yet to explain what went wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): What has caused this sudden disappearance of supply, this is something that specialists have not yet been able to determine, but they will, and the relevant state institutions and all private operators are working together to understand what has happened. All potential causes are being analyzed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The European Council president says, so far, there's no evidence of a cyber-attack. Portugal relies heavily on neighboring Spain for electricity, and the Portuguese Prime Minister said everything indicates the problem started there.

Travelers across the Iberian Peninsula were left scrambling amid the blackout, with many flights and train services canceled and subways going dark.

Well, now to Berlin, an energy analyst, Christoph Maurer. He is a partner and managing director at Consentec, a boutique consultancy specializing in power systems and power economics. Appreciate you being with us.

CHRISTOPH MAURER, ENERGY ANALYST: Good morning, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, power is now returning to most of Spain and Portugal and parts of France after this massive power outage that lasted about nine hours or so. The cause is not yet known. But what are the possible causes? Given Spain seems to be where this problem originated.

MAURER: Well, obviously what happened, and what we see from the data, is that there was a major incident at around 12:35 p.m. yesterday.

So, obviously, somehow the Iberian Peninsula was disconnected from the rest of the European grid at that time. It's not yet clear why that happened and whether the root cause of the incident, but obviously after the disconnection, there were major power imbalances in the remaining subsystem. So there was a shortage of power in the remaining European system, and the drop of the frequency set there. But because this is a very large system that was able to balance that out, and nothing really happened out there.

[02:10:04]

But within the Iberian system, then, obviously there was a large mismatch between power demand and power generation, and system was not able to stabilize that situation and went into blackout obviously.

CHURCH: So, how long might it take do you think to determine the actual cause, and how do they make that determination?

MAURER: Well, there is a lot of data available. So you have recordings from frequency, from phase angles, and the systems and all. That's a lot of technical stuff there, but what people in systems operations will now do that they will very, very cautiously and diligently analyze the situation what has happened.

And I think we can expect some first conclusion within, let's say, two or three weeks time, and then, typically, within a few months, there will be a large report written by ENTSO-E, which is the European Association of Transmission System Operators.

And with past incidents we had, they always reported them in very detailed manner on what had happened and also what could be done to prevent similar events in the future.

CHURCH: Yes, of course. And power outages on this massive scale are, of course, a concern, triggering major disruptions, with many people saying they were locked out of everything. They couldn't get money from ATMs or even buy goods. Of course, we know about the travel disruptions, it reveals a vulnerability, doesn't it, which makes people very nervous.

So, how worried are you about the energy system?

MAURER: Well, I'm not that much worried. So, blackouts are major event, and obviously they cause large problems, and we see that here, and what somehow is relieving that obviously network restoration plans worked in properly, and power was restored within, let's say, typical time frames of several hours.

So, that's what you would expect that it takes, let's say, 10 to 15 hours to restore supply after such an event. It's also what we saw in Italy when they had a blackout back in 2003 and so, somehow it worked. Even if this is a worst case scenario.

I don't think that we will have to expect blackouts to happen much more often in the future. Typically, blackouts are very particular, very rare events, often triggered by some very special events happening in the transmission system, sometimes combined with human errors. That needs to be thoroughly analyzed now, but I'm not concerned that the situation we will have to face more often in the future.

CHURCH: So, your sense is that Spain could guarantee this won't happen again by saying that?

MAURER: Well, you can never say that won't happen again. So, these are technical systems, and technical systems are prone to failure. There's no 100 percent security that blackouts won't happen.

But on the other hand, we have established security criteria and rules of operation and so on, which normally take care that such events will not happen.

So, now and then it obviously something bad happens, and then we have a situation like the one we faced yesterday. But I don't think that this is a situation which we will have to expect to happen more often in the future because of the energy transition and so on.

So, it needs a thorough analysis, but it's not an event which I would expect to repeat, let's say, over the next two years, or three years, or something like that.

CHURCH: Christoph Maurer, thank you so much for joining us live from Berlin. Appreciate it.

MAURER: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: Well, Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a 72 hour cease fire in Ukraine for next week, and the Kremlin is calling on Kyiv to do the same.

Coming up, why Ukraine's president is skeptical of Moscow's motivations. We'll take a look.

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[02:18:31]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a unilateral three day cease fire in Ukraine beginning next week on May 8th, it would coincide with Russia's 80th annual Victory Day parade, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

But Ukrainian officials are skeptical of Putin's motives. Following the announcement, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, "We care about human lives, not parades." The temporary truce is not enough for U.S. President Donald Trump either, who is calling for a more permanent solution.

CNN's Matthew Chance has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): From the Kremlin the announcement of a new cease fire for three days in May, the Kremlin says its guns will fall silent.

To show Washington in the words of one Russian official who Moscow wants a stable, permanent peace, but President Trump, fresh from a face-to-face meeting with the Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelenskyy, on the sidelines of the papal funeral in Rome, wants substantial progress in his flagging peace effort, not empty gestures.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Vladimir Putin this morning, offered a temporary Cease fire. The President has made it clear he wants to see a permanent cease fire first, to stop the killing, stop the bloodshed. And while he remains optimistic he can strike a deal, he's also being realistic as well. [02:20:08]

CHANCE (voice over): But realistically, the latest Kremlin offer may amount to little more than its last one, an Easter truce that followed this deadly strike on Palm Sunday in Sumy, killing at least 35 people. Even that 30 hour pause was violated thousands of times, according to both sides.

The latest cease fire is meant to coincide with Russia's 80th anniversary celebrations to mark the Nazi defeat in the Second World War, including the annual military parade through Red Square on May the 9th. Ukrainian officials say the cease fire should be implemented now, if the Kremlin is serious about peace, not just for this.

Instead, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has listed terms, telling a Brazilian newspaper that international recognition of Crimea and four other eastern Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia is imperative, demilitarizing Ukraine, lifting sanctions on Russia, canceling arrest warrants and unfreezing Russian assets in the West are also on the agenda. Lavrov added, while Russia will insist on security guarantees to shield it from NATO and European Union threats.

But it is the threat posed by Russia that has U.S. allies concerned, and that agreeing to Moscow's terms would make that threat even worse.

Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Iranian authorities say negligence caused the massive explosion that killed dozens at the country's biggest port. State media reports that a committee investigating the incident said, quote, "Failure to observe safety principles preceded the blast, but comprehensive testing will be required to determine the definitive cause."

Eye witness accounts and video indicate chemicals near shipping containers caught fire, setting off the much larger explosion.

On Monday, one official told state media the death toll has gone up and at least 70 people have died.

The head of Israel's Internal Security Agency the Shin Bet appears to have been given in to political pressure and will resign June 15th. Ronen Bar's decision comes nearly three months after an unprecedented vote by Israel's far right government to dismiss the chief of Shin Bet.

During a speech on Monday, Bar accepted responsibility for intelligence failures leading to the surprise Hamas attack on October 7th.

Just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, the latest on the rising tensions between India and Pakistan after a Deadly militant attack in Kashmir.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [02:27:55]

CHURCH: Tensions are high between India and Pakistan after a deadly militant attack in Indian administered Kashmir, with both countries threatening each other of consequences.

CNN's Will Ripley has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On India's streets, anger at Pakistan is burning one spark away from a wider explosion. India is flexing military muscle at sea. Pakistan warns of war if India threatens its water supply, a dangerous moment between nuclear armed rivals. Old wounds from decades of insurgency and three wars torn wide open, one of the deadliest attacks in years in Indian administered Kashmir.

We fled immediately after hearing gunshots, says Gopal Roopchand.

Gunmen opened fire on sightseers in the remote mountain valley of Pahalgam, 25 Indian citizens and a Nepali national are dead. Police on the Indian side named three suspects, claiming two are Pakistani nationals without providing evidence. They link the attack to a Pakistan based Islamist group called Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif denies any involvement.

SHAHBAZ SHARIF, PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: The recent tragedy in Pahalgam is yet another example of this perpetual blame game.

NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER: India will identify track and punish every terrorist.

RIPLEY (voice over): India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under growing pressure to strike Pakistan as rage fills Indias streets. India already suspended parts of a crucial water sharing treaty, threatening to cut off a lifeline for Pakistan's farms and cities. Pakistan is vowing to respond with force

as militaries posture, families suffer.

[02:30:00]

India shut down a key border crossing, canceling visas for many Pakistanis, causing fear among some Hindus fleeing what they call religious persecution. Pakistan also limiting access for Indian citizens, tearing families apart on both sides, like Anuja Imran (ph), desperate to return to her husband and children.

Despite my daughters being Pakistani nationals, why am I not allowed to enter Pakistan? What have I done? How will my daughters live without me, she says.

The playbook is grim and familiar. In 2019, a terror attack in Kashmir triggered Indian airstrikes inside Pakistan, the closest the two countries came to all-out war in decades. Many fear this time could be even worse.

Will Ripley, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come, the Vatican announces when Cardinals will assemble to elect the next Pope. We'll have the details on when they're set to meet.

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[02:35:37]

CHURCH: More now on our top story, the stunning election victory of Canada's Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Mark Carney. CNN's Paula Newton is in Ottawa with more on an election that turned in large part on the threat posed by the White House.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even in the last hours of Canada's election, Donald Trump made sure that he was a defining presence. And what did that mean for Prime Minister Mark Carney? It meant he was elected prime minister of Canada, very much running in order to thwart the threats from Donald Trump and not just his economic threats, but his threats to make Canada the 51st state.

Now, the win for Mark Carney was less than some were expecting. He had been riding much higher in the polls a few weeks ago, perhaps enough to get him that coveted majority government in Canada, which would mean he wouldn't have to compromise when it came to making legislation. The parliament that Canada will get though will now be a much messier affair, and they will have to come to terms with exactly how they renegotiate their relationship with the United States.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, as much as Mark Carney, had a resurrection of his party. Pierre Poilievre, it should be noted blew a 25 percent lead in the polls just about five months ago. Now that being said, his party picked up a significant amount of seats in terms of what anyone could learn from this kind of an election. Canadians really were trying to elect a leader that could stand up to Donald Trump in the Oval Office. But in so doing, a lot of the smaller parties were marginalized here and Canadian politics were left more fractured than ever even though they are still at this hour quite united against Donald Trump.

Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

CHURCH: A new conclave to elect the next Pope is set to begin next week. Cardinals at the Vatican decided on the date during a Monday meeting. Only a select amount of Cardinals can vote in the highly secretive process, which hasn't happened in more than a decade. CNN's Christopher Lamb has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One by one, Cardinals arrived at the Vatican this morning with the politicking over the future direction of the Catholic Church already underway and a conclave set to start on the 7th of May. The choice facing the Cardinals, to continue full steam ahead with Francis' reforms and vision or slow things down. At the Pope's funeral, a strong message.

The guiding thread of his mission was also the conviction that the Church is a home for all, the 91-year-old Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said, a home with its doors always open. Some reading the reaction of the crowd as a sign to the cardinals to pursue continuity with the late pontiff who was popular among the people that faced fierce resistance in certain clerical quarters. The politics of the conclave are subtle. Anyone overtly campaigning disqualifies themselves. In the early exchanges, some cardinals are emphasizing that the next Pope must focus on "unity." Others, while seeing the need for unity, identify danger in underplaying the Church's rich diversity.

Cardinal Michael Czerny of Canada worked closely with Pope Francis.

CARDINAL MICHAEL CZERNY, PREFECT OF THE DICASTERY FOR PROMOTING INTEGRAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: If you make this your obsession and if you try to promote unity as your primary objective, you end up with uniformity, and this is exactly what we don't need. We've spent decades now trying to learn to get beyond uniformity to a true Catholicity, a true pluralism.

LAMB (voice-over): Right now, there is no obvious frontrunner candidate. The field is wide open, but two are seemingly leading the pack. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Holy See Secretary of State, the Vatican's top diplomat.

A mild-mannered, thoughtful prelate, an Italian who knows the system. Yet, his lack of experience of working at the Church's grassroots could weigh against him. Then there is Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Leader of the Evangelization Department at the Vatican, his (inaudible) reflection of the dynamism of the Church in Asia. The charismatic former Archbishop of Manila is known for his advocacy for migrants and the poor.

CARDINAL LUIS ANTONIO TAGLE: In them, I saw my grandfather who was born in China.

[02:40:00]

LAMB (voice-over): Who feels personally moved by their suffering. He is sometimes dubbed an 'Asian Francis.' With a Cardinal body, the majority appointed by Francis from every corner of the globe, this is a conclave that could easily throw up a surprise.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back at the top of the hour with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.

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(WORLD SPORT)

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