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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

U.S. Stocks And Dollar Tumble As Trump Renews Attacks On Fed Chair Powell; Hegseth Shared Detailed Military Plans In Second Signal Chat; Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Funds Freeze. Aired 4:30- 5a ET

Aired April 22, 2025 - 04:30   ET

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

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KATIE MCGRADY, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: He literally listed off the conflicts of the world and appealed for peace in his last will and testament. The final thing he said to us was that in these final moments of his suffering, he offered it for brotherhood in the world, for peace in the world.

When people hear that, when people see that Pope Francis very much cared about the state of the world from the perspective of a leader of this Roman Catholic Church, but as a global figure, that appealed to people's hearts, for sure.

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed. And I think the fact that, like John Paul, he went to the flock rather than asking his flock to come to him, I think. And that simplicity also in his message, his language, I think that was so important to so many.

And look, in many ways, Katie, he defied expectations, right? He defied expectations in so many ways. A pope of first, as our correspondent, which is saying the first from Latin America, the first Jesuit, and the first from outside of Europe in something like 800 years.

And, you know, defying expectations in life. And it seems like he's going to defy expectations in death because he is the first pope to be buried at least in several, many years, I should say, outside the Vatican Grottoes, speak to that and the importance of why he picked this church.

MCGRADY: Saint Mary Major is not far from the Vatican. It's a quick little walk or car ride if you've got, you know, the grit to handle Roman traffic or Roman cobblestones. It was his favorite place. It was probably the place he went the most outside of the Vatican plant.

And it was for one reason, the Salus Populi Romani, his favorite image of Our Lady, who, of course, is the care and protection of the people of Rome. The Pope has a title, Bishop of Rome, so he is the bishop of this diocese. And because Rome is the heart of the Church, that then, of course means he's the bishop of the Church in the sense of the Holy Father, the Vicar of Christ, kind of the bishops, in some ways the servant of the servants of God. For him to go to Saint Mary Major every time he left the country and every time he came back. In fact, it was the first place he stopped. When he left the hospital on March 23, we knew this is where he wanted to be buried. He'd made those plans many, many years ago and had talked about it.

And we learned the location for his grave will be in between two chapels in the ground with a very simple Franciscus on top of his grave. There won't be any finery. He will be in the ground. I mean, we can imagine in the next few years, people will walk over that spot. And that's precisely how he wanted it to be returned to the earth, to be seen as the humble servant, which we certainly know he was, and to be in a place where he went so frequently, it was quite common if you were on pilgrimage to Rome, just go hang out at Saint Mary Major if you know the Pope is going on a trip and you're going to run into him.

And I think it's actually quite beautiful that's his final resting place drawing people who come to Rome. Yes, of course to St. Peter's everybody wants to go to St. Peter's but now you can also go visit this place and go pray at his grave where he will in time just be part of the building. And that's what he wanted.

SOARES: That says so much about him, doesn't it Katie? I love when I read his testimony yesterday, how he spoke of the Virgin Mary, of the Madonna, the Untier, of course, as we know, the Untier of Knots, as one priest earlier told me, the importance of that to him and the ties of course to Argentina. So important to him. Katie McGrady, thank you very much, Katie. Really appreciate you taking the time to speak to us.

MCGRADY: Thanks so much for having me.

SOARES: You're very welcome. And when we come back, mourners share their thoughts on the passing of a beloved Pope. That and much more after this very short break. You are watching Early Start.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. I'm Rahel Solomon. And here are some of the stories we are watching for you this morning. One day after Pope Francis died of a stroke and heart failure, cardinals have set a funeral date. It will be held Saturday at 10:00 a.m. local time. That's 4:00 a.m. Eastern. The Vatican has released these images of the pontiff lying in a casket. They also say that Pope Francis coffin will be transferred to St. Peter's Basilica on Wednesday morning.

U.S. pharmacy chain Walgreens has agreed to pay up to $350 million in a settlement with the Justice Department. The company is accused of illegally filling millions of prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances between 2012 and 2023.

And U.S. financial markets will look to rebound after another sharp sell off. The Dow, S and P, Nasdaq, all closing down about two and a half percent after President Trump called Fed Chair Jerome Powell a, quote, major loser, prompted concerns that the president may try to fire the chairman. U.S. President pushing Powell to cut interest rates.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing backlash over now a second signal chat scandal. This time he's accused of sharing military plans and a group message with members of his family. But on Monday, President Trump defended Hegseth, denying reports of dysfunction at the Pentagon.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ask the Houthis how much dysfunction they have. There's none. Pete's doing a great job. Everybody's happy with him. We have the highest recruitment numbers I think they've had in 28 years. No, he's doing a great job. It's just fake news. They just bring up stories. I guess it sounds like disgruntled employees. You know, he was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that's what he's doing. So you don't always have friends when you do that.

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SOLOMON: CNN's Natasha Bertrand has more.

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NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Sources tell us that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared details about the U.S. military operation against the Houthis in a second Signal chat last month, this one on his personal phone, and that included his wife, lawyer, and his brother.

The chat included over a dozen people and was set up during the confirmation process as a way for him to strategize with some of his closest advisers. But he continued to use it after he was confirmed to discuss things related to the military.

Texas lawyer and his brother both have jobs at DoD now, but his wife does not, and it's not clear whether she has a security clearance. There is also already an inspector general review ongoing into Hegseth's use of Signal, and sources told CNN over the weekend that Hegseth has become increasingly concerned about that probe in recent weeks.

But at least publicly, Hegseth is projecting confidence. He told reporters on Monday that the leaks were coming from, quote, disgruntled former employees.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: See, this is what the media does. They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees, and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations. Not going to work with me.

BERTRAND: News of the second signal chat broke around the same time that Hegseth's former top spokesperson, John Ullyot, wrote a scathing op-ed for Politico saying that the Pentagon under Hegseth is in, quote, total chaos.

Ullyot wrote that, quote, it's been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon, from leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings. The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president, who deserves better from his senior leadership. It's hard to see Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remaining in his role longer.

Ullyot's reference there to mass firings has to do with Hegseth's decision to fire three senior Pentagon officials last week, including two of his closest longtime advisors, Dan Caldwell and Darren Selnick.

We were told that the firings came after weeks of infighting between Hegseth's aides, including his chief of staff, and press leaks that rattled Hegseth so much that at one point he actually demanded an FBI investigation. His aides advised against that because they argued it might only invite further scrutiny at a time when he's already under investigation for his use of Signal. Natasha Bertrand, CNN in Washington.

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SOLOMON: And some former U.S. officials are expressing concern about the severity of what Hegseth shared. They say that mistakes like this are too critical to ignore.

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LOEN PANETTA, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: These are attack plans. These are attack plans. You've got targets, you've got weapons, you've got timing for when this attack is going to take place. Make no mistake about it, we are talking about top secret information when you're talking about attack plans.

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think he's used up his bank account with Donald Trump. Trump doesn't want to have to waste his resources defending his people. And that's now what he's doing on Hegseth. So I think Hegseth has a shelf life of undetermined length, but it's not going to be much longer would be my guess. Three months, four months, something like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: If you're just joining us, a very good morning to you. I'm Isa Soares coming to you live from Rome where It's just gone 10:40 here in the morning as so many people start pouring into the Vatican, St. Peter's Square to pay respects to Pope Francis. And they're saying their final goodbyes in the last hour or so, we have heard from the Vatican regards his funeral, the pope's funeral, which will take place on Saturday, it will be held this coming Saturday at 10:00 a.m. local time here. That's 4:00 a.m. Eastern.

Let me give you a sense of where the pope's body is right now. Right now it's lying in rest. And we've heard this morning, we've seen this morning, I should say, the first images of the pope in his casket, really yesterday.

As of yesterday night, the pope's body has been at the chapel, the Domo Santa Marta. That's the pope's residence. It was there that members of his family, senior officials, the closest, have been praying for the Pope and taking part in a series of rites.

From tomorrow onwards, the pope's body will be transferred to St. Peter's Basilica.

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That's be at 9:00 a.m. local, that is 3:00 a.m. eastern, where people can come from all walks of life and pay their final respects to Pope Francis. The images we're showing you right now of the Pope at the Domo Santa Marta's. That's his residence here in Rome. And many people, those closest to him, string of senior officials taking part in the rites inside that church.

His body will then be transferred to St. Peter's Basilica tomorrow morning, Wednesday, 9:00 a.m. local, 3:00 a.m. eastern and the funeral to be held on Saturday, 10:00 a.m. Rome time, 4:00 a.m. Eastern. We know that many from the Vatican bishops have been meeting today, trying to organize the logistics of what that funeral will look like. Preparations, of course, for his funeral we know lead some leaders are already coming and we heard President Trump will be coming Macron, France also be coming.

So we're starting to see preparations underway as we continue to see critically an outpouring of grief for and love, I should say, for the pope. And as on that note, I want to bring in Father Enzo Del Brocco from Pelham, New York.

Father, thank you very much for joining us. First, your reflections on the passing of the Pope, a pope who was so dear to so many, even those outside the Catholic faith.

FATHER ENZO DEL BROCCO, ROMAN CATHOLIC PASSIONIST PRIEST: Yes, good morning. Certainly I would say that he kind of exited the same way he entered with his boots on. He still wanted, you know, on a wheelchair. And he wanted to then be, you know, go through the square one last time almost to say goodbye to the people that has been praying for him. And I'll never forget that, in fact, that first evening from the balcony when he just I should broke the protocols and just saying buona sera and before giving the blessing to the people to ask the people to pray for him.

I think that was really one of the things that always impressed me on how he was more than a I would say yes, certainly he was the Pope, but it's really he was the pastor of his people and not just of the Catholic Church, as you said, but really for everyone.

He really had at heart everyone. He wanted to reach out to everyone certainly with a heart full of tenderness, which kind of also marked also his first homily as a pontiff and his first apostolic exhortation, too. He also spoke about this revolution of tenderness, so really changing the logics of the world that is about always about efficiency, about success, and instead showing how really he wanted to reach out to everyone as much as possible.

SOARES: Yes. And I remember when he visited my home country of Portugal when he said todos, todos, todos, everyone, everyone, everyone, that speaks so much to this person, to who Pope Francis was.

And I know as well, Father Enzo, that you spend much of your ministry with people really on the margins, in Haiti, in Naples, places, sometimes that many people will overlook. But not this Pope, which is something that he cared deeply. He always went to his flock, always told that those without a or without a voice, the marginalized.

How did he shape you? How did his teachings and the way held himself, how did that shape you as a person?

DEL BROCCO: Oh, my goodness. I think that he really made a revolution in me because he's reaching out. He's wanting to put into evidence the importance of the peripheries, and not just to bring attention to them, but really to bring them at the table so that their voices also may be heard and they participate also in the decisions of their own future.

I remember, for example, the first visit that he made as a pope, when he went to Lampedusa, and that really -- that gesture, that action, going there, throwing the wreath into the sea in memory of all the victims of human trafficking, all those who died searching for -- to accomplish a dream in their life, running away from situations of poverty, of war, of violence, of disasters, and bringing the attention to the whole world, and really became the voice of the voiceless.

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And he knew very well because if I well recall, also when he was cardinal, he once said that the higher position you cover in the church, especially, the more you're called to bend yourself like Jesus, especially to those who are poor and who are marginalized.

And he spoke often about, like, this throwaway culture where that is creating a lot of human waste. And he wanted to show everyone that no one is a waste. There is no life that is expandable. Actually, the most vulnerable really deserve attention. And at a personal level, I'll never forget, after my second year, I was in Haiti as a missionary. I was visiting my family in Italy.

And it was the time when he was, you know, were hearing how he would just, you know, pick up the phone and call someone who was sick or who wrote to him. And he was really open to meeting people. And so I asked if it would have been possible to meet him. And sure enough, within three days, I received answer. I was able to concelebrate mass with him.

And then when I told him was from Haiti, he gave me this hug that was like the hug of a father. And that really impressed me because it showed me the shepherd who really wants to take the smell of the sheep. It wasn't hugging me. Me as a missionary, you know, was going somewhere else was no, no, it was hugging Haiti and the people of Haiti. And the fact that a lot of his trips also have been to places where

usually are forgotten. The last one, for example, in Papua New Guinea, when he went to Myanmar, when he went to South Sudan. And the fact also that he appointed at least 20 cardinals in places that, by tradition, never had a cardinal.

It was really a way, not so much to, you know, give an honor to a person, but it was actually honoring the people, especially those in the margin, so that everyone has a voice at the table of Christ, that is the church.

SOARES: Can tell how much he touched you, how moved you are, Father, and how much you took away from really his incredible leadership and a great example, like you said, Father Enzo, of the Christian faith and its simplicity and its humility. So important. Father Enzo Del Brocco. Thank you very much, sir.

DEL BROCCO: Thank you.

SOARES: Do stay right with us. We have much more ahead of the death of Pope Francis. Next.

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[04:57:22]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. Harvard University is suing the Trump administration in the escalating fight over federal funding in oversight. The lawsuit says that cutting off money to force Harvard to submit to government control of its academic programs violates the university's constitutional rights. It also says that there's no rational connection between concerns about antisemitism and funding cuts for medical, scientific and other research.

The Trump administration is freezing more than $2 billion in federal money over claims that Harvard hasn't done enough to curb antisemitism on campus.

President Trump will not be going to Harvard's graduation ceremony this spring. But he did post on social media that he will deliver the commencement address at the University of Alabama and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

The president did not provide specific dates or times for the speeches, but encouraged his followers to stay tuned for those details.

All right, that's going to do it for this hour. Thanks for joining us. There is much more news ahead, including our special coverage of the death of Pope Francis, which continues after this short break.

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