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CNN This Morning

Supreme Court Temporarily Pauses Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act; Top Secretary Hegseth Aide Leaves Post; Thunderstorms, Heavy Rain And Flash Floods To Impact Southern Plains And Midwest; Iran, U.S. Hold Talks In Rome In Bid To Reach Nuclear Deal; U.S. Open To Recognizing Crimea As Russian In Ukraine Deal. Second Round of U.S. Talks on Iran's Nuclear Future in Rome Underway; Suspected FSU Shooter Phoenix Ikner's Biological Mom Kidnapped Him and Fled to Norway Amid Bitter Custody Battles Years Before Deadly Rampage; Federal Judge Denies Request to Delay Combs' Sex-Trafficking Trial. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired April 19, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:29]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Saturday, April 19th. I'm Victor Blackwell. We're following several new developments while you were sleeping.

The Supreme Court issued a ruling that stops the Trump administration from deporting a group of immigrants in Texas. And that ruling came with a strong, strict directive from the court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Is adhering to the Constitution to the right of due process. And that's why we say bring Kilmar home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Senator Chris Van Hollen says that Kilmar Abrego Garcia is traumatized after being wrongfully deported to El Salvador. And despite the Trump administration acknowledging its removal was a mistake, it's vowing that Garcia will never set foot in the U.S. again.

U.S. and Iranian delegations are in Rome for a second round of high level talks on Iran's nuclear program. But this time, both sides are coming to the table with a threat from President Trump looming in the background.

And the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs will go on as scheduled next month. His attorneys wanted more time to mount a defense, but the judge shot that down. And that's not the only major ruling handed down on Friday.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And we've got strong storms already rolling through multiple states right now, including some severe thunderstorm watches. We'll detail that timeline and what states can expect, what type of severe weather going through the rest of the day.

BLACKWELL: We're starting with that breaking news that the Supreme Court threw another wrench into the Trump administration's efforts to deport migrants under the Alien Enemies Act. The ruling came in around 1 this morning. The court is temporarily freezing any action in a case involving a group of Venezuelan migrants in Texas who the Trump administration was working swiftly to deport.

Two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. They dissented. The order was brief. It stated the government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this court.

Now, this action by the Supreme Court follows a ruling it made on April 7. Now, that decision made it clear to the Trump administration that if they wanted to deport immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act, they had to give them notice beforehand and a chance to challenge that deportation in court.

Meanwhile, litigation continues in the case of the wrongly deported man from Maryland, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Senator Chris Van Hollen returned from El Salvador Friday. He met with Abrego Garcia in a public place. The pictures are here. The senator told reporters that Abrego Garcia had been moved from the notorious maximum security prison to another detention center nine days ago.

President Trump attacked Van Hollen's meeting. He said the senator looked like a fool after his trip. Van Hollen stood by his actions. He said the case is significant for the rights of all Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN HOLLEN: This case is not just about one man. It's about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States of America. If you deny the constitutional rights of one man, you threaten the constitutional rights and due process for everyone else in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The White House is firing back at increased public pressure to release Abrego Garcia. Posting on social media, he says that he's never returning to the US. With me now is Jake Traylor, a White House reporter for POLITICO. Jake, good morning to you.

So, no reaction from the President yet again. This happened just a few hours ago in the a.m. hours. But we know that the White House, the Attorney General, they have excoriated Judge Boasberg for his order last month to stop that plane or any planes from going to Venezuela.

What do we know about the White House's approach to the Supreme Court, a third of which this president appointed, that might inform the response and the political rhetoric that we should expect. JAKE TRAYLOR, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: Yeah. Victor, good

morning. This is the latest case of the Trump administration's doubling down on the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Now, as a reminder, the Supreme Court, they ruled that Trump's admin must facilitate Abrego Garcia's reentry into the United States after wrongfully deporting him to El Salvador.

[06:05:09]

It was a wrongful deportation because a previous U.S. court order existed saying that essentially Abrego Garcia cannot be deported back to El Salvador for safety reasons. And the Trump administration themselves, they did admit that in court documents that he was deported there due to a clerical order or a clerical error, rather.

Now in recent days, however, we're seeing the Trump administration officials continuing to deny that he was mistakenly deported, that he's a member of the MS-13 gang. And this White House social media post editing a New York Times article and including that Abrego Garcia is, quote, never coming back to the United States is the latest example of this we've seen over the past couple of weeks.

Consistently, the Trump administration deny any wrongdoing and continue to double down despite the Supreme Court's orders that they have no intention of working with El Salvador to peacefully facilitate the process of Gregory Garcia returning back to the United States.

BLACKWELL: Your colleagues at POLITICO reporting that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's chief of staff is now being reassigned from that role. His name is Joe Kasper. This is after Hegseth, deputy chief of staff, his senior advisor, the chief of staff for the deputy defense secretary, all put on leave. This is an inexperienced secretary of defense. What are the concerns here and what's going on at the top of the Pentagon?

TRAYLOR: Yes, so that's right. It's Joe Kasper, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's chief of staff, leaving his role in the coming days for a new position at the agency, according to senior administration officials. And that really is coming, as you kind of noted, amid a week of turmoil at the Pentagon.

We've seen senior adviser Dan Caldwell, that was Pete Hegseth, deputy chief of staff, Darren Selnick and Colin Carroll, the chief of staff to the Deputy Defense Secretary, all on leave this week and then all eventually fired this week ongoing all related to that ongoing leak probe in the Signal chat.

Now, Victor, all stems from that Signal group chat leak where a journalist was added to a group chat discussing critical battle plans that contains sensitive. But here, Victor, is what is incredibly notable. This move essentially leaves Hegseth without a chief of staff, deputy chief of staff or senior advisor in the front office. And I want to read to you a couple quotes gathered by my colleague Daniel Lippman and some of that reporting that you mentioned a senior defense official telling him after all of these firings yesterday that there is a complete meltdown in the building and that this is reflecting on the secretary's leader. That's from a senior defense official.

That person also said that Pete Hegseth had surrounded himself with some who do not have his best interest at heart. So quite the week of turmoil and a lot of figuring out to do over at the Pentagon and for Hegseth's team amidst this ongoing leak investigation.

BLACKWELL: Well, speaking of turmoil, let's now look at the IRS midweek. The then acting commissioner of the IRS, Melanie Krause, she announced that she was leaving and that IRS investigator who was the whistleblower for the Hunter Biden element investigation, that he would be taking the acting role and then by the end of the week he is out. What is happening there? I've read this. The reporting is that this is a fight between Musk and Bessent. Take us inside.

TRAYLOR: Yes, that's exactly right. And I think what this actually does is it points to a larger picture that we're seeing across the board and specifically with DOGE, with Elon Musk kind of helming the way at federal agencies right now. I was talking with a couple senior officials yesterday that were talking about the way that there are sometimes ways that Elon Musk and his DOGE team are moving very quickly and very effectively in terms of eliminating people or in terms of making maneuvers or movements.

But what is not so quick to follow is some of the administrative process that takes place. And so what we end up happening, having on our hands are situations like this where there's people that are quickly out, people that are quickly in.

And there's not quite procedural thing that we are used to when it comes to these types of very significant roles. And what we're left with in the meantime often are roles that are unfilled. And we know for a lot of reasons, the reason that can create an issue whenever we have these very important government roles without people actually in place.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Especially this time of year, that type of turmoil at the top of the IRS. Jake Traylor with POLITICO, thank you.

So this morning at least 45 million people are under threat for severe weather. Some storms are expected to spin up tornadoes, trigger major flooding across a 900 mile stretch from the Great Lakes to western Texas. CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking the latest. So where's the greatest risk now?

[06:10:05]

So where's the greatest risk now?

CHINCHAR: Well, it's really going to be over the same spot for a couple of days because as large as this system is, Victor, it's not going to move all that fast. And so it's going to kind of trail over the same areas over and over again.

And so right now where we're seeing most of the activity is the Southern Plains moving up into the Midwest. So you can see here about portions of Texas all the way back up through areas of Indiana and Ohio. And then this line will gradually, very gradually make its way off towards the east in the coming days. Now right now we do still have one severe thunderstorm watch in effect. This goes until about 8:00 a.m. this morning.

You can see a long line of those very powerful thunderstorms headed right towards Dallas, kind of sliding into Fort Worth as we speak. But even a little bit farther north of that you're starting to see some of those stronger thunderstorms across portions of Oklahoma and especially into Missouri. You can see several of them, really strong ones, lots of lightning sliding in to portions of St. Louis.

Overall, the greater threat for today exists along this huge line here. So both the green and the yellow have the potential for strong to severe thunderstorms. That does include hail that could be the size of quarters or larger. You're talking damaging winds 60-70 miles per hour and yes, even the potential for a tornado or two, especially on the southern edge of those storms. Here's a look at the timeline.

Again, a lot of those storms are going to roll through the rest of the day and even through the evening hours. But it continues through the back half of the weekend. We'll talk about the flooding threat coming up in a few minutes.

BLACKWELL: All right, Allison, thank you. Iran apparently is trying to send a message ahead of this morning's second round of high stakes talks with the U.S. over the future of its nuclear program. What they showed off the live report is straight ahead.

Plus, there are new developments in the investigation into that mass shooting at Florida State University. What police are saying about a possible link to a planned protest on the campus.

And later today marks 30 years since the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. We'll hear from a survivor of the Oklahoma City bombing ahead on CNN This Morning weekend.

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[06:16:50]

BLACKWELL: We're following several major foreign policy developments that have been happening over the past 24 hours. First, talks between the U.S. and Iran. Those just started in Rome. And although they're happening in Rome, Oman is expected to mediate the talks just as they did last weekend. The talks are happening soon after President Trump doubled down on Iran and he said they will not be able to have nuclear weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm for stopping Iran very simply from having a nuclear weapon. They can't have a nuclear weapon. With Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. And if they have a nuclear weapon, you'll all be very unhappy. You'll all be very unhappy because your life will be in great danger.

(END VIDEO CIP)

BLACKWELL: The president is also weighing in on another foreign policy debate. This is Russia versus Ukraine. And he seemed to downplay Secretary of State Marco Rubio's warning morning on Friday that patience on a deal is wearing thin. The president is projecting more optimism that they are closer to an agreement.

He did not offer timeline or time limit, just saying that he wanted a deal reached quickly. More talks are expected next week in London.

All right. Let's go to the first of those negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us now from Rome. What do we know about the talks today, Ben?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have begun at the Omani embassy here in Rome. It's Steve Witkoff, the special U.S. envoy representing the United States, and Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister representing Iran. And in the middle, you have the Omani foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, who's essentially going back and forth between the two sides within the same building as he did last week in Oman itself, passing messages back and forth.

What we've seen so far, statements from both sides, the White House and the Iranians, that last week's talks were constructive. These are essentially negotiations about negotiations. But there does seem to be some unhappiness on the Iranian side because they're confused. The United States is sending mixed messages.

On the one hand, you have Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, basically saying that the United States will not allow Iran to have any nuclear program, civilian or otherwise, while Steve Witkoff has put out the message that essentially what the United States wants is a verification program on Iran's existing nuclear program.

Not much different basically, the broad lines from the 2015 nuclear agreement that the United States, along with the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany, worked out with Iran. And then in 2018, President Trump pulled out of.

Now, we did hear from Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, saying the talks are constructive, but Iran has certain conditions. This is what he said.

[06:20:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We have seen a certain level of seriousness in the first round of talks. And if they are ready to discuss the nuclear issue and only the nuclear issue in a serious set of discussions without involving other matters, then we can progress further towards a constructive dialogue. So as I say, if demands are not made that are impossible to act upon, then it could be feasible to reach an agreement. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WEDEMAN: So certainly what the Iranians are saying is that under U.N. Treaties, Iran has the right to a civilian nuclear energy program, which is, of course, as I mentioned before, Marco Rubio has made it clear, and I think the Israelis stand, are basically in agreement with that. They want Iran to have nothing at all. The Iranians are insisting that they can have a nuclear energy program like any other signatory to U.N. agreements. And they have said in the past that they are not pursuing weapons, although obviously the United States, Israel and others are not convinced of that.

But we shall see how these talks go. Certainly so far the atmospherics have been positive, and we shall see if that positivity continues in the coming weeks. Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Ben Wedeman in Rome for us. Thank you, Ben.

At least one person is dead after Russian strikes in the Donetsk region of Ukraine this morning, 87 drones were launched. That's according to the Ukrainian air force. Hours earlier, CNN learned from a source that the Trump administration is ready to recognize Russian control of Crimea as part of the framework to push for an end to the war. Vice President J.D. Vance said Friday that he's optimistic about talks, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said time is running out. CNNs' Nic Robertson has the latest for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Just before he left Paris early Friday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a very clear indication that the time is running out, patience is running out inside the White House for a deal between Russia and Ukraine. He wasn't clear about who he thinks is in default, but he did say that both sides need to come up with answers quickly, otherwise the United States will just move on.

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We came here yesterday to sort of begin to talk about more specific outlines of what it might take to end the war, to try to figure out very soon. And I'm talking about a matter of days, not a matter of weeks, whether or not this is the war that can be ended. If it can, we're prepared to do whatever we can to facilitate that and make sure that it happens, that it ends in a durable and just way.

If it's not possible, if we're so far apart that this is not going to happen, then I think the president is probably at a point where he's going to say, well, we're done.

ROBERTSON: Well, a few hours later at the White House, President Trump was asked how many days he's willing to give to get the answers that he's looking for. He didn't make a commitment on how many days. He said that he felt reasonably optimistic that a deal could still be done. He said it'd been in negotiations all the life. He needs to see enthusiasm. But he says he thinks he sees enthusiasm coming from both parties. He

was asked if he thought President Putin was trying to trick him, trying to play him. He said no, he didn't believe that, but that we would see. And then he went on to say that if either party or one party tried to play the United States, then they would just take a pass on it.

TRUMP: If for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we're just going to say you're foolish, you're fools, you're horrible people, and we're going to just take a pass. But hopefully we won't have to do that. And Marco is right in saying it. We're getting -- we want to see it end.

ROBERTSON: Both Trump and Rubio being quite opaque about who they're really trying to pressure at the moment, whether it's Russia or Ukraine. President Trump has recently said he was frustrated with Russia and has said he could put secondary sanctions and tariffs on them.

But he's also said that it's not going to continue to support Ukraine forever looking to European countries to do more. The talks move very quickly, we're told early next week to here in London. Perhaps that's an indication of where the United States is looking for the answers most quickly. It'll be the Ukrainians, the French, the Germans, the British meeting again with the Americans here in London.

So it seems perhaps to that group that they're looking for answers to come most quickly. We're not hearing in the meantime of any more negotiations, high level negotiations, at least with the Russians.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Let's discuss now with CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier. Kimberly, good morning to you.

[06:25:00]

This move on rhetoric from the Secretary of State, despite the downplay from the president, if Putin knows that all he has to do for the next 90 days is talk about talks and negotiate about negotiations, is there any incentive to get to a ceasefire deal? If there was ever any good faith to start.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It certainly doesn't feel like it. These public comments from Rubio and Trump read like rhetorical pressure aimed at Ukraine. When you look at the timing, it comes just after Rubio presented this plan that, according to CNN sources, includes the U.S. potentially recognizing Crimea and also in that case, lifting sanctions against Russia because the annexation of Crimea triggered a raft of U.S. sanctions.

So what we're not hearing is what would be the pressure against Vladimir Putin? Would their troops be required to pull out from any part of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine that they now occupy because of the recognition of Crimea? That's not being publicly aired.

So in Kyiv, this reads as just more messaging that they're the ones who have to give up territory and possibly security guarantees. And I predict if security guarantees aren't included as part of this, Ukraine's going to balk and Europe's going to balk for what it's worth.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Let's talk about Europe. These last 36 hours of remarks from the U.S. administration. How do you think this resonates with Starmer, with Macron? I mean, they've long said that Putin is stalling and dragging this out. So this isn't a revelation for them, but how do you think they're responding to what we're hearing from the president?

DOZIER: Well, European leaders have been quietly trying to prepare for supporting Ukraine without U.S. supporting, though I had one European official say that's tough. Even if they could come up with the money, a lot of the money that they provide Ukraine goes to buying U.S. weapons systems.

So what they fear is that the U.S. wouldn't just walk away from the negotiating table, but might also once again withdraw intelligence sharing and stop the weapons train to Ukraine, part of which Europeans are paying for. The Europeans don't have the manufacturing capability yet to make up for that loss, because right now it's about 50-50 what Europe and the U.S. are providing to the battlefield.

So, you know, there's another meeting in London next to where European officials will hopefully have time to convince U.S. officials that they have to give Ukraine security guarantees or they have to allow the this European peacekeeping force that's being proposed on the ground in Ukraine to keep Russian troops from invading in future to guarantee whatever peace deal is eventually, hopefully struck.

BLACKWELL: How much, if at all, should the Russia-Ukraine negotiations led by Steve Witkoff inform what we're watching in Rome today in the U.S.-Iran negotiations?

DOZIER: Well, while Steve Witkoff might be an amazing real estate negotiator, foreign policy experts and officials in Kyiv and Europe have watched with horror with some of his comments coming out of meetings with Vladimir Putin. He has talked about believing that Putin really wants a peace deal, whereas the experts look at what Putin has said before and after these meetings and doesn't look like Putin's changed any of his maximalist goals to take over Ukraine.

Witkoff has now made similar positive statements about Iran where Iran hasn't yet backed down from a number of its, you know, sure we will give up our nuclear fissile material that could be used to make weapons, but it will be held by a third party. Things that are very similar to, as Ben Wedemann said, the 2015 JCPOA agreement.

So what Witkoff ends up with in the end is just a watered down version of what the Obama administration struck. That's going to create a lot of aggravation and bad press for Trump back here. So while Witkoff is very positive right now, you know, the Iranians are very wily with negotiations. They say a lot of positive things up front, but, you know, the sting is in the tail of the negotiations with them as with most negotiations on tough things like this.

[06:30:00]

It's going to take a lot longer. Just one last thing to say. Iran is facing snapback of the JCPOA so that could be sanctions by European countries --

VICTOR BLACKWELL, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Yes --

DOZIER: -- come October. So, that is something that Tehran is facing that could pressure Tehran.

BLACKWELL: The sting is in the tail. I'm going to remember that. Kimberly Dozier, thanks so much. Florida officials are releasing more information about the deadly mass shooting on Thursday. What they're revealing about the suspected gunman. We have that for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:00]

BLACKWELL: We're learning more about the two men killed in that mass shooting at Florida State University, as authorities are working to understand the motive behind the attack. Here's CNN's Nick Valencia with more on the accused shooter's background.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE REVELL, CHIEF OF POLICE, TALLAHASSEE POLICE DEPARTMENT: At this point, there does not appear to be any connection at all between the shooter and any of the victims.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Officials in Tallahassee releasing more information today about the shooting at Florida State University that killed two and injured six. According to a law enforcement source, the suspected gunman, 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, suffered from some emotional dysregulation and was prescribed medication.

During interviews with family members, investigators were told he had stopped taking some of his prescribed medication. The law enforcement official also says investigators are looking at the possibility of a connection between the shooting and a protest scheduled by the university's Tallahassee students for a democratic society.

A student group that the suspect was reportedly critical of in the past. But law enforcement is still in the early stages of the investigation and has not said what motivated the suspect. One FSU student told CNN, he knew the suspect from an extracurricular political club.

REID SEYBOLD, FSU STUDENT: And he had continually made enough people uncomfortable where, you know, certain people had stopped coming, and that's kind of when we reached the breaking point with Phoenix and we had asked him to leave. It's been a couple of years now, I can't give exact quotes. He -- you know, talked about the ravages of multi- culturalism and communism and how it's ruining America.

VALENCIA: Investigators revealing Thursday that he's the son of Jessica Ikner, a long-time Leon County sheriff's deputy. But we're now finding out more about his family background. CNN has also learned from court documents that Ikner had a tumultuous childhood with his parents, spending years battling over custody issues.

When he was ten years old, his biological mother, Anne-Mari Eriksen, flew him from Florida to Norway, violating a custody agreement. A judge ruled she had told her son she was taking him to Disney World, according to a court document filed by his father. While his son was in Norway, his father claimed in a court filing, his mother didn't buy him a toothbrush, and he went 103 days without brushing his teeth.

And in 2019, the suspect's father filed a petition to change his son's name from Christian Eriksen to Phoenix Ikner. The suspect testified in support of the change, and a judge approved it over the objection of his biological mother. All victims transported to the hospital after the shooting are in stable condition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do feel that all will make a full recovery.

VALENCIA: The suspect is also still in the hospital.

REVELL: He did receive significant injuries in this event, once he is released from that facility, he'll be taken to a local detention facility where he will face the charges up to and including first degree murder.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: And Victor, on Friday evening, I was at a vigil outside of FSU's football stadium where there was thousands of people there. It really felt like the entire student body of FSU showed up. Many of them embracing each other, some with their heads in their hands. It was a somber scene.

Behind me is one of the several memorials that have sprung up here on campus, but this one is significant. This is where the police line was. The closest people were allowed to get in those early hours after the shooting. We've seen so many people here come and go on this legacy walk. Students here who have come to reflect about the tragedy and pray with the start of Easter weekend. Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Nick Valencia, thank you. Still to come, why federal judge has refused to delay the sex-trafficking trial for Sean "Diddy" Combs, the latest on the case, next. Plus, political strategist Alyssa Farah Griffin and comedian George Wallace join "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" on a new episode? That's tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, streaming tomorrow on Max.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00] BLACKWELL: More than 10 million people are under flood watches through tomorrow, with Kentucky state hit hard by flooding this year, once again in the danger zone. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar tracking it all for us. What do you see?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, METEOROLOGIST: So, I think the key component with this is just how slow this system is going to move, because each individual storm isn't going to necessarily produce a tremendous amount of rain. But if the storms keep going over the same spots over and over again, that rain is going to accumulate.

And that's the concern we have over the next several days. But today, the main focus for a lot of that flooding rain is right through this area that you see here. Obviously, the target point is really going to be that red area. But even if your city is in some of the green or the yellow, say St. Louis or even Dallas, you still have the potential for that flooding, especially because a lot of these areas, the ground is still saturated from some record rainfall that we had earlier in the month.

So, here's a look at the timeline. Again, all -- some of these storms are already ongoing this morning. As we head into the afternoon, you'll see more of that line really starting to fire up from the heating of the day. It continues through the overnight hours and really doesn't move all that much again.

Now, you're looking at Sunday, notice it's a lot of the same cities that are getting rain right now that will still be getting rain yet again tomorrow morning. Then as we head later into the day, you're going to see it gradually, finally start to shift, moving more into, say, like the Ohio Valley into the Tennessee Valley and taking the rain with it.

Now, it's not just the rain. Most of those areas you're talking, widespread about 2 to 4 inches, but some of them could pick up 4-5, even as much as 6 inches of rain. And you're talking in just about 48 hours. That's a lot, especially for those areas where the ground is already wet.

But there's another component, and that's the severe weather side of it where we could be talking tornadoes, damaging winds and hail. We will break that component down coming up in a few minutes.

[06:45:00]

BLACKWELL: All right, thank you. A federal judge in New York has denied a request by Sean "Diddy" Combs' legal team to delay his trial. Now, Combs' attorney argued they need more time to prepare sufficient defense. The judge ruled that the defense has had plenty of time to prepare, and that the trial will start on May 5th as scheduled.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to five charges of sex-trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy. He's been held in federal detention in New York City since his last -- since his arrest last September. CNN's Kara Scannell is following the story for us. KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. A federal

judge denied Sean "Diddy" Combs' request to delay his sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial by two months. Combs had asked for the delay because of additional charges that were added to the indictment recently, but the judge said that he would still have plenty of time to prepare his defense.

The judge also made a number of other key rulings, he said that alleged victims, three of them, would be able to testify using pseudonyms in the case. One of the alleged victims, Combs' former long-time girlfriend Cassie Ventura, is expected to testify in the case at the trial under her actual name.

Now, the judge also made additional rulings in the case. The prosecutors had wanted other victims who were not charged in the indictment, but had alleged that Combs had sexually assaulted them in the past. Prosecutors wanted them to testify, but the judge ruled that, that could not come in because it was substantially different than the alleged crimes that Combs is charged with committing.

Now, as it stands right now, this case is still on track for jury selection to begin on May 5th. Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right, thank you, Kara. A deadly act of terrorism rocked Oklahoma City 30 years ago. How the tragic day is being remembered by those who lost loved ones in the bombing. We have that for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Today marks 30 years since the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. A rental truck filled with explosives was detonated outside the Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. That blast killed 168 people, 19 of them children, and injured several hundred more. CNN's Ed Lavandera spoke with two people whose lives were changed forever that day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Watching these grainy home videos with Edye Raines is like stepping into a frozen vault.

EDYE RAINES, MOTHER OF TWO CHILDREN KILLED IN OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING: That was every day around the house. It was just monster-ville.

LAVANDERA: Traveling back in time to see her two boys, three-year-old Chase(ph), and two-year-old Colton(ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got cold around my head.

RAINES: It's like seeing a picture come to life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just going to say shudder -- LAVANDERA: When you hear their voices --

RAINES: It's weird. I don't ever watch this stuff ever.

LAVANDERA: When the world first saw Edye Raines, April 19th, 1995, she was a 22-year-old mother running around the Oklahoma City federal building, live news coverage captured her agony in the moments just after the bombing that killed 168 people, including 19 children.

(on camera): In that moment, could you have envisioned what your life would be like 30 years later.

RAINES: On the day that it happened, you think it's the end of the world. I mean, it feels like it's the end of the world.

LAVANDERA: What is it that you specifically remember?

RAINES: I remember how loud I wailed and screamed and cried. I can almost hear myself from the back of my head.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Her brother, who was a police officer, would find the bodies of Chase(ph) and Colton(ph) in the rubble. They were in the daycare center on the second floor of the federal building, too close to where Timothy McVeigh parked the moving van filled with nearly 5,000 pounds of explosives.

(on camera): When you think of your boys, what do you -- what do you think?

RAINES: They were such happy, like precious, wonderful little creatures.

LAVANDERA: The idea that you don't get to see what they would have become has to weigh on you.

RAINES: I do wonder, like what would they be? I don't know. So, I wonder about that all the time.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): But six children did survive the bombing. They were called the miracle babies. P.J. Allen(ph) was just 18 months old.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they found me out inside the building, I was on fire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: P.J., look at you.

LAVANDERA: The blast burned more than half his body. Rocks and debris penetrated his skull, and when he left the hospital several months later, it was a headline-making moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going home.

LAVANDERA: For almost ten years, Allen lived with a breathing tube because his lungs were so badly scorched.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which gives me the unique voice that I have now.

LAVANDERA (on camera): It is a unique voice. That's a great way to look at it.

(voice-over): Today, he's 31 years old living in Oklahoma City. He has no memory of that day, but has spent a life-time searching for meaning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that we all survived for a reason, and it's up to us to go through life and try to figure out what that is. For me, I believe that trying to find a way to give back is my purpose.

LAVANDERA: Allen found that work as a technician repairing military planes at Tinker Air Force Base, and always fully aware that he's a direct link to one of the darkest moments in American history.

(on camera): Do you get angry about it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No sir.

LAVANDERA: Never.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Too lucky to be alive to take a moment feeling any type of hatred.

LAVANDERA: You perhaps, maybe more than many people, who realize how grateful it is to take each breath that you have.

[06:55:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh yes, definitely, don't ever take life for granted.

RAINES: He said, I love you, mommy.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Just days after the bombing, Edye Raines spoke with CNN, showing Chase(ph) and Colton's(ph) untouched bedroom.

RAINES: It's all I have left.

LAVANDERA: In those early days, the weight of the future seemed unbearable.

RAINES: What do you do when people ask you? Do you have children? What do you say? Why don't you have children? My children are dead. What do you say? You don't know what to say.

LAVANDERA: Raines would go on to have two more children. Thirty years later, she's learned to live with the memories of Chase(ph) and Colton(ph).

RAINES: Well, the first ten years, there were -- there was a lot of anger. I was angry after this long, you can't just really harbor that hatred and resentment and --

LAVANDERA (on camera): Do you think most people have found some form of peace?

RAINES: I think everyone has dealt with our situation with grace and dignity, I mean, as much as you can.

LAVANDERA: Right.

RAINES: What else do you do? You can't change it.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Ed Lavandera, CNN, Oklahoma City.

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