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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Admin Bars Harvard From Enrolling Foreign Students; Suspected Gunman Elias Rodriguez Charged With Murder; Senators Push For Changes To Trump's Tax & Spending Bill. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 23, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:24]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to all of our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval, in for Rahel Solomon. It is Friday, May 23rd, 5:00 a.m. here in New York.

And this is your EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The Trump administration is dramatically escalating its fight with Harvard University.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People who dreamed of coming to the United States to study and now are having their lives wrecked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Details on the alleged gunman's motive in the D.C. Jewish Museum shooting.

JEANINE PIRRO, INTERIM U.S. ATTORNEY FOR WASHINGTON, D.C.: We're going to continue to investigate this as a hate crime.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: President Trump's big, beautiful bill is already getting a chilly reception from Senate Republicans.

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): I think we'll have a different opinion about what the bill looks like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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SANDOVAL: Good morning.

Students from around the world, they are currently at -- especially those students at Harvard, they are planning those that are planning to attend, right now, they're still wondering if elite schools there -- that particular school is still in their future. A lot of questions that they're facing.

The Trump administration declaring that the university is no longer allowed to enroll foreign students. Now, it says those currently enrolled must transfer to another school or potentially lose their legal status. Now, this move could impact more than a quarter of Harvard's students. And this coming as school officials refused to give in on the administrations demands after pro-Palestinian students on campus.

Now that including changes to campus programing, policies, hiring and also admissions to root out antisemitism, Harvard's spokesperson saying, quote, this retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country and undermines Harvard's academic research mission.

Let's go ahead and hear from one of the students. Let's bring in Fangzhou Jiang, a student at Harvard Kennedy School and co-founder of the Crimson Education, a consultancy that actually helps students navigate the university applications.

Fangzhou, thank you so much for taking time for us this morning.

FANGZHOU JIANG, HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL STUDENT: Hi. Good morning.

SANDOVAL: So, this is potentially going to impact a lot of students there. I'm curious since the news broke yesterday, have you received any further guidance on what may actually come next for international students such as yourself?

JIANG: Unfortunately, not official communication from the school yet, although I totally understand that this is such a important decision for the school to really consider multiple implications before taking a stance officially. So, a lot of my classmates and I have been waiting for more official communication from the school, hopefully later today.

SANDOVAL: Have you -- I mean, obviously, there's a lack of guidance there, and I assume you also haven't really heard what would happen if Harvard refuses to comply with this 72-hour ultimatum that was issued by the DHS secretary yesterday.

JIANG: Absolutely. I mean, a few of us have reached out to program staff members and also immigration attorneys. And I guess, you know, the guidance we're receiving unofficially right now is that if we don't hear any more updates you know, in the near future, we are risking losing our status. And I guess in the U.S., we have to basically make sure that we don't accumulate more than 180 days of out of status dates or otherwise students will be prohibited from entering the country in the next three years. So there's definitely a lot of pretty serious implications for us right now.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, it's an important concern, potentially not just expelled from your school, but from the country.

Now, we also heard from a junior from Austria who told CNN that he is absolutely terrified of this uncertainty and that the international students are on campus, that they've been messaging each other on, on text groups. Are you in some of those groups? What are some of those questions that that you're hearing from fellow students? JIANG: Yeah, 100 percent. I mean, you know, my phone has really been,

you know, blowing up since 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time last night. Yeah. I mean, a lot of WhatsApp groups, WeChat groups and other forms of communication. Students are asking a lot of questions, myself included, right? For instance, what are we going to hear back? When are we going to hear back from the university in terms of were going to do are we, you know, safe right now in the U.S. in terms of our legal status?

[05:05:01]

What is the next step if we can't get any, I guess, you know, resolution or injunction in the coming months? Do we go back to our country and wait? And do our classes online, or do we look at options to transfer to another university from Harvard? Or do we take a leave of absence and come back until -- before everything is resolved?

So, yeah, there are a lot of questions around the uncertainty coming this fall.

SANDOVAL: This also has tremendous potential to affect industry in the United States. You know, the U.S., oftentimes, you know, frequently turns to incredibly intelligent individuals from other countries to come here not only to continue their education, but then get hired in the United States and then -- and affect change.

So, talk to me about the potential long term impacts that this may have when it comes to cutting off what has been a tremendous source of talent for very long time.

JIANG: A hundred percent. I mean, this move has been quite a shock. And you know, frankly, devastating for a lot of international students, not only for currently studying here or, you know, the ones that are coming to study at Harvard and also the ones that have recently graduated and are working on a Harvard OPT, because all of these folks are being impacted by this policy.

I mean, yeah, the consequence really far reaching, if you're, you know, 1 or 2 years out of Harvard and you're currently working on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley, contributing to the latest A.I. development or other very instrumental work for the U.S. economy, you would also be facing a similar consequence, even though you have already received your Harvard diploma 1 or 2 years ago.

A lot of our students, I guess, at Crimson, we work with internationally, have been considering whether the U.S. is their primary destination, compared to Canada, the U.K., Singapore, Australia and many other countries. And of course, this uncertainty will definitely push them to think twice before they consider the U.S. as their top choice.

So, I definitely think that this has some impact on future talents that are considering to come to the U.S. and pursue their education, as well as advanced research or other important work in the cutting edge fields across science or commerce or many other directions. SANDOVAL: Yeah, major industries. And apologies if I didn't make it

clear at the top, but this has potential to affect not just the current students, but those that are preparing to head to Harvard. So wide-ranging implications here.

Fangzhou Jiang, we're certainly thinking of you and other students that are essentially caught in the middle of this back and forth between Harvard and the Trump administration. We'll certainly continue to follow the cases that that are arising from this. Appreciate your time.

JIANG: Thank you. Thank you for your time.

SANDOVAL: My pleasure.

Meanwhile, a judge has denied a request to end deportation proceedings for Mahmoud Khalil. He's a Syrian born lawful permanent resident of the United States. Attorneys for the Palestinian activists argued that he was arrested illegally and without a warrant just over two months ago.

The Trump administration is trying to deport Khalil, who is a Columbia University graduate, after he helped organize pro-Palestinian rallies on campus last year. His attorneys tell CNN that he got to hold his newborn baby for the first time on Thursday at the Louisiana detention center, where he's been held for some time now.

Well, new details are emerging about the deadly shooting of two Israeli members of the embassy, the Israeli embassy in Washington. Suspected gunman here, gunman Elias Rodriguez, he is now facing federal murder charges, one of which carries the possibility of the death penalty.

Now, the shooting is being investigated as both terrorism and a hate crime. The victims have been confirmed to be Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. She volunteered for an organization called Tech to Peace, which essentially provided training, including conflict resolution, to young Palestinians and Israelis. Surveillance video reportedly showing the suspects shooting them from behind, then leaning over them and then firing again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVEN J. JENSEN, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE: We are also executing search warrants for his electronic devices, reviewing his social media accounts and all of his Internet postings -- regarding some Internet postings. We are aware of some writings that are purported to have been authored by this subject. We're actively investigating to determine both the authorship and the attribution of these writings if they belong to this subject or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And investigators believe the suspect was visiting Washington for a conference.

CNN's Brian Todd with more.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Eyewitness Yoni Kalin says he was inside the Capital Jewish Museum the moment shots were fired just outside.

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YONI KALIN, EYEWITNESS TO SHOOTING: Inside, we could hear about 10 or 15 shots.

TODD: Kalin says, just seconds later, in the chaos, a man entered the museum and appeared to be a witness. He sat down, Kalin says, and appeared pale and unwell. Bystanders offered him water. And another witness says she spoke to the man, who she believes was the alleged shooter, not realizing then who he was.

KALIN: Then I'm talking to him and I'm like, so do you like the museum? Just kind of trying to relax him. And he's like, oh, what kind of museum is this? So, I told him, it's a -- it's a Jewish museum. And he asked me, do you think that that's why they did it?

TODD: Then Kalin says, police entered the museum and there was a bizarre, chilling encounter.

KALIN: As soon as the cops came in, he walked right up to them and said, I'm unarmed, I did this. He pulls out a red keffiyeh and he says, "Free, free Palestine."

TODD: A chant the suspect repeated as he was handcuffed by police.

ELIAS RODRIGUEZ, SUSPECT: Free, free Palestine.

TODD: The two victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, two staffers at the Israeli Embassy in Washington who the Israeli ambassador says were about to become engaged.

An Israeli official tells CNN, at the moment Lischinsky and Milgrim were shot, there were two young women right next to them, also staffers at the Israeli embassy who were uninjured.

The suspect identified as 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago.

Multiple law enforcement sources tell CNN a lengthy letter that authorities are investigating as potentially being authored by the suspect was posted to social media advocating violent retaliation over the war in Gaza, calling it, quote, the only sane thing to do.

The letter was posted shortly after the shooting. It's not clear who posted it or if the post was prescheduled set before the incident.

On Thursday, the suspect was charged with multiple federal murder counts, firearms charges and murder of foreign officials. Court documents detail the horrific acts of violence allegedly perpetrated by the suspect. According to the documents, officers on scene viewed surveillance footage showing the suspect walked past both victims before shooting them.

Then, as the victims lay on the ground, the suspect was seen, quote, leaning over them with his arms extended and firing several more times.

According to the documents as Sarah Milgrim tried to crawl away, he followed behind her and fired again. The documents say the suspect traveled to D.C. from Chicago one day before the shooting, with a nine millimeter handgun in his checked baggage, which he purchased March 6th, 2020.

JEANINE PIRRO, INTERIM U.S. ATTORNEY FOR WASHINGTON, D.C.: This is a horrific crime, and these crimes are not going to be tolerated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the reinforcement of security at Israeli missions around the world in the wake of this shooting, which Netanyahu says was committed by a, quote, vile, antisemitic murderer.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told Netanyahu that President Trump is, quote, personally involved in managing the response to this attack.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

SANDOVAL: Coming up, guests at President Trump's crypto dinner arrive to dozens of protesters outside what he called the most exclusive invitation in the world.

Just ahead, more on the event that others are calling a funnel for bribery.

Plus, a victory in the house but an uncertain future in the Senate. What's next for the president's big, beautiful bill?

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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SANDOVAL: There are some of the sights and sounds outside of President Donald Trump's meme coin dinner on Thursday. It was a private event that happened on Thursday night at his Sterling, Virginia, golf course.

It was billed as, quote, the most exclusive invitation in the world. If you could afford it. About 220 guests paid $148 million to buy the Trump branded cryptocurrency. Critics say that the event was a funnel for bribery. The White House

says that the event was legal, but one Democrat called it, quote, an orgy of corruption.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): This is corruption, old-fashioned corruption, but out in the open for everybody to see. And I wish we knew who was there. I wish they would release that list.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president is abiding by all conflict of interest laws that are applicable to the president. And I think everybody, the American public, believe it's absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: It certainly was a premier event. Many of the guests arriving in limousines, the president, he made the trip on Marine One. The White House says that he attended the event on his own time.

All right, let's take a look now where U.S. stock futures stand right now. A bit of a mix at this moment. A slight tick in the S&P 500 with the Dow slightly down. Of course, this follows what was a very uncertain week with the ongoing conversations in the debate happening on Capitol Hill, with respect to the spending bill. So, we'll certainly see where things stand once the bell rings in just a couple of hours.

And President Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill that we just talked about is now in the hands of the Senate where it's already facing some major challenges. The House passed this so-called big, beautiful bill by just one vote after two nights of debate. Now, it's the Senate's turn to come to an agreement before sending it back to the House, eventually. Several senators, they are already pushing more restrictions on Medicaid and also bigger tax cuts and a steep reduction in government spending.

Republican leader John Thune says that the House gave the Senate a good product to work with, but the Senate still has to be doing some writing of its own.

Joining me now, let's bring in Amy Greene, American political science researcher and senior fellow at Institut Montaigne in Paris.

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She's also the author of "America Fractured".

Amy, thanks for spending some time with us this morning.

AMY GREENE, AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEARCHER: Thanks a lot.

SANDOVAL: So, as we mentioned, it was quite the week on Capitol Hill. Perhaps the speaker is finally getting some sleep. Should that narrow passage of the bill in the House yesterday, should that be an indicator of how complicated things might get in the Senate? We already know that some Republican senators have expressed to no.

GREENE: Yeah. There's a I think a big fight coming up in the Senate. The pathway to getting this bill passed doesn't look very easy at all. It's unlikely that the bill is going to fail but nonetheless, like you mentioned, there are some really big questions. And the biggest one is really around the question of debt and spending.

You have a lot of Republican senatorial pushback over the fact that this big, beautiful bill is ultimately going to be sort of catastrophic to the U.S. economy, that the debt is already too high, and that some really tough decisions have to be made. So it looks like the fight in the Senate is going to be pretty contentious. And effectively it's not certain. And in fact, it's almost highly unlikely and improbable that this bill isn't going to get, you know, really significantly reworked.

SANDOVAL: And some of those difficult decisions that you mentioned involve Medicaid. We know that's one of the reasons why so many Americans are watching this. Can you just remind our viewers briefly just what some of those provisions are that could possibly affect up to 70 million people or more?

GREENE: Yeah. I mean, there's the -- what Medicaid is sort of really the kind of the hot button issue because effectively, you know, we know Medicaid brings health -- you know, affordable health care to so many Americans and, and really fragile situations. And so, you have, on the one hand, the sort of need to protect Medicaid and all that. It ensures to Americans who need it. And then you also have Republicans in the Senate saying, look, we need to make some serious cuts here.

You know, everyone can want a little bit of everything, but ultimately, our debt is taking us to some really risky places. So, you have Medicare as sort of one of the key provisions in this bill that's attracting a lot of attention. There's also the question of sort of tax cuts for some of the big energy products that were eliminated in this House bill. Some Republican senators are wary to see those go. So, you have a number of issues that are really up in the air again around this notion of at some point we have to say stop on spending.

SANDOVAL: And we know that there are multiple red lines. What are some of those? I read that Senator Rand Paul is already expressing his interest in voting no, because of one of those issues that you mentioned, specifically, a rise in the -- in the -- in the debt ceiling.

What are some of those other red line issues for some of these more moderate Republicans in the Senate?

GREENE: Yeah, I mean, you know, one of the issues is the sort of the extension of tax cuts, right? So, you have this interesting dynamic in the House that effectively, you know, you had some Republican congresspeople in states that are traditionally held by Democrats, right, who were able to fight for tax cuts for their constituents. And you have Republican senators who don't necessarily represent some of those states who are a little bit more wary about the notion of prolonging those tax cuts.

But, of course, really, the ultimate goal is making the Donald Trump tax cuts the sort of expire in 2027, 2027. Excuse me? Permanent. So, you have yeah, the question of tax cuts on energy projects. You have the question of, you know, tax cuts to constituents. Medicare is another really important issue.

So effectively you have a sort of this real this real sort of difficult climate where you had a lot of house members taking some big political risks on the Republican side to vote for this bill. And it's not at all certain that they're going to get, you know, what they voted for.

And, of course, as you mentioned in to lead, and I think this is really the most important point, which is the debt ceiling. You know, we had bond markets reacting to a number of things this week, as you mentioned in your report. And effectively, Republican Senator Rand Paul, and he's really not the only one, see that this budget bill is likely to add up to three, maybe even more trillion dollars to the debt over the next ten years. And that simply for them, is, you know, one step too far.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, ultimately, this could result in the first major legislative win for President Donald Trump. As we point out, with millions of Americans potentially impacted. So, Amy Greene, we're so grateful to be able to tap into your expertise, to really break all of this down for those folks who are quite worried this morning.

Thank you, Amy.

GREENE: Thanks for having me on. Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Our pleasure. We know its crunch time in talks between the U.S. and Iran. Just ahead, nuclear negotiations between the two countries, they are set to take place in Rome today. A preview.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:28:53]

SANDOVAL: And welcome back a bakery in central Gaza. It is an operation again. For the first time in 11 weeks, you see a limited amount of food. It's trickling into Gaza for the first time since March 2nd.

But U.N. officials say that it's nowhere near enough to tackle the humanitarian crisis there. You see the bakery operating again. You see Israel ended its Gaza aid blockade this week, allowing more of this to happen.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is accusing the leaders of the U.K., France and Canada of being, quote, on the wrong side of history. They've called for a new ceasefire in Gaza, and Mr. Netanyahu says that their call for a Palestinian state is dangerous.

Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv protests after the Israeli prime minister ordered Israels negotiating team to leave ceasefire talks in Qatar.

Iran's foreign minister is on his way to Rome, where he will be discussing a potential nuclear deal with U.S. envoys in the coming hours. A source familiar with the matter tells CNN that the talks are hitting crunch time as both parties approach a 60-day deadline for a deal set by President Trump back in March. Iran says that it will not relinquish its right to nuclear energy, including uranium enrichment, despite warnings from the U.S. that Israel is preparing to strike some.