Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Vatican Celebrates Easter Sunday Mass As Pope Francis Recovers; Pope Francis Appears During Easter Sunday Mass; Ukraine: Fighting Continues Despite Putin's Easter Truce; Trump Administration Optimistic After U.S.-Iran Nuclear Talks; Protesters Nationwide Rally Against Trump Administration; New York Times: Trump Administration Draft Order Calls For Drastic Overhaul Of State Department; White House Sets Up Pricey Partnerships For Easter Egg Roll; Nearly 20 Million People From Illinois To Louisiana Under Threat Of Severe Storms; Classes Resume Monday At FSU After Deadly Mass Shooting; FSU Community Remembers Victims Of Thursday's Mass Shooting; Harvard Defies Trump Admin Demands To Change Curriculum, DEI Policies; Two Killed In Central Oklahoma When Vehicle Is Swept Away In Major Flooding; Tech Companies Sign Up To Sponsor White House Easter Egg Roll; Blue Origin's All-Female Crew Flight Faces Criticism; Drake Expands Defamation Lawsuit Against His Own Record Label. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired April 20, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:38]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Sunday, April 20th. To all who are celebrating, happy Easter to you. I'm Victor Blackwell.

Here's what's happening this morning. Let's start with this live look at the Vatican where Easter Sunday mass is happening now. And Pope Francis is expected to give the blessing this morning.

Demonstrators held more than 80 protests against the Trump administration across the country on Saturday. Organizers called it a National Day of Action. They're protesting what they call an assault on democratic institutions and civil liberties.

And some of the country's most prominent universities, they are fighting back against the Trump administration with some vowing not to give in to demands for policy changes even in the face of losing billions in federal funding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAYLE KING, CNN HOST: And then my question is, have you all been to space? Have you been in space?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Gayle King is clapping back at the critics of her Blue Origin flight, telling critics that they're not going to let -- or she's not going to let them rather steal her joy. ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And we've got a tornado watch and a severe thunderstorm watch in effect right now. We'll detail where this line is expected to go for the rest of the day, coming up.

BLACKWELL: It's Easter Sunday, the holiest day of the year for Christians all over the world. And crowds filled Vatican square this morning to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Many of them hoping to catch a glimpse of Pope Francis. The pontiff has scaled back his appearances over Easter holiday as he continues to recover from his life-threatening bout of pneumonia.

CNN's Christopher Lamb is live in Rome. Christopher, should we expect an appearance from the Pope today?

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, there's high expectation for an appearance from the Pope. The balcony windows of Saint Peter's were opened a few moments ago. And the Pope, we are told, met with Vice President J.D. Vance this morning, who is in Rome, at around 11:30 local time. So, the Pope is clearly doing things today.

The Vatican has said that he does hope to make an appearance to give the Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi blessing behind -- from behind me here in Saint Peter's. Now, that's a blessing that only the Pope can give. It's a special blessing from the Pope.

And it looks like the Pope is arriving now onto the balcony. The cross-bearer has come out, and I think we can expect to see Francis at any moment. We're just -- there's high level of anticipation here.

Yes, he is coming out onto the balcony of Saint Peter's behind me now. That is the spot where the Pope gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. It's also the spot where he appeared for the first time when he was elected in 2013.

Now, Francis is not able to speak for a long time because of the pneumonia that he has experienced and has been suffering from. He is going through physiotherapy every day to try and regain his voice. But he has been showing determination to try and get out and about to meet people. He -- over the Easter weekend on Thursday before Easter, he went to prison where he met with inmates Saturday night.

Last night he was out in the basilica. He greeted pilgrims there. And as we can see, he is now in Saint Peter's to offer that blessing for Easter Sunday. We're just listening to the Vatican national anthem, and then we are going to hopefully hear something from the Pope.

Now, on Easter Sunday, the Pope normally gives a longer reflection, a sort of state of the world address, where he addresses different conflicts across the world and appeals for peace traditionally. Now, we're not expecting the Pope to deliver a long address -- that long address. But the Vatican are expected to release that text.

What we are expecting the Pope to do is actually offer the blessing himself. The words of blessing, which include an indulgence which for Catholics is the remission from the punishment of sins that is offered on Easter Sunday.

[06:05:00]

I'm just checking behind me. He is definitely up there and he will be preparing to give that blessing. Now, it's not clear whether there will be another aide or cardinal to read the address of the Pope. Perhaps the Pope will just give the blessing. And we'll have to wait and see. There's a lot of expectation here in the square.

BLACKWELL: Christopher Lamb for us there at Saint Peter's Square, as we see the thousands of people who have come this Easter morning hoping to see and hear from the Pope. And let's listen.

POPE FRANCIS, CATHOLIC CHURCH LEADER: Cari fratelli e sorelle, buona Pasqua. Maestro delle cerimonie di leggere il messaggio.

BLACKWELL: And is still there live for us at Saint Peter's Square. Just a few words from the Pope here, as you said, suggesting that he might just give a blessing. His voice seemed a bit strained but still for the thousands of people who were there hoping to see him this is still quite satisfying to see and hear from the Pope.

All right. Christopher Lamb a bit of a technical issue with hearing. But as we know for so many weeks Pope Francis was at Gemelli Hospital dealing with a bout of double pneumonia. Holy Week has fallen within the two months of isolation and recovery that doctors prescribed for the Pope.

We've seen him throughout Holy Week. He was part of the Palm Sunday ceremonies a week ago today. He has been out speaking with the faithful since that release from the hospital. And we see there at the balcony the Pope present for Easter Sunday services delivering just a short blessing and a strained voice but the Pope there who has been part of this celebration.

We'll check back in throughout the morning there at Vatican City. Again, our thanks to Christopher Lamb reporting live there.

Ukrainians in Kyiv, they woke up to the sound of air raid sirens overnight despite Russian president Vladimir Putin declaring a brief truce for the Easter holiday. President Putin said that the truce would help Russia determine how sincere Kyiv is to

wanting to reach a ceasefire.

Ukrainian president Zelenskyy said that he was skeptical of Putin's truce. And just hours after Putin's announcement Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of conducting assaults on some parts of the frontlines.

CNN's Matthew Chance joins us live from Moscow. Matthew, what's the latest?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Victor, good morning. There have been reports of violations from both sides over the frontlines. As you just mentioned there Ukraine saying the air assaults have continued in various locations in Ukraine despite the fact that President Putin declared this Easter truce for about 30 hours, which comes to an end tonight at midnight, local Moscow time.

So, that's -- that's where we are right now. But obviously it was such a sudden declaration of a ceasefire. So unplanned that just logistically there were always going to be several violations taking place because people don't get the message or people are engaged in firefights when the orders come down.

And so, that's not necessarily, you know, a condemnation of it as such at this stage. The big question really, Victor, is will it be extended? Because two days is far off the 30 days that President Trump had demanded for an unconditional ceasefire.

Ukraine has already agreed to that time frame. Russia has not. And so, we're all waiting really to see whether this Russian ceasefire, this truce that Putin declared will be extended for longer. If it can be, then it may sort of contribute more substantially to some kind of lasting peace in the region. But otherwise, the fighting full on is expected to resume in hours from now.

[06:10:06]

BLACKWELL: All right. Matthew Chance reporting for us from Moscow. Thank you, Matthew.

The Trump administration says it's optimistic after a second round of nuclear talks with Iranian officials. Now, a senior official told CNN that they made very good progress during Saturday's talks in Rome. A third round is in the works.

Now, an Iranian official says that technical experts will meet Wednesday with more discussions scheduled for Saturday. The talks happened after some mixed messaging from the Trump administration on limits to the country's uranium enrichment. Special envoy Steve Witkoff later clarified and said that Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.

Saturday marked another round of protests against the Trump administration across the country. All part of the 50501 demonstration, short for 50 protests, 50 states, one movement. But there were more than 50 protests. More marched in 80 events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: We gather here today to send a message. We will not stand by and let the government take a chainsaw to our public services.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And there were more than protests. Communities banded together through food drives and donation campaigns to support those affected by the administration's policies. CNN's Rafael Romo was in Atlanta to follow the demonstrations there. RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People are chanting things like regulate guns, not women. No mass deportations, America has no kings, defend our constitution, save the CDC, and resist fascism and white supremacy.

We're standing at the corner of 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue here in Atlanta. This is a protest that started around noon. It's still going on.

These people earlier today started marching north here in the midtown neighborhood towards Piedmont Park, the historic Piedmont Park. They went as far north as 14th Street where the Peace Monument is located.

They say they want to put an end to some of the things that they are seeing from the Trump administration. They were very specific that they do not agree with the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. And they say that he should be brought back to this country.

A lot of the protesters here are expressing feelings of friendship, feelings of camaraderie as you have seen. And so far, they have not blocked any streets. They have not blocked any of the sidewalks. We earlier saw Atlanta police come to this location but only to keep an eye on things because it has been peaceful.

One thing I have to say, though, is that this protest is considerably smaller than what we saw here a couple of weeks ago, when thousands upon thousands of people marched from this area here near Piedmont Park several miles to the Georgia State Capitol. But they say this is only the beginning. They're talking about resisting the current government. And they say they are here to stay.

Again, something that has been mirrored in other cities. There was a protest today, also in Washington, D.C., and other places around the country.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

BLACKWELL: All right. Joining us now is Washington bureau chief for the "Chicago Sun-Times," Lynn Sweet. Lynn, good morning to you.

These demonstrations -- I mean, the demonstrators are clearly anti- Trump. That does not mean that they're going to donate to Democrats, vote for Democrats in the midterms, save you know the Bernie Sanders- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez massive rallies. Are you seeing Democrats harnessing this energy from these protests?

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Well, good morning, Victor. I think what you're seeing in my analysis is the beginning of keeping people focused on what will be organizing to take over the House in 2026. The Senate will be much harder to regain.

The Democrats also are giving perhaps some cover in terms of letting people, and institutions, museums, universities, law firms know that there might be more support out there than they think if they do try to resist orders from Trump and his allies. So, I would look at this in the context that you have to harness the group, have some unity here that did not exist at the end of -- in November in terms of, obviously, turnout, and Trump had his overwhelming win, to say that the course can't be changed day to day. That probably is left up to the courts, Victor, but you can keep this energy going to figure out what will work in 2026.

[06:15:06]

Take this as a whole. The hands-off rallies, the Tesla takedowns, and the Bernie-AOC rallies. You're beginning to see maybe -- just maybe some kind of sustained broader movement that could be ignited to figure out a path forward with the purpose. Because the sign carrying and complaints and press releases from Democrats and demands that Trump stop aren't doing anything right now. But when you have the resistance starting to take firmer, better, focused shape, maybe something will happen.

BLACKWELL: Lynn, we've watched the overhaul at the Health and Human Services Department, the announcement of cuts to the civil workforce, at defense, of course, the Department of Education, the administration aiming to dismantle that. There's new reporting from "The New York Times" just out of now a draft of an order calling for an overhaul of the State Department focused primarily on Africa. Explain what potentially could happen if this this draft comes to fruition.

SWEET: It would drastically shrink the presence of the United States in African countries. Also, by the way, in Canada, too. But the -- you know, the State Department would be reorganized according to regions of the world, with Africa not one of those regions.

Here's some context. Our listeners may remember that in 2018, during Trump's first term, he referred to Haiti and most African nations as -- I can't use the expletive here right now but a very -- a slur on all African countries.

Just a few days ago, he had dismissive remarks that became controversial when he talked about the Congo and he said, quote, "I don't know what that is." So, in this context the animosity that Trump has been demonstrating for years to African countries is coming to fruition now in shrinking and eliminating much of the United States' presence there as part of this massive reorganization and shrinking of the State Department.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Tomorrow is the Easter Egg Roll traditionally at the White House. For the first time, the corporate sponsors and these naming rights. So, this year you've got the Reading Nook, courtesy of Amazon. The Bunny Hop Stage, courtesy of YouTube. A.I.-Powered Experience and Photo Opportunity, courtesy of Meta.

They're usually sponsorships but in this era where we see these big tech companies trying to cozy up to the administration, how big a deal is this, if at all?

SWEET: Well, why not just have naming rights for the White House and call it, you know, whatever who -- you know, sell it off and put a sign on top. It is -- it is emblematic of the increasing role of money to influence the Trump White House, whether it was in the inauguration, and we'll be getting more information out tomorrow, I think, when the FEC report comes from the inauguration committee, the big donors.

And, you know, I've been to Easter Egg Rolls now and then through the years. These are not massively expensive functions for the White House to put on. And the naming rights is the -- is the ability of companies to just use their money to have branding influence within the Trump White House and possibly more.

BLACKWELL: Ringing of the bell photo opportunity courtesy of the New York Stock Exchange --

SWEET: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- there at the White House tomorrow. Lynn Sweet, thanks so much.

SWEET: And thank you, Victor.

BLACKWELL: A stormy Easter Sunday on tap for more than 15 million people. Saint Louis is just one of the major cities that could see hail, maybe even a tornado. Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is timing out the storms for us next.

Plus, the Trump administration has colleges in the crosshairs. More on the federal funding showdown between colleges and the White House.

And a little later, Gayle King blasts back at people criticizing her Blue Origin space trip. Have you been to space? That five-word response isn't sitting well with a lot of people, a little later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:24:19]

BLACKWELL: This morning we're tracking severe storm threats across the country. Video here. This is from Texas, possible tornado. National Weather Service warned of the possibility of strong tornadoes across the region last night. Good thing here, no reports of injuries from this storm.

With me now, CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. And the threat for tornadoes, that's going to come back later today.

CHINCHAR: Right. Once the sun comes out, you'll start getting things heated up. It's just going to be in a different area than we saw overnight. So, do keep that in mind. So just because it was Texas say during the overnight and evening hours, doesn't mean that's the only place that's going to see it.

In fact, look at this. These are all the storm reports that we've had in about the last 24 to 36 hours. There's a lot of them.

[06:25:00] Again, look, this stretches from Texas all the way up into the northeast. And it was a variety. Some places had hail, some places had damaging winds, some places had tornado reports.

This is a look at what we're dealing with right now on the radar. Again, you can see a lot of the strong thunderstorms that are still making their way across portions of the southern plains, as well as spreading into the Midwest.

We do still have this severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 8 a.m. this morning across portions of Missouri. That's where some of the strongest thunderstorms are located right now. And we've had some severe thunderstorm warnings off and on really for about the last two to three hours.

There are still some strong thunderstorms a little bit farther south, though. So just because we dropped that tornado watch about 20 minutes ago across portions of Texas it doesn't mean that the storms themselves have all died off. You still have plenty of lightning, plenty of very gusty winds coming through with that line of storms.

But as we mentioned, once the sun comes out and starts to heat things back up again, this is really going to be the target point for the day today. And yes, we're still looking at the potential, Victor, for some more tornadoes, more damaging winds, and even some hail the size of golf balls or larger.

BLACKWELL: All right. Allison, thank you. Florida State University students will return to classes tomorrow for the first time since that mass shooting on campus. Two people were killed and five were injured in Thursday's attack. That suspect, 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, is in the hospital. Authorities say he'll face several charges, including first degree murder. The Florida State community has been turning out to mourn and remember the victims.

CNN's correspondent Nick Valencia has the latest.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was an emotional return this weekend for many students who came here to this memorial to reflect on Legacy Walk. At one point, this was the closest students could get to the scene. So, this is one of the most significant memorials here on campus. And everyone who has come back here, we've seen many of them with tears in their eyes.

Some of them have come back with their parents, of course, this being Easter weekend. One of the students who I spoke to, who visited the campus for the first time was Reid Seybold. And he actually knew the shooter. And I asked Reid what it was going to be like to go back to class on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REID SEYBOLD, FSU STUDENT: Honestly, I don't know how I'm going to go to class on Monday. I don't feel safe right now being on campus.

I don't know where -- how we're going to do it. But, you know, there's a reason that Florida State is unconquered. We're stronger together. We will always move forward, whatever that looks like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: As for the alleged gunman, we believe he is still in the hospital, and we don't know exactly when he'll make his first court appearance. But we know that when he does, he'll be facing first degree murder charges. And there's still no motive for what happened here on Thursday.

Nick Valencia, CNN, Tallahassee, Florida.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, did the Trump administration accidentally threatened Harvard's federal funding, or was it all a big mistake? We'll talk about that and how Harvard is pushing back just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:19]

BLACKWELL: The Trump administration is now telling the New York Times that it was a mistake when they sent Harvard University a letter listing demands for policy changes.

Harvard was threatened with a loss of billions in federal funding if they did not change those policies, and the Ivy League University pushed back. The Trump administration responded, saying it would freeze more than $2.2 billion worth of grants and contracts. Two sources tell CNN the Trump administration is also planning to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status.

Joining me now to discuss is Jonathan Fansmith. He's the senior vice president of Government Relations and National Engagement for the American Council on Education.

Jonathan, good morning to you.

I wonder, you know, when universities who are smaller and they see this example of Harvard and Columbia and these threats of revoking grants, these nine and 10-figure amounts from federal funding, does that influence what they do, or do they believe that because the President has not focused on them or targeted them that maybe they have some clear space away from that?

JONATHAN FANSMITH, SR. VP GOVERNMENT RELATIONS AND NATIONAL ENGAGEMENT, AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION: Well, good morning, Victor. I think when you talk about every institution of higher education looking at what's going on right now, it's really less about looking at what Harvard's doing and looking at what the administration's doing. And what we've seen with both Columbia and with Harvard is that the administration is freezing funding without following due process.

They are skipping the investigation, accusation, and judgment phase and going right to the punishment phase. And then even if you negotiate with the administration, even if you try to meet them halfway, they just pile on more demands, add more fines, withhold more funding. They're not entitled to withhold. So, I think leaders of colleges and universities are looking at this and saying, is it worth it to me to try to engage in good faith with an administration that's not negotiating in good faith in the first place?

BLACKWELL: And that leads me to this Big Ten mutual defense pact. They've created their kind of Article 5 of NATO, an attack on one is an attack on all, in which if the administration attacks one of these schools, they agree to share legal, expert, and political public affairs support. They've set up this fund for immediate and strategic support.

What's the value of something like that? And inversely, what's the exposure for schools that are just out on their own?

FANSMITH: Well, I think there's certainly some value in schools working collaboratively. And I think a growing sense that this is not an attack on one institution or 10 institutions. It's an attack broadly by the administration on higher education.

[06:35:03]

So, understanding that every institution has a stake in preserving very core principles of academic freedom and institutional autonomy, the right to decide who you admit to your campus, what you teach them, who's teaching them. Those are pretty fundamental American values and pretty fundamental higher education values.

So these efforts, I think, are a reflection of that, the idea that there really is, we're all in it together in pushing back on these very unreasonable efforts by the Trump administration.

BLACKWELL: We've highlighted the focus on revoking student visas for international students. 1.1 international students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities in the last academic year. That's a record. And foreign students are more likely to pay full tuition.

And so, as there is this focus on international students, what does this population mean economically as a source of revenue to these schools as potentially they may start to reconsider coming to the U.S. after this recent pattern?

FANSMITH: I think there's two things you think about with international students. Certainly, as a source of revenue, as you mentioned about 1.1 million international students, the largest number we've had on record. It's about 5 percent of all college students. So if you think about a 5 percent population, and again, one that generally is paying full tuition, there's definitely a revenue impact of losing international students.

But beyond the revenue side, especially at the graduate level, especially in our STEM fields, we tend to see the absolute most talented, the best and the brightest students from across the world come to the United States and they power our research engine. A lot of them stay here and continue to promote our economy, advance biomedical research, do things that are truly incredibly important to our economy and our nation and our wellbeing as all Americans.

And when you start to get into these arbitrary enforcements, these efforts to really cause fear among international students on college campuses, what we've seen is a lot of those best and brightest students from across the world are reconsidering whether the United States is for them.

And I think that's a loss for campuses, certainly, but that's a loss for the United States too. We're losing this incredible talent pool that's so important to our economy and our wellbeing.

BLACKWELL: You know, CNN's count is that more than 1,000 student visas, student and graduate visas have been revoked by the State Department under this administration.

Jonathan Fansmith, thanks so much.

FANSMITH: Thanks for having me.

BLACKWELL: Still ahead, there will be plenty of logos at the White House Easter egg roll, but is the tradition turning out to be a marketing play?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:19]

BLACKWELL: Overnight, rescue crews recovered the bodies of two people from a vehicle swept off the road by major flooding in Oklahoma. Police in Moore, Oklahoma, said that they had more than a dozen calls for help from people trapped by the floods.

Flooding is part of that severe weather that struck several states across the South and caused multiple tornadoes and flood warnings to be issued.

We're back with CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar.

So we're tracking more threats today, including a threat for potential tornadoes.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on-camera): Yes, and even some additional flooding that you saw that was overnight in Texas and portions of Oklahoma.

And that's where the greatest threat is at the moment, just because a lot of these storms are in the same place they were when we talked yesterday morning. They're just not moving very much.

So, here's a map. This shows you where all of the flood watches are located. You can see it starts in northern Texas, goes all the way up through Illinois. The red boxes indicate flash flood warnings. That means the flooding is happening right now. It is ongoing, but the green is where the potential is as we go through the rest of the day.

Now, here's a look at the forecast. Again, you can see the bulk of it is kind of in the southern plains. Then we really start to see that spread northward into portions of the Midwest by the time we get to the afternoon. So Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and even into Minnesota, that's where you're going to see the big impacts this afternoon.

By tomorrow morning could be a soggy start to the commute for places like Cincinnati, Nashville and even into Detroit.

BLACKWELL: All right, Allison. Thank you.

So several major tech companies have signed up to sponsor this year's White House Easter egg Roll. According to a White House press release, the event will feature some high dollar partnerships with YouTube and Meta, Amazon, others. The Egg Roll has been privately funded without taxpayer dollars for years, but these sponsorships appear to show the effort by tech companies and their leaders to get close to and win the favor of President Trump.

Here's CNN's Betsy Klein.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, this all started back in March when I obtained this pitch document, nine pages from an outside event production company called Harbinger, laying out potential sponsorship opportunities for this year's Easter Egg Roll, ranging from $75,000 all the way up to $200,000 for potential sponsors.

Among the opportunities, it offered naming rights for key areas or elements, sponsor logos featured on event signage, custom branded baskets, mentions in official event communications.

But it was really unclear up until now whether any companies would sign on and what this would look like. We are now getting a better picture of what to expect at the Easter Egg Roll on Monday.

Now, there are companies that are big tech. There are also associations representing things like toys and the Confectioners Association. But we are really seeing companies that underscore the close relationship that their leaders are seeking to build with the Trump administration. And also, they've been impacted significantly, losing billions of dollars in value, some of them as a result of President Donald Trump's tariff policies.

[06:45:18]

But according to an official press release from the Office of the First Lady at the White House, among the sponsors, a reading nook, courtesy of Amazon, the bunny hop stage, courtesy of YouTube, an AI- powered experience and photo opportunity, courtesy of Meta, and a ringing of the photo bell opportunity, courtesy of the New York Stock Exchange.

Now, we know that all of the money that is raised by Harbinger is going to go to the White House Historical Association. Anything left over will be used for future events at the White House, like Halloween and the Fourth of July. But talking to a wide range of ethics experts and lawyers and people who served on both sides of the aisle in previous White Houses, there's a lot of concern about the rules and regulations detailing the use of public office for private gain.

I talked to Richard Painter, who was a lawyer in the Bush administration, and he said that a document like this would not have passed muster back in his time. But we have just consistently seen this White House openly flout norms and regulations. And even last month, as President Trump was highlighting Teslas on the South Lawn and back in 2020 on the South Lawn grounds as he hosted part of the Republican National Convention.

Betsy Klein, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Betsy, thanks.

Just ahead, why Drake is expanding his beef with Kendrick Lamar in court, suing his own label and adding a few things related to that Super Bowl performance.

Details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:51:18]

BLACKWELL: The all-women Blue Origin crew is facing some backlash after that 10-minute space flight on Monday. The mission Monday carried Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos' fiancee, Lauren Sanchez, pop star Katy Perry, CBS anchor Gayle King, and three others. While some celebrated the flight, others, including a few celebrities, criticized it and questioned its cost and whether it should be called a trip rather than a mission.

Gayle King, she has something for the critics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAYLE KING, CBS ANCHOR: Two of the astronauts, I still have a hard time calling myself an astronaut, but two of the astronauts on board, one is a rocket scientist, one is an astrophysicist activist, were actually doing experiments. But every time one of those goes up, you get some information that can be used for something else.

So I wish people would do more due diligence. And then my question is, have you all been to space? Have you been in space?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Have you been to space?

Joining me now is CNN Entertainment reporter Lisa France.

So, let's start with the criticism about the flight. There's some people saying that the money should have gone to something else and that maybe it's tone-deaf. What are you hearing here?

LISA FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Well, my friends and I were actually discussing this, because this just feels like the wrong time to try to be pushing this as, like, a great moment for women and girls and STEM and things like that, especially when you think about how the government has been cutting, you know, NASA and actual science programs and things like that.

So -- and we're also in this era where people very much feel like the whole eat the rich thing, you know, leaning into not loving the wealthy, not loving celebrities at the moment.

So people feel like this was, you know, kind of very self-indulgent. And then for Gayle King to come back and be spicy with it.

BLACKWELL: Have you been to space?

FRANCE: Have you been to space? Like, excuse you.

And, by the way, the government says she can't call herself an astronaut, that they were not astronauts. They have not done what needs to be done in order for them to be considered astronauts. They were merely a group of women who were able to afford to go into space for a couple minutes.

BLACKWELL: They were passengers.

FRANCE: Yes.

BLACKWELL: And there's nothing wrong with being a passenger.

FRANCE: I mean --

BLACKWELL: I mean, I've flown to L.A. I don't call myself a pilot, right?

FRANCE: Right.

BLACKWELL: So, it's OK being a passenger here. I wonder, though, if space for so many people on the ground is supposed to be inspiring, as opposed to make us, you know, look to the stars and hope for the future.

Have you been to space? Is that the right tone to take?

FRANCE: I will tell you that the Internet didn't think it was. The Internet had some issues with it. They were like, man, like, who are you talking to?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

FRANCE: You know? People got very offended by that because they felt like what they were saying. First of all, they felt like they were allowed to be critical of it, you know. And right now, we're having a lot of debate about free speech and what you're allowed to say and what gets you canceled and who can come after you for saying what. So, people felt like they were free to be able to express the fact that they thought that this was an indulgent act by a group of women who could afford to do this because not everybody can go up in space.

And, you know, this was not a mission. You know, they were up there for a couple of minutes. And, you know, Gayle King wasn't the only one to get some pushback, you know.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Katy Perry got it from Martha Stewart as well.

FRANCE: Got it from everybody.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

FRANCE: She showed a set list for her upcoming tour, which reportedly has not been selling as well as people had hoped. People in her camp. And so people were like, oh, so this was promo for you.

So, again, when you have things like that and, you know, she took a daisy in honor of her daughter who's named Daisy. So, you know, she was she was doing things up in space where people were like, oh, this was not a moment of science for you guys. This was a moment of self- promotion. That's what a lot of people on the Internet were saying.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about Drake and now amending his laws suit against Universal Music Group and highlighting that the additional element of the Super Bowl performance introducing the song Not Like Us to new listeners suggests that, you know, this -- he says that it's created more threats to his family.

[06:55:12]

FRANCE: Yes. It's interesting to me because the song was so big to start with, you know? That some people thought it was kind of cute to act like people didn't know about the song until the Super Bowl, but there were over a 133 million people watch that Super Bowl which according to the network that aired it made it the biggest Super Bowl halftime show ever.

So, Drake is merely saying that they this opens it up to a whole brand-new audience of people who get to see what he feels like is a very defaming song to him. And not to mention the Grammys, you know because he came right off, Kendrick Lamar came right off the Grammys in order to do the Super Bowl (INAUDIBLE) --

BLACKWELL: With five wins.

FRANCE: With five wins.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

FRANCE: Two major wins. And so, you know, he just feels like it's just opening up to more people to be able to take shots at him. I'm not, you know, pardon the pun because there literally was a shooting.

BLACKWELL: Yes. All right. FRANCE: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Lisa France --

FRANCE: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- thanks.

All right. Next hour of "CNN This Morning" starts after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:00:00]