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Brazilian Police Say They Thwarted A Bomb Plot Targeting Lady Gaga Concert; Trump Does Not Rule Out Using Military Force To Take Greenland; Guatemalan Immigrant Facing Deportation Days After Giving Birth. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired May 04, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you like just stumbling on a book.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, you can go pick one more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Erin Burnett, thank you so much.

And make sure to tune in to a new episode of "My Happy Place" with Taraji P. Henson. That's tonight, 10:00 P.M., right here on CNN.

[15:00:17]

All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, breaking news out of Brazil where police say they foiled a bomb plot targeting Lady Gaga's concert on Copacabana Beach. More than two million people came to see the free concert on Saturday. Police say they have arrested two people in connection with the alleged bomb plot, which they say involved a group that promoted hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community, among others, and had planned to detonate homemade explosive devices at the event.

The arrests happened before the concert began, and police said nothing about the alleged plot at the time in an effort to "avoid panic" and the distortion of information. A spokesperson for Lady Gaga issued a statement saying: "We learned about this alleged threat via media reports this morning. Prior to and during the show, there were no known safety concerns, nor any communication from the police or authorities to Lady Gaga regarding any potential risks."

CNN's senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem is joining me right now.

Juliette, I mean, this is pretty extraordinary and what a huge concert. Thank goodness, you know, danger was averted. But what do you make of how authorities handled this?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It is weird, and so I will just tell you what I know now and then some discrepancies. So Lady Gaga has a massive concert this weekend, three, in fact, at the Copacabana Beach in Brazil. Free, two million people show up. I mean, you can't secure an area like that, right? I mean, it is a massive beach. Those people who know Brazil know what a party this was.

Then the police arrest two people, and the shocking thing in the story for me is they don't alert her or her team. I don't want to say that it wasn't a real bomb threat. It is just -- that's a massive breakdown.

She would be responsible for going forward. She obviously was the subject of the attacks given her support for LGBTQ rights and if the motive is correct and you -- that's her responsibility to determine whether she would want to put her fans at risk. So, that piece of this is very disconcerting.

WHITFIELD: Okay, so you say it was a -- that communication was a breakdown. I mean, so clearly you're already underscoring that's unusual that authorities would learn of this threat, not tell the star or the concert organizers about it, but we heard their explanation. They didn't want to, you know, they wanted to avoid panic, and that's why they didn't share it.

So because it is a big free event, because you already have people who are coming assembling. I mean, is that kind of a good explanation? You want to avoid panic, so you're not going to share it with them because we've got it under control -- because that's what it sounds like the authorities are saying.

KAYYEM: Yes, that's -- right that's exactly what they are saying. Just from the early reporting, they say they are part of a group. So that makes me think like, are we sure that it is just the two of them? Right? The two that they arrested.

But the second thing that I think is, is more important is did they increase security in light of the arrest? That we haven't seen yet. We are not reporting on yet. So I would want to see, you know, sort of cause and effect to sort of, you know, make sure that their explanation is correct or if they just decided, you know what, we don't want to tell the talent because we feel that confident.

I just have to say that's just -- it is unheard of. You know, I do a lot of mega event planning in sports in entertainment. The idea that you would not tell the person or the team of the threat is just -- it is not part of our protocol because they are the ones that are going to be responsible in the end.

WHITFIELD: Right, and that artist might say, wait a minute, I don't even want to do this anymore.

KAYYEM: Yes.

WHITFIELD: I mean, we saw that in the case of Taylor Swift, right?

KAYYEM: Taylor Swift. WHITFIELD: Of course, in Vienna, and so they were informed, and then they just called off the whole thing. It was very inconvenient and horrible for a lot of the fans who traveled a long way, spent a lot of money., but it was canceled.

So in this kind of situation, free concert, Copacabana Beach, huge. Two million people, I mean, is it the area, that jurisdiction that takes care of security as a whole? Or would it be Lady Gaga and her own personal security or, you know, hiring of some kind of security groups who would work with the city to say, this is what we are going to do to secure the area, period, anyway, just because we are attracting two million people.

[15:05:10]

KAYYEM: Right.

WHITFIELD: And then when something like this happens, they too would be engaged in, you know, how to get to the bottom of things? When things go wrong?

KAYYEM: Yes well, no, I mean, the way it would normally work and I suspect this to be true just because it would be impossible for a private security to even remotely manage a two-million-person concert. I actually saw pictures of it, of the one last night, and like my mind --

WHITFIELD: We are looking at some now. Yes.

KAYYEM: Yes, security is overload. You know, I was like, oh, my God. But I have to say, Lady Gaga and any what we would call executive protection would be solely focused on her and her team and the concert team and the equipment going from place A to B, this is part of a big concert tour for her across South America. So, you know, they probably have a full time staff working it.

Then you return to both the local and of course, the state and federal. In Brazil, they're called different entities to secure a place like this. They did a great job the first two nights, and they may have done a very good job on the third night, the night where the threat was or they did do a good job. There was no incident. It is just that gap in communication that is just -- it is something that if one were Lady Gaga's team, you would definitely want to know where the breakdown was and they sounded a little bit annoyed.

WHITFIELD: So two people arrested in affiliation with some sort of group. Do you know anything about this group or those who are suspected?

KAYYEM: No. Brazil has a very interesting dynamic. We talk about it politically as well, but also the social divisions that exist here often reflected there. They are a highly devout country, but also a highly progressive country. It has got those divisions and Lady Gaga represents for both Americans and the world as a support and an understanding of and amplifying, in fact, the LGBTQ community and she should be applauded for that. But obviously, lots of groups throughout the world organize against that.

And I don't know, the population of her concerts, but one has to assume that it is a concert that is very welcoming to all, and presumably this group wanted to target her supporters and her fans who would represent a community that they didn't like.

WHITFIELD: All right, Juliette Kayyem, great to have you. Thank you so much.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, and now to newly released excerpts of an interview in which President Trump said he doesn't know if he needs to uphold the U.S. Constitution. The extraordinary comment came during the exchange with NBC's "Meet the Press" anchor, Kristen Welker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS: Your Secretary of State says everyone who is here, citizens and non-citizens deserve due process. Do you agree?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I don't know, I am not -- I am not a lawyer, I don't know.

WELKER: Don't you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as President?

TRUMP: I don't know, I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said.

What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court said. They have a different interpretation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: During the interview, the President also said that he would not rule out using military force to take Greenland, but said it was highly unlikely -- his words -- that he would use the military to annex Canada.

For more, let's bring in CNN's Alayna Treene in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Alayna, walk us through some of these new comments from the President that he made during this interview?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Yes. Well, you noted some of the most notable moments, I would argue, Fred, from that interview. But one of the key things as well, key theme that we heard, Kristen Welker, the NBC anchor who was sitting down with him, was questions about the economy, because, of course, that is the number one issue on voters' minds and one that we've learned through CNN polls and others that they are very concerned about, and they are concerned about the direction of where the economy is going. Now, when asked about this, the President sought to take credit for some of the good parts, as he called them, of the economy, while disowning the bad parts, arguing that the economy is currently a mixture of some of the policies that he enacted, as well as, "hangover" from the Biden administration.

Take a listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WELKER: When does it become the Trump economy?

TRUMP: It partially is right now, and I really mean this. I think the good part is the Trump economy, and the bad parts of it, the Biden economy, because he has done a terrible job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So part of that there was him saying that he has only been in office, if you listen to more of that interview, he has only been in office for three months. It is going to take time for him to undo some of Biden's policies, but he didn't really get into the specifics of what he views the Trump economy to being versus the Biden economy.

[15:10:10]

But I do want to say so much of the economic turmoil, Fred, that we have seen is, of course, related to some of the President's policies and specifically his tariff policies.

I mean, we've seen the stock market ping pong, the U.S. economy shrunk for the first time this week in the last several years, something the President previously blamed on Biden.

But then yesterday, we had a pretty solid Jobs Report. The U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs, but economists noted that didn't really account for the impact of the President's tariffs or federal jobs that are seeing cuts. All to say, this is clearly still an issue that the President and his team are working on figuring out, because right now they recognize privately that the economy is not necessarily where they need it to be, and they need to deliver some good news to the American people, particularly as it relates to tariffs and potential trade deals with other countries -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Alayna Treene, thanks so much.

All right, with me, and now to talk more about some of these comments from the president is Mychael Schnell. She is a congressional reporter for "The Hill."

Mychael, great to see you.

MYCHAEL SCHNELL, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, "THE HILL": Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So, how do you think these, you know, Trump comments saying that he doesn't know if he should have to uphold the Constitution. How does that go over with his GOP colleagues there on Capitol Hill?

SCHNELL: Yes, I think. This is going to bring a number of them to have some pause, some fret behind the scenes. That's obviously not something that you want to be hearing from the President. Perhaps we can hear some pushback from some more moderate Republicans, Congress return to session tomorrow. Lawmakers will be walking the halls of the Capitol. There are absolutely going to be questions about this, and \I think that this is red meat for Democrats, right?

This is exactly the argument that they've been making that President Trump is a norm-breaking commander-in-chief. They've been arguing that he is not the right person to be in office right now. So I think this completely plays into their message, and we are certainly going to hear a lot about that, a lot about this interview from them.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and then after recently floating the possibility of a third term, the President now says that, you know, this will be his final term in the White House. The Constitution, of course, bars him from running again.

But what does this shift or his thinking out loud, you know, seem to say? Does this mean that he is putting himself in a position where he will be the one to potentially, you know, select the successor, somebody else who would be running for that office representing the Republican Party?

SCHNELL: Yes, well, first, Fred, I will just say that was a significant comment from the President, even though, of course, we know people cannot run for three -- you know, presidents cannot serve for three terms. This was something that was wildly unlikely to happen. The President had been publicly flirting with the idea. Some folks will say he was doing it in jest, other folks were saying, you have to take him seriously.

Whether that was in meetings with members of Congress, if that was at rallies and members of Congress actually followed suit with at least one person, Andy Ogles, actually introducing legislation to change the amendment in the Constitution that says the rules for serving no more than two terms.

So it is a significant thing that he actually said he is not interested in seeking that third term, but then you get into the conversation of what the afterlife of the President Trump administration looks like. Who is the leader of the party? Who is going to carry the mantle of the MAGA movement? I think President Trump will, of course, be in a very good place to be that kingmaker. It sets up a fascinating dynamic for 2028 where you're going to have Republicans duking it out to see who is going to be the next leader of the party.

Of course, J.D. Vance very well-positioned for that being the Vice President. Marco Rubio, probably not far behind as he racks up this title after title in the administration. And again, it is going to be this fascinating dynamic because you're going to have something so similar on the Democratic side happening as Democrats are going to be duking it out to see who the next leader of the party is. In fact, we are seeing that play out in real time right now.

WHITFIELD: Okay, and in addition to all of that, the President continues to defend his tariffs and downplay the impact that they will have on prices and the economy. Twice this week, he told Americans their children may have to cut back on their dolls and perhaps pay more for their toys. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WELKER: Are you saying that your tariffs will cause some prices to go up?

TRUMP: No. I think tariffs are going to be great for us because it is going to make us rich.

WELKER: But you said some dolls are going to cost more. Isn't that an acknowledgment that some prices will go up.

TRUMP: I don't think a beautiful baby girl needs -- that's 11 years old -- needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls, because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So he has been promising to bring the prices down. That was one of the big reasons why he was elected. So how is this going to land? These kinds of comments?

SCHNELL: It is not great. Look, we know what the state of the economy looks like right now. We've seen the polling, we see the economic indicators, the uncertainty that comes with his tariff policy has spooked Wall Street, leading to, as Alayna said, a ping pong of the markets.

So, these comments from Trump are definitely going to be, you know, eyebrow raising, and we are just going to have to see what this tariff policy, what the next 60 days about looks like, the 60 days left of the so-called pause on the tariffs.

China late last week had sort of softened its stance and opened the door, it seems, to have conversations about striking a potential deal. We will have to see what comes of that. That can have a large impact on the prices. But again, this gets back to the initial point, is that there is uncertainty in the markets and that the tariff policy is going to have prices rise.

Trump's you know, reaction to that and solution for that may be, putting, you know, suggesting that that young girls should have less dolls. I am curious to see though, if it will get to that point or if there will be some sort of deal in the tariff policy and whatnot.

WHITFIELD: All right, Mychael Schnell, well leave it there. Thank you so much. Have a great week.

SCHNELL: Thanks, Fred. WHITFIELD: All right, still to come, Israel is vowing to retaliate after Houthi rebels launched a missile that landed near Tel Aviv's airport. We have details, next.

And a pregnant woman was picked up by Border Patrol agents after wandering in an Arizona Desert alone for two days. Now, she faces deportation just days after giving birth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:07]

WHITFIELD: A Guatemalan migrant is facing deportation just days after giving birth in Arizona, with federal agents now posted outside her hospital room. Attorneys identified her only by her first name, "Erika," and say she was detained by Border Patrol after walking in the Arizona Desert for two days alone and eight months pregnant. They say she came to the U.S. seeking asylum over fears of violence in Guatemala.

CNN correspondent, Julia Vargas Jones is following the story for us. Julia, what more do you know?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, initially this woman was set for expedited removal. That is a process where you don't actually get to make a case in front of a judge for staying in this country when you are requesting asylum, which was her case.

You know, authorities, local authorities in Guatemala, she said through her attorney who spoke to us yesterday, were not able to help her and that's why she decided to make that dangerous trek, spending days in the desert alone with just one bottle of water, she said, before she was picked up by immigration authorities.

Her attorney, by the way, he says that there was no regard for due process in her case, that he raised a lot of flags, that he was not able to speak to her while she was in the hospital, or even get her signature on a document that was going to be key for him to be able to represent her.

Take a listen to what else he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUIS CAMPOS, "ERIKA'S" IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: At the very beginning, there was no regard for due process, and there was no intention of affording her due process rights. The very issue that I was denied access to her, that's not a denial of my rights, it is a denial of her rights.

And so that was a signal in terms of how the government was going to handle this case. And this whole discussion as to whether she would be subject to expedited removal, which, again, that was communicated earlier, also suggests they were willing to dispense with her due process rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARGAS JONES: And Fred, moments before we spoke to her attorney yesterday, she got the news that she had just been released. She is now out of detention with her baby in Phoenix, Arizona and officials did say that it is up to a parent to make a decision of whether or not to take their baby.

We got a statement from a Customs and Border Protection where they said: Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or CBP will place the children with someone the parent designates. DHS takes its responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to ensure that children are safe and protected.

But I will just add, according to her lawyer, it wasn't really a choice for Erika, Fred because she doesn't have any family in the United States, so her child would go to Child Protection Services.

WHITFIELD: Okay, and so what is her status now?

VARGAS JONES: Well, now she was given a notice to appear in court. She is no longer a set for expedited removal, which, by the way, her attorney says it was only due to the pressure from the press and the community that rallied around this woman. She will be able to make her case in front of a judge now when she goes to her immigration hearing and make that case for asylum.

WHITFIELD: All right, Julia Vargas Jones, thanks so much.

All right, still to come, new deadly airstrikes overnight in Ukraine days ahead of the ceasefire, Vladimir Putin has called for.

Ahead, how close the conflict could be to an end?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:29:04]

WHITFIELD: A traveler scrambling to leave the airport in Tel Aviv after a rocket fired from Yemen landed nearby. Israel's military says multiple attempts were made to intercept the rocket. Flights were temporarily suspended. The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group has taken responsibility for the attack. They have repeatedly launched ballistic missile attacks at Israel, but this appears to be the first time a rocket has landed near the airport.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to retaliate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We are operating against them. We acted before, we will act in the future, too. I can't elaborate on all of that. The U.S., in coordination with us, is also operating against them. It is not one and done, but there will be hits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Flights in and out of the airport have now resumed.

Also new today, Ukraine says at least four people were killed and dozens injured in Russian strikes across the country this weekend, including at the capital of Kyiv.

[16:30:07]

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggesting a ceasefire in Ukraine starting Friday, but Ukrainian leaders, including Zelenskyy, call it a theatrical show. White House Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin last month. Since then, Russia has continued its attacks, particularly on Kyiv.

Joining us right now is Ivo Daalder. He is the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and is now the CEO at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Ambassador, great to see you.

So Putin offered this three-day ceasefire around the time of Putin's, you know, End of World War Two in Europe military parade. Does this underscore how far away a sort of peace deal can be made?

IVO DAALDER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR NATO AND CEO, CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: Yes, because, of course, Ukraine and the United States have offered a 30-day ceasefire. They've been doing so for the last month and a half. President Putin has not been interested in a ceasefire up till now, declaring a three-day ceasefire so he can have a large military parade in front of the kremlin isn't exactly what we are looking for. We are looking for an end to the war, and the only way to end the war is for Russia to stop shooting its missiles and drones at civilians and cities around Ukraine, and for stopping its offensive against the Ukrainian forces and indeed, to withdraw.

They started the war, they can end it tomorrow. If they really want peace, it is really simple, just stop fighting and go home.

WHITFIELD: Ukraine has agreed to this rare earths, you know, minerals deal with the U.S. Why would it do that when it is not getting security assurances from the U.S.?

DAALDER Well, it is actually an idea that President Zelenskyy presented to the United States, both then candidate Trump and President Biden back in September. The idea was that if the United States has an economic stake in the future of Ukraine, then perhaps it will be more committed to providing these security guarantees.

Now, this is a first step. This deal, which I think is a reasonably good deal for Ukraine, indeed for the United States, much better than the drafts that the U.S. had put forward back in February and again in March, pretty good negotiations on the Ukrainian part. This deal now gives the U.S. priority access to minerals and those minerals and the revenues thereof will be reinvested in the reconstruction of Ukraine. And importantly, and I think this is what the Ukrainians achieved, they will be able to count future, not past, but future military assistance that the united states provides as an in-kind contribution to this minerals investment fund. And that suggests to me that the President of the United States who has been pushing for a peace agreement, been giving all the incentives to the Russians and none to the Ukrainians, now believes that perhaps continuing to find ways to send American arms, but without necessarily having to bear the cost of those to Ukraine is important.

So I am heartened by this agreement. I would like to have more pressure on Russia, but I think we are moving towards the possibility of at least providing Ukraine with the means to defend itself.

WHITFIELD: Okay. The Middle East envoy, who is also now seemingly the envoy for, you know, the midst of this war, Steve Witkoff, he met with Vladimir Putin a few weeks ago. He has had, you know, a couple of times FaceTimed with Putin. What is being gained from this, in your view?

DAALDER: Well, there is a lot being gained by Vladimir Putin, who seems to have succeeded in the four meetings that Steve Witkoff now has to tell his side of the story, to lay out what he thinks is the fundamental reason we are having this war and having Steve Witkoff at times adopting, almost verbatim, the talking points of the Ukrainians.

So not that long ago, Mr. Witkoff claimed that the four territories that Russia has illegally annexed, as well as Crimea, which he illegally annexed in 2014, that those territories are full Russian people, Russian speaking people and there have been referendums saying that they wanted to be part of Russia. Of course, those referendums were taking place under occupation, under extraordinary conditions, in which it was extremely difficult to express anything else, but support for Russia if you wanted to come out alive.

[15:35:01]

So my fear is that Mr. Witkoff, who is perhaps a talented real estate man, but not a seasoned diplomat is being taken in by one of the masters. After all, a former KGB spy, one of the masters of trying to turn tales in his favor, and that is Vladimir Putin.

WHITFIELD: Ambassador Ivo Daalder, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, thank you so much.

DAALDER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, GOP leaders are beginning to look toward the midterms, plotting on how to hold on to power. New CNN reporting on the issue they hope will turn out MAGA voters -- impeachment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:21] WHITFIELD: All right, President Trump, well, he won't be on the ticket in the 2026 midterms, but GOP leaders are discussing ways to turn out the MAGA faithful. One way to do that is to talk up the prospects that Trump could be impeached for a record third time if Democrats were to take back the House. Democratic leaders are so far pretty wary of doing that.

CNN chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju breaks it all down.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, Donald Trump and GOP leaders have been plotting behind-the-scenes their strategy to try to keep the House in the November midterms. There was a meeting last week at the White House with not just Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, but also Richard Hudson, who is the chairman of the House GOP campaign arm.

I talked to both of those members about Donald Trump's interest in this race, and they made very clear that Donald Trump is finally concerned about what would it mean if Democrats were to retake the chamber? Now, there is some talk among some on the left about potentially pursuing an impeachment of Donald Trump, which would be a record breaking three impeachments if they were to go down that route.

Democratic leaders in the House do not want to talk about impeachment, but Republican leaders do. They believe that is an issue that could animate the Republican base and also give them a reason to convince voters to come out to the polls, Trump supporters when Trump is not at the top of the ticket.

I asked Mike Johnson about this last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: How concerned is he about impeachment if the Dems take the majority?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Well, we've already seen this movie. They've already tried it twice. I am certain they would try it again.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): If the Republican campaign message in the midterms is vote for House Republicans and vote for Republican candidates for Senate to stop the Democrats from impeaching Trump, the American people are not going to care because they've seen that show twice and it didn't matter. It won't work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But you heard that last comment from Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican congresswoman, throwing cold water on the idea of just focusing on impeachment, saying they have to deliver on their agenda, what they promised voters as well.

Now, Greene represents Georgia. Georgia is also central in the battle for the Senate Majority. There, it is where Senate Majority Leader John Thune, we are learning flew down to Atlanta over the Easter Holiday to try to convince Brian Kemp, the Georgia governor, to jump into the race for the seat currently held by Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff.

Ossoff is considered the most vulnerable Senate democrat, Kemp would be the biggest GOP recruit. We are also told that Donald Trump himself talked to Kemp back in February about the prospects of running for the Senate, even though Trump had bashed Kemp for years for not overturning Trump's 2020 election loss in Georgia.

But the Republicans hope that they can be all on the same page, get behind Kemp, if he were to jump in. If he decides to step aside, that would be a big boon for Democrats who are trying to hold on to that seat and have a difficult map to retake the chamber currently held by Republicans 53/47, but they hope to flip that with the right candidates and potentially, if the environment suits them if voters are concerned about what Donald Trump has done in office -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Manu Raju, thank you so much.

All right, still to come, as the Trump administration takes on the drug cartels, some musicians are taking a closer look at their playlists. Could certain songs that celebrate the cartels spark an investigation by the U.S. State Department?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:28]

WHITFIELD: "Narcocorridos" are Mexican songs inspired by the drug cartel lifestyle. While the genre is growing in popularity, some cities in Mexico have banned the music.

Now, in an unprecedented move, the U.S. State Department has revoked the visas for a group who sang about the leader or a leader of the Jalisco Cartel, which is one of six Mexican drug cartels the Trump administration has declared a foreign terrorist organization.

CNN's Gustavo Valdes is here with more on all of this. Very fascinating. What did you discover?

GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well. "Corridos" have been around for centuries since the Mexican Revolution. The first mention of criminal activity in the lyrics of these songs dates back to the 1920s, when prohibition was in the United States. So the stories were about Mexican alcohol and drug runners across the border. So it is no surprise that over time, the style has evolved to what we have today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALDES (voice over): It is Musica Mexicana Night in one of Atlanta's newest rooftop bars, where the young crowd dances to the rhythm of the accordion and sings along to cover versions of corrido music.

Corridos have long been tales of epic loves or heroic characters, but some are controversial, because they talk about the narco lifestyle. They're called narcocorridos.

ELIJAH WALD, MUSICIAN: Outlaws have always been popular. VALDES (voice over): Elijah Wald is a musician and author. His biography of Bob Dylan was made into an award-winning movie. He also wrote a book about narcocorridos and the people who sing them.

[16:50:06]

WALD: It's the story of poor kids, whether in the mountains of Sinaloa or in Los Angeles, who have seen their parents working their whole lives and getting nowhere.

VALDES (on camera): Sometimes the lyrics have run afoul with politicians. In some Mexican municipalities and venues, they have banned the genre, upsetting some fans.

VALDES (voice over): Singer, Luis Enrique Enriquez was attacked on stage when he didn't sing narcocorridos in a state that prohibits them. And the U.S. State Department revoked the visas of the members of the group, Los Alegres del Barranco, after featuring photos of the leader of a cartel during a performance of their hit song "El del Palenque." The band later apologized.

Some see irony in the response of the American government.

SAM QUINONES, AUTOR OF BOOKS ABOUT DRUG CARTELS: This music, it was Mexican, but it was not made in Mexico.

VALDES (voice over): Sam Quinones is a journalist and author of books about drug cartels. He says "Los Tigres del Norte" recorded "Contrabando Treason" in California in 1974. It is the first song that defines the genre.

As the drug cartels grew in notoriety, so did their prominence in the songs, to the point that the big capos commissioned songs to elevate their importance.

QUINONES: The corrido, as it became corrupted in my opinion, became, you know, in praise of power, in praise of these bloodthirsty men with enormous power who killed wantonly.

VALDES (voice over): Government regulations might do little to end narcocorridos. After all, the explicit content warning might have helped make gangster rap more popular, and the song that caused Los Alegres del Barranco their U.S. visas became an overnight hit worldwide and was streamed more than two million times in the week following the controversy.

But the threat of losing a visa to work in the U.S. could have a bigger effect, because it would represent an important loss of income for the artist.

Elijah Wald says that targeting narcocorridos might be hypocritical.

WALD: I don't think I've ever seen an interview with Martin Scorsese where people ask him, whether it doesn't bother him that his movies make gangsters seem like exciting characters, and might tempt young people to want to be gangsters. And yet, that question is always asked around narcocorrido singers.

VALDES (voice over): In the end, music is just an excuse to have a good time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALDES (on camera): Now, so far, only Los Alegres del Barranco have lost their visas, so it might have been not so much because of the lyrics, but because they were flashing the face of one of the cartel leaders. So, you know, it might be not necessarily the song, it was just the fact that they were elevating this person.

WHITFIELD: So, so how, you know, does the narcocorridos music kind of compare to other, I guess, crime driven related lifestyle depiction kind of music?

VALDES: So let's just use gangster rap in the United States, where sometimes they are very explicit. They talk about women in some way. Corridos are more poetic, sometimes you have to be in on the joke or know what they're talking about, they are just making a reference and that's why the lyrics, per se, might not be the target, it is knowing that they are talking about a specific person. And in that case, like we saw with Los Alegres del Barranco, that is where it might elevate.

But still, there is the question, is it censorship because that's what they represent? Or it is just really targeting a specific group?

WHITFIELD: It is very complicated. All right, Gustavo Valdes, thank you so much.

All right, still to come, the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs is set to begin. Just ahead, the newest reporting about who will be called to testify.

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[15:58:36]

WHITFIELD: A brand new episode of "Searching for Spain" Eva Longoria explores the birth place and cultural influence of flamenco, bull fighting and of course, tapas. Here is a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I am taking you to one of the institutions of Seville. This old bar that's been opened from the 19th century.

EVA LONGORIA, CNN HOST, "SEARCHING FOR SPAIN": Wow. Yay. It's very lively here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

LONGORIA: Tapas are now everywhere you go in Spain, but their birthplace is right here in the south. These small sharing dishes are super sociable, just like the Andalusians who love to eat together and drink wine. I think we are going to get along just fine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gracias.

LONGORIA: Oh my God. Muchas gracias.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Muchas gracias.

This is a very special wine.

LONGORIA: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. This has been recreated through archeological research the way Romans did their wines here.

LONGORIA: Vino Romano.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly. Exactly.

LONGORIA: Fortuna.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fortuna.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, it looks like so much fun. New episode of Eva Longoria: "Searching for Spain" airs tonight at 9:00 P.M. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

All right. Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, tomorrow, the criminal trial of music mogul, Sean "Diddy" Combs begins as jury selection gets underway. Combs is facing multiple charges, including racketeering and sex trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denied all allegations against him. If convicted on all criminal counts, he could face life in prison.

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