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President Trump on a Potential Successor, Running for Another Term and Upholding the Constitution; Republican Amplify Rhetoric of Impeachment Talks for Midterm Elections; The U.S. is Set to Stage a Military Parade Coinciding with President Trump's Birthday; Xi to Meet Putin in Russia; Trump: Maybe It is Not Possible to Reach Russia- Ukraine Peace Deal; Seventh Day of Major Delays at Newark Airport; Final Day of Mourning for Pope Francis. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 04, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Jessica Dean in New York. I don't know, President Trump using that phrase several times in a new interview when asked if he must uphold the Constitution. Asked if he was considering running for a third term, Trump said no and did give some hints on who he thinks could succeed him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: But this is not something I'm looking to do. I'm looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward.

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS HOST: Who do you see as your successor, Mr. President?

TRUMP: Well, I -- it's far too early to say that, but, you know, I do have a vice president and, typically, me and J.D. is doing a fantastic job.

WELKER: He would be at the top of the list.

TRUMP: It could very well be. I don't want to get involved in that. I think he's a fantastic, brilliant guy. Marco is great. There's a lot of them that are great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Previously, Trump had said he was not joking about wanting to serve another term. The Constitution's 22nd amendment does not allow it. CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene is following all of this from West Palm Beach, Florida. And Alayna, President Trump was also pressed on his sweeping immigration crackdown. What's he saying about that?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. And you mentioned how he brought up the Constitution and abiding by its multiple times during this interview. And this was another moment when that happened. We heard from Kristen Welker, the anchor here, press the president on whether he believes that both U.S. citizens and non- U.S. citizens deserve due process rights. He kind of punted to his lawyers again saying, I don't know. I want you to listen to the exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WELKER: Your Secretary of State says everyone who's here, citizens and noncitizens, deserve due process. Do you agree, Mr. President?

TRUMP: I don't know. I'm not I'm 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)

TREENE: Now, just to be clear here, Jessica, I did go back to see what the Supreme Court said in this decision, which was on April 7th. And essentially the court very clearly, talked about the Fifth Amendment here and stated that due process rights is entitled to everyone including undocumented immigrants, but part of the reason this is such a big deal is because critics on the left have really tried to point out and argue that the president is chipping away at due process rights, particularly when it comes to this case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia an El Salvadorian migrant who was living in Maryland and then was deported by the president to El Salvador.

Without communication, the administration initially said it was a mistake. The Trump Administration also argues that he's a member of a transnational gang, but he is really kind of brought this question into the forefront and I really do think big picture. The reason part of this question is so important is because we've really seen the president and his administration really try to use really expansive executive authority and a lot of that, particularly when it comes to immigration has been gotten caught up in the courts.

And so this question I think is pretty crucial because of how many people are asking, don't undocumented immigrants deserve due process rights too. Another thing on this as well, when he says that, you know, kind of punting to his lawyers, it's up to his lawyers. They were different interpretation. I can tell you from my conversations with senior White House officials that they have insulated President Donald Trump from some of this.

They really have tried to let the Department of Justice and the lawyers be the ones to handle it. But again, as you could hear in that interview, his answer not really, I think, reassuring to many folks. Jessica? DEAN: All right, Alayna Treene for us. Thank you so much. And let's discuss more with our panel, David Urban and Jamal Simmons. David is a CNN senior political commentator, Republican strategist, and former Trump campaign adviser, and Jamal is a CNN political commentator and former communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris. Good evening to you both. Thanks for being here.

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good evening.

DEAN: David, I want to -- yeah. Good to see you. David, I want to start first with you talking about this interview we saw earlier today with President Trump. When he says I don't know, when he's asked if he needs to uphold the Constitution, do you think that's an acceptable answer from the president of The United States?

[17:04:57]

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, Jessica, what I think the president's saying there and it echoes loudly and widely with most Americans, most Republicans that you don't have -- you have nothing to worry if you're not a MS-13 gang member. If you're not here illegally, if you did not cross the border and commit violent crimes illegally. You cross the border illegally and you're here committing violent crimes, then then don't worry about it. You've got no problems. We're going to follow the constitution.

I think what the president is saying is that there is some discussion amongst his lawyers and others in the legal community of whether or not, and to what extent, right, due process rights are available to certain violent criminal aliens. And if you took a poll of a hundred Americans, I think probably 99.9 would say, yeah, why are we giving criminal -- violent criminal gang members, why do they get due process?

DEAN: Well, yeah. Well, why doesn't he just say it the way you just said it?

URBAN: I don't know.

DEAN: Because that's an explanation. Jamal, go ahead.

SIMMONS: That's -- Jessica, that's not what the Constitution says. The constitution doesn't say that due process applies unless we really know you're guilty. No. That's not what the Constitution says. The Constitution says that it applies to everyone. So the reality here is that it is better for us to sometimes have a slow process that might make a couple of mistakes, but doesn't send innocent people to jail or even worse, send them to a prison in Central America and then say, well, oops, we made a mistake. There's nothing we can do to get you back, right?

That is the problem I think most Americans are really starting to click in on, which is this is not right for us to put people in jail without giving them hearings, trials, some sort of discussion --

URBAN: But I do think -- SIMMONS: -- where they can defend themselves and say whether or not they're guilty of what they've been offended -- accused of.

DEAN: Go ahead, David.

URBAN: I do think the individual here -- I think the individual here in question did have a lot of due process, right? So there were immigration judges, immigration hearings, right? This wasn't like somebody got swept up by, an ICE van, put in a plane and sent someplace, right? There was due process afforded, and the question is how much due process is exactly necessary in these cases of criminal violence and aliens.

SIMMONS: No. That's not a question, David. No, no, no. That's not a question. That's not a question. What it is, is you get as much due process as the law says you're supposed to have, and it applies to everybody. That's not a question of whether or not I like you or don't like you or think you're guilty or I'm not sure if you're guilty. Everybody gets the same rules. That's America.

DEAN: And, Jamal --

URBAN: And I think --

DEAN: Go ahead.

URBAN: I was just going to say, Jamal, I don't disagree with you, right? The people deserve their due process rights. We don't want to put innocent people in jail. I do think, however, this individual in question that Democrats are making cause celeb may not be the best person.

DEAN: Jamal --

SIMMONS: It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

DEAN: -- I did want to --

SIMMONS: Even the guilty people deserve rights.

DEAN: Yeah. Do you think that the -- because I do think, like, we have seen Democrats? I'm thinking about Chris Van Hollen, but a number of other Democrats who have really taken this story of Abrego Garcia on as a cause and really used it as, you know, the linchpin in fighting back against a lot of this immigration agenda from President Trump. Do you think that is connecting with the average American? Jamal, can you hear me?

URBAN: Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were asking David.

DEAN: Oh, no. No. It's okay. No, no, no.

URBAN: He's frozen, Jessica. He did -- he doesn't have any answer.

DEAN: No.

SIMMONS: I feel you have an answer. Look --

DEAN: Go ahead.

SIMMONS: -- here's to reality. Nobody wants to see guilty people walking the streets. Nobody wants to see people who have committed crimes to be out in the streets to commit more crimes. The only question that any of us have, only question that I have is, once you start taking away one person's rights, that means that my rights are weaker. Because if for some reason you think that what happens to me or what happens to my brother or my sister, if you think that what happens because of one person having committed a crime, then anybody can get the same treatment because you've established the precedent. So we just can't be in the business of deciding who gets to get American rights and who doesn't based on how we feel about them.

DEAN: Yeah. David, why shouldn't people be afraid of what Jamal's saying there? That that if this can happen to him --

URBAN: Because it -- yeah, because I think that slippery slope doesn't exist. Look, if you didn't come to this country illegally, if you didn't break the law crossing the border illegally, if you're not associated with a criminal transnational gang, then don't worry about it. You've got nothing to worry about. Go about -- no one's kicking down doors, snatching people out of beds. I mean, taking it to the extreme. It's insane.

And just like you said, Jamal didn't have an answer for it because this one individual who Democrats are choosing to make their cause celeb is a pretty weak case to stand on, and this is a 90-10 issue with Americans. And so Democrats are going to lose every time the message -- nine out of 10 times.

SIMMONS: The reality also is here.

DEAN: Go ahead.

SIMMONS: The reality also is here. We went through a period in the 1930s and '40s where people were able to have political associations that were all deemed to be perfectly fine and legitimate. The late 1940s and '50s, we decided we wanted to investigate those people and call them in front of the House un-American Activities Committee. Just because people think that something is fine now doesn't mean they always will. And if we start taking rights away from people, what do we do when 20 years from now the MAGA government decides that anybody or a Democratic government decides that anybody who's associated with MAGA now gets to get hauled before a congressional committee or put in jail without having due process? I don't think Republicans would like that.

[17:10:06]

DEAN: Yeah. I do want to get --

URBAN: I don't mind it for transnational gang members. I'm fine with those. URBAN: Well, somebody might argue that some of the people who were

storming the Capitol were, like, gang members who were committing violence. But do they deserve rights? They absolutely deserve the right to be heard in court. It doesn't matter that I'd have them on camera defecating in the United States Senate.

DEAN: All right. Hang on. I do want to get to the economy before we go to our break because I think that's another key issue that Americans are pretty keyed in on right now. Trump was asked whether he takes responsibility for the economy, and I want to get -- I want to talk about this moment. So let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he's done a terrible job. He did a terrible job on everything.

WELKER: But, sir, you acknowledge when you announced your tariffs, for example, the stock market dropped. It's been volatile. It has since gone up.

TRUMP: Well, it is, but now it's going up. Look at today.

WELKER: Do you take responsibility for that? Yeah. Do you take responsibility when it drops?

TRUMP: Look, I take responsibility -- ultimately, I take responsibility for everything, but I've only just been here for a little more than three months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, David, there at the end, he does say, ultimately, I take responsibility for everything. But he did blame Biden pretty heavily when -- for anything, and I think in his words that is bad. But we have seen direct impact from his economic policy so far that have caused people to lose money in their 401K's, made people nervous that they're not going to be able to afford to buy a new car, et cetera, et cetera. At what point does he have to take that full responsibility?

URBAN: Yeah. Jessica, listen. I think the president said he does take the full responsibility. Listen. Let's not lose sight of the facts here. What has happened over the past 40, 50 years is what this president is trying to reverse, right? We have lost manufacturing jobs. We have shifted production of most durable goods overseas from America. Small factories in Kannapolis, North Carolina, shoe factories in Massachusetts, in New England, steel factories, aluminum factories, everything has gone overseas.

Working class people have ceased to find a place to go to work because of previous administrations, not just the Biden administration, but Republican administrations as well. And so what this president is trying to do is rectify all those bad decisions with these tariffs, and listen, they're working, they're slowly phasing in, people are making deals, you're going to see this tax cut come up, you're seeing deregulation continue, the market's rebounding.

I predict that once the congress passes a tax cut and this reconciliation bill, president signs it. The market will be back and going stronger than it was before. So what the president is saying is, look, I'm trying to fix these good things. You see some of these things like tariffs, which I believe are good, which are trying to rectify things that have been bad for the past 40 years, not just Biden, but lots of other administrations as well.

DEAN: Jamal, do you think that the voters -- I'm thinking about the independent voters who really voted on the economy here specifically, not just a Democratic voter. But do you think that they're going to give him enough time and they're going to give him all of that to get to create what David's saying there? Do you think that they are willing to be patient and face some economic pain?

SIMMONS: If the policy actually would work, maybe people would be willing to give it some amount of time. But then you've got the president on camera, which you didn't play my favorite clip, where he says that little girls are going to have to do without 30 dolls, and they can only have three. So I pulled a few. Here's Queen Poppy, my daughter's doll, and here's Elmo, her doll, and we got a Cabbage Patch doll here and I think Spidey, is here, and, here's the NASA bear. So the question for me is, she only gets to have three.

URBAN: Jamal --

SIMMONS: Which one of the -- which two of the dolls do we give away, right? Which two of the dolls that Donald Trump care --

URBAN: I'm glad to see Jamal's helping our economy.

SIMMONS: -- that my daughter can only have three of her dolls.

URBAN: Jamal's killing the economy right there.

SIMMONS: And so which dolls does she have to give away? I think people in America in the middle of America want their daughters to be able to have as many dolls as they can afford, not to have them taken away by the president of the United States.

DEAN: All right. We got to get a break in. Stay with us. Don't go anywhere. We're going to have more news when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00]

DEAN: Republicans are leaning hard into a familiar theme as they look to keep control of Congress in 2026, impeachment by threatening that if Democrats were to win the House in the midterms, they would try to impeach President Trump for a third time. GOP leaders hope to energize their base and encourage some big name Republicans to enter critical battleground races. CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju talks more about this. MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Trump and

Republican leaders are of an intense focus in keeping the house in the November midterms. Remember, typically, midterm elections are not good for the party in power. Pretty painful, in fact. But Donald Trump and Republicans believe this time could potentially be different because the map is much narrower in the House. Very few battleground districts are truly at play, and they hope they can find ways to drive up the MAGA faithful, encourage them to come to the polls when Trump is not at the top of the ticket.

One way to do that, talk about the prospects that Donald Trump could be impeached by a Democratic House. That would be a record breaking three times for a single president if Democrats were to go down that route. Now Democratic leaders don't want to talk about impeachment. They're wary about talking about that as part of their election argument.

There's some of the left who believe that Donald Trump has engaged though in impeachable conduct, including Senator Jon Ossoff, who said that Donald Trump's actions with the cryptocurrency venture rises to the level beyond past impeachment inquiries.

[17:20:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): It appears that the president's business and family are being personally enriched through this cryptocurrency venture. That kind of misconduct, I think, exceeds virtually any prior standard for that kind of inquiry in the House.

RAJU: It's hard to separate the politics. Republicans are already going after those comments. Do you think it'll become an issue in your campaign?

OSSOFF: Well, I stand by those comments a hundred percent.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I mean, we should never take impeachment off the table. We should never take, where we see law breaking, we should never take accountability off the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now Ossoff is one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats, and he is someone who Republicans are hoping could pick off in next November midterms. And so much so that Republican leader John Thune, we're learning, flew down to Atlanta over the Easter holiday to meet with Brian Kemp, encourage him to jump into the race, answer his concerns, answer his questions, as well as other Republican senators have talked to Kemp as well, including Senator Tim Scott, who leads the senate GOP campaign arm, Senator Pete Ricketts, Senator Steve Daines, all have had conversations with the governor in recent days.

We're also learning that Donald Trump himself spoke with Kemp back in February about a potential Senate run. There were no commitments made, but Trump had bashed Kemp for so many years because Kemp refused to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss in Georgia. But the fact that they have spoken, some Republicans are feeling hopeful about that perhaps he could get behind him if Kemp were to get in. If Kemp decides to bow out, that would be a big boon for Democrats to try to keep this critical seat.

Otherwise, it would be a huge blockbuster race where tens of millions of dollars, well, hundreds of millions of dollars potentially could be spent down in Georgia. And Ossoff told me that he is ready for all comers no matter who it is, even Brian Kemp.

DEAN: Alright, Manu. Thanks. Our panel's back. David Urban and Jamal Simmons, thanks for sticking around. I do want to talk about a little bit of what Manu was getting at in his piece there. David, first of all, look, Republicans know that when they're running in off years, there are some Republican voters or some voters, let's call them Trump voters, who only vote when Trump is on the ticket. That is what drives them to turn out. And if he's not on the ticket, they've got to find a way to really excite them and get them to come out. Do you think talking about impeachment like this is an effective strategy?

URBAN: Listen, Jessica, I don't know if it's an effective strategy. I know it's realism. I know it's a realistic strategy based upon the clips you just showed, right? You listen to Democrat after Democrat, the first thing they will do -- I don't know what they're going to run on it. I don't know what they'll do differently for our country, but I know the one thing they'll do is they will impeach Donald Trump.

So if you are worried about Donald Trump not having four years at the White House, getting two years and having the last two years being vitiated by hearing after hearing after hearing and impeachment, then you should make sure to turn out and vote for folks and who are going to, you know, run for these different House races. They're going to be very tough. Look, when you're an incumbent president, these off year elections, these midterms are very, very tough.

DEAN: Yeah. And Jamal, look. We heard from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jon Ossoff there. Two people do not represent an entire caucus, of course. Do you think that that is an appropriate -- do you think that's an effective strategy for Democrats? What would you be advising?

SIMMONS: Yeah. Sadly, I don't have a Jon Ossoff doll to show you. But, listen, I think --

DEAN: Plenty of other ones, though.

SIMMONS: Right. But, you know, look, you can't take -- you can't take impeachment off the table. They're right about that. Because the Supreme Court has said you can't really hold the president accountable through illegal means, so the only real way to hold a president accountable is through impeachment. But I don't think most Democrats are trying to impeach Donald Trump again.

Listen, he got impeached two times before. It didn't seem to matter. Republicans, even in the face of cowering in their seats, running down the halls to escape, the mob that was attacking the Capitol, they still want to impeach Donald Trump for his involvement in January 6. So it's not really a great political strategy.

I think what Democrats are going to be focused on, what's the agenda they have for lowering prices, improving education, making health care work, doing all the things that the American people want to get done, that Donald Trump seems to be abdicating because he's following these crazy policies, and frankly, it's amateur hours. So even the crazy policies like tariffs, they're not doing very well because they're busy using, you know, commercial apps to do plan battle plans.

It just seems like these guys aren't up to the job, and process this time is going to be on the ballot, whether or not they have a government and political actors who can act responsibly and do their jobs.

DEAN: I also want to ask you guys about this military parade that we're learning about. It's set to take part -- take place in Washington D.C., June 14th. That happens to be also President Trump's birthday. Here he is talking about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to have a big beautiful parade.

WELKER: A military parade?

TRUMP: Yeah. Sure.

WELKER: Okay.

TRUMP: We're going to celebrate our military. We have the greatest military in the world.

WELKER: What's the price -- what's the price tag? Do you know?

TRUMP: People -- peanuts compared to the value of doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, David, this is not something we customarily see in the United States.

[17:24:58]

It's also going to come at a time when the GOP is likely to either have just debated or be still in the middle of debating how to make all of these cuts across the government that could potentially include, Head Start, Medicaid, things like that that people do rely on or people have been fired by DOGE. Do you think that's a good look for the president and the government to be spending on this parade?

URBAN: Yeah. So, Jessica, you're -- you may not be asking the right person. I went to West Point. I served in the Army.

DEAN: Yeah.

URBN: This is the army's 200th -- this is the Army's 250th birthday. Has nothing -- this has nothing to do with Donald Trump. This is June 14, 1775, a year before the declaration of independence was signed. We had, at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, established America's first national institution. That is the United States Army.

And I think Americans, we're going to be proud to celebrate the Army that the -- what from I understand from listening to Colonel Dave Butler, who's the army spokesperson, who's talked about this, they're going to have revolutionary war up through modern time, a celebration of the men and women who serve proudly in the U.S. Army. And so I think it's great.

And I think the money if we want to look at money, Jessica, we spend about $9 million bucks a year doing fireworks in the mall. This parade, I think, is going to be somewhere in the realm of $20 million. And so, yeah, I think it's absolutely, absolutely necessary and responsible to celebrate all the men and women who served in uniform in the past 250 years to make our country the greatest nation in the face of the earth.

DEAN: And Jamal, I'll let you have the last word on that. Go ahead.

SIMMONS: Yeah. Here's where David and I are going to agree. I love a good military parade. I've had the plans, a couple of them, when I worked in the White House when I was younger. I think they're --

DEAN: We like bringing people together here. Yeah.

SIMMONS: I think they're fantastic. You know, and there's nothing better than the Air Force, the Navy when they do that missing man formation, you know, fly over and -- I still, every time, it brings a tear to my eye. Here's the problem. The problem is they're going to spend millions of dollars while they say they're cutting budgets for all the things that are going to work for poor kids and for people all around the world and for make sure that that that average people have Medicaid.

All these things are going to be cut because the DOGE folks went in and did that. So -- and I have a question about who are they going to celebrate? Are they going to celebrate the Tuskegee Airmen? Because they want to get them out of the play -- out of the Pentagon paper -- Pentagon documents. Do they want to celebrate the -- all the folks who worked hard and African-Americans, women, people of color who worked in the military who don't seem to fit the bill because of their anti- DEI policies?

Is that the challenge? Is that the military are going to do when it's whitewashed and we don't see the full breadth of the 40 percent of the military that's not white? I have great concerns with how the president is actually governing the military and whether or not we're going to have a military that people want to be a part of and that we can all be proud of.

DEAN: All right. Well --

URBAN: Jamal, I promise to get you and your family tickets VIP come down and sit and watch. I'll make sure you see. We celebrate everybody in the military.

SIMMONS: I just want to make sure you give money to the mayor of D.C. so she can fix the streets after they get chopped up by all those vehicles.

URBAN: Look, it's going to be fine. The military has figured it out already. They know what they're doing. Trust me. It's going to all be great.

SIMMONS: Okay.

URBAN: We should all go and see it.

DEAN: It is also --

(CROSSTALK)

URBAN: Listen, spectacular event. We should be celebrating the U.S. military, celebrating the Army, the men and women who served for the past 250 years so that we could sit here and debate openly and freely. It's a great thing.

SIMMONS: Absolutely. Thank you.

DEAN: Yeah, I know. It's also America's 250th birthday.

SIMMONS: Including having due process rights.

DEAN: Yes.

SIMMONS: Let's makes sure we still have due process rights for everybody.

DEAN: All right. David Urban and Jamal Simmons, my thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

SIMMONS: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, China's President Xi is set to meet with Russia's Vladimir Putin this week. What stronger ties between the two U.S. adversaries could mean for President Trump's foreign policy goals?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:29:59]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chinese President Xi will be visiting Russia this week, meeting with President Vladimir Putin to discuss their partnership. And according to a statement from the Kremlin, Xi will take part in victory day celebrations, May 9, marking 80 years since Nazi Germany was defeated. CNN's Melissa Bell has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Zelenskyy paying a visit to Prague this Sunday to thank leaders there for their continued support to Ukraine. This is the Ukrainian president, continues to shore up Western support and to call for tougher sanctions on Moscow after another weekend of civilian deaths and casualties across the country, not just on Friday night. That massive drone strike on Kharkiv, but again on Saturday, four civilians being killed across the country by continued shelling and drone strikes.

The Ukrainian president, has spoken this weekend of the cynicism of Moscow as it continues to target civilians and prepares for this unilaterally declared ceasefire that will take place this coming week in time for the Moscow celebrations of the end of the second World War that saw the defeat of Nazi Germany 80 years ago.

On May the 9th, Moscow will hold its victory parade, and it is around that that it has announced this ceasefire. The Ukrainian president calling it cynical, but also speaking of the fact that there is now an alignment between Washington and Kyiv on the need not for a three-day ceasefire, but for a 30-day one that needs to take effect immediately.

We will also see this coming week on May the 9th a visit to Moscow by the Chinese president. It will be the third visit to Russia by Xi Jinping since the war in Ukraine began. What we understand is that the two leaders will seek further cooperation. There'll be a number of bilateral agreements made. And this, of course, at a time when Ukraine is hoping that it is more aligned with Washington on the need to continue pressing Moscow with further sanctions.

[17:35:02]

This will be an important show of force, the optics of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin together at this particular time, an important reminder of that axis that has grown only closer since the war in Ukraine began with logistical support to Moscow from China and the need now to project that power even as Washington continues its global retreat.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Melissa, thank you. And CNN political national security analyst David Sanger joins us now. He's also the author of the book, the "New Cold Wars." David, thanks so much for being here with us. President Trump spoke about the Russia-Ukraine peace deal in an interview from this morning. I want to play a quick clip of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: At what point do you say that's it? We're walking away.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, you'll know. I mean, there'll be a time when I may say that. And if -- if I do --

WELKER: But you're not there. TRUMP: There might be something I can't. Maybe it's not possible to do because they've been fighting hard for three years. I think we have a very good chance of doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: David, we did hear from the president in the lead up to him winning the election that he would end the -- the -- obviously, end the war on day one. That is not what has transpired. And he's saying there, maybe this is an impossible thing to do, that they are trying. What do you think about where we are right now and the likelihood that the U.S. does ultimately walk away in some capacity?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, AUTHOR: Well, Jessica, certainly, the president has been talking about this. Marco Rubio has been talking about walking away. And it has been unclear whether that's a negotiating position or whether it's actually a situation they'd sort of like to find themselves in.

You know, the -- the problem with Ukraine for this administration has been that it's getting in the way of setting up a new relationship between the United States and Moscow. The president has been pretty clear. He wants to normalize that relationship. That's why he talks about his friendship with Vladimir Putin.

You'll notice that Russia was one of the few states that avoided all tariffs. And the president's economic aids, or at least one of them, said, well, why would you put tariffs on them while you're in the middle of a negotiation? Well, they put tariffs on Ukraine.

But the big question here, I think, is whether or not the president believes that if the war was going on, he could move ahead with that relationship. And we don't know the answer to that yet, and it's one of the things that makes the continuing China-Russia partnership so fascinating.

DEAN: Hmm. Absolutely. I also want to ask you while we have you here about this breaking news out of the Middle East as Israel is now valuing retaliation after the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for what they say was a ballistic missile attack near Israel's main airport.

What is this -- the fact that the Houthis were able to get that close to the airport and -- and penetrate the defense systems that Israel has, what does that tell us about the Houthis' capabilities? And, again, just reminding everyone, this comes after the U.S. has been striking the Houthis since March.

SANGER: Right. So those missiles that they're shooting are almost all Iranian missiles. They don't make many of their own. And the interesting question is, who would Israel choose to retaliate against? The Houthis who fired it or the Iranians who probably provided it? And I'm sure at some point, they'll find enough remnants from the missile to figure that out.

This gets to the underlying tension that's underway right now between Israel and the United States over the continuing negotiations with Iran on their nuclear program. The Israelis think there has never been a better time to strike Iran for its support of the Houthis, for its support before that of Hezbollah and -- and Hamas and, of course, for the nuclear program itself.

So, the big issue is, could the Israeli seize on this as a moment to create a crisis that's likely to, in some way, delay or perhaps eliminate this sputtering negotiation with Iran.

DEAN: And so -- and -- and to your point, it does bring up the broader question which -- this is a sensitive time as the U.S. is negotiating with Iran. And -- and -- and we know that they are trying that the president would prefer to move forward with that than with strikes at this moment in time, but hasn't ruled those out. Do you think that this particular incident has the potential to grow into a bigger conflict or a bigger piece of this puzzle?

SANGER: It certainly does if the Israelis retaliate and retaliate on Iran Right? That's always the big risk.

DEAN: Hmm.

SANGER: The fact that these penetrated Israeli defenses tells you that the Houthis know how to do this and the Iranians know how to do it, although they have not been terribly successful before.

[17:39:57]

Look, the -- the differences between the president and Prime Minister Netanyahu on how to deal with Iran have been wide. Netanyahu came to Washington and basically wanted to go ahead with an attack on Iran. President Trump put the brakes on that and said we have to try diplomacy first. It's the reaction, frankly, that Barack Obama had under similar circumstances a number of years ago.

And I think, you know, while it's not clear at all that these negotiations will work out, the president is going to have to try to put everything he can into this. That's going to get more intense because remember, we're only less than two weeks away now, or I guess two weeks today, from the president doing his first trip to the Middle East starting with Saudi Arabia.

DEAN: Right. And -- and that will be an interesting moment as well. David Sanger, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

SANGER: Great to see you.

DEAN: Yeah. One of the major travel hubs for the New York area still fighting through an unprecedented seventh day of major delays and cancellations. We're going to go live to Newark Airport. That's next.

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[17:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DEAN: Tonight, passengers are facing long delays and cancellations at Newark Airport, a major hub for the New York City metro area, with flights there delayed by an average of two hours and 13 minutes. The FAA saying this is the seventh straight day of disruptions. They're blaming staffing. The agency did not mention, though, America's long running shortage of air traffic controllers.

CNN's Leigh Waldman joining us now from Newark Liberty International Airport. And Leigh, this just continues to be a problem. Expert -- experts we've talked to said there's a lot of issues at play here. You've also been talking to passengers. What are they saying?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, people here are getting more and more frustrated, as you can imagine. One woman actually in tears when her flight home to Canada tonight was canceled. Another man said he's going to start avoiding the Newark Airport for travel altogether because of this problem.

Every time we check the flight cancellation website or flight tracking website, FlightAware, the number of delays and cancellations keeps going up. At this point, 375 flights today have been delayed. Another 130 have been canceled. Altogether, you mentioned it's for a slew of issues. The acting FAA administrator saying that the technology is outdated and caught -- causing outages.

We're also facing a significant staffing shortage. Three thousand air traffic controllers short of where we need to be. The Philadelphia facility manages the airspace here over Newark Airport. They had 20% of their workforce walk off the job, citing things like burnout, unsafe working conditions, and also this staffing crisis.

Passengers we spoke to here say this is something that's concerning them for the safety of their travel.

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MARK WALLACE, DELAYED TRAVELER: As concerning as the manpower issue is, according to news reports, the equipment that they're using out of Philadelphia is pretty antiquated, and that gives me probably even more concern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy this week said that they're working on replacing this equipment that's outdated and antiquated, like you heard from that passenger there. But Jessica, it's an issue that's going to take three to four years to resolve.

DEAN: Hmm. What a mess. All right, Leigh Waldman, thank you so much for that update. We appreciate it.

A final day of processions and mass in Rome as the mourning period for Pope Francis comes to an end. Now, the church is just days away from starting the consequential process of finding his successor.

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DEAN: The official end of the mourning period for Pope Francis was marked with a final mass at the Vatican today.

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(MUSIC PLAYING)

DEAN (voice-over): Cardinals from around the world gathered in Saint Peter's Basilica for the ceremony. It is among the last remaining preparations before the papal conclave starts Wednesday. CNN's Christopher Lamb is in the -- is in Vatican City with details on what lies ahead.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: I'm here in the Vatican where preparations are underway for the forthcoming conclave. Now, I'm very near to the Sistine Chapel and there, they are preparing the tables and the chimney for the conclave. The chimney, of course, is where the white or black smoke will billow out when a pope has been elected, or if there hasn't been a decision, black smoke will come out of the chimney.

Now, we've just been inside the Vatican museums, and we've heard about some of the history of the conclaves. It was Alexander VI who was the first pope in the 15th century to have been elected in the Sistine Chapel, and it's in his apartments that cardinals, for many conclaves, used to stay.

We were told that cardinals used to sleep in sort of dormitory-style arrangements. They'd have to live, sleep, and eat in these quite cramped rooms very close to the Sistine Chapel until 1978 when John Paul II was elected, and he decided to build the Casa Santa Marta, which is where the cardinals will stay today.

Now, not all conclaves have taken place in the Vatican. They took place in different parts of Italy, including one in Viterbo, which lasted 18 months. I imagine the cardinals are hoping they can make their decision in a little bit quicker time than that one. But preparations are feverishly underway for this 2025 conclave.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, Vatican.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Still ahead, what we know about a thwarted bomb threat that targeted more than two million people at a Lady Gaga concert in Brazil.

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[17:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) DEAN: You're in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Jessica Dean in New York. And tonight, an escalation in the Middle East at a pivotal time. Israel now vowing retaliation --

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-- after a missile attack by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen. The Houthis, who have claimed responsibility, say they fired a ballistic middle that -- missile that struck within the vicinity of Israel's main international airport there near Tel Aviv, briefly shutting it down earlier today.

[18:00:03]

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UNKNOWN (voice-over): Woah!