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CNN This Morning
Fallout from Trump's Comments Against Putin; Driver Plows into Crowd in Liverpool; Trump Lashes out in Tweet; Alyse Adamson is Interviewed about the Combs Trial. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired May 27, 2025 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:31:57]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.
It is 31 minutes past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.
Dozens of people are injured after a car plowed through a parade celebrating Liverpool Football Club. A man was arrested at the scene. Police are calling this an isolated incident. They're not investigating it as an act of terrorism.
And in just a few hours, court resumes in the trial against music mogul Sean Combs after a four-day weekend. Today, Diddy's former director of marketing and members of the LAPD are expected to take the stand.
And Russia continues its bombardment on Ukraine. At least two people are dead and over dozens of others injured after several aerial attacks all across the country. Ukraine says they intercepted 43 drones overnight, while Russia claims to have shot down 99 Ukrainian drones.
These latest attacks come just days after President Trump called Vladimir Putin absolutely crazy after Russia launched one of its largest air assaults on record against Ukraine. The Kremlin downplaying Trump's comments, but it does leave the question about what the global fallout will be now that we're seeing a shift in Trump's relationship with Putin.
This morning's latest CNN analysis by Stephen Collinson hits on that issue. He writes, quote, "when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump's statements and social media posts have become meaningless. Receding chances for a ceasefire and peace deal soon will depend instead on whether he finally finds the steel to reinforce his rhetorical lashing of President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin is betting that he won't."
Joining me now to discuss this, CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier.
Welcome back. You are always helpful in explaining this. So, I think for the longest time there were doubts about whether Putin
was serious. How have you come to look at it? Is -- was he playing Trump? Is he just doing his regular stalling for time? Is the Kremlin mocking the White House at this point?
KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, the Kremlin official who said that Trump was just getting emotional with his tweet over the weekend, that's definitely mocking him.
When you ask Ukrainians and Europeans, why won't Trump do something that might anger Putin, the only conclusion they can come to is that he must be afraid, that he's afraid of Putin's nuclear weapon capability the same way Biden was afraid and risk averse of taking any action.
What they're looking for is, Germany just lifted its limits on long range weapons.
CORNISH: Right.
DOZIER: It's said to Ukraine, you can use our taurus missiles to hit Russian command and control nodes inside Russia, Russian security line.
CORNISH: Which was a very big deal.
DOZIER: Yes.
CORNISH: It was a big deal when the U.S. did it, right, under the Biden administration --
DOZIER: Yes.
CORNISH: Because it was a sign of escalation.
DOZIER: In a limited fashion (INAUDIBLE), yes.
CORNISH: In a limited fashion.
And -- but I think it's significant because at the time I think Putin and Russia, their take was --
DOZIER: Yes.
CORNISH: If a nuclear power gives you guys the ability to send missiles over here, we're going to take that as a threat, an act of war.
[06:35:04]
DOZIER: But what Trump hasn't done is go ahead with more sanctions.
CORNISH: Yes.
DOZIER: Go ahead with something that's a little bit more than symbolic, more than the six some odd tweets that he's done angrily at Putin.
CORNISH: You can't tweet your way through peace talks.
DOZIER: That's not stopping Putin.
CORNISH: No. OK.
And Senator Grassley of Iowa, he posted this yesterday on X saying, "I've had enough of Putin killing innocent people. President Trump, take action, at least sanctions." Trump saying he's considering it.
Now, I wasn't clear whether we were sanctioned out when it came to Russia.
DOZIER: Yes.
CORNISH: Like, have we -- have we reached the max point? Is there more to be done? What would it look like?
DOZIER: What the Lindsey Graham bill would do would sanction India, China, anyone, Europe, anyone who's still buying oil from Russia. Oil, uranium, et cetera. So, it wouldn't sanction Russia as much as it -- you could sanction the people that are still relying on Russia's supplies because any money going into Russia feeds into the war machine.
Still, Russia finds way around a lot of these sanctions. Sanctions are painful for about six months. But --
CORNISH: Has the tariff situation made it worse? The U.S. tariffs around the world. I mean it sort of forced everyone to go looking for other partners.
DOZIER: It has. But I mean more in terms of informal trading or China and North Korea --
CORNISH: Yes.
DOZIER: Et cetera, providing avenues for Russia to import, et cetera.
But the symbolism would be enough to -- I -- I just visited Ukrainian troops close to the front, and they are watching everything that Trump says. And on Ukrainian message boards where they post news of the latest things that Trump has said, like the tweet over the weekend, there were a bunch of emojis of people, you know, with their flames, angry faces, heads exploding because they're like, why doesn't he get that no matter what Putin promises him, every night we are getting sirens, missiles. Something like 1,000 missiles and drones were fired over the weekend. One of the most vicious assaults since the start of the 2022 full invasion.
And at the front, there were Russian troops gathering that looked like they're preparing for a summer offensive, trying to break through in places like --
CORNISH: A summer offensive. DOZIER: A summer offensive. While the weather permits. And on the
front line, they're doing this -- this drone back and forth. Each one makes better and better drones. And then the other has to try to outwit them.
And the troops I spoke to said, look, if you would just keep supplying us weapons, we're not asking you to die for us. Please tell Trump we're willing to fight. And, you know, that's the message that Zelenskyy keeps giving, but Trump gets angry that Zelenskyy is trying to call him on his silence and inadequacy when it comes to stopping Putin.
CORNISH: Yes. But I appreciate you saying that it's not Zelenskyy on his own just being a big personality. There are people on the front lines who their lives are at stake in this situation.
DOZIER: Yes.
CORNISH: All right, Kim Dozier, thank you, as always.
DOZIER: Yes.
CORNISH: Kim is our global affairs analyst.
OK, so, why? That's the question authorities in Liverpool, England, are trying to answer this morning after a driver plowed their car into a parade for the city's football club. Hundreds of soccer fans had filled the streets Monday when a gray minivan drove into the crowd, left dozens of people hurt. Police say they've arrested a man believed to be the driver. Authorities have also ruled out terrorism. Liverpool City Council leader said in a post on X, the situation, quote, "has cast a very dark shadow over what had been a joyous day."
CNN's Nic Robertson joins us live from the scene.
Nic, can you tell us the latest on the investigation?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, forensic teams are still working in the street behind me, behind that large police truck. And I'll just step out of the way. There is an inflated forensics tent, if you will. And that tent is erected over that vehicle. A people carrier, Ford Galaxie as it's known here, a people carrier that careened down the street. Hundreds of thousands of Liverpool soccer fans were out celebrating their Premier League win. It's the second time they'd won. The last time they won was during the Covid era. They hadn't been able to come out. This was a huge deal for this soccer mad city to come out and celebrate their team's victory. And it did turn to an awful tragedy when this incident happened.
I spoke with the Liverpool city region mayor, Steve Rotheram, just about an hour ago here, and I asked him what's coming next in this investigation.
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STEVE ROTHERAM, METRO MAYOR OF LIVERPOOL CITY REGION: The police will conclude their investigation shortly. And then, of course, this road will be opened. And then they'll make a statement or there'll be a press conference, which -- in which they will ensure that all the facts are known.
[06:40:05]
And it's not for people on social media to speculate on what happened. The police are the only people who have all of that information to hand, and they're the people that we should trust.
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ROBERTSON: And the very latest information was given last night by the ambulance service, by the police, by the fire service. The ambulance service saying that there were 27 people injured, taken to hospital, 20 people injured, treated in the street, four of those injured and taken to hospital seriously injured. One of those seriously injured is a child. Four other children -- four children total injured.
It's still not clear what caused this. The forensic teams, just watching them here, carrying another bag of possible evidence back into the scene. So, this is still an active situation here as the police try to figure out what caused this 53-year-old white British male from this area to drive into the crowd.
CORNISH: That's Nic Robertson reporting from Liverpool today. Thank you.
Now, on a day when many Americans were honoring fallen heroes, President Trump went on an angry tirade against his political rivals and perceived enemies, lashing out on Truth Social, wishing, to begin, a happy Memorial Day to, quote, "the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country."
A few hours later, he delivered more traditional remarks at Arlington National Cemetery, paying tribute to all who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Managing still to get in a few digs.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Their valor gave us the freest, greatest and most noble republic ever to exist on the face of the earth. A republic that I am fixing after a long and hard four years. That was a hard four years we went through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The group chat is back.
You know what's harder? Being in a war. Which is what we were supposed to be talking about on that day. Who wants to start in the group chat? This is one of those things where you just post the link and just let emojis happen.
CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Can I start with one thing very basic? I've been dealing with politicians and Memorial Day for a long time. I worked for VoteVets, a veterans organization. And the first thing for all of you politicians out there, Memorial Day is a day to remember fallen heroes. You never, ever are supposed to say happy Memorial Day to anyone for all of you folks out there thinking about how you should actually post about Memorial Day. It's a day of remembrance of folks who actually had the ultimate sacrifice.
CORNISH: And not maybe make yourself the hero in the story.
ROCHA: Right. And when -- and not --
CORNISH: And usually I'm not so strident, but it's just sort of like, this is why we can't have nice things.
ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL UNDER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: No, it's a -- I mean, it's tough. I don't really have anything to say except that, you know, its probably not the right thing.
JERUSALEM DEMSAS, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": You know, it's -- I think that's hard to -- hard to imagine anyone else deprecating (ph) at Trump's ability to both brag about how great the country is doing in a speech, while also reflecting back and saying, well, all the bad things that are happening are, you know, because of Joe Biden's fault. And you wonder if this two step is something that he does in his speech at the top where he talks about, like, oh, it's a great time to be here in the United States, great time to, you know, things are going great. But also, we went through this terrible four years. And I wonder, how long can that actually go on for with -- with -- with -- with Trump, I mean for the next how many speeches can say like, you know --
CORNISH: Well, I mean, with this conversation about Biden's health for a very long time, frankly.
DEMSAS: Yes.
DAVIS: Yes, you're exactly right, though. And I think everyone would agree. The president loves our country and he loves our military and that -- I think if he would have stuck to that message, because I don't think there's anyone, Republican or Democrat, independent, that believes he doesn't. So, he should have probably stuck to that message. But, you know --
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CORNISH: Well, I want, you know, I want to mention one more thing. Military parade. It's going to be the 250th anniversary of the Army. That is coming up. Also falls on Trump's birthday. So, here is his plan for that.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to have a big, big celebration. As you know, 250 years. In some ways, I'm glad I missed that second term where it was because I wouldn't be your president for that. Most important of all, in addition, we have the World Cup and we have the Olympics. Can you imagine? I missed that for years. And now look what I have. I have everything. Amazing the way things work out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: But that anniversary will be significant. And now it's going to have different connotations.
ROCHA: Absolutely. And -- and putting a political lens on everything like I normally do, there's a midterm elections coming up. And let me say this, is that most folks, most regular folks are out there just trying to figure out how to make it every day. This is not going to be the centerpiece of why they love or hate either one of the parties. But folks that are tuned in, folks that watch this every day, who understand the meaning of what 250 years should mean to our great country, they're going to show up in midterms because they show up in every midterm. Low information folks that are working, they don't always show up to vote. The ones who aren't tuned in, that's why I think this has a really --
CORNISH: I guess my question is, can it -- can these events be seen as patriotic moments of unification if this is how they're framed?
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DEMSAS: Yes, I mean, I think -- I think it's -- I think it's hard to have that feeling in this country regardless because I mean you have a president who, at speeches, where you're supposed to just kind of be -- anyone could be doing it, a Republican, a Democrat, this speech was basically the same for -- for presidents for year to year. But with him it's clearly political. Like, I mean, he even says at the top of his speech, you know, I'm not going to get into all of that as referencing politics. But then he immediately gets into it because he can't really help himself.
ROCHA: He only knows grievance.
DEMSAS: And if that's -- and if that's the same thing --
ROCHA: He only knows grievance, because that's what got him elected. That's his safe place.
CORNISH: Yes. But people want the celebratory, patriotic moments. They do want them.
DAVIS: And we -- and we live in Washington. I mean we've seen some of these military celebrations before. Not this one, but they're really amazing just to watch. But listen, no matter what he does, we're going -- he's going to get criticized. He obviously doesn't help himself all the time. But, I mean, hopefully it does bring the country together. Hopefully it is patriotic.
CORNISH: OK.
ROCHA: For anybody who's ever been to a baseball game or a football game, when those jets fly over after the national anthem, it moves everybody and they remember that.
DAVIS: Yes, it's amazing.
CORNISH: Yes. Well, this is coming up in a few weeks. So, you guys stay right here. There's a lot more to talk about.
Next on CNN THIS MORNING, as graduation week begins, the president has a new plan for the grant money at Harvard. Who he wants those billions of dollars to go to instead.
Plus, the shove seen around the world. Why France's president is dismissing this viral clip.
More from the group chat after this.
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[06:50:36]
CORNISH: In just a few hours, the trial for rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs resumes in New York. Jurors got a four-day break from the case over the Memorial Day weekend with week three of the trial starting today. On the stand, we're expected to hear from a former employee in Combs' company, Capricorn Clark, a former executive on his record label. We'll also hear from members of the Los Angeles police and fire departments.
Joining me now to discuss, Alyse Adamson, a former federal prosecutor and host of the "At-lyse You Heard It Here" podcast. Best name for a podcast.
OK, so in the -- last week we were talking a lot about rapper Kid Cudi and the arson charge against Sean Combs because of the allegations that Combs had his car firebombed. Molotov cocktail. You decide. Today, we're now going to have Capricorn Clark.
Who is this person and why are they important to the prosecution in their attempt to prove that Combs was leading a criminal enterprise?
ALYSE ADAMSON, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Yes. I think Capricorn Clark is a potentially very significant witness. As you just said, she was an employee of Combs. And remember, there is a RICO charged here. I -- we were just talking, we want to remind folks that this is a RICO case at the end of the day. And to prove RICO, they have to prove that Combs was acting as part of a corrupt enterprise and that he was directing employees and associates and there was some kind -- it's a RICO conspiracy. So, there was some kind of agreement to commit this pattern of racketeering activity.
And up to this point, we hadn't heard a lot about these employees in Combs' sphere of influence. Capricorn Clark could change that. We had low level employees before, but now she is the individual who allegedly drove Combs to Kid Cudi's house during that break in in December of 2022.
CORNISH: Right. And Kid Cudi actually mentioned this. He said, Clark called him and described the call this way. He talked about this on the stand. He said, "she was very scared, sounded like she was on the verge of tears." He went on to say Clark had called him to say, quote, that "Sean Combs and an affiliate were in my house and she was in a car," and she was forced to go along with them over there.
ADAMSON: Yes. Now, it's interesting, the -- the force --
CORNISH: That's her testimony but, yes.
ADAMSON: Yes, exactly.
The -- the force aspect of it, because, of course, for an agreement, you need to be doing this voluntarily. They need to be part of the enterprise. And so, we need to hear more about this. What do you mean you were forced now.
Interestingly enough, in September of 2024, the government filed a detention memo to keep Sean Combs in jail. You may recall this.
CORNISH: Yes.
ADAMSON: There was a little bit more color about this incident, this break in incident there. It alleged that Combs had taken somebody by gunpoint to gain access to Cudi's house. So, you know, it will be interesting to hear from Clark, who is that person held by gunpoint?
CORNISH: Yes.
ADAMSON: Is that why she felt scared? When did she agree to do this? Because they need to be cohesive (ph) here.
CORNISH: So we're in the week where we're going to hear less about freak offs, right, and more, like, police reports, the fire department, like, it's going to be less sort of explosive pop culture and more of this nitty gritty at this point when we talk about the LAPD testifying.
ADAMSON: Yes, I think so. I think you're going to be hearing the building blocks of the case. The testimony we heard before was necessary because it set the stage. It explained the crimes that are being charged. But now prosecutors need to connect those dots.
And you're absolutely right, Audie, they got to -- they got to enter in like the nitty gritty. They got to enter in the police reports, these break ins, the arson. And they're going to have to find ways to start tying up this RICO. It has -- it's more than just the -- the offenses. It's the means of committing these offenses. It is actually proving the corrupt enterprise. Less exciting for the jury, but very necessary for the prosecution.
CORNISH: OK, Alyse, thank you so much for talking with us about this. I know you will be back, unfortunately.
Alyse, a former federal prosecutor, host of the "At-lyse You Heard It Here" podcast.
Also want to note, CNN Audio has a podcast out that's hosted by our own Laura Coates, "Diddy by Jury." Thanks so much.
So, it is now 53 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
Three more inmates who busted out of that New Orleans jail have been arrested. Police say one was caught sitting on a bench in Baton Rouge, and another two were captured after a high speed chase over 300 miles away in Texas. In addition, police arrested six more people Monday, accused of helping them. Two inmates are still on the run.
And is this a shove? This video going viral showing French President Emmanuel Macron's wife pushing his face away as they were getting off a plane in Vietnam.
[06:55:04]
It sparked a lot of speculation online. Macron addressed it, saying they were joking and teasing.
Superstar WNBA player Caitlin Clark out for at least two weeks with a quad injury. The Indiana Fever announced she will miss at least four games, including two Commissioners Cups games.
And President Trump escalating his fight with Harvard on Truth Social. He says he's considering taking $3 billion of grant money from the university and, quote, "giving it to trade schools all across our land." The president has been railing against the Ivy League school for weeks now. In the latest move, his administration banned the university from enrolling international students. Nearly 30 percent of the student body.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We give them billions of dollars, which is ridiculous. We do grants, which we're probably not going to be doing much grants anymore to Harvard.
I'm not going to have a problem with foreign students, but it shouldn't be 31 percent. It's too much. Because we have Americans that want to go there and to other places, and they can't go there because you have 31 percent foreign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The group chat is back.
All right, you guys, one thing I want to ask about this, in his targeting of universities, is a lot of people are aligning this with his targeting of any other kind of independent entities, whether they be boards, whether they be law firms.
Congressman Jamie Raskin, he's a Democrat, of course. He explained why he thinks Trump is targeting universities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): This is what authoritarians do all over the world. You can look at Orban in Hungary, Putin in Russia. They go after the press. They go after the universities. They go after law firms. They go after civil society. Anybody who conceivably could present any obstacle to their total domination of society.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Ashley, can I start with you?
DAVIS: Yes. I was just thinking, I usually don't agree with him, with Jamie Raskin.
I -- I would say that Harvard's fighting back, and Trump's going to continue to go after them the more they fight back. And I think that some of the other universities that have been in the crosshairs of Republicans in general, Columbia, Penn, MIT, you can go, you know, through the list, they have been having discussions with the president, and the escalation of the tension has gone down.
But this is going to go tit for tat forever as long as Harvard fights back. I mean, I don't agree with Raskin --
CORNISH: But what's surprising is that they're talking with the president. They're not talking with each other.
DAVIS: But that's federal money.
DEMSAS: But also I'll say this, that sounds very authoritarian. The idea that in order to avoid the president of the United States doing potentially unlawful actions, just clearly retaliatory actions based on cultural disagreements or political disagreements, that you should pre-capitulate to avoid punishment from the president. I mean that's authoritarian -- I think that is actually --
CORNISH: You're saying pre-capitulate.
DEMSAS: Yes.
CORNISH: Some people may say you're having an honest discussion to see what could happen differently.
DEMSAS: Yes, exactly.
DAVIS: I mean remember what he's going after, anti-Semitism.
ROCHA: This --
DEMSAS: Sorry, is it -- is it anti-Semitic to send Israeli students back to Israel rather than studying America? I don't know.
ROCHA: I'll -- I'll say this is, that the whole fight is stupid, but it's a great fight for him politically.
DAVIS: Yes, it is. It is.
ROCHA: Again, he gets to -- there's nothing says elite privilege more than Harvard. And that's just -- not taking a side on this.
CORNISH: But why are Democrats struggling so much to counter it. And I -- I understand. I -- one thing about -- talking about authoritarianism, very real concern, especially with certain actions. Also -- an Democrats have been talking so long about him as a threat to democracy. I feel like maybe it's becoming noise to the public.
ROCHA: Well, let's start with, most Americans don't know what authoritarianism is.
CORNISH: Right.
ROCHA: All right. And we have lost connection --
CORNISH: So what's an effective counter? You're about to go into midterms. How do you talk about this?
ROCHA: The rich against the poor. The elites against the non-elites. We've quit talking to working people, and that's why we've lost the connection that we used to have with them when I joined this party. We've got to go back to the basics and admit we've done some things wrong, but say, we want to recenter this party around workers and the good things about working families.
DAVIS: Trade schools conversation is so good to everybody else.
ROCHA: And I'm a big proponent of trade schools. That's good for him.
CORNISH: Yes. No, there's a lot of people talking about the trade school thing.
DEMSAS: I think this is -- this is something where I think in the short term, yes, it can be politically helpful to say -- to pretend like this money is -- is, oh, instead of Harvard it's going to go to these trade schools. An we know this is not actually a real trade off. But in the long term, there are actual legitimate consequences for everyday Americans reducing innovation, reducing scientific breakthroughs. When you see fewer medical trials and people who have cancer, are not able to access those trials, they're not able to access new services, that's going to have real, serious impact on people's lives.
So, while people may not really resonate with, you know, talk about democracy and authoritarianism, when it becomes very concrete, when it becomes very clear that these impacts are going to have real harms on their children's lives and the ability to flourish, that's going to be a problem.
CORNISH: Well, I think often about J.D. Vance and -- and some others quoting Nixon, saying the universities are the enemy. And it feels very much like conservatives and Republicans have finally reached the point where they could kind of make good on that approach.
DAVIS: Yes. And remember what made Elise Stefanik go viral initially was her attack on the college presidents over some of this elitism and anti-Semitism. [07:00:07]
So, I mean, there is a base there.
CORNISH: There is.
What will be interesting to see is, over time, whether the anti- Semitism conversation gets decoupled from this debate because it's so broad. The attacks are so broad. The remedies that they're offering are so broad.
ROCHA: The Republicans, this week, kicked 13 million people off of health care, and they're going to be the working-class party. That's the part (INAUDIBLE).
CORNISH: Group chat, thank you for waking up with us.
DAVIS: (INAUDIBLE).
CORNISH: And thank you for waking up with us. I'm Audie Cornish. And CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.
