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Ukraine Mineral Deal with U.S.; Imran Ansari is Interviewed about the Lacrosse Hazing Allegations; Supreme Court to Decide on Religious Charter School; Allison Morrow is Interviewed about GDP Shrinking; Harris Accuses Trump of Abandoning American Ideals. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 01, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:12]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Somebody said, all the shelves are going to be open. Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: The president gets real with the American people, acknowledging that some might need to cut back on their spending if his trade war drives prices up.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

It is 31 minutes past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.

We'll hear more from the president as he delivers an address tonight for the class of 2025 at the University of Alabama. It's a special commencement event ahead of the graduation ceremonies this weekend. But student Democrats have planned a counter event tonight featuring former Texas representative Beto O'Rourke.

And in just a few hours, we will hear more from the White House about Elon Musk's DOGE team and his efforts to slash government spending. That briefing comes just a day after Musk was given what looked like a sendoff during a cabinet meeting, as he talked about heading back to Tesla.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At some point, I guess, he wants to get back home to his cars and his (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And that briefing is set for 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Now, in just a few hours, two astronauts will venture outside of the International Space Station for a spacewalk. It is expected to last about six and a half hours. And it will be the fifth all female spacewalk.

We're going to turn now to Russia's war on Ukraine. The White House says it signed a critical minerals deal with Ukraine. It's a deal that almost didn't happen after President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance got into it with Ukraine's president in the Oval Office. That was just a few weeks ago. But last night, here's what President Trump said about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We made a deal today where we get, you know, much more in theory than the $350 billion but I wanted to be protected. I didn't - I didn't want to be out there and look foolish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: We're joined now by CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in London.

Nick, good morning.

And the backdrop to all of this, I think, is the fact that, like, China has such access to rare earth minerals. The U.S. has been really pushing in this space. Can you talk about what each side in this deal stands to gain?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, essentially this creates a fund that's called for the reconstruction of Ukraine into which both sides contribute kind of 50/50 proceeds from the - from natural resources inside of Ukraine. The question that many have had since this was first floated under the Biden administration by Ukraine is exactly the extent of the rare earth minerals and the other natural resources covered in this agreement that indeed Ukraine has to offer.

That's a large question as to how many billions potentially could be involved in this agreement. There are two key things in this, though, which I think will be very pleasing to Ukraine. We've seen the text. One is the absolutely unambiguous language used in the document to refer to the large-scale destruction caused by Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine. No ambiguity there. No Russian talking points, like we've sometimes seen from the Trump White House over the past months or so.

And also two, it spells out a mechanism potentially where if indeed there were future U.S. arms sales to Ukraine, that would be reflected in the balance of this account. Essentially, Ukraine would pay from it from there.

So, clearly, a decades-long partnership outlined in this particular deal. It's something Ukraine desperately needed to sign to make sure there wasn't another seismic rupture. I mean seeing those pictures of the Oval Office blow up weeks ago now just remind you how desperately much they needed to get their relationship back on track.

[06:35:07]

It prevents that seismic rupture happening. It also builds on those remarkable images we saw of Trump and Zelenskyy in the Vatican during the pope's funeral. And I think it will be a reminder too to Moscow that they've seen very little progress in their relationship between the Kremlin and the White House. And now the sort of pendulum of where Trump feels as he tries to broker a peace seems to be swinging him back in the direction of Ukraine and his traditional allies in NATO and Europe. So, very symbolic.

Does it practically mean billions come to the U.S. tomorrow? Unlikely. But a definite gesture that Washington still has a lot of sympathy and support, potentially, for Kyiv.

CORNISH: That's CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in London for us. Thank you so much.

Now, 11 high school lacrosse players in Syracuse, New York, have turned themselves in to face charges in a disturbing alleged hazing case. Prosecutors say some of the suspects took five younger players into the woods, while others allegedly pretended to be kidnapers. Authorities say most of the younger players ran away, except for one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM FITZPATRICK, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: People came out of the woods, all dressed in black. They were armed with what appeared to be at least one handgun, and at least one knife. The individual was - had a pillowcase placed over his head. He was tied up and placed in - in the trunk of a car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The suspects are accused of leaving him in the woods, but he was eventually brought home.

We're bringing in Imran Ansari. He's a trial attorney, a former prosecutor. He's also the host and legal analyst for "The Law and Crime Network."

Good morning. Imran.

IMRAN ANSARI, ON-AIR HOST AND LEGAL ANALYST, "LAW AND CRIME NETWORK": Good morning.

CORNISH: So, these students have been charged with unlawful imprisonment. Prosecutors are threatening kidnaping charges. Can you talk about the legal difference between the two or even the legal boundary, right, between a prank gone wrong and ending up in this situation?

ANSARI: Sure. So, the unlawful imprisonment charge that these youths are going to be charged with ultimately, now that they've turned themselves in, is a Class A Misdemeanor here in the state of New York. So, that is punishable up to a year in jail.

Now, I think these youths are going to be treated as youthful or juvenile offenders, and they're likely going to be diverted into programs, such as community service and things like that, versus the kidnaping charge that was threatened that if they didn't turn themselves in, that the DA may be seeking that kidnaping charge, which is a far more serious offense. That's a felony. And they could be treated as adults if they were charged with that felony in court.

Now, the line between unlawful imprisonment and kidnaping, of course, is the misdemeanor versus the felony. And then blurring the line between what is hazing, which is what this is, and breaking the law, well, there is no defense to hazing and the acts that they are alleged to have committed, these youths, would certainly fall into purview of kidnaping and unlawful imprisonment. And I think it's sending a message that these sort of actions, even if they're going to be calling it hazing in a fraternity or in sports, are unacceptable under the law.

CORNISH: No one was physically hurt or hospitalized or anything like that. The emotional impact, obviously, very real. How much does intent, psychological harm matter in a case like this?

Imran, I think we lost you.

ANSARI: Oh, yes, I'm sorry. I - yes, I'm here.

CORNISH: Yes. OK.

ANSARI: I apologize. I froze.

CORNISH: No. No worries.

Imran, I think we actually have to leave it there. Imran Ansari, trial attorney and host at "The Law and Crime Network."

ANSARI: Thanks for having me.

CORNISH: Turning now to church and state on a collision course. The Supreme Court's conservative majority indicating that it is open to backing the creation of a publicly funded catholic charter school in Oklahoma.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH, SUPREME COURT: When you have a program that's open to all comers except religion. No, we can't do that. We can do everything else. That seems like rank discrimination against religion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, a ruling in favor of a catholic charter school would expand the availability of taxpayer money for religious education across the country. And it's looking like the deciding vote could come from Chief Justice John Roberts.

So, the group chat is back.

This is the kind of case that brings a lot of fascination because it ties in like school choice, church and state divisions. And frankly, the backdrop to this is the Education Department being gutted, right?

[06:40:04]

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

CORNISH: So, I think how all this - this conversation plays out will be deeply affected by this ruling.

One notable thing, Jackie, we were seeing is that Amy Coney Barrett actually recused herself. Can you talk about why? Because that affects the final number on the ruling.

KUCINICH: Well, I was - so, Nina Totenberg reported at NPR that it has to do with some of the work that she did at Notre Dame with the - the plaintiffs in this case. And it really does make this even more fascinating because you could potentially have a 4-4 deadlock, which is unusual on the court.

CORNISH: Yes.

Stephen, I want you guys to listen to the liberal justice, Ketanji Jackson Brown, arguing against religious charter schools.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, SUPREME COURT: So as I see it, it's not being denied a benefit that everyone else gets. It's being denied a benefit that no one else gets, which is the ability to establish a religious public school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: There - there Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson there. Opposite - giving the opposite argument than we heard from Beth Stevens (ph), right? Like - and this is what this distinction seems to be. It's not semantic.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. Just looking in this case, it's really interesting because it seems to go right down the middle of the - what the First Amendment says about religion. You know, on the one side, the government should not establish a religion, but the other, it should not permit the - or it should allow the free exercise of religion. So, you can see where the argument comes from. The religious school side is that the government is not permitting the exercise of religion if it's banning public funds for religious school. It's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out because this case is about, obviously, catholic schools.

CORNISH: Yes.

COLLINSON: If there is somewhere in another state where - and that would be a big win for the religious right.

CORNISH: It would.

COLLINSON: If this happens in another state where, for instance, a Muslim community wants to establish a religious-based school, would that have the same level of - of support?

CORNISH: Yes. This actually came up in - in Oklahoma itself. This is divisive among Republicans. And one of the things they said is, like, we're going to have to start saying yes to religious applications of all kinds.

Brittany, can you talk about sort of just, a, I should note, some blue states have already banned religious charter schools, right? And this Supreme Court decision could force them to reconsider that. But where does this stand in the school choice conversation?

BRITTANY GIBSON, POLITICS REPORTER, "AXIOS": No, absolutely. I think one thing to remember, too, is if this does get the go ahead, is it will take money away from public schools. It will potentially, you know, lead to school closures if funds are diverted enough away from Department of Education, public - typical public schools and sent into these charters, which is in line with what some Republicans have wanted, especially as they - the ones who promote the school choice movement.

CORNISH: Yes.

GIBSON: And I - with the Republican Party, I always go back to the campaign trail and President Trump at the RNC. Many Republicans talked about how important it was to have charter schools and public/private options -

CORNISH: Yes.

GIBSON: Like, in this case, it's a religious school, but it really is that combination of public tax dollars going to more privately run sort of institutions.

CORNISH: Well, I'm intrigued by all the implications of this, not just if you think about how the White House is trying to meddle in Harvard right now, the implications of taking government money, state, federal have radically changed under this administration.

Group chats, stay with me. There's a lot more to discuss.

Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, Kamala Harris is weighing in on President Trump's first 100 days back in the White House. So, let's talk about the message that she is sending now.

Plus, why Tesla's leadership is now denying a report that they were looking to replace Elon Musk as CEO.

More from the group chat after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:48:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": The Commerce Department released their new GDP report. And it turns out the U.S. economy is going into reverse. In fact, the Commerce Department released this statement.

SOUND: Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

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CORNISH: The Trump administration is now playing defense after that GDP report that was less than stellar on Wednesday, showing a shrinking economy kicking off his second term. But does this mean that the U.S. could be headed towards a recession?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you remember the toilet paper shortages from Covid times, well, those are coming back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's time to stock up for you and your family. Get foods that are going to last long, like freeze dried food, beans, rice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Recessions make millionaires. The reason is, is just that everything is going to be on sale.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right, joining me now with this talk on the American economy is Allison Morrow. She's a senior writer for CNN Business.

Allison, the reason why I wanted to bring you back is because we were talking about the threat of recession. And I also remember covering the last president where we talked about a vibe session. And it was like always this conversation about, is it real? Is it not? So, first of all, what do you hear when you hear like TikTokers, right, like people talking about this?

ALLISON MORROW, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: Yes, Audie, it is really, really hard to know whether we're in a recession, whether we're heading toward one. You know, part of it is semantics and technical economic analysis that gets done by a committee, you know. Sometimes we don't know we were in a recession until we're out of it. So, the unsatisfying answer is, we don't really know right now. But one thing we do know is that the vibes are bad.

CORNISH: You had a great analogy about this. You were writing, I think it was in the newsletter that you were saying, when you think of - "when you think of the trade war, think of a summer storm rolling in. There's a flash of lightning. One. Two. Three. Four. Then a crash of thunder."

[06:50:00]

Allison, you really leaned into this. And right now, you say, "consumers are at the quiet pause in the middle."

Can you talk about those threatening signals?

MORROW: Absolutely. You know, we see a lot of economic data, and sometimes that feels very remote to everyday consumers. Like, you know, you might still have a job, your coffee and bagel in the morning still costs the same. There aren't shortages. You're not seeing empty store shelves. So maybe you're thinking like, the media has completely blown this all out of proportion. And there's - the reality is that the lagging effects of trade, it takes three or four weeks for a shipment to come from China to California, for instance, which is where a lot of our imports come. And so you're not seeing the effects quite yet, but it is happening in part because the - the steepest tariffs that the Trump administration has rolled out came out on April 2nd. And then there were heavier tariffs on April 9th.

So, as we get into May, it's going to start showing up more and more on store shelves, and consumers are going to start seeing more effects of it. Like I said, we're in that kind of quiet middle where you're just in anticipation and waiting for the thunder.

CORNISH: You know, Peter Navarro, who, obviously, in the White House, was talking about these latest GDP numbers. And he's like, actually, they're pretty good.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: This was the best negative print, as they say in the trade, for GDP I have ever seen in my life. It really should be very positive news for America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Allison, I have to read one more quote to you from Barstool Sports' President Dave Portnoy, a noted Trump supporter, who said, "what's that old expression? Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining? Well, that applies here. The stock market is a direct reflection of Trump's first 100 days in office."

Can you talk about how the White House is talking about these numbers? Are they spinning them? Do they have a fair point in the way they're describing it? What do you hear?

MORROW: So, I think it all depends on what your goal is. And the White House has made clear its goal is this massive upheaval of global supply chains to reshore big industries onto U.S. soil. So, you can take the White House rhetoric for - for what that is. And that is their goal.

And there is an argument that these GDP numbers are not quite as bad as they seem. Yes, we were - we did contract growth in the first quarter. And a lot of that has to do with businesses are front running the tariffs. They're trying to get their shipments in ahead of when they normally would. So that trade data kind of looks skewed. And so, it might look worse than it really is.

However, there's no kind of getting around that businesses are saying very, very clearly, we have no idea how to plan our business, and it's having a real effect on how they make hiring decisions, how they build their inventories. And we're seeing that volatility play out in the stock market, obviously.

CORNISH: That's Allison Morrow, senior writer for CNN Business.

Thank you for joining us on CNN THIS MORNING.

And I actually want to offer a quick programing note because CNN's Erin Burnett is going to interview Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, to talk about how Detroit is responding to the president's tariffs. That's going to be at 8:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

OK, eight minutes till the top of the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Some of the stories I want you to know to get your day going.

So, Tesla now denying an earlier report that it was looking in - looking into replacing Elon Musk as CEO. "The Wall Street Journal" said the company's board reached out to executive search firms in March about getting a new leader. They cited unnamed sources. Well, Musk has said he is looking to downsize his role in government soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK: Now they say I wear a lot of hats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: During this week's cabinet meeting, the president thanked Musk for his work in DOGE.

Onto another tech giant, Apple. A federal judge says it violated a court order requiring it to allow more competition for downloads from its app store. And this was part of an ongoing antitrust battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games. Apple says it will comply with the court's order. It will also appeal. Epic called this a victory for developers.

Republicans say no to a car tax after all. They had floated the idea of an annual $20 fee for vehicles, even more for hybrids and EVs. It was rejected after enough conservatives actually pushed back, arguing gas vehicles shouldn't be included.

This is a live shot from the International Space Station. Right now, two NASA astronauts are preparing to venture outside. They're scheduled to begin a spacewalk at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. The whole thing is expected to last about six and a half hours, and it will be the fifth all female spacewalk in history.

[06:55:01]

Finally, Kamala Harris is speaking out. She's got a message 100 days into the Trump presidency. So, she was speaking at a benefit in San Francisco last night. She warned of a potential constitutional crisis. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Instead of an administration working to advance America's highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Group chat is back.

I won't call it a comeback. And she didn't quite say I told you so, but the energy was there. I don't know who checked into it last night. But there's been a lot of people talking about her political future. What are you hearing?

KUCINICH: You know, I think it's a question of who the speech was for, right? Was it for Californians who -

CORNISH: Or donors in San Francisco?

KUCINICH: Or donors in San Francisco, right, as she potentially mounts a bid for governor? Is it for disaffected Democrats all over the country because she's thinking about 2028? We'll have to see.

One thing we know, though, is that she's not going to run - if she decides to run for president, she'll likely have some competition this time. Just look at all of the, you know, all of the potential 2028-ers that are out there with their own messages at this point.

CORNISH: Yes. I was thinking of another speech giver, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, because he has been out there talking a lot. And he gave kind of like a big rousing thing a few days ago. Here's some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JB PRITZKER (D-IL): It's time to fight. Everybody has to get up, stand up, speak out, show up. And if you can't go somewhere to do that, well, go online and make sure you're speaking up and showing up online.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINSON: That speech seems to be a little bit more in tune with the vibe of where many Democrats are now than the former vice president's speech.

CORNISH: Oh, Pritzker's comments.

COLLINSON: Yes. Because there is -

CORNISH: Yes. Yes. Because it was a little more a fight.

COLLINSON: Yes.

CORNISH: Yes. COLLINSON: And there are a lot of Democrats who believe there wasn't enough fight in last year's election. So, that perhaps is a speech that's more looking forward and suggesting some freshness in that had potential future candidacy. The argument about ideals and the Constitution is a fair argument, but is it the one that most Democrats want to be making? And it seemed -

CORNISH: Yes. I mean, but she is talking about things that people are worried about in the party. Trump in the courts, for example, right? She had a lot to say about that. And then she also talked about the idea about fear and fear being contagious, which I don't think is sort of like out of line with some of the things we've talked about the last couple of days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We all know President Trump and his administration and their allies are counting on the notion that fear can be contagious. They are counting on the notion that if they make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others. But what they're overlooking, what they have overlooked, is that fear is not the only thing that's contagious. Courage is contagious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIBSON: That message is very similar to her closing argument on the campaign and I think -

CORNISH: And delivered similarly.

GIBSON: And delivered similarly. And, you know, I think that's a good mark for consistency. But I don't know if that is exactly - like, to your point, what the Democratic Party is searching for right now.

CORNISH: Right. Especially right now when they're messing with things like being dark woke and, like, should we swear more? Like, there seems to be this idea that you need to have a counter -

GIBSON: Yes.

CORNISH: Not vulgarity, but certainly a counter energy. I mean -

KUCINICH: Yes.

GIBSON: And be - and counter policy. I think -

CORNISH: You think so?

GIBSON: I think there - a critique was that there's not enough, you know, concrete there to - to argue on or to fight on.

CORNISH: Yes.

GIBSON: You know, what - what is your pitch and your - your counter message. And it's, you know, not necessarily always appropriate to do that in a donor's speech, but -

CORNISH: Yes, especially when we don't know the audience. Yes.

KUCINICH: Right.

GIBSON: Exactly.

CORNISH: OK, what are you guys keeping an eye on in the days ahead?

Brittany, I know you're reporting a lot for "Axios." What are you looking for?

GIBSON: Absolutely. I'll be following the next steps and progressions in the case of the Palestinian protest leader from Columbia University who was just freed on bond in Vermont.

CORNISH: And the judge called the case chilling.

GIBSON: It's a bit of a dramatic case. This student has been living legally in the U.S. for ten years, was in the last stages of his citizenship application, and then was -

CORNISH: And will still be fighting that.

GIBSON: Exactly.

CORNISH: Yes.

Stephen, what about you?

COLLINSON: Two big elections today in the UK. Local elections. Nigel Farage, Trump's friend, could begin to shatter the two party system.

CORNISH: Yes.

COLLINSON: Australia, this weekend, has a general election. It's another case, like Canada, where a backlash against Trump could harm the right-wing candidate, Peter Dutton, the opposition leader, and re- elect the prime minister, who's more liberal, Anthony Albanese.

[07:00:11]

CORNISH: Oh, that is one to watch. Thank you, Stephen.

And, Jackie?

KUCINICH: So, Bernie Sanders' road show goes to Pennsylvania this weekend.

CORNISH: It's fighting oligarchy, Jackie.

KUCINICH: Yes, indeed. It will be in Pennsylvania - in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in Northampton County. Really interesting place.

CORNISH: Yes.

KUCINICH: It went Trump, Biden, Trump. So, we'll see who shows up there. It should be interesting.

CORNISH: Very nice. Very nice.

Well, I want to say thanks to the group chat.

I want to thank you for waking up with us. I'm Audie Cornish. And CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.