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Israel Fails To Intercept Houthi Missile Attack Near Main Airport; Bomb Plot Targeting Lady Gaga Concert In Brazil Thwarted; Trump Administration Claims Progress On Trade Talks But No Deals Done; Jury Selection Begins Monday In Sean "Diddy" Combs Trial; Music About Mexican Drug Cartels Draws Trump Admin's Ire. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 04, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Is it boom? Whoa.

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Houthi rebels have repeatedly launched ballistic missile attacks at Israel. But this appears to be the first time a rocket has actually landed, cutting through Israeli defenses and landed at or near the airport.

News coming out of Israel that the military will mobilize thousands of reservists in the coming days in what appears to be an expansion of its offensive in Gaza.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv with the latest now on the Houthi attack.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, Houthi militants have regularly fired ballistic missiles at Israel, but they are almost always intercepted. But not today. Today we saw ballistic missile strike right next to Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport, just outside of Tel Aviv after Israel's air defense systems attempted to but failed to intercept this missile.

You can see in this CCTV footage the moment that that missile made impact. But to understand the force of the blast, you have to look at this video that was filmed on a roadside right by the impact site.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa, whoa. Whoa.

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DIAMOND: Now, that missile shut down operations at Ben Gurion Airport for about an hour. Several airlines also canceling their flights. No one, thankfully, was seriously injured. But just by looking at the size of this crater and some of the damage that was done to the airport, the dirt that's flung all over the roadside, you can see how potentially deadly this could have been had it struck the airport itself or another populated area. And so now the question is, how will Israel respond? The Israeli prime

minister called urgent consultations with his security Cabinet today to discuss potential response. Afterwards, he posted a video noting that Israel has acted in the past and will act in the future. His office also responded to a previous Truth Social post from President Trump, in which President Trump had previously said that he held Iran responsible for any and all Houthi attacks.

The Israeli prime minister responding to that by saying that Israel will respond to the Houthi attack and to the Houthis', quote, "Iranian terror masters." The Israeli prime minister is indeed facing pressure not only from within his governing coalition to respond to this attack, but also from leaders of the opposition like the former Israeli defense minister, Benny Gantz, who said that Israel should take direct action against Iran.

The question now, of course, is when all of this could play out. For the moment, it seems the Israeli prime minister is simply sticking to this will happen at a time and place of Israel's choosing. It's important to note that in recent months it's been the United States mainly taking action against the Houthis. The Israelis have let the United States play that role. But now pressure for direct Israeli action -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that.

CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedrick Leighton joins us now along with Edward R. Murrow press fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Elise Labott.

Thank you so much to both of you for being here. There's a lot of pieces to all of this that I kind of want to go through with both of you.

Cedric, I want to start first with you. And what today's strike says to you about the Houthis' capabilities right now, especially as the U.S. has been targeting them since mid-March. Just the idea that they were able to successfully get this missile into Israel, but also what they might do now that they've had some success.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, this is going to be a really interesting question, Jessica. So the piece of the Israeli missile defense system that apparently either failed or did not quite respond in the way that it was supposed to is the Arrow 3 part of it. The Israelis have a layered air defense system that the most famous part of which, of course, is the Iron Dome System. But that's just only one component. That's a short range component.

The Arrow 3 system is designed to intercept ballistic missiles of the kind that came from Yemen, or of the kind that we thought came from Yemen. But here's the problem. There is a possibility, if the Houthi spokesman in Yemen is correct, that this was a hypersonic missile, if that's the case that would indicate that there is a huge technology leap that the Houthis were able to do. They did that certainly with Iranian help, but probably also with Russian help. And that, of course, would be a major game changer for the Middle East

because the Israeli air defense systems aren't built for hypersonic missiles, especially hypersonic missiles like this one that goes, apparently, that if all of this is true, are up to 16 times the speed of sound and is maneuverable.

[18:05:03]

So if the Yemeni Houthi spokesman is correct, then there are some big changes coming to the Middle East in terms of not only offensive capabilities like this one, but also for the Israelis and their defense capabilities definitely need to change what they're doing.

DEAN: And Elise, as Jeremy noted, we have the U.S. in talks with Iran at this moment. Of course, the Houthis are backed by Iran. We have -- then there's the U.S.-Israeli relationship in this with what Netanyahu would like to do in terms of going after Iran and what President Trump would like to do, which is to pursue diplomacy first.

Does this strike today have the potential to lead to a wider, bigger conflict or a next step in all of this?

ELISE LABOTT, EDWARD R. MURROW PRESS FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, I think it has the potential, Jessica. I don't know -- you might see a pause in these talks. I don't know that you'll see, you know, the talks entirely break down because President Trump has made clear he wants to deal with Iran. And if you remember, Prime Minister Netanyahu came to Washington, said that he made the case that he wanted to strike Iran and President Trump kind of smacked that down. And so he does want to have these talks.

I think we also have to be clear. The Houthis clearly have this sophisticated missile and drone capabilities because they're backed by Iran. But I don't get the sense that the Houthis are subject to the Iranian direction in the same way as Hezbollah are. They are connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, who is not a fan of these new negotiations. So was this coming from Iran? Not necessarily, although there are some elements.

So I think it's going to be very interesting. And I think President Trump is going to play this very carefully. I think the Houthis have really just been trying to signal to the Trump administration that they can still do this after coming under U.S. attack for weeks. You know, the U.S. has been conducting these airstrikes against the Houthis to disrupt the capabilities and despite those military efforts, the Houthis continue to do that as we said.

DEAN: And Cedric, Iran did respond to all of this, saying in part, that if they were to be attacked or if war was imposed on them, they said, we will respond with might. They went on to threaten to strike American bases that are in the Middle East if this were to progress to that.

What is all of that mean, again, as the U.S. continues to engage in these talks with Iran? LEIGHTON: Well, there's certainly a dual track process going on here

with as far as the Iranians are concerned and kind of what Elise alluded to here. The Iranians are looking at this as, you know, a way to not only at least in the PR realm, say some of the things that they've said before when it comes to attacks like this. So they always threaten American bases. They always threaten basically the sanctity, if you will, of American forces in the region, whether it's Air Forces, Army forces or Naval forces.

But the other part of it is, is that the Iranians are also pursuing a negotiated -- negotiations policy, especially when it comes to the nuclear side of things because they want to have some sanctions relief and they also probably want a breather in terms of their ability to actually mount offensive operations in the Middle East. So what they're trying to do here is get the best of both worlds and that means, you know, having some really strong rhetoric on the one hand.

On the other side, they also want to have some kind of a way forward with the United States and possibly with other countries in the Middle East.

DEAN: And Elise, Netanyahu, also, the prime minister of Israel, did also comment on all of this. And among other things, he said that there will be additional Israeli strikes on the Houthis. He alluded to previous coordinated attacks with the U.S.

What is do you think, and we probably may just not know, but what is the U.S. willing to do right now, do you think, when it comes to that?

LABOTT: I think they're willing to go all out on the Houthis. I don't think they're going to be willing to go out on Iran. Despite what President Trump says. I think he wants to preserve the ability to keep that diplomacy going, keep a deal. Remember, President Trump campaigned on getting out of wars. And, you know, we're seeing all this, you know, chaos over the last week with Mike Waltz. Mike Waltz was, as National Security adviser, was very supportive of Israeli strikes against Iran.

And you know, obviously Signal gate and everything else was one of the reasons that President Trump is moving him over to the United Nations, certainly a demotion. But at the same time, he was coming to blows with people in the administration, this kind of America First crowd, this more restrained crowd that did not want to go to war with Iran.

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So I think it's all related. I think the U.S. will go, you know, hog wild on the Houthis. But I think it's going to be very limited. And that might be how President Trump kind of soothes Netanyahu. Clearly, Netanyahu wants to go after Iran, but Trump is likely to say, I think, let's go together after the Houthis, together.

DEAN: All right. Cedric and Elise, thank you to both of you. We really appreciate your thoughts on this.

LEIGHTON: You bet. DEAN: Thanks.

We also have developing news out of Brazil where police say they have foiled a bomb plot targeting Lady Gaga's free concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. Two people now in custody. More than two million people were at that concert last night, and officials say the pair tried to recruit people to carry out coordinated attacks. They wanted to target LGBTQ Plus people attending the show.

CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones is joining us now.

And, Julia, there are some really chilling details coming from police in this case. What more are you learning?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are learning from police in Rio today, Jessica, that one of the suspects, he believed that Lady Gaga had a satanist religious inclination. And as such, he would respond in the same way by killing a child or a baby on a livestream during that show. This was information that was shared with Brazilian authorities by the U.S. consulate in Rio de Janeiro, according to police.

We also know that 15 search warrants were carried out yesterday in Rio and in four other states across Brazil. This was part of an extremist group that, according to police, coordinated online via server on Discord and trying to entice people to participate in what they called a collective challenge that had as a goal for them to gain notoriety online by using explosives that were homemade and Molotov cocktails at the concert.

Now, police took the step of not alerting any of the concert goers, or even Lady Gaga's team, about these concerns. They said that they carried it all out before anything happened, and that people were safe.

Of the two people that were arrested, Jessica, one of them was posing as a Lady Gaga fan on Discord as, according to the police investigation, one of them arrested with child pornography, another one for illegal possession of a firearm. Again, these people had not traveled to the concert location, but they were actively enticing people online to go ahead and carry out these attacks for that event with 2.5 million people on the beach in Copacabana.

DEAN: So many people there enjoying that concert. Were the fans ever in danger during the concert, though? Did they say?

JONES: Well, the police said that they had already carried out all of those arrests and search warrants before the concert. That all took place yesterday. I do want to read to you a statement from Lady Gaga's team where they said that they had not been notified that this could have been a problem. They said, we learned about this alleged threat via media reports this morning, today, Sunday, prior 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.

Her team worked closely with law enforcement throughout the planning and execution of the concert, and all parties were confident the safety measures in place.

You know, it's not the first time that Rio has an event like this, Jessica. You know, they have a very large New Year's Eve celebration last year. Madonna played for one and half million people. So there is an infrastructure in place. But I did talk to one concertgoer who had some feelings to share about last night and learning this morning what could have happened.

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DANI MORERA TRETIN, ATTENDED CONCERT: To know that there was a group actively targeting us and the LGBTQ Plus community definitely put a bitter taste in my mouth. I mean, I am glad that they didn't tell people about what was going on, and they did it with discretion because I believe that could have caused a major panic and would have caused many people not to come.

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JONES: And of course, Lady Gaga has a giant LGBTQ Plus following, and those people were quite happy to be out there expressing themselves. And you know, we do hear this kind of duality in Brazil, Jessica, of so much expression and love. And at the same time, there is still a streak of people who are, you know, have expressed their intolerance towards these kinds of displays.

DEAN: All right. Julia Vargas Jones, with the very latest. Thank you very much for that.

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Still ahead, another round of auto tariffs just going into effect this weekend. This is as the Trump administration claims progress on trade talks. But no deals have been done yet. Plus, the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking trial starts tomorrow. We're going to be joined by one attorney to talk about the major challenges of jury selection in that case.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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TRUMP: I think we'll have a deal with India.

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: I would guess that India would be one of the first trade deals we would sign so watch this space.

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: I think it's more than 20 now where we actually have hard offers on the table. Yes, I'm sure there'll be news by the end of the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: The Trump administration has been teasing progress on trade talks, but tonight investors and businesses still waiting to hear any concrete details on deals in the works. President Trump this weekend talking up his trade policies, dismissing concerns that it could lead to a recession, though he has acknowledged it could lead to higher prices in the short term.

Joining us now, John Bresnahan, the co-founder of Punchbowl News.

Good to have you here on this Sunday night. Tariffs are usually the responsibility of Congress. And you walk those halls every single day. You talk to these Republicans. Are they OK with Trump taking the reins here? And does there get a point where they're going to try to take it back?

JOHN BRESNAHAN, CO-FOUNDER, PUNCHBOWL NEWS: Yes. Right now, well, there was a vote in the Senate last week to try to do just that. It wouldn't have gone through Congress and Trump threatened to veto that. But there is concern on Capitol Hill about it among Republicans. Right now they are still letting Trump do what he wants on tariffs, in fact. And Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, has made it impossible to change the rules on a short term basis so the House couldn't try to take back that power from the president. House Republicans couldn't.

So right now, Republicans are staying in line. But we have new auto tariffs coming into came into effect this weekend, 25 percent on auto parts. That's going to drive prices up by a couple thousand dollars per vehicle. The automakers say they're not going to raise prices. And Trump, the White House has already, you know, kind of threatened them over this. But there's going to be continued pressure on this if -- we were going to see more and more pressure on lawmakers on this, on prices, and whether or not that gets to Trump and he changes his mind. We'll have to see.

DEAN: Yes. But the one thing we do know is that, especially House Republicans, some in the Senate that are up on those longer terms, but every House member, every House Republican is going to have to run in these midterms in 2026. Do you get the sense that they're starting to get nervous about this? What are they saying to you? What are you hearing?

BRESNAHAN: Yes, they're nervous about on a number of fronts. They're nervous on the tariff front. And they were nervous when the market was -- Wall Street was collapsing. It's rebounded some. That's given Trump a little breathing room. He's gotten some good news. He got some good news last week on inflation and unemployment. The economic indicators have given Trump a little window here with Wall Street rebounding.

But they're worried about this. They're worried about Medicaid. They're worried about cuts to the budget. They're worried about a whole number of fronts. They see -- they're worried about just kind of Trump being all over the place as president like he was in the first term. So they're worried about a bunch of stuff. There is a window for Trump here. He, you know, he still is popular within the party.

His national poll numbers are down, but he's still popular in the party, you know, so they're not cutting and running from Trump yet. They're a long way from that. But there's definitely nervousness on Capitol Hill.

DEAN: I also want to talk about the budget and Trump's agenda, what he likes to call one big beautiful bill. Speaker Johnson is trying to get this through the House and get it out by Memorial Day, which is, it's quite an undertaking.

Take us behind the scenes. Where do things stand right now? How likely is that deadline? What are some of the dynamics you're seeing at play?

BRESNAHAN: Yes, I'm going to have some news in Punchbowl News in the morning on this. There is the moderates are unhappy with what they're hearing from their own leadership. They're very unhappy moderate Republicans. These are Republicans in swing districts. There's, you know, 10, 15, 20 of them. They're unhappy with Johnson. They're unhappy with the hearing on the White House.

They're unhappy over potential cuts to Medicaid. They're unhappy over potential cuts to food stamp programs. You know, Trump's budget proposal was a stunning document. It would dramatically shift the way the U.S. government spends its money, would see much more focused on defense spending and less on what we call non-defense discretionary spending. All the social programs, social safety net programs, every federal agency you would talk about.

I mean, they're talking about cutting budgets for national parks and medical research. They're upset about that. That budget document is not going anywhere. But we're going to start seeing that, playing out in the hill this week. For instance, FBI Director Kash Patel will be up in front of senators on Thursday. Trump has proposed cutting the FBI budget by $500 million. So we're going to see that start to play out.

But right now that, you know, the moderates are very upset, I don't see -- I see it really problematic that they get a bill. And that's only part of the way they get a bill through the House by Memorial Day.

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I think it's a real tough -- it's going to be a real big lift for House Republicans at this point.

DEAN: Yes. It seems like a big ask. And as you note, one of the issues that they're concerned about, possible cuts to Medicaid, I want to play a clip. This is what two House Republicans told my colleague Lauren Fox earlier this week. This is what they had to say.

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REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): I've said no. Look, my bottom line is I am not cutting benefits for eligible recipients. Period. The issue to me is what gets 218. And a number of us have been very clear when it comes to Medicaid. REP. NICK LALOTA (R-NY): I come to it with one basic question. If it

throws people intended to be on the program, off the program, I can't support it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So that was Nick LaLota just there, and then Mike Lawler before him, who you've talked to, I'm sure, about all of this as well. And I thought Lawler there has like the central point, which is, how do you get to 218? That's what you got to do to get this through. And I'm curious how do you see them with this particular issue, finding some middle. Do you think that they can find that middle ground and make sure that that guys like that are on board?

BRESNAHAN: Yes, those are two swing Republicans in New York. Those are two majority makers for Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans. If they don't hold those seats, it's very, you know, it's very hard to see them holding on to a majority. When they say, you have to be very careful when you listen to this, when Republicans say they're not cutting benefits, that's a very specific thing, statement they're making.

What Democrats are saying and what advocates for low-income groups are saying is they're going to throw people off Medicaid. They're going to impose work requirements when there are already work requirements on Medicaid. They're going to impose more. There's going to impose more tests on this. They're going to change the way the federal government funds the states through this program.

So there's ways that millions of people could end up losing Medicaid coverage while not covering benefits. And that's the argument that's going to be made. Whether they can do it, if they don't cut benefits, but they still are removing people from the rolls. Now, there's claims there's a lot of waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid. There is waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid. There's no question about it.

But this is an enormous program that covers tens of millions of Americans, especially 40 percent of the children in this country are on Medicaid. So this is a hugely vital issue, not only for the Republicans here, but for Democrats. So you'll see a number of these swing Republicans are very, very concerned about the direction this is going. And you still have SNAP, which is food stamps, and you still have other programs for low-income Americans that are going to be impacted. So there's a lot of a lot at stake here.

DEAN: It is really fascinating to see how this all shakes out.

John Bresnahan, we thank you for being here. See you soon.

Still ahead, the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking trial starts tomorrow. What we know about jury selection and how complicated this week's long trial may be.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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DEAN: Jury selection begins tomorrow in the federal sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs. He has pleaded not guilty to five charges that include racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. If convicted, Combs could spend the rest of his life in prison. He has been in custody since his arrest back in September.

Defense attorney and trial lawyer Misty Marris is joining us now to talk through some of this.

Misty, good to see you. Let's start first talking about jury selection. How difficult will it be to select a jury when this is such a well-known figure?

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It is going to be a real beast to get a jury seated. And it's not only is Diddy a well-known person, a huge celebrity, but this case and everything related to it has been covered so much. Documentaries, you can't even turn the television on without seeing something about this case. And keep in mind, there's also 60 civil cases that are filed. They're not going to be part of the criminal trial.

So everybody is going to know about the case. The lawyers are going in there understanding that people to a certain degree are going to have an opinion on it. The question is, finding jurors who can put any preconceived notions aside and make a decision based on the evidence in the courtroom. So there's going to be a lot of work to get there to weed out those individuals who simply are not going to be able to put aside their bias.

DEAN: And then there's the question, there's the surveillance video first seen on CNN of Combs striking and dragging his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. This is going to be shown to the jury. We should also note Combs has since apologized since this video. How important will her testimony and this video be in this case?

MARRIS: The video is going to be incredibly important, and she really is the key witness to this case. She was with Diddy for about 10 years, and that video specifically is something the prosecutors are going to use to further their case on that sex trafficking and racketeering allegations against Diddy, because they say this video specifically is an example of that force, fraud and coercion that those who were forced into these freak offs experience, and that he used violence in order to get people to comply. And that video is going to be a part of it.

[18:35:06]

And, Jessica, keep in mind, the video is also something that the lawyers are thinking about going into jury selection. There will be jury questionnaires and the jury -- the jurors, the individual prospective jurors will be questioned about things like intimate partner violence, whether or not they have been a victim of it or someone they know has. So all of that is going to be incredibly important to the case. And Cassie's testimony is really going to be key for the prosecution.

DEAN: CNN has learned that some of Combs' former sexual partners, a business associate and a male sex worker are also among those set to testify. What are prosecutors looking for from those particular witnesses?

MARRIS: So, remember, we've heard so many allegations, what we were speaking about before, you know, 60 plus civil cases, there's a whole lot of stuff out there in those civil complaints that are not going to be part of the more narrow criminal trial. So the trial itself is based on allegations and conduct alleged by four victims. So all of those other witnesses, they're either going to be corroborating the stories of the four victims or speaking to the criminal enterprise.

Remember, this is not a simple case. These are federal charges of racketeering, meaning that crimes were committed in furtherance of a criminal enterprise. It's also sex trafficking, coercing someone to engage in a sexual act with force, fraud or coercion. And then, of course, you have prostitution, crossing state lines for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. These witnesses are going to have to get on the stand and explain that criminal enterprise, explain the process of these freak offs.

According to the prosecution, they were logistically complicated. So you're going to have to get these witnesses to get up there and corroborate the stories of the victims, as well as explain it to the jury what this criminal enterprise actually was. And each, especially those who might have been involved to some degree, they're going to face scrutiny on cross examination, because sometimes when you have a conspiracy, the bad guys are the ones that are testifying.

And so they've engaged in conduct that could be seen as negative as well. So it's going to be a very, very complicated case. And prosecutors are looking to corroborate the four victims' stories.

DEAN: And then just, from your experience as a defense attorney, what type of defense strategy would you employ here, or do you think we could see?

MARRIS: Right now what we're going to see, it's going to be twofold. There's going to be a lot of focus on the victims. And that allegedly, what the defense has said is that there were long term relationships between two of the victims and Combs. They're going to say that this isn't a sex trafficking case, that he has been overcharged. These relate to tumultuous relationships that were consensual.

A step further, they've already come out and said in pretrial filings that Combs engaged in the lifestyle of a swinger. So they're going to say that any of these freak offs, what happened at the freak offs was consensual. And then when it comes to the racketeering and the criminal enterprise, you know, it's everything under the sun that underlies that. It's arson, it's robbery, it's drugs, it's guns. There's going to be individuals who are going to have been involved in that conduct, and they're going to say, this is a Hail Mary.

They're cooperating with the prosecution because they're telling you they did illegal things. So that's where the defense is really going to focus on undercutting all of the testimony of the prosecutions' key witnesses.

DEAN: All right. A lot to come this week.

Misty Marris, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

MARRIS: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Yes. Still to come, first the Trump administration targeted Mexico's drug cartels. And now it's the musicians who sing about them. Could certain songs that celebrate the cartels spark an investigation by the State Department? That's next.

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DEAN: A new kind of music is becoming more popular. Narcocorridos, Mexican songs inspired by the drug cartel lifestyle. Some cities in Mexico have banned the music. And now, in an unprecedented move, the State Department has revoked the visas for a band that sings about the leader of the Jalisco Cartel. It's one of six Mexican drug cartels the Trump administration has declared a foreign terrorist organization.

CNN's Gustavo Valdes recently spent time with another group that performs these songs.

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GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 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, AUTHOR, "DYLAN GOES ELECTRIC": Outlaws have always been popular.

VALDES: 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.

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.

[18:45:05]

VALDES: Sometimes the lyrics have run afoul with politicians in some Mexican municipalities and venues. They've banned the genre, upsetting some fans. (Voice-over): Singer Luis R. Conriquez 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, AUTHOR OF BOOKS ABOUT DRUG CARTELS: This music, it was Mexican, but it was not made in Mexico.

VALDES: Sam Quinones is a journalist and author of books about drug cartels. He says Los Tigres del Norte recorded " Contrabando y Traicion" in California in 1974. It's 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: 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 el 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: In the end, music is just an excuse to have a good time.

Gustavo Valdes, CNN, Atlanta.

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DEAN: And still ahead, President Trump says, quote, "I don't know," when asked if he must uphold the Constitution. What we're hearing in a new interview from this morning.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:52:21] DEAN: A driver is OK after being pulled out of a semi that was dangling off an interstate overpass. CNN affiliate WLKY reports it happened this morning in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, when the driver lost control. It took crews about 30 minutes to get the driver hoisted out of the cab. Fire officials say there were no injuries in that accident. Amazing.

This week, Eva Longoria is taking us to the south of Spain, to the region of Andalusia and the city of Seville. I sat down with Eva to discuss the deep history in that region and how that's inspired its culture today.

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DEAN: In this week's episode, you go a little bit south to Seville and Andalusia. This is known for a lot of things I think people think of when they think of Spain. Right? Tapas, bullfighting, flamenco, the Moorish architecture. Describe to people what this region is like.

EVA LONGORIA, HOST, "SEARCHING FOR SPAIN": Oh, my gosh, I love Andalusia. It's the region I know the most because I live in Marbella, so it's the south of Spain. It used to be called Al-Andalus because it was ruled by the Moors for over 700, 800 years. It's really the soul of Spain. Andalusia really celebrates what it is to be Spanish.

DEAN: To zero in on the tapas for a second, because, again, I think a lot of people know about that, but maybe aren't exactly sure what counts as a tapas or what counts as tapa. How does it work? Take us through what you were eating while you were there. Did you have some favorites?

LONGORIA: So the word tapas in Spanish comes from covering. And so you would go to a bar and to cover your wine or your drink, they would put a piece of bread or a food. So they would top it, and they would just hand it to you in a bar. So that's where the word came from. I was like, what?

DEAN: Wait. I didn't know that.

LONGORIA: Yes. Dried piece of fish, a dried anchovy. So that bugs or the flies wouldn't get into your drinks. Tapas are now these really fun things that you get at bars. They're free, I mean, if you sit down, you're going to get a tapas served to you whether you ordered it or not.

DEAN: Congratulations.

LONGORIA: But each bar has kind of like their own tapas style, their own tapa menu. And you know, some bars are very famous for their tapas than others, but it's really a fun experience. And I think people associate Spain with tapas.

DEAN: And then just kind of the spirit of that area. I think about flamenco again, a dance that has been around for so long, that is so much the spirit of a place, too. LONGORIA: Yes. There's a word in Andalusia, duende, which is like this

soul to feel with your entire being. And so flamenco is part of that. Playing the guitar is part of that. We went to a flamenco show in Jerez. I was in tears.

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You just feel the emotion coming out of the dancer, of the singer. Even if you don't speak Spanish, you're just in tears going, I understand you, it's beautiful storytelling, a lot of story to tell in the south for sure.

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DEAN: A new episode is happening tonight. It's "EVA LONGORIA: SEARCHING FOR SPAIN," airing tonight at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

Still ahead, new details in a thwarted bomb threat targeting millions of people at a Lady Gaga concert in Brazil. What we're learning about that investigation.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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