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Connect the World
Trump Says He Doesn't Know if He Must Uphold Constitution; White House Working to Answer how Marco Rubio will Balance Two Top National Security Roles; RIO Authorities: Lady Gaga Bomb Plot Targeted LGBTQ+ Crowd; Netflix Eyes Growth Despite Trump Tariff Fears; VE Day: Time to Celebrate & Reflect. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired May 05, 2025 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Right. This is the scene near Buckingham Palace this hour in London, where they are commemorating the
80th Anniversary of Victory Day in Europe. It's 02:00 p.m. there in London, it is 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson from our Middle East
programming headquarters.
You're watching, "Connect the World". Also coming up, Israel's security cabinet votes to expand military operations in Gaza that effectively allows
him to occupy the territory. U.S. President Donald Trump suggests he doesn't know if he needs to uphold the U.S. Constitution. And the U.S.
trade war hits the cinema as Donald Trump orders a 100 percent tariff on all foreign made films.
A stock market in New York opens about 30 minutes from now, at 09:30 New York time. And if the futures are anything to go by, we are looking at a
weaker start to the trading week. And we start this hour with a new phase to the Israel Hamas war. Two Israeli officials telling CNN, the security
cabinet has approved an expansion of military operations in Gaza.
One of them saying it involves, quote, The conquest of territory and staying there with creating a new framework to deliver aid. An Israeli
blockade has prevented humanitarian aid from entering Gaza for two months. Now, let's get you straight to Jeremy Diamond, connecting us from
Jerusalem.
Jeremy, good to have you. We know, in theory this was -- that this was going to happen, but this smooth, effectively rubber stamps the escalation
in Gaza by the IDF. Just walk us through what we know and the significance of this, especially, of course, in light of the Israeli blockade entering
its third month.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Becky. And as you know, we reported back in late March that the Israeli military was -
- or that the Israeli government, I should say, was considering this plan to call up tens of thousands of reservists and to carry out a really
massive ground operation inside of the Gaza Strip.
One that would involve not only taking territory and removing Hamas forces from the area, but also then choosing to stay in those areas, setting up
the potential for a month long, or even potentially years long occupation of large swaths of the Gaza Strip. And that is indeed what the Israeli
government appears to have green lit over the weekend, with the cabinet voting to expand military operations in Gaza, mobilizing tens of thousands
of Israeli reservists.
And as you note that one Israeli official telling us that this will involve the conquest of territory and remaining there. The only difference --
ANDERSON: All right, struggling with the communications with Jeremy at this point. Let me see if we can get him back. Meantime, I'll just move on to
where we are at and Israel's Prime Minister vowing to respond to a missile attack from Houthi rebels in Yemen that hit the grounds of Israel's main
International Airport near Tel Aviv.
-- the missile shocked passengers and caused flight cancelations at Ben Gurion Airport. A Houthi spokesperson says the group used a hypersonic
ballistic missile with self-technology, and it is vowing to strike again. An Israeli military analyst calls the missile a serious threat and says the
IDF will investigate all aspects of what was a failed interception attempt.
Well U.S. President Donald Trump is unclear on whether he needs to uphold the U.S. Constitution, the supreme law of the land in the United States.
And this came up during an interview with NBC News when he was asked about his immigration agenda, in which he has been deporting people without due
process. That's a right protected by the Constitution's Fifth Amendment. Have a listen to this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: U.S. Secretary of State says everyone who's here, citizens and non-citizens deserve due process. Do you agree, Mr. President?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I don't know. I'm not -- I'm not a lawyer. I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president.
TRUMP: I don't know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the
Supreme Court said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[09:05:00]
ANDERSON: Well, CNN's Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston joining us live from Washington, there's been some talk for some time now that the U.S. is
headed for a constitutional crisis in this presidency. Are we already there at this point?
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, you could argue that there's certainly shades of it right now. I mean, the reason why we're in
the position where we are, where Donald Trump is able to kind of steam roll over everything, is that voters here in the United States, they voted
Donald Trump into office.
And more importantly, they voted a Republican Congress. A Republican Congress is supposed to be a check, you know, and a balance against the
executive branch. And right now, it is not Republicans control the U.S. House Representatives, the control the United States Senate, and they are
in lock step behind a Donald Trump.
As for the courts right now, we see Donald Trump, at least trying to defy some of those orders. We see it with our El Salvador situation and whether
or not we're going to bring back a legal immigrant who would probably be sent back anyway to El Salvador, but he, as you noted at the very top, he
is due his rights here that are outlined in the constitution.
He just hasn't been able to use them. Donald Trump is really not a Biden by the law right now.
ANDERSON: And Mark, what happens next?
PRESTON: That's a good question. You know, what happens next? Look, you know he's going to keep pushing things right now. Becky, we've seen this
time and time again, and just so our viewers know all around the world, Donald Trump has been incredibly successful here in the United States
getting through what he wants to get through.
He has cut the United States AID program that does an incredible amount of work and spend an incredible amount of money, U.S. money around the world,
in aid programs, what have you he has dismantled that entirely. We've also seen Donald Trump go through, and he's cutting all of this foreign
assistance that we've seen all you know, all across the world.
What is going to happen at some point, this ship will start to list the other way, and then it will come back more to the middle. But the reality
is, though, Becky, is that if the world, if world leaders, think that the United States is going to come back in the way that it was, let's say, 6,
7, 8, months ago, then they would be wrong, because that is just not going to happen.
ANDERSON: I'm really interested by the exchange. I don't know, he said.
PRESTON: Yeah.
ANDERSON: If I have to uphold the constitution.
PRESTON: Right.
ANDERSON: And he said he's got good lawyers who act for him and advise him. Is it sort of received sort of wisdom or understanding that he genuinely
doesn't know, or was this him on the hop responding to a question, sort of making it up on the, you know, sort of just making it up on the -- at the
moment, I'm trying to understand what we really understand from that response?
PRESTON: Well, a couple things. One is, when you first listen to it, you like, wow, maybe he doesn't know, but he uses that language throughout the
entire interview. And let me just start first. As the President of United States, you would hope he would understand what the constitution is.
But the reality is, is that by saying I don't know, it's a strategic move on his part to try to protect him from further prosecution or any
litigation that is thrown against him, he talks over and over again about how he is the most prosecuted person ever you know in the United States,
and maybe that's true.
I assume it's true. Maybe it is. But Donald Trump at this point is going to do what he's going to do, and he's not going to worry about the
consequences, and when he gives non answers like I don't know, it's a strategic way of protecting himself on the back end.
ANDERSON: It's good to have you, Mark. Thank you very much indeed.
PRESTON: Thank you --
ANDERSON: Joining us some more, of course, on this as we move on. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with National Security Council
staff today as he assumes his new role as interim national security adviser. Now the White House still sorting out how Rubio will juggle
multiple roles, including two top national security jobs.
Rubio is acting temporarily as the National Security Adviser after Michael Waltz was side lined last week and nominated to be the ambassador to the
United Nations. In fact, I mean, many people saw that as a firing J.D. Vance, effectively framing that as a promotion to all intents and purposes.
Be that as it may, Marco Rubio now also has two other interim jobs. USAID Director.
[09:10:00]
Mark was just alluding to what's going on in that department and national archivist now in the past decade, Rubio has gone from being Donald Trump's
bitter rival to one of his top aides. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Marco Rubio, unbelievable, Marco. When I have a problem, I call up Marco, he gets this solved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Yep, well, CNN's Kylie Atwood joining us live from the U.S. State Department in Washington. Every time I listen to that, it reminds me of the
way that Donald Trump used to speak about Marco Rubio, which was using the term little Marco. That was obviously when he was competing with him for
the nomination for the Republican Party's position as president.
Anyway, Kylie, people familiar with the decision to appoint Marco Rubio to this sort of litany of positions, telling CNN that the lack of answers from
the White House is partly due to just how quickly this decision came together. Just tell us what you are hearing behind the scenes here.
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, I spoke with a Senior State Department official this morning who acknowledged that there's
quite a bit of disarray right now at the State Department and at the NSC, just because how this is all going to look is really still coming together.
As you said, this was pretty much not something that the whole inter agency knew was coming, the State Department, the NSC, the Pentagon, you know, the
IC. They didn't know definitively when Trump was going to make this announcement, or that it was going to actually be the Secretary of State
who is going to be coming in to back fill for the time being, for the national security adviser.
Even though folks knew that the National Security Adviser, Waltz was the writing was on the wall that he was likely on his way out. So, it's
important to note, Becky, that these two roles, though, are incredibly different. National security adviser is inherently an inter-agency
convener, someone who formulates and then drives the president's foreign policy objectives in the inter-agency to make sure that all of the elements
of government are churning to make those goals into a reality.
It is a very technical job. And then you have the secretary of state, who is America's top diplomat, the most public person on the world stage when
it comes to expressing what the Trump Administration's foreign policy objectives are. So inherently, those are just two very different things.
And you talk to current U.S. officials who are concerned about Rubio being able to do both. And then obviously, we have heard from the Hill, from
Democrats, who are saying that publicly, that they're concerned just about how one person can do both of these jobs.
So, we'll be watching to see how Rubio falls into this new dual headed role over the course of the next few weeks and months. As we know there is an
active effort underway to try and look for someone to fill that role permanently.
ANDERSON: I mean, collapsing these two roles into one certainly is of concern to some thinking about the significance of this for our
international viewers. I mean, those two roles are very visible when it comes to foreign policy, Jake Sullivan and Antony Blinken, of course, two
characters who would have been very familiar to our international audience.
I just wonder how long he is expected to be in those two roles, and whether ultimately, we should expect anyone else anytime soon.
ATWOOD: Yeah, so Trump actually spoke to this just late last night. He said that he is looking to put someone into that role within six months. So,
there is that active effort to try and figure out who the best person to fill the role of national security adviser for the long term is? We know
that Stephen Miller, according to Trump, is at the top of that list.
He is someone who is very ideologically aligned with President Trump. He served in the first Trump Administration. He is close to the president.
Classically, you would want someone as a national security adviser who really understands the president's priorities. But also, Stephen Miller has
been focused on domestic issues, including immigration, which obviously has some overlap with foreign policy.
But making that change and being in charge of drafting the overall foreign policy of the administration would be a significant pivot for Stephen
Miller. And then you also have to consider that this is a president who sometimes says one thing and does another.
[09:15:00]
So, if Rubio seems to be doing well on the job and Trump likes him, there you talk to administration officials, and they say it's possible that he
could keep the job for, you know, a more permanent amount of time than just six months. But we'll be watching, really to see how this all unfolds over
the course of the next few weeks.
ANDERSON: Yeah, good to have you. Thank you. Well, still to come, a woman deported to Cuba from the U.S. says that she is desperate to see her
daughter who she was still breast feeding when she was removed from the States. Their family story is up next. Plus, how tricky will it be for
attorneys in the Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial to seat a jury. They start -- so they just got started on that live report from the courthouse, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: The woman deported from the United States to her native Cuba last month, claims that she was separated from her 17-month-old daughter after
an immigration meeting. Heidy Sanchez has never been charged or convicted of any crime and says she wasn't given the option to take her child with
her. CNN's Patrick Oppman with this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Heidy Sanchez spends her days watching videos of daughter, Kailyn. It's as close as she can be to
her child now, just days after Heidy was deported from the United States to Cuba. Kailyn, who was born in Florida, stayed there with her father, who,
like Kailyn, is also a U.S. citizen, but she does not comprehend where her mother is.
She's very intelligent, Heidy says, of her one-year-old daughter, when she talks to me, she says, mama, come. And they say, your mama is working. She
says, mama, come. Heidy lived for six years in the U.S., and although she tried to become a legal resident. She was placed into deportation
proceedings after missing an immigration hearing in 2019.
In late April, at what she thought was a routine appointment with immigration officials, she says. They told her she was being deported and
to have her husband come get their daughter. I told him, don't take away my daughter, Heidy says. They never said if I could take her or not with me.
Heidy had to hand over her daughter to a member of the legal team to then give to her husband, her lawyer told me.
CLAUDIA CANIZARES, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: What they told her was that she needed to call her husband and that she needed to ask him to come and pick
up the baby. There was not an option of, oh, I want to take my baby. Can I take her?
OPPMANN (voice-over): Two days later, Heidy was deported on a U.S. government flight to Cuba without her daughter, who she was breast feeding
and suffers from convulsions.
[09:20:00]
OPPMANN: In a statement to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security contradictory what Heidy and her attorney told us, saying they always allow
parents to decide whether the children are deported with them or stay behind with relatives. And that quote, the Trump Administration is giving
parents in this country illegally the opportunity to self-deport and take control of their departure process with the potential ability to return the
legal right way and come back to live the American dream.
OPPMANN (voice-over): Heidy now lives with relatives on the outskirts of Havana. There is no cell signal inside the house, so she shows us how she
climbs up on the roof to be able to call her daughter and sing her to sleep.
In Florida, Heidy says she was working as a nursing assistant and had no criminal record, not seeming to fit with the image of the dangerous
undocumented immigrants that the Trump Administration says is removing from U.S. streets. Photos of her wedding in the U.S. are reminders of a
different world, a different life.
I ask Heidy if she thinks she was living the American dream. I don't know if it was the American dream she tells me, but it was my dream, my family.
A dream and family that seemed farther and farther out of reach. Patrick Oppman, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, you're watching "Connect the World" with me Becky Anderson. Court proceedings have begun in Sean "Diddy" Combs' criminal trial in New
York. Music mogul rejected a plea deal. He's pleaded not guilty to five charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
Now he is also accused of holding so called freak offs, where women were allegedly drugged and forced to have sex. A key witness is expected to be
Combs' ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, one of the four suspected victims in the case. Video of Combs assaulting Ventura is to be shown at trial.
CNN's Leigh Waldman joins me from the federal courthouse in Manhattan. And Leigh, walk us through these charges and who is expected to testify.
LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, good to be with you. So, the jury selection process just got underway a few moments ago, but like you
mentioned, Sean Diddy Combs is facing a number of federal charges here, including racketeering conspiracy, transportation to engage in prostitution
and sex trafficking by force or coercion.
Now if he is found guilty, he could face life in prison. Combs has previously pled not guilty to all of these charges. You mentioned where to
hear from Cassie Ventura. She's one of the victims expected to testify using her real name, but there's other witnesses that are expected to
testify at this trial as well, including former sexual partners of combs, a business associate and a male sex worker as well.
Now the official witness list hasn't been released at this point, but prosecutors are expected to question the potential juries, jury members
today the prosecution as well as the defense, and asking them questions about their views on things like drugs, sex with multiple partners, and the
hip hop industry.
Now, the jury selection process itself is expected to be a challenging one, given the publicity around this case, the publicity around Combs himself,
so there will be a challenge to get an impartial jury willing to just listen to the facts of this case, Becky.
ANDERSON: Now this jury selection schedule for all this week, how difficult is it going to prove?
WALDMAN: Yeah, there is hoping to move through the selection process rather quickly. Opening statements are slated to start a week from today, but it
is going to be difficult. We know that there was a questionnaire sent out previously, but dozens and dozens of people are being called in for this
jury selection process.
And they will be asked a series of questions to figure out their views and if they have any kind of bias going into this case that would eliminate
them from participating in this jury selection process. You know, the magic number they're hoping to get to throughout this process is 45 before those
prosecutors and defense attorneys can start using their pre-emptive strikes strategically to get members of the jury selected that would be favorable
to their own case.
Ideally, they want 12 jurors. They're still working out the number of alternates that they'll have to select. We're hoping to hear more about
that as the selection process gets underway.
ANDERSON: Good to have you. Thank you so much. That is out of New York for you at 24 minutes past 9, there. Police in Rio de Janeiro have revealed
that Lady Gaga is long awaited return on Saturday was almost marked by tragedy.
[09:25:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FELIPE CURI, POLICE SECRETARY: Since Monday, our police and intelligence received information that there would be a plan in these digital platforms
to commit a bomb attack with homemade explosive artifacts and Molotov cocktails, which would be used during the show of singer Lady Gaga on May
3, mainly targeting the LGBTQIA+ public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: While 15 search and seizure warrants were served across Brazil in what police dubbed Operation fake monster, a play on little monsters, a
name given to Gaga fans. One of the searches was a man who allegedly planned a satanic ritual killing of a child or baby during the concert.
He has been charged with terrorism and inducing crime. A spokesperson for Lady Gaga told CNN, there were, quote, no known safety concerns prior to
the pop icon show, adding they had learned about the alleged threat through media reports. Next up, a new week begins on Wall Street.
Well investors have both Beijing and the big screen on their minds. Plus, we're following a number of events commemorating the 80th Anniversary of
Victory in Europe Day. More on that is after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. You're watching "Connect the World" from our Middle East programming hub here in Abu Dhabi.
These are your headlines. Two Israeli officials tell CNN, Israel's Security Cabinet has approved an expansion of military operations in Gaza.
One of them says the IDF will move Palestinian civilians to Southern Gaza, while targeting Hamas in the north. The officials say the military will
establish a new framework to deliver aid, which has been cut off for two months by an Israeli blockade. Well Houthi rebels are vowing to continue
striking Israeli airports after a missile landed on the grounds of Israel's main International Airport near Tel Aviv.
The missile rattled passengers and caused flight cancelations. Israel says it will investigate how that missile eluded what is its complex defense
system. U.S. President Donald Trump says he doesn't know whether he needs to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
[09:30:00]
In an interview with NBC News, he was pressed on whether people in the U.S. deserved due process, a right enshrined in the constitution, and whether he
himself must uphold the constitution's answer to both, I don't know. Right. Well, that is the bell on Wall Street. And we've just seen the ring of the
beginning of the trading week, of course, and it is a big week ahead for the markets.
As investors weigh up the prospect of trade talks between the U.S. and China. Beijing reportedly open to discussions. Nothing has been tabled as
of yet. It follows a well a whirlwind month on Wall Street where President Trump's blizzard of tariff announcements on one minute off the next trigger
the steep sells off, followed by a strong rally last week.
Also, on the agenda in the coming days, the Fed policymakers hold their two-day policy meeting beginning Tuesday to discuss U.S. interest rates and
the overall economic picture for America. And from Wall Street to the place that gave you the wolf on Wall Street, and that, of course, is Hollywood
movie world reacting to a new announcement by the U.S. President ordering a 100 percent tariff on foreign films shown in the United States.
In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said Hollywood is being devastated by productions filmed outside the U.S., and is lightning that to a national
security threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Other nations, a lot of them, have stolen our movie industry. And I'm saying, if they're not willing to make a movie inside the United
States, then we should have a tariff when movies that come in. And not only that, governments are actually giving big money. I mean, they're supporting
them financially. So that's sort of a threat to our country in a sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Eriq Gardner is a Founding Partner and Correspondent for Puck News. Joins us now. I often hear you on one of your one of the podcasts on
what is a really good and busy slake. Congratulations on that. And Eriq, good to have you. First up, is a very simple question, does this proposal
even make sense when film production is so global and so sort of intertwined.
And films ultimately correct me, if I'm wrong, are not goods. I think they fall under the sort of, you know, the pillar of services, right, which is
generally not what tariffs are all about? So, explain what's going on here.
ERIQ GARDNER, FOUNDING PARTNER & NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT FOR PUCK NEWS: Yeah, I mean, it's hard to explain what's going on. I'm not sure whether
Trump himself knows what's going on. I mean, you know, when we're talking about tariffs, you're usually talking about goods that are shipped into the
country, and at the point of entry, that's when the taxes are put on.
But when you talk about movies, there's no such thing them being shipped into the country. You know, it's intellectual property. They get screened
everywhere. So exactly how is the tariff going to be imposed? Is it going to be on movie tickets? Is it going to be on producers paying the fees?
That's just one of the problems. There's also the question of, what is a movie that's produced overseas? Are we talking about where the funding is
coming from? Is it about, you know, where is it shot? What happens if it's shot in the United States, but there's some post production, some special
effects over in Asia, does that, you know, qualify as a foreign film?
So, there are all these questions right now. I'm looking at this executive order, the Truth Social post, and it's very vague. I think there are a lot
of people in Hollywood very confused right now.
ANDERSON: It's interesting. I mean, even here in the UAE, in Abu Dhabi, where there have been a lot of, you know, pretty significant films made of
late, or at least parts of them shot here, they offer a rebate here, and that's as they do in many parts of the world. And that's one of the things
that Trump seems to be going after here, rather than what the California Governor has been suggesting is helping out Hollywood by actually offering
the sort of tax breaks that you see in places like Abu Dhabi.
So, there is a way of supporting the business. It just doesn't make sense, necessarily, as far as you're concerned, and I can't get my head around it
by using tariffs. Look, take Netflix as a key example that stock is taking a hit from what's been an all-time high after this news, let's bring up the
live market number for you.
Netflix, last year, spent more than half of its budget on international production. 70 percent of its 300 million subscribers are outside the
United States. It stopped down about 3.5 percent or more today. You have to assume that's mostly on this look, the markets are off slightly today. Bit
of profit sharing going on.
[09:35:00]
But I mean, that's a significant drop for Netflix today. What impact would this tariff have on consumers? How would it change things for the everyday
view and for an organization like Netflix?
GARDNER: Yeah. I mean, that is pretty unclear right now. I mean, if we're talking just about movies, well, Netflix does most of it, you know, working
in television shows. So, it's not clear whether or not Netflix is impacted, and if you're, you know, imposing tariffs on movie tickets, maybe that
means that Netflix is in a better position.
Maybe it means that people, you know, stay home, don't go to the movie theater and just binge watch on Netflix. So, until we have details about
how this is going to be imposed, it's hard to really game out who's winning and who's losing, but, you know, we got to take it seriously, obviously,
you know, Trump is all about tariffs.
You're right. You know, there are incentive ways to drive production in in the United States, it's definitely a real issue. There used to be a vibrant
economy in Hollywood that was based entirely on people producing movies and TV. And these days, you know, a lot of that happens overseas, but you know,
the use of terrorists to rectify that is kind of strange.
ANDERSON: It's good to have you, sir. I'm going to have to take a break at this point, but it's an important story. One that has really, it's a good
talk because it I've spoken to so many people today, particularly in the film industry, who simply do not understand what is going on.
You seem to be one of them, and you're pretty good at this stuff, so, Eriq, it's good to have you. Thank you very much indeed. Still had a massive
departure for Liverpool Football Club, the superstar leaving after two decades at the club. More on that is after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, you're watching a military parade in London commemorating the 80th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. Britain's King Charles and
other members of the royal family were among those attending the parade earlier today. The U.K. has planned a series of events in the days leading
up to the anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender that took effect on May the eighth, 1945.
And CNN's Anna Stewart, amongst those who have been enjoying other festivities today. All the commemorations, let's call them from outside
Buckingham Palace in London. And Anna, it's good to have you. Those commemorations, of course, come amid ongoing peace deal negotiations
between Russia and Ukraine.
Of course, Russia will have its own victory day later this week. I just wonder. You know how significant this year of all years these parades and
commemorations are?
[09:40:00]
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ukraine has certainly been remembered, and actually there were some Ukrainian soldiers that were
marching in part of the kind of big military procession we had today. There were over 1000 members of the British armed forces, and then you saw some
Ukrainian soldiers and Ukrainian flag.
That's because some Ukrainian soldiers deployed here for a training program. So, sort of highlights the alliance between Ukraine and some
European nations like the U.K., but also, as you say, as we commemorate the end of the Second World War in Europe, of course, very much there is war in
Europe going on right now, and victory far off, peace negotiations, no break through there.
So, it's very much in people's thoughts. Today, Becky, is a really big day, or this whole week, because, of course, the day is actually going to be on
Thursday, because this is 80 years on. There are very few second world war veterans still alive and able to take part in this.
And it's been deemed very important to make sure that this year it's really remembered, and it's important for the younger generations to be a part of
this as well. And actually, kicking up the whole day, we saw an Air Cadet, a young girl passing on the torch of peace to an old Second World War
veteran who was 100 years old, 101 next month, I believe, that really started the events today.
You saw the whole royal family, both watching the day, since you can see, sort of over my shoulder, and then on the balcony at Buckingham Palace for
an extraordinary fly pass. We had a Lancaster bomber, one of just two that are still air worthy. So, it's a fantastic day, fantastic commemorations.
But front and center were those veterans and the younger generations making sure that this is a day, this is a week that we remembered every year for
decades to come.
ANDERSON: Good to have you, Anna, thank you. Well, they may have won the league, but are they about to lose one of the key players who got them
there. It seems so. After 20 years at Liverpool Football Club, Trent Alexander-Arnold has announced that he is leaving. He released this
heartfelt video in the past few hours.
It is widely speculated the 26-year-old is now on his way to Real Madrid. Well, Amanda Davies joining me now. He's been in the club for two decades.
So, he was a wee nipper when he first joined the club. I mean, he's got Liverpool, sort of like a stick of Liverpool rock or black pool rock. He's
got Liverpool sort of coursing through his veins. This must be a really big deal to him.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah, since the age of 6. That is when he first started, kind of joining the Liverpool ranks. And he's described it
as the hardest decision he's ever had to make and Liverpool wanted to keep him. We know they're signed the contracts of Virgil Van Dijk and Mo salah.
They hoped they'd make it three out of three, but the lure of everybody, widely speculating Real Madrid, is what has ultimately decided to see him
leave and move on a free transfer. We not heard anything from the Real Madrid's side as yet, but he's here for the next three games.
He gets to lift that trophy, his final kind of parting shot, to lift that trophy with the team on May the 25th ahead of the parade on the 26. And
then this very widespread suggestion is he will be heading to Spain to join the ranks of the Galactic codes.
ANDERSON: Wow.
DAVIES: And I mean, who can blame him if a club like Real Madrid wants you?
ANDERSON: Yeah.
DAVIES: There are not many players who will say they don't want to be part of that, but it will certainly be something very, very different for the
next chapter of his career --
ANDERSON: All right, that parade is going to be amazing. Can't wait for that. Thank you. Amanda. "World Sport" is up next. We are back in 15
minutes time.
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