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CNN This Morning
Warren Buffett Announces Retirement As CEO Of Berkshire Hathaway; New Tariffs On Auto Parts Could Raise Car Prices By $4k; Companies Hold Out Hope As Goods Sit In Warehouses; Trump Dismisses Growing Fears Of A Recession; Canadian PM Carney To Discuss Tariffs With Trump In DC On Tuesday; Newark Airport Enters Day 7 Of Major Flight Delays & Cancelations; 10-Year-Old Girl Killed When Tree Fell On House In Atlanta; DOGE Cuts Impact Weather Agencies Ahead Of Severe, Hurricane Seasons; Zelenskyy Calls For 30-Day Ceasefire With Russia. Last Day of Mourning for Pope Francis; Sean Combs Trial Jury Selection; Nugget Wins Over Clippers. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired May 04, 2025 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:00:46]
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Welcome everyone to CNN This Morning. It is Sunday, May 4th. I'm Omar Jimenez in for Victor Blackwell.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has some critical comments about President Donald Trump's tariffs and trade wars. But it's Buffett's plans to retire that is sending shockwaves through the global financial world. We'll have the latest on that just ahead.
And parked planes, frustrated flyers, air travel is throttled at one of the busiest airports in the world this morning. Cancelations and delays stretch into an unprecedented seventh day. We're going to have a report from Newark ahead.
And Sean Combs' day in court, jury selection starts tomorrow in the embattled Music Mobile's high-profile federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial. We're going to go in-depth with the trial attorney on what to expect coming up.
And selecting the next pope. We're going to take you inside the secretive conclave convening to elect late Pope Francis' successor as thousands attend his final mass this morning.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And one system is on its way out, but another one is already starting to develop, and that could have big impacts on the upcoming work week. We'll take a look at the details.
JIMENEZ: All right, we're going to start with billionaire investor Warren Buffett announcing his retirement as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, surprising a lot of people at the company's annual shareholders meeting Saturday. Now, the Wall Street icon has led Berkshire Hathaway since its founding in 1965. He will stay on as chairman of the board. Now, Buffett said when he steps down at the end of the year, the company's vice chairman, Greg Abel, would take over pending board approval. Buffett designated him as his successor several years ago.
Now, just before Buffett announced his retirement, he finally shared his thoughts about Trump's tariffs. Buffett called America's trade war, quote, "a big mistake".
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
WARREN BUFFETT, CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: Trade should not be a weapon. I do think that the more prosperous the rest of the world becomes, it won't be at our expense. The more prosperous we'll become and we'll then -- the safer we'll feel and your children will feel someday.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
JIMENEZ: Now, Buffett's comments come as a new round of tariffs took effect Saturday. A tariff on imported car parts will hit the U.S. auto industry hard because all American car manufacturers import at least some parts to build their cars. And experts say the tariffs could add around $4,000 to the cost of any vehicle.
CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is at the port of Los Angeles with the latest.
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Omar. Look, these tariffs might not affect anyone who's shopping for a new car right now, but it will affect those who might need repairs on their car, who need parts to come from overseas. You know, none of the 10 million cars produced in the United States are made with 100 percent American parts.
They all use at least some parts from abroad. This is happening, of course, as we're hitting another milestone. This week, all the shipments that came from China pre-tariffs on that day of April 9th have now arrived in the United States. A lot of them through this port, the largest in the nation, the port of Los Angeles.
And now everything that comes in here will be subject to that 145 percent tariff. We heard from the executive director here that that has already caused a drop of 35 percent in imports and arrivals through here because business owners are saying, I'm just going to wait and see what happens with these tariffs before I buy any more merchandise that might be subject to these tariffs.
One business, though, that is actually booming at this time is something called bonded warehouses. It's being used as a bit of a loophole by business owners because it is a completely legal way to store your goods in U.S. soil, but without paying the tariffs or any taxes on it until you withdraw it. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
JENNIFER HARTRY, PRESIDENT, HOWARD HARTRY INC.: The other benefit is maybe you find a buyer. Maybe you sell your product at a higher price and you find a buyer who's willing to pay that higher price. You can still house it here until you find that buyer. So it's just giving everybody a pause to try and figure out there and -- is it their new price structure? Is it where -- I think right now we're waiting to see if the tariffs are going to come down. That's the biggie that the tariffs on the Chinese products.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
JONES: Now, this wait and see, Omar, is in itself a gamble. They're hoping that talks with China will go well and that will lead to a drop in these tariffs.
[07:05:05]
But the whole time that this merchandise is in these warehouses is also not hitting the shelves. And that could cause a whole other host of issues.
JIMENEZ: All right. Thank you, Julia.
Joining me now is the Washington Bureau Chief for the Atlanta Journal- Constitution, Tia Mitchell. Tia, so let's start on the economy. Any talks of a recession aside. How much real estate does President Trump actually have here in terms of let's wait and see, trust me on this, trust me on this until a trade deal actually needs to get done.
TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yes, I think he ran on an economic message. A lot of people voted for him based on that economic message. And he promised results on day one. So I think there are some people who voted for Trump, they're willing to give him time, but they are disappointed that some of the things he promised have not happened.
We've seen members of Congress willing to give him a longer runway. But I think that patience -- the polling is showing us that the patience is starting to wear thin. And it may not have as much of an effect on Trump as it may Republicans who will be on ballots in the coming weeks and months.
JIMENEZ: Yes. And, you know, part of his talk on tariffs and the sort of the confrontational posturing he's had at times with U.S. allies, I think has helped fuel some of the new leaders. The Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, for example, his political fortune sort of turned around and he --
MITCHELL: Yes.
JIMENEZ: -- wins the election. And he's expected to meet with Trump this week. Does Canada come from any different position of strength than it did when maybe Trudeau was meeting with President-elect Trump a few months ago?
MITCHELL: I think he -- Prime Minister Carney comes in with strength because he kind of has a mandate of his own, so to speak --
JIMENEZ: Yes. MITCHELL: -- based on the election last week. And I think he wants to play nice with Trump. I think all of our allies and all of these countries that are trading partners want to play nice and want to see if there can be a deal, because what President Trump has shown is if you kind of -- if he personally likes you, then he's willing to do things that benefit whatever your interests are.
JIMENEZ: Yes.
MITCHELL: So I think that's going to be the prime minister's posture. But I also think if he believes that the U.S. policy under President Trump is going to be harmful to Canada, I think he's a little bit more empowered to speak out to be critical than maybe Prime Minister Trudeau felt he was able to do.
JIMENEZ: It's an interesting contrast because, yes, when Trump was first elected, there was this revolving door of European leaders, Canadian leaders coming through to play nice. And here Carney gets elected on essentially being able to fight back --
MITCHELL: Yes.
JIMENEZ: -- against President Trump. And, you know, we were just talking about Warren Buffett announcing and speaking out against the, you know, weaponizing trade, essentially. Do you see any significance in someone of his stature actually speaking publicly on, I guess, the trade strategy at this point in the administration?
MITCHELL: So in -- you had Kadia Goba on earlier --
JIMENEZ: Yes.
MITCHELL: -- and she mentioned that Warren Buffett over the years has criticized particularly President Trump's tariff policies, even during his first tenure in the White House. I think even more so now what President Trump has shown us is that he's not as willing to just go along with the business interests to their line of thinking on things like tariffs and international trading and free markets.
He's much more isolationist than we know that business communities, business leaders want, you know, free trade amongst the nations because at the end of the day, Warren Buffett's company is an international company with investments. Even if they're not investing outside of the U.S., they have, you know, the supply chain and all of that.
So I think President Trump is just not as worried about angering the business community, the business lobby, the Chamber of Commerce types. He's just moving forward with -- I want to say a tariff policy, but it's been a little bit inconsistent, but still moving forward with what he thinks he should do, not necessarily listen to these other folks.
JIMENEZ: Yes. And, you know, his relationship, I think, to with Congress is interesting because he has a slight Republican majority in the House. He has a majority in the Senate. But as you mentioned, some of these or a lot of these folks will be up for re-election or potentially re-election in in just a few months time when the campaigning will really begin.
We just sort of got a hint of his budget blueprint, you know, the recommendations he makes to Congress. But I think it does speak to where his interests are. Do you see -- are there any, I guess, clash points you see sort of in what we've seen from the president so far and in what Congress would need to actually implement in terms of the budget?
MITCHELL: So right now, Republican leaders, as you mentioned, control both chambers and they've indicated that they support President Trump's agenda. They want to help him implement it.
[07:10:04]
As we know, they're right now trying to come together with the details of the reconciliation package. That would be the first step in carrying out a lot of the reductions in non-defense spending that Trump outlined in his budget blueprint.
The concern, though, or their issue that they're facing is that there are enough Republicans who are either in swing districts or represent rural areas and are concerned about the impacts of some of these cuts that it's going to be really hard to get the majority that they need. Just -- even with Republicans alone, they're losing members.
Every day you'll hear a member saying, well, I can't support this or I can't support that. And so they're having a hard time figuring out what they can put on the table that can get all the votes that they need. And that's the issue, because it's easy to say, let's reduce government spending --
JIMENEZ: Yes.
MITCHELL: -- let's reduce non-defense spending. But when you get into the details, there are a lot that different members are going to quibble with.
JIMENEZ: Yes. And a lot that people will say, well, wait, why is this program cut? Because this program impacts my district --
MITCHELL: Yes.
JIMENEZ: -- specifically. I think we saw that from Susan Collins. She was one of the people that spoke out on that.
Tia Mitchell, thank you for being here.
MITCHELL: Thank you.
JIMENEZ: All right. Now, this morning, Newark Liberty International Airport faces its seventh day of major travel disruptions. And as of now, it doesn't look like it's getting any better.
Right now, Flightaware.com reports 55 cancelations and 96 delays there today. The FAA hasn't made an official comment about it, but it has listed ongoing staffing shortages of air traffic controllers as a reason for the backlog. And flyers say the slowdowns are making them nervous.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
JONATHAN NORRI, NEWARK INTL. AIRPORT TRAVELER: A lot of other passengers were saying that they were concerned about connections and landing with all the delays that have been going on here at Newark.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You hear that there is a shortage of over 3,000 air traffic controllers across the entire country. Does that concern you as -- at all as a flyer?
NORRI: For sure. Definitely does have a lot of travel coming up. So hopefully they can resolve this quickly.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
JIMENEZ: And CNN's Leigh Waldman talked to flyers at Newark Airport on Saturday about how they feel about the travel gridlock.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's waves of travelers coming throughout the Newark Airport today. We checked the flight board downstairs and it's littered with flights that are canceled or delayed. Several hundred flights have been delayed today with dozens of others that have been canceled.
Starting this weekend, United Airlines is actually canceling 35 round trip flights from this airport specifically. And it all stems back to staffing issues with air traffic controllers. We spoke to some passengers today about their delays and how they're feeling altogether.
IZABELA OLITO, NEWARK INTL. AIRPORT TRAVELER: Yesterday from West Palm Beach, flight was delayed for three and a half hours for no reason. The last minute once you get to the airport, there was a last minute information. So I would appreciate if the airlines or anyone else will give us ahead of time. So then we don't have to leave home and be strengthened at the airport for three, four hours.
WALDMAN: Now, as a whole, there are 3,000 air traffic controllers short across the entire nation. We heard from the union that represents these air traffic controllers. They said these are some of the worst staffing shortages they've seen in nearly 30 years. It could take eight to 10 years to make up for these staffing shortages.
Earlier this week, we also heard from the Transportation secretary, who said they're working on incentivizing programs or incentive programs to try and get more people into this field, including a $5,000 bonus for people who would roll in the academy.
Also bonuses for people who stay until they're reaching retirement ages. But we're hearing from those passengers and they are feeling the pressures and pains of these staffing shortages that come with these delays. Back to you.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
JIMENEZ: All right, Leigh Waldman, thank you so much.
Coming up, jury selection for Sean Diddy Combs sex trafficking trial starts tomorrow. We'll talk about the key witnesses expected to speak. Plus, how his rejected plea deal could impact the case.
And we've got a live look at Vatican City as today marks the last day of mourning for Pope Francis. We'll tell you what can be expected in the days leading up to the conclave.
Plus, from hurricanes to tornadoes and wildfires, summers are the busiest time for weather forecasters. Coming up, though, how cuts in federal funding could lead to less accurate forecasts. Stay with us.
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[07:19:14]
JIMENEZ: All right, welcome back. This morning, a 10-year-old girl is dead and two of her family members were sent to the hospital after a large tree fell on a home in Atlanta in the middle of the night. Now, this happened after severe storms swept through Georgia on Saturday.
The little girl's bedroom was crushed by the fallen tree. And I want to play for you what her sister had to say about what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
AKIYLAH DIXON, SISTER OF 10-YEAR-OLD KILLED BY FALLEN TREE: The house just started shaking and everything just crashed. And I just see my mama running through the hallway to get to my grandma because we knew they were asleep. So when we did that, we just saw the tree in between them and everybody just screaming and yelling.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
JIMENEZ: It's just awful. And of course, as part of that severe storm system that came through the Atlanta area.
[07:20:02]
I want to bring in CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar because that's a system that, as I understand, is on its way out. And we have more weather hitting other places coming up.
CHINCHAR: Yes, so kind of -- as soon as one is on the way out --
JIMENEZ: Yes.
CHINCHAR: -- we've got another one right on the heels. And now one of the concern there is for what impacts it could bring to Oklahoma. They just had their wettest April on record.
JIMENEZ: Wow.
CHINCHAR: And now we're going to be adding more rain on top of it, which is the last thing they absolutely need. So let's take a look at the scope of what's going on. So you've still got that first system here.
This is the one that's really starting to push out over the open Atlantic, and we'll do so over the next several hours. But we also started to see the next system really begin to take shape. You can see some of those showers and thunderstorms starting to fire up across portions of New Mexico and into Texas.
But with this first system, we still have a couple of watches and warnings. We've had severe thunderstorm warnings off and on throughout the morning across the Carolinas as this line continues to slide east. Washington, D.C., now starting to see some of that activity pick back up.
And same thing with southern Florida, where you still have some of these strong thunderstorms that are sliding across the state and should exit by later on this afternoon. Until then, though, you still have the potential for some of those strong to severe thunderstorms in this green area here, but also for the next system.
That's the one that's really going to start to develop, and that will continue to spread eastward in the coming days. So by Monday and Tuesday, that system is just going to continue to push into states like Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and Louisiana.
So here's a look at the timeline. Again, that first round of showers across the eastern seaboard finally begins to exit. Now, early tomorrow morning, you've still got some of them lingering across portions of the northeast, but then we really start to see that exit.
But again, take a look out west. You really start to see more of those showers and thunderstorms begin to fill back in. The concern here is that's also not a very fast moving storm. So you have the potential for a lot of flooding in these areas Monday, late Monday and especially into the day on Tuesday.
JIMENEZ: And, you know, I can't help but think, you know, you're going through all this weather here. And, you know, you look ahead to the summer and the start of hurricane season. Temperatures go up. Chances for severe weather go up, too.
I think -- I'm not a meteorologist, but I think that's fair to say. The latest federal funding cuts could mean some of the tools that you and other forecasters use may not be there this year. I mean, what else can you tell us about what could be affected?
CHINCHAR: Right. So one of the concerns that we're going to see is, you know, a lot of these offices -- give me just a second here.
JIMENEZ: Yes.
CHINCHAR: A lot of these offices, you know, you have a total of 122 National Weather Service offices, 30 of them. That's roughly one fourth --
JIMENEZ: Yes.
CHINCHAR: -- one fourth of all weather service offices have no leadership positions right now. That's referred to as a meteorologist in charge or an MIC. It's kind of the equivalent of, say, like a chief meteorologist --
JIMENEZ: Yes.
CHINCHAR: -- that you have. They have none of them there. And so this is the graphic that we've talked about here. So this outlines all of the weather service offices across the country and the borders that they have.
Now, when you look at the offices that now filled in, those are all of the offices that simply do not have a meteorologist in charge in position there. And those are some of the most experienced officials that these offices have.
In particular, look at some of these, say, Kentucky, almost the entire state of Kentucky. The entire state of New Hampshire has none of these people in those positions in any of the offices they have in those states. The other thing, too, is when you talk about that, like those are states where you get flooding.
JIMENEZ: Yes.
CHINCHAR: Those are states where you get tornadoes. We are headed into the peak of tornado season right now. May is when we see the most tornadoes across the entire country. And some of those states simply do not have these meteorologists in charge in some of them.
And especially we talked about Kentucky not having it. Kentucky is right near the top of nocturnal tornadoes. So the tornadoes that happen overnight and that's where we often see the most fatalities is the ones overnight because people are sleeping. They're caught off guard. They just simply don't know that those storms are coming.
But when you look at this map again, what else do you see? A lot of big cities, New York, Cleveland, Tampa and Houston, also not having one of those leadership positions. In fact, Houston specifically, there is not a single manager role in place in all of the Houston office.
JIMENEZ: Wow.
CHINCHAR: That is an incredibly hurricane prone city. We -- I mean, they've been hit before.
JIMENEZ: Even just the whole gulf area right there.
CHINCHAR: Yes. Again, Louisiana, Florida, all of those places. And again, we're headed into hurricane season. It starts in less than 30 days. So that's a concern going forward in terms of, you know, readiness. I mean, a lot of those Weather Service employees, it's a thankless job already.
JIMENEZ: Of course.
CHINCHAR: Now, you know, you're working with less staff and you're likely going to have a lot more weather on your plate in the upcoming months.
JIMENEZ: Readiness and accuracy, the two most important things.
Allison Chinchar, really appreciate you breaking that down for us. Thank you.
JIMENEZ: Meanwhile, jury selection starts tomorrow in Sean Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York. We're going to tell you what the potential jurors may be asked about.
And the conclave is expected to start the process to elect its new pope next week. We're going to break down what goes into this election and who the top contenders could be.
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[07:29:16]
JIMENEZ: All right. Welcome back, everyone. Here are some of the top stories we're following this morning. At least four people have been killed and 32 injured in Russian strikes across Ukraine in the last 24 hours.
Ukraine's Air Force said the strikes came from Russia and affected several areas, including Kyiv. Now, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says his country is ready for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia. And he said President Trump agrees, calling it the right first step for peace.
Now, last month, Russian President Putin offered a much shorter three- day pause starting May 8th. But Zelenskyy called it another attempt at manipulation.
Also, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says, quote, "Starbase Texas is now a real city". Yesterday, voters supported incorporating it as a city with a mayor and two commissioners. The area has nearly 300 registered voters, most of them SpaceX employees.
Unofficial results showed nearly all votes favored the move. The Cameron County Commissioner's Court must certify the results and the change will take effect once the county judge issues an order.
And today is the Catholic church's ninth and final day of mourning for Pope Francis as the faithful. Remember the pope, the Vatican is preparing for cardinals to gather for the papal conclave. Now, Wednesday, the conclave will start the process of electing a new pope. The chimney on the Sistine Chapel's roof has now been installed ahead of the conclave. The smoke from that chimney sends the signal to the world on the results after every vote inside the Sistine Chapel.
I want to discuss all of this with Susan Reynolds. She's the interim director and assistant professor of Catholic Studies at Emory University. She's also the author of "People Get Ready: Ritual, Solidarity, and Lived Ecclesiology in Catholic Roxbury." Good morning.
OK. For starters, can you just explain the significance of the conclave process to choose the new Pope? What smoke we're looking for? What smoke we're not looking for?
SUSAN REYNOLDS, INTERIM DIRECTOR OF CATHOLIC STUDIES, EMORY UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR, "PEOPLE GET READY: RITUAL, SOLIDARITY AND LIVED ECCLESIOLOGY IN CATHOLIC ROXBURY" AND ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CATHOLIC STUDIES, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Well, we're looking for both kinds of smoke.
JIMENEZ: OK. Yes.
REYNOLDS: Because both tell us something interesting. The conclave will begin on May 7th with one vote. After that, the cardinals will take four votes a day. Two in the morning and two in the evening. Rome time, of course.
JIMENEZ: Yes.
REYNOLDS: They submit their votes on a little card, and all of these cards are threaded dramatically onto a red string after they're read aloud. And then, they're burned in a stove that's just been installed in the Sistine Chapel connected to that chimney that you were talking about. And if the smoke is black, then that means that no candidate has reached a two-thirds majority to be elected. If the smoke burns white, then that means that they have come to a decision.
Traditionally, the black and white smoke was done by burning either wet or dry wood, but nowadays, it's done by adding certain chemicals.
JIMENEZ: And you know, that process of selecting the new pope is so interesting. Obviously, it's one that's closed off to the public, but there are some nuances here because, you know, you can't campaign, but at the same time you want to stand out in some way, I can imagine. Where is the balance there?
REYNOLDS: It's a great question. So, prior to the conclave, ever since Francis died, the cardinals have been meeting every day in what are called congregations, essentially daily morning meetings. And during these meetings, daily meetings, cardinals can make what are called interventions, basically short speeches in which they kind of offer their take on where the church is going, what the needs of the church are, and these short speeches can be very consequential. It's now sort of the thought that this was what really sealed the deal for Cardinal Bergoglio, when he was elected Pope Francis, he gave a very compelling short intervention.
The rumor is that he actually stuck to the five-minute time limit, which very few do, in which he gave this very powerful speech about how we often talk about Jesus knocking at the door of the church. But in fact, he said, Jesus is knocking at the door to get out. The church should go out to the world. And that sort of turned people's attention to him. So, you can't campaign, but you can put your take out there for others to consider.
JIMENEZ: Yes. And, you know, along those lines, I mean, I guess outside of staying within a time limit, I guess, what is typically considered for a new pope? I mean, what are the criteria that cardinals are looking at here?
REYNOLDS: There are identity factors and then there are sort of competency factors or stylistic factors. So, of course there are things like age, country of origin. We don't want someone too young, right? Think of the papacy of John Paul II. He was in in that office for 27 years. There was a consensus that maybe that was a little too long to have one person at the helm. So, they're suspicious of electing someone too young.
Country of origin isn't decisive, but it does tell us something. Do we want someone, for example, again, like Pope Francis from the Global South? Is it time to bring things back to Europe, for example? And then, there are the sort of competency factors. The pope needs to be a good manager of people. The Vatican is a very unwieldy bureaucracy, and if the pope isn't a good manager, things can fly under the radar. And there's also the capacity for corruption because people then start doing their own thing.
It's also going to be, you know, what's -- what is this person's sort of vision for the church? What do they think the church needs now more or less of, in a similar way, kind of, to American politics? There's kind of a pendular swing in the church. We saw, for example, a very conservative papacy with Benedict, and then we swung to, you know, a situation of a little more openness with Francis. So, there's always that attempt to find balance. You know, what did we have a little much of here and we need clarification on? What do we feel like the church needs now? It's that pendular sort of process.
[07:35:00]
JIMENEZ: And that was going to be my next question because, you know, Pope Francis had his own style. He was known for being a champion of human rights and that was, in many ways, his signature sort of trait during his papacy. But do you -- what do you see the responsibility of this new pope as being? Does it weigh any differently than sort of the responsibility of choosing a pope when Francis was first selected?
REYNOLDS: That's a great question. I think a couple of issues that are on the radar now that we didn't see necessarily in 2013, first of all, an emphasis on continuing to shore up the church's policies and procedures around investigating clergy sexual abuse. Back when Francis was elected in 2013, this was an issue that wasn't really on his radar and he had to really grow into an understanding of how crucial this problem is for the global church.
And he did that in ways that were imperfect, but also very important. He made major strides. It's been clear based on the sort of not readouts exactly. We get a little bare -- very cursory report of the issues discussed at these daily meetings that continuing to battle clergy sexual abuse and to prosecute clergy sexual abuse is something that the cardinals want to continue. The other thing that's on the radar right now is a continuation of some reforms that Pope Francis started. He reformed the curia, kind of the internal bureaucracy of the Vatican, in ways that have been really crucial, especially in enabling lay people. So, non-priests, including women, to be in charge of different divisions, so to speak, within the Vatican. This has been huge and also a source of some controversy.
JIMENEZ: Yes.
REYNOLDS: And there's a question of whether or not those sorts of reforms will continue to flourish under the next pope.
JIMENEZ: Susan Reynolds, really appreciate you being here. Thanks for the time and insight.
REYNOLDS: It's great to be here.
JIMENEZ: Of course. All right. Still ahead. We're going to tell you what we're learning about the witnesses who are expected to take the stand in the trial of Sean Diddy Combs. A lot of details to get into. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:40:00]
JIMENEZ: All right. Welcome back, everyone. The criminal trial for Sean Combs is set to begin tomorrow in New York with jury selection. Now, Combs has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including sex trafficking, and has denied all civil allegations against him. Now, sources say Combs' ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, will be a central witness during the trial. Now, sources also tell CNN other witnesses expected to testify, include his former sexual partners, a business associate, and a male sex worker.
Joining me now to discuss is trial attorney and former senior assistant district attorney Oto Ekpo. Thank you for being here. Can you just put into perspective how significant this case is?
OTO EKPO, ATTORNEY, FINCH MCCRANIE, LLP AND FORMER SENIOR ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This is a very, very significant case. I like to akin this to this is the Gen Z's, I guess, version of the O. J. Simpson trial.
JIMENEZ: Wow.
EKPO: I was in fifth grade whenever the OJ verdict came out, and I remember my teacher stopping trial or stopping the court like the -- stopping the -- our courtroom just for us to figure out like what's going on. We got to figure out what's happening with this verdict. What's different in this particular case than the O. J. Simpson trials that this is not going to be livestreamed.
JIMENEZ: Yes.
EKPO: You know, in federal court you can't live stream any type of court at all. You can't live stream any trials. And so, your audience is really going to have to focus on how CNN is kind of letting them know how the trial is progressing, but it's extremely significant. Yes.
JIMENEZ: Yes. And I mean, it's going to come down to the courtroom sketches, to what you hear from maybe witnesses choose to speak afterwards. We'll see. Look, as a prosecutor, when you approach a high-profile case like this, how is preparation different from one that might be a little bit more out of the spotlight?
EKPO: They have to prepare because they cannot make any mistakes. This elite to all women prosecution team, they've got to make sure that all their ducks in a row. This is either a make your career type of case, or this is a break your career type of case.
So, they're going to be prepared. I think they've been working on this case for at least a year now. They are prepared with their evidence. They're prepared with their witnesses. They've probably spoken to their witnesses at least two to three times to make sure that everything, every I is dotted and every T has been crossed.
JIMENEZ: And, you know, you talked about the prosecution team, high- profile case, high-profile defendant, high-profile defense attorneys too with resumes that include defending Martin Shkreli, you know, the pharma bro, Young Thug and more. On the defense side of things, does that experience actually make a difference in a case like this? And if so, how?
EKPO: I think it does. What the defense has done recently is bringing in a pinch hitter by the name of Brian Steel. You just mentioned the Young Thug trial. He was the lead defense attorney there. What the defense is trying to do is throw wrenches in anything that the prosecution's going to lay out. Any evidence they have, they want to try and misconstrue, throw out red herrings, throw out red flags. So, the jurors aren't actually focused on the real evidence.
And so, you know, their experience is actually very, very important. And so, if they can get one juror to kind of look the other way and not look at this case the way the prosecution wants it to be, that's very beneficial for the defense's side.
[07:45:00]
And, you know, obviously, the nature of this case is a very sensitive one, especially for the alleged victims here as well. And not all of the witnesses coming forward have chosen to use their names as part of their testimony. But Cassie Ventura, Diddy's his former girlfriend, is choosing to testify under her own name. What is the significance of that, I guess from a prosecutorial standpoint, but also just in general? What is the significance of that?
EKPO: She's ready to have her day in court. She's ready to let everybody know, not just Diddy, but to let the world know what happened to her. When you are uncloaking that veil and when you are actually presenting your true self in front of jurors in front of the world, it means that you mean business. And that's great for the prosecution.
When you have a victim, when you have a survivor that's decided, I'm actually going to come out here and I'm going to. Tell you my name, it's because I'm ready for whatever the defense is going to show.
JIMENEZ: Yes. Oto Ekpo, really appreciate you coming in. Thanks for the time and perspective.
EKPO: Yes. Thank you for having me.
JIMENEZ: Of course. All right. Coming up, the Dallas Stars pull off a come from behind win over the Colorado Avalanche. We're going to have your sports highlights after the break.
Tonight, Eva Longoria explores the birthplace of Flamenco bullfighting, and of course, tappas. A new episode of "Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain" airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. Only on CNN.
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[07:50:00]
JIMENEZ: All right. Welcome back everyone. The Nuggets advancing after a grueling second round of the NBA playoffs -- after a grueling series, I should say, with the L.A. Clippers. Not a lot of celebration in Colorado though. It's mixed. It's mixed.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. About half and half mixed. I can't imagine being a Denver sports fans yesterday. You have your NBA, NHL teams both in theses winners go home game sevens. That's madness.
Let's start with those Nuggets facing the Clippers. And Clippers owner, Steve Ballmer, flew in a fleet of fans to sit behind one of the baskets. Well, all they saw, Omar, was their team get spanked (INAUDIBLE). They were down 30 at one point. And to make matters worse, their former star, Russell Westbrook, went off. 16 points, five boards, five assists. And this emphatic dunk, he hangs on the rim, gets a technical and he does not care. He yells at those Clippers Fans, get your high knees outta here. Nuggets dominate game 7, 120 to 101. That's three straight first route exits for the Clippers in the playoffs. Denver has OKC next tomorrow night already. That'll be on TNT.
Stanley Cup playoffs, Colorado Avalanche versus the Dallas Stars. Colorado is up two-nothing in their third period. Only three teams had ever come back in a game seven when trailing multiple goals in the third, make that four. Dallas' Mikko Rantanen against his former team notching a hat trick. Dallas snags the 4-2 win to advance. Stars coach Pete DeBoer, clutch. Nine straight game seven wins, most in NHL history. A perfect nine and 0, Omar. That man is goal oriented when the pressure is on.
Two more winner go home game sevens tonight in the NH Ls, the Jets Blues on TBS at 7:00, then its Warriors Rockets at 8:030 on TNT. Both of those streaming on Max. In MLB, check this out. Twins' Kody Clemens, son of legendary Red Sox pitcher, Roger Clemens. And in Kody's first game at Fenway Park, he does this a home run. And of course, dad was there to see it. Kody was pointing up at him. Roger Clemens is watching his son help lead his team to a 4-3 win on that field where he used to play. He posted afterwards, proud dad moment.
The so-called greatest two minutes in sports, the run for the roses. The Kentucky Derby went down at Churchill Dows with fantastic fashion. Those hats and fascinators. Look at that. And there were lots of (INAUDIBLE) going around too. And when it came time for the main event, it would be Sovereignty reigning supreme. Coming from near the back of the pack, chasing down and beating the favorite, Journalism, to win it all. Didn't you pick Journalism to win it all?
JIMENEZ: I did. I was close but not finished for it.
WIRE: Listen to this fun fact. Every single horse in this year's races a descendant of the legendary thoroughbred Secretariat. The three-year-old Sovereignty, trained by the legendary Bill Mott ridden by Venezuelan jockey Junior Alvarado. Here he is after the win.
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JUNIOR ALVARADO, JOCKEY, SOVEREIGNTY: It was him and Sovereignty who got me all the way to the wire. And you know, it meant the word to me. My family's here. If I had to pick someone, it was Mr. Mop. And you know, like we've been a team for a while. It just like it's more than even a dream come true just to have it done with him and the (INAUDIBLE) people who have been very helpful throughout my career too.
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WIRE: Congrats to Mr. Alvarado. How long are you leaving that mud on your face? You just let it marinate for a while after a day like that.
JIMENEZ: I know. I think so. A little mud mask. Keep a bit of the mud, just so you remember. Just so you remember.
WIRE: Good for the skin.
JIMENEZ: Coy Wire. Appreciate it --
WIRE: Good to see.
JIMENEZ: -- as always. Good to see you. Look, for everyone that doesn't know it is "Star Wars Day." Fans of the --
WIRE: May the 4th be with y ou.
JIMENEZ: Of course. Of course. Fans of the epic "Star Wars" franchise are celebrating May 4th, as in May the 4th be with you. Is a celebration of all things from a galaxy far, far away. The day rose in popularity as a turn on the film's iconic catchphrase, you probably already guessed it, may the force be with you. Of course, it's not an official holiday for you. But retailers are getting in on the Star Wars Day action with deals and new product launches.
And we've made it easy for you. We've got a look at 54 deals and new products launched for the day. Go to cnn.com/underscore. I'm going to check that out, but I don't need an official holiday to celebrate myself.
WIRE: Why did you just go and waste my money like that? Because I'm definitely going to that site.
[07:55:00]
JIMENEZ: Yes, exactly. Exactly. Rio's officially gone Gaga as well. For starters, the global pop icon, Lady Gaga, marked her triumphant return to Brazil on Saturday. She's on tour, in case you guys didn't know. More than 2 million fans were expected at her free concert on Copacabana Beach. There's no official tally yet. But that would make it one of the biggest shows of her career. Before the show, Gaga got surprised her fan, who she calls little monsters, with a rehearsal performance.
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LADY GAGA, SINGER: I know that this is not the first show here. I know that it's just a rehearsal. But it feels like it's the real show.
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JIMENEZ: City officials say Gaga's visit could pump more than a hundred million dollars into its economy. More than half a million tourists traveled to Rio to attend the massive concert. That is more than twice the number officials expected. And my last question is, why weren't we there?
WIRE: Yes, that sounds like a party.
JIMENEZ: Yes, I know.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That is all -- like that is a lot of people. Like, I can't even fathom 2 million people in one space. That is --
JIMENEZ: I cannot imagine either. And maybe I don't have to. But thank you for joining us for CNN This Morning Weekend. Appreciate it. Inside Politics up next.
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