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Russia Launches Missile and Drone Attack on Kyiv, Four Killed and 20 Others Wounded; Trump-Musk Feud Rages Across Washington and Social Media; Australian Woman Denies That She Intentionally Killed Ex In-Laws with Death-Cap Mushrooms. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 06, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."

Moscow targets Kyiv after Ukrainian drones hit key Russian infrastructure. We're following military advances from both sides of the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Look, Elon and I had a great relationship, I don't know who it was anymore. And I'll be honest, I think he misses the place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Donald Trump and Elon Musk trade their bromance for insults. Some in Washington are calling it America's newest reality T.V. show.

And Australia's mushroom murder trial, the latest on the case against the woman who says she was just trying to fix a bland lunch.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Russia and Ukraine are assessing the damage after the two exchanged a barrage of attacks overnight. The mayor of Kyiv says at least four people were killed and 20 were wounded in Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital, search and rescue operations are ongoing. Russia launched ballistic missiles and drones in the early hours of Friday morning. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of targeting residential areas in Kyiv and a number of targets across the country.

Meanwhile, Russian officials say a Ukrainian drone attack hit an industrial site in the southern Russian city of Engels, sending flames and plumes of black smoke into the sky. Russia's defense ministry says it intercepted more than 170 Ukrainian drones from Thursday evening to early Friday morning and downed three Ukrainian guided missiles over the Black Sea. Russian authorities imposed temporary restrictions on three airports in the Moscow region due to Ukrainian drones flying towards the area.

CNN's Nick Paton-Walsh has more details now on the overnight strikes on Kyiv.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Ultimately, until dawn, until Ukraine is able to get a full assessment of exactly what has happened over the skies of Kyiv and other key cities during the past hours, we won't know if this was the full retaliation that Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed to have warned Donald Trump of during that phone call literally a matter of hours ago, really.

But we do know of the long-range Tupolev-95 propeller-driven bombers that were so frequently targeted during the weekend's attacks on Russian air bases there in the air, says Ukraine's air force. Attacking Ukraine at the same time, too, are multiple waves, it seems, of ballistic missiles, including Kalibr missiles fired from the south of Russia as well.

So a lot, including drones, being thrown at both the capital, Kyiv, and indeed missiles fired towards the Kharkiv region in the northeast and Sumy to the north as well, where there have been significant Russian land advances in the past week or so.

But minimal damage reports always from Ukraine during assaults like this, they try and limit the information they make public, make the job of Russian targeters easier, indications there were power cuts in the capital, and indeed injured in the capital as well. Many Ukrainians deeply on edge because of that Trump-Putin call, will be lying awake tonight wondering indeed if this is the big one, if there is in fact worse to come, or if there might be multiple incidents like this.

But I should stress, Ukraine experiences nightly barrages of missiles and attack drones, and indeed in just the hours before the weekend's attacks on Russian air bases was launched, there was a record 400 or so drones launched by Russia against Ukraine.

The vast majority of them indeed intercepted and stopped, but Moscow increasingly capable to add to the kind of horrors it's able to inflict on ordinary Ukrainians every single night. But there are fears, potentially, that what we're seeing in the recent hours may mark something perhaps more significant, but perhaps at this stage it's too early to tell.

Nick Payton Walsh, CNN, London.

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BRUNHUBER: For more on this, I want to bring in Malcolm Davis, who's a Senior Analyst for Defense Strategy and Capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and he joins us live from Canberra.

Thanks for being with us here again. So you and I spoke yesterday about how Russia might respond. The first thing you predicted was a dramatic increase in conventional attacks against Ukrainian cities, which seems to be what we saw.

So your sense, is this just the beginning? Do you expect more?

MALCOLM DAVIS, SR. ANALYST FOR DEFENSE STRATEGY AND CAPABILITY, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: I think this is probably the beginning of an extended and intensified missile campaign and drone campaign against Ukrainian cities.

[03:04:56]

Putin's objective here will be to wear down the resolve and the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people, and more importantly, wear down the defense capacity of the Ukrainian armed forces, the ability for the Ukrainians to actually defeat these incoming missile and drone threats.

And so I think what you will see is more of these large attacks on Ukrainian cities, more intense attacks, and potentially the introduction of new types of delivery systems. Russia has clearly got some bombers left. They could bring in the Blackjack bomber, but they could also bring in the Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile. So those are the things to watch for.

BRUNHUBER: All right. You spoke of Russia wearing down Ukraine's capabilities here. What do you make of Ukraine's defenses and its ability to protect itself from this type of barrage? How do they hold up?

DAVIS: Well, look, I think so far they're doing quite well. Most of the missiles and drones that are being fired at Ukraine, the Ukrainians are successfully intercepting. But over time, that capacity will decrease, particularly if the supply of missile systems from the United States begins to run dry.

And so I think the real danger comes is if the Trump administration decides it's going to walk away from any ceasefire negotiations and take with it any military assistance or intelligence sharing. At that point, you will start to see Ukrainian air defense capabilities begin to erode very quickly, and more significant damage will be done by these Russian missile and drone attacks.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. So on that, on the U.S. taking away its support, I mean, Ukraine, as you say, relies on U.S. technology to defend itself. According to CNN's reporting, the Pentagon will be diverting anti- drone technology from Ukraine to U.S. Air Force units in the Middle East. And apparently what we're talking about here is these proximity fuses for the rockets that Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian drones.

So explain the importance of this. What impact might this have for Ukraine to lose this type of technology?

DAVIS: What it does is it makes the Ukrainian air defenses less effective against drone and missile threats. And so more of these Russian missile and drones will get through to their targets. And it's really bad timing for the Americans to do this. I understand

why they're doing it, because there's increasing concern that now you'll see a war emerging in the Middle East with Iran -- as a result of Iran essentially rejecting the Trump administration's proposed peace plan.

But, you know, I think it has an effect on Ukraine. Ukraine is going to be less well placed to be able to successfully intercept incoming missile threats and drone threats, even if they can detect them, because the interceptor missile systems they've got won't be able to detonate at the right location to bring down a drone or a missile.

BRUNHUBER: Flipping it, talking about Ukraine's offensive that prompted this response from Russia, we saw, you know, about 100 relatively cheap drones taking out dozens of planes, causing billions of dollars in damage. Beyond the practical implications of this, do you see it changing anything in terms of the narrative of the war? Could this type of thing have any larger impact beyond the actual sort of physical damage?

DAVIS: Look, this remarkable attack by Ukrainian drones on Russia's strategic bombers took 18 months of planning. And I think that probably the Ukrainians would be very lucky indeed to get another attack in like that. I think that it's highly likely that what you'll see is that this does recede or retard Russia's ability to deliver these glide bombs from long range.

The bombers that were destroyed or damaged in this attack are essentially irreplaceable because they're no longer in production, the Tu-95s and the Tu-22 attack fires. And so therefore, that will mark a significant and permanent reduction in Russia's bomber capability. But it won't necessarily have a significant operational impact.

It has a tactical impact, it won't necessarily have a long term operational impact in terms of retarding Russia's ability to generate firepower and attacks against Ukraine.

BRUNHUBER: I will leave it there. I really appreciate your analysis as always. Malcolm Davis in Canberra, thank you so much.

DAVIS: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: A new comment from U.S. President Donald Trump suggests he may not be all in when it comes to working towards ending the war. He said this during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the White House on Thursday.

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TRUMP: But sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy. They hate each other and they're fighting in a park.

And you try and pull them apart. They don't want to be pulled. Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while.

(END VIDEO CLIP) [03:10:08]

BRUNHUBER: Merz said both countries are looking for ways to end the war. But he added that Trump holds the key to making that happen. Here he is.

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FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: America is again in a very strong position to do something on this war and ending this war. So let's talk about what we can do jointly.

I told the President before we came in that he is the key person in the world who can really do that now by putting pressure on Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Two of the world's loudest and most powerful billionaires seem to have ended their alliance amid an ugly public feud stemming from bitter disagreements about the budget bill. The Donald Trump-Elon Musk breakup marks a sharp departure from just a week ago when the two allies spoke kindly and politely to one another ahead of Musk's departure from the administration.

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TRUMP: Elon's really not leaving. He's going to be back and forth, I think. I have a feeling.

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: Well, I expect to continue to provide advice whenever the president would like advice.

TRUMP: I hope so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: But on Thursday, President Trump said Musk was wearing thin and just went crazy. He threatened to end Tesla and SpaceX CEO's government contracts.

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TRUMP: Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore. I was surprised because you were here.

Everybody in this room practically was here as we had a wonderful send off. He said wonderful things about me. You couldn't have nicer said the best name.

And he hasn't said bad about me personally, but I'm sure that'll be next. But I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Well, Musk wasted no time attacking President Trump, insisting on X that without him, Trump would have lost the election and Democrats would control the House. He went on to call for the president's impeachment and predicted his quote, "stupor stupid tariffs would cause a recession."

Kristen Holmes picks up the story.

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KRISTEN HOMES, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is a breaking up and then there is publicly taking a flamethrower to the other person's reputation, to their livelihood. And that is really what we saw and continue to see playing out between two of the world's most powerful men, Elon Musk and President Donald Trump.

Of course, what we saw is changed so much since last Friday when Elon Musk had his government sendoff leaving the government. Donald Trump and Musk talking highly about each other has now devolved into personal attacks on each person's respective online platform. All of this stemming from this bill, this congressional spending bill, Elon Musk earlier this week starting to attack the bill pretty aggressively.

We first saw Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, respond to this in real time. She was giving a press briefing and she laughed it off, saying Donald Trump knows where Elon Musk stands. He's going to continue with this bill.

But since then, this continued to devolve. Elon Musk ramping up the pressure, saying how awful this bill was. White House officials telling us behind the scenes that they believe this is all about the electric vehicle mandate, the rolling back of electric vehicle credits.

And that's why Elon Musk was mad. We were also told that Trump himself, behind closed doors before he reacted, was speculating this was all about business for Musk, that this was all about him going back to Tesla. And these were things he needed to do.

But today, Donald Trump broke his silence, was asked a question about Musk and really went into him saying he was disappointed in Musk. This was all about those electric vehicle credits, that they had a very good relationship. He didn't know if they were going to have one again.

Musk then began responding himself in real time on Twitter, on X, his own platform, hitting back at several things that Donald Trump said. Now, this continued to go on and on until the attacks got personal.

At one point, Musk saying that Donald Trump's name was in the Epstein files, that itself trying to have a low blow here to Donald Trump. Now, it was quiet after that. We saw Donald Trump's only engagement in this was a post about the bill saying he was fine with Elon turning on him, but he wished he wouldn't turn on the bill.

Now we have a statement, the most recent one from Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, addressing these accusations from Elon Musk. He says, "This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who was unhappy with the One Big, Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted. The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again."

Well, there is a reason that this is so focused. It is because the directive from the top. The top, of course, being President Trump, is to keep focused on the bill.

Try not to get in the weeds here, because, of course, this bill is Donald Trump's legacy. Donald Trump, his administration, they believe so much of what he needs to get done on his agenda, the things he's promised to do, is wrapped up in this bill. So for that reason, he is currently telling his team to stay focused on the bill.

[03:15:01]

But that could change at any time. We obviously are not seeing any letting up on either side, particularly Musk, who at one point earlier today agreed with a post that called for Donald Trump's impeachment. So as this plays out, this is one of the most public breaking ups of two high powered individuals that we've seen in quite some time.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, the dispute with Trump is costing Musk an astonishing amount of money. He lost $34 billion from his personal net worth on Thursday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

That still leaves the world's richest man with a net worth of $300 billion. Maybe more concerning, shares of Tesla plunged 14 percent Thursday, wiping $150 billion from the company's market value.

After weeks of silence and tension, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had their long awaited phone call on Thursday. Trump described the 90 minute conversation as very good, saying it focused almost entirely on trade without touching on geopolitical issues.

He said follow up talks would soon be arranged with his economic team. And during the call, Xi called for the U.S. and China to seek win-win results in the spirit of equality.

A federal judge has temporarily stopped Donald Trump's latest attempt to block international students from attending Harvard. The injunction comes just a day after Trump signed a proclamation suspending international visas for new students at the United States oldest and wealthiest university. The judge will hear from both sides in mid-June to determine if Trump's ban will be blocked indefinitely.

Alright, with falling developments out of Lebanon, where Israel says it struck terror targets in and around Beirut, a reaction from the Lebanese government just ahead.

Plus, a British surgeon returns from Gaza. What she says are the biggest challenges in treating wounded Palestinians, especially children in the besieged enclave. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Israel says it struck Hezbollah targets in and around Beirut. Huge explosions and clouds of smoke filled the skies of southern Lebanon on Thursday. The IDF says it hit Hezbollah drone factories.

The strikes marked the largest escalation in fighting since Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November. The Israeli military gave several warnings for residents to evacuate, prompting panic and traffic jams in the Lebanese capital, Lebanon's President and Prime Minister condemned the attacks. Israel's Defense Minister says he holds the Lebanese government responsible for all terrorist activity against his country.

Now to the war between Israel and Hamas. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has resumed aid operations after several shooting incidents in the past week and left dozens of Palestinians dead.

Both of the group's sites were closed within an hour on Thursday after they ran out of food. Some Palestinians say they have no choice but to put themselves in harm's way to access that limited food.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): We died inside. We died. We can't.

All this to get food for our children. I got this, a bit of flour, a bit of lentils and two packs of pasta. We died.

They made us pass at the peak of the heat and they killed us. We can't walk. We can't continue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: For months, Israel enforced a total blockade on all aid into Gaza. Countries around the world are pressuring Israel to flood the enclave with aid to meet the needs of more than two million people. On Thursday, the German and Israeli foreign ministers met in Berlin.

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JOHANN WADEPHUL, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): I'm also worried about the people in Gaza who don't know how to get food and medicine, people who walk long distances to reach aid distribution centers and come back empty handed.

In the worst cases, they don't come back at all because they've been killed. This also happens far too often. These pictures from Gaza are shocking and they show what is currently reaching Gaza in terms of humanitarian aid.

It is too little. And that's why I renewed my urgent plea to the humanitarian aid workers in Gaza to be in our conversation today.

GIDEON SAAR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Germany raises certain concerns. We hear these concerns and I think we are giving also a good reply. And we will continue to do it and we will continue to meet our obligations in respect, of course, international law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Doctors Without Borders is demanding the world take action to end the carnage in Gaza. Dozens of the charity's staff protested outside the U.N.'s Geneva headquarters on Thursday, saying the new aid distribution mechanism in Gaza is costing lives. Doctors Without Borders says no one should be forced to run a gauntlet of bullets to get bread to feed their families.

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STEPHEN CORNISH, DIRECTOR GENERAL, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS SWITZERLAND: It's inconceivable that there's anything about humanitarian -- about such a treatment of people. People need not only all the basics of life, but they also needed indignity.

And if you're fearing for your life, running with packages, being mowed down, this is just something that is completely beyond everything we've ever seen. And that's why we've come here today, because we believe all the red lines have been crossed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Doctors Without Borders also says some medics in Gaza are having to give their own blood to help the injured because most Palestinians are too malnourished to donate themselves.

[03:25:04]

Dr. Victoria Rose is a British surgeon who just returned to the UK from Gaza, and she spoke with CNN's Isa Soares about what she witnessed.

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ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: How do you deal with that every day, you and your team? And you took a photo, I remember, of you and the team. They're doing this, working through this, and they're going through their own daily challenges, right, to feed their families, keeping themselves alive, keeping their families alive.

But also on a day-to-day basis, do you have the equipment given, you know, that so much hasn't gone in and the blockade has been in place to help these young children? DR. VICTORIA ROSE, BRITISH SURGEON JUST CAME BACK FROM GAZA: We always

try and take as much as we can in. But obviously the situation's changed since the Rafah border closed.

So you're only allowed to take one bag with you and it has to weigh 23 kilos. But we do always manage to take instruments in because that's a vital issue for us. If we get there, we haven't got the kit we need to do the operations with, you know, we're virtually useless.

But what really hampered us this time was the consumables, because we very rarely take consumables because it's too much to put in a bag. And we were running out of things left, right and center and improvising, which was fine initially.

But then we started running out of scalpel blades and we ran out of drapes. So we were using gowns for drapes. And then we were watering down the antiseptic solutions that you use to prep a patient before theater.

But the hardest thing for us was the drugs. They'd run out of so many drugs.

SOARES: Such as--

ROSE: They estimated that they'd run out of 47 percent of what they were calling essential drugs.

SOARES: Aren't you saying that 2700 children under the age of five were diagnosed with acute malnutrition just in the second half of May. That has an impact on the job that you do because operations, because of recovery, speak to that.

ROSE: That has a huge effect on what we do. And it's not only that the children are smaller for their height and weight than, say, their Western counterparts, but malnutrition causes problems with cell turnover and wound healing. If you don't have the essential nutrients and vitamins, you cannot repair your cells.

But more importantly, malnutrition causes a dampening of the immune system. You just cannot mount that immune response any longer. And so that, coupled with the poor conditions that they're in and then the lack of antibiotics, meant that we were really suffering with infection.

And we lost one seven-year-old girl to overwhelming sepsis that I know would not have happened if she'd have been in the U.K.

SOARES: I can't imagine how hard it is for you to have left Gaza. In fact, I saw your video on Instagram where you were saying goodbye and I know how hard that was, those words, and how much that meant to you and also your colleagues. Can you speak to that?

ROSE: I think the biggest issue for us leaving Nasser was that we were in such a precarious position when we were there. So we were almost in the active fighting zone. It had come right up to the square that we were in. They've sort of designated Gaza into squares as part of the military

operation. And we were square 107 and all the squares on two sides of us were red.

And we were aware that it was likely that Nasser would become active fighting zone and we may have to evacuate. For some reason, that didn't happen until the night that we left. But the implication of the fact that it's in the active fighting zone now is huge.

And it's not that they've had to evacuate because they've specifically said you don't have to evacuate, but you're in the active fighting zone. But that now means it's incredibly dangerous for our local colleagues to get in and out of Nasser. They have to, a lot of them are living in Deir al-Balah in the Midland because that's one of the safest places due to the fact that all the NGO offices in OCHA and the United Nations are there.

So they're coming in and the NGOs will put on buses for the nurses and doctors that work at Nasser to transport them from Deir al-Balah into Khan Younis. Now that journey has to be deconflicted.

And we spoke to some colleagues yesterday who said they got on the bus at six in the morning and at 11:00, their journey still hadn't been deconflicted. And so they ended up turning round and going back to Deir al-Balah. So that's the hospital now without staff.

And then the next thing, because it's in an active fighting zone, it's likely to take damage to its generator, its water supply. And you can see that it's gradually going to get strangled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The Trump administration is imposing new sanctions on the International Criminal Court for its attempts to investigate alleged U.S. and Israeli war crimes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the move, calling the ICC's actions illegitimate and disgraceful.

[03:30:03]

The court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and it's looking into alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan by U.S. and Afghan forces.

Germany's chancellor met with Donald Trump on Thursday, hoping for more pressure on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. But what he heard from the U.S. president is creating some doubt that's ahead.

And strange relatives in a meal laced with deadly mushrooms. Testimony continues in the trial of an Australian woman accused of murdering three of her ex-in-laws. Stay with us.

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[03:35:00]

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Let's check today's top stories.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk's feud exploded into a barrage of back-and- forth insults on Thursday. What started as a professional disagreement over the U.S. president's budget bill quickly turned personal. Musk said President Trump should be impeached, and the President suggested Musk has, quote, "Trump derangement syndrome."

Israel says it struck Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon. The attack marked the biggest escalation in fighting since a U.S.- brokered ceasefire in November. The IDF warned in advance it would hit underground drone facilities controlled by Hezbollah.

The mayor of Kyiv says at least four people were killed and 20 wounded in Russian strikes overnight. Search and rescue operations are ongoing in the Ukrainian capital. Russia launched ballistic missiles and drones in the early hours of Friday morning, Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of targeting residential areas.

Two leaders who can affect the outcome of the war in Ukraine met in Washington on Thursday. U.S. President Donald Trump hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the White House.

As Fred Pleitgen reports, Trump made a comment that could raise new questions about his commitment to end the war.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there was a good degree of nervousness here in political Berlin ahead of that meeting in the Oval Office between Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and President Donald Trump. Friedrich Merz kicked things off by giving a gift to President Trump, the birth certificate of President Trump's grandfather, who of course was German and then immigrated to the United States.

The president thanking Friedrich Merz for that, and it sort of seemed to set the tone for that meeting in the Oval Office, which was not as confrontational as some of President Trump's meetings that he had with other leaders who went and visited him. The tone at times was very friendly between the two leaders.

The main topic, or one of the main topics, was certainly the war in Ukraine, where President Trump made a remark that raised eyebrows among some, comparing Ukraine and Russia to two children having a fight. Here's what he said.

TRUMP: You have two kids, they fight. Sometimes you let them fight for a little while.

You see it in hockey, you see it in sports. The referees let them go for a couple of seconds, let them go for a little while before you pull them apart. And maybe, and I said it, and maybe that's a negative because we're saying go, but a lot of bad blood, there's some bad blood between the two.

PLEITGEN: Now, while not directly confronting President Trump about those remarks, Friedrich Merz did stay very clear to the line that his new government has been trotting here as far as the war in Ukraine is concerned, namely that Germany is squarely on the side of the Ukrainians. But he also called on President Trump to do more to end the war in Ukraine. Here's what he said.

MERZ: Well, I think we both agree on this war and how terrible this war is going on. And we are both looking for ways to stop it very soon. And I told the President before we came in that he is the key person in the world who can really do that now by putting pressure on Russia.

And we will have this debate later on again, how we can proceed jointly between the Europeans and the Americans. And I think we are all in, we are having the duty to do something on that now to stop it after three and a half years, which is really terrible.

PLEITGEN: Ukraine, of course, one of the big topics, but there are other issues, of course, that are very difficult between Germany and the United States. One of them is the tariffs that President Trump has threatened to put in place. Germany, of course, is a country that produces a lot of things made of steel and exports a lot of things made of steel, including automobiles, to the United States that could get hit very hard by tariffs.

The other thing also is defense spending and America's role in European defense. On that topic, President Trump did say that he planned to keep American troops on the ground here in Germany.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:40:09]

BRUNHUBER: All right. For more, we're joined by Nina Haase, the chief political correspondent for the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and she's in Berlin. Thank you so much for being here with us.

So, as we just heard there, we've seen world leaders come to the White House and be subjected to theatrical humiliations: Ukraine's Zelenskyy, South Africa's Ramaphosa come to mind. So this one seems much less dramatic. Before we get to the substance, what stood out to you from the tone and the mood of this meeting?

NINA HAASE, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, DEUTSCHE WELLE: Well, I do have to say, Kim, that here in Germany, the chancellor is getting a lot of applause for how he handled the meeting. And that is from all sides, by the way, even from the opposition Green Party.

And you do have to keep in mind, we just heard that in Fritz's report, that Merz had been bracing for a bust up. And his team have clearly watched all the videos from other Oval Office scenes, especially the shouting match that you just referred to with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

You'd had Vice President J.D. Vance's speech earlier this year in Munich attacking Berlin's democratic standards. And then Marco Rubio's recent comments that Germany was acting like a tyranny when it came to how it's dealing with the far-right AfD party. And there was none of that in that meeting.

So Merz did come out of the meeting unscathed. And that in itself is considered a huge success. So he did not do a lot of the talking.

We did a rough calculation and turns out that Trump spoke for roughly 90 percent of the time, Merz roughly 10 percent. But when Merz did talk, he managed to place a few of the messages that he thought were important when Trump talked about Ukraine and Russia being like two kids fighting on the playground. Later, Merz then said that it's Russia that attacks civilian targets and Ukraine doesn't.

It only attacks military targets. So very nuanced there. And of course, Friedrich Merz's goal was clear.

It was to keep Trump interested and engaged in European security. So this was their first encounter. And what's clear now is that it's more likely now that Trump may from now on call Friedrich Merz if ever he wants to speak to the Europeans.

And of course, it's unsatisfying for Germany, the world's third largest economy, after all, to see so clearly that this was not a meeting of two equals. But Merz did accept that subservient role to build up a working relationship with the U.S. President.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, it's interesting to hear that breakdown of how much each of them talked. So you mentioned that Merz came out unscathed. Did he did he come out with anything tangible, though? Because on the trade war, Merz has been very clear about the damage the tariffs would do to both countries. Do you get the sense that he came away with anything on that front?

HAASE: Well, my colleague Michaela Kuefner interviewed Friedrich Merz after that lunch that Friedrich Merz had with Donald Trump after that Oval Office scene. And Friedrich Merz then said to her that he got the feeling that Donald Trump actually does have an appetite for a trade deal of sorts with the Europeans. And what's also interesting is that Donald Trump now seems to have understood that he does have to go through the European Union. Now, that is different to his first term in office when he famously said to Angela Merkel at the time, can't you just fix those things? And Angela Merkel would remind him, no you have to go through Brussels.

So this time around, Donald Trump knows that he has to go through Europe. But Friedrich Merz got the feeling, he said, that Donald Trump has this appetite. And also Donald Trump complimented him on his good English skills so it is very likely that if he wants to settle something with the Europeans, that he will call Friedrich Merz.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting. All right, so the Trump administration has been accused of destabilizing U.S. relations with its Western allies, forcing a political and economic decoupling, so to speak. Merz said after he was elected that the priority would be to strengthen Europe so they can achieve independence from the U.S., but Merz has also called for more cooperation with the U.S.

And CNN asked him about that. Here's part of his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERZ: The world is changing. But on the other hand, America and Europe are still changing the same, sharing the same values. And that's the reason why I'm here, to find out what we can do jointly and where we have to be more independent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: So a big picture, it's a tough line Merz is walking here, more independence and more cooperation at the same time.

HAASE: Absolutely. Europeans are very aware that they are very dependent on the U.S. And it's not just Donald Trump who's told Europeans for years now that they have to invest a lot more in their own defense, in their own security.

[03:45:02]

So this was also something that Friedrich Merz made clear to Donald Trump, that Europeans have got that wake up call, they understand. And this is, of course, leading up to this important NATO summit that is coming up, where Europeans do look ready now to commit to a 5 percent of GDP spending goal for defense. Now, that is a tremendous spike, of course.

And you also have to find ways of then telling the U.S. Americans, we do want you to stay on the ground, stay with us. And at the same time, say we did understand this message. So that is something where Friedrich Merz will have done a lot of talking behind the scenes.

Now, he was just glad on Thursday that this didn't escalate and it wasn't a bust up and that he did get the opportunity to speak to the President behind closed doors and to continue that dialogue that is so vital for European security.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, exactly. Vital, as you say. Nina Haase, thank you so much for breaking it all down for us, I really appreciate it.

An Australian woman accused of killing her ex-in-law says she may have mixed poisonous mushrooms into their food, but only by accident. When we come back, a look at the trial that's been gripping Australia. Stay with us.

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[03:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BRUNHUBER: In day 17 of the Sean Diddy Combs federal criminal trial, a new accuser testified under the name Jane. She dated Combs from 2021 to 2024 and described how an initially loving relationship between them turned into regular drug-fueled sex marathons.

She says she repeatedly told Combs she didn't want to take part in the freak-offs, also called hotel nights, where she had sex with other men arranged by Diddy, but felt pressure because of the financial hold he had on her. Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges that include racketeering, conspiracy, and sex trafficking.

In an Australian courtroom, the woman on trial for triple murder has pled her innocence during cross-examination. In testimony on Thursday, Erin Patterson repeated her claim that she didn't intend to serve a lethal dose of poisonous mushrooms to her ex-in-laws.

CNN's Will Ripley has more.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Erin Patterson invited her estranged in-laws over for lunch, no one could have imagined it would be one of their last meals. Beef Wellington on the menu in the quiet Australian town of Leongatha.

Four people sat down to eat with her. Three of them died days later. Don and Gail Patterson, Erin's former in-laws, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson.

Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, a local pastor, barely survived, spending weeks in intensive care. Prosecutors say they were all poisoned by death cap mushrooms. She's pleaded not guilty.

Just a few bites can destroy your liver. Deadly, fast-acting, extremely difficult to survive.

Erin Patterson says she used store-bought mushrooms, adding dried ones from her cupboard, some she admits she picked herself. She told the court there were death caps in the mix, but she didn't mean to pick them.

She claims she only ate a small amount, said she was eating slowly, then later binged on leftover cake, forcing herself to throw up, citing past struggles with bulimia.

After the lunch, Patterson admitted she threw out a food dehydrator. Police later found it in a dumpster, with her fingerprints on it. The lone survivor told the court his wife noticed Erin eating from a different-colored plate than others.

This case has gripped the world, crowds outside court, wall-to-wall media coverage. Erin's estranged husband, Simon Patterson, also testified.

Jurors saw these text messages from the night before the lunch.

Simon: "Sorry, I feel too uncomfortable about coming to the lunch with you, mom, dad, Ian, and Heather tomorrow."

Erin: "I've spent many hours this week preparing lunch, spent a small fortune on beef-eye filet. It's important to me that you're all there tomorrow."

The mother of two cried on the stand. A prosecutor asked, "You intended to serve one of those beef wellingtons to Simon Patterson if he came?" Erin responded, "Yes, but not one with death caps, not intentionally."

Outside the Wilkinson's church, small tributes for a family ripped apart.

RIPLEY: Photos on Patterson's phone showed mushrooms being weighed days before the fatal lunch. She admitted deleting the images, fearing they'd be used against her. A fungi expert said the mushrooms looked a lot like death caps.

Prosecutors allege she foraged them intentionally after seeing a post online. Patterson denied that, saying she wasn't trying to poison anyone. She also denied claims that she'd been testing dried mushrooms in other meals.

Will Ripley, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: A Japanese space company makes a second bid for the moon, but comes up short again. What may have gone wrong? We'll have that ahead. Stay with us.

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[03:55:00]

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BRUNHUBER: Tokyo-based iSpace says its uncrewed moon lander has crashed onto the surface of the moon. It's the company's second failed attempt to make a commercial space landing as part of a global race to the moon. iSpace says it's been unable to communicate with the resilient spacecraft and believes it made a hard landing, the craft was carrying a four-wheeled rover and payloads worth some $16 million.

Now Eid Mubarak to those of you who celebrate. Today marks the third day of Hajj and the first of Eid al-Adha, one of the biggest events on the Islamic calendar. Every year, thousands of Muslim pilgrims make the journey to Mecca's Grand Mosque to attend prayers and carry out rituals first practiced by the Prophet Muhammad over 1400 years ago.

The pilgrimage is a once-in-a-lifetime religious duty required for every physically and financially-able Muslim and represents the highest expression of Islamic faith and devotion.

All right, thank you so much for joining me. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "Early Start" with Rahel Solomon is next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)