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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Vehicle Crashes Into Fans At Liverpool Trophy Parade; Trump's Tax And Policy Bill Heads To U.S. Senate This Week; IDF Issues New Evacuation Orders, Warns It Will Carry Out "Unprecedented" Attack In Gaza; Kremlin Downplays Trump's Critical Comments About Putin. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 27, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:26]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. Welcome to all of our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval. It is Tuesday, May 27th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York.

And straight ahead on your EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: What was supposed to be a joyous occasion in Liverpool with fans celebrating the Reds latest premier league title triumph on a bank holiday weekend, all overshadowed by a car plowing into supporters during the team's trophy parade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My thoughts are with all those injured in tonight's horrific incident.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump's sweeping tax and domestic policy bill heads before the U.S. Senate this week after narrowly passing the House on Thursday.

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: Many Republican senators have significant concerns with the house bill.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: An Israeli military official now saying that Israel intends to occupy 75 percent of the Gaza Strip within the next two months.

FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: To inflict such suffering also on the civilian population, can no longer be justified on the grounds of a fight against Hamas terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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SANDOVAL: This morning, many in the U.K. and beyond are anxious to learn why a vehicle plowed into football fans celebrating Liverpool's latest Premier League triumph. The driver of the gray minivan you're looking at barreled into supporters, according to authorities. Towards the end of the club's victory parade, and the result was trapping several people underneath.

At least 27 people were hospitalized. Two of them an adult and a child, they suffered serious injuries. You see here, an angry crowd could be seen surrounding and even rocking the vehicle after it stopped, even hitting the windows until authorities there had to intervene.

Local police arrested a 53-year-old British man from the Liverpool area, who was believed to be the driver. No word yet on whether the ramming was accidental or intentional, although authorities have clearly said that there are no other suspects and they have ruled out terrorism as a possibility in this case, hundreds of thousands of Liverpool fans they had gathered to watch players riding around the city center in an open top bus to celebrate the clubs 20th top flight title. It was a huge and important day, one filled with celebration.

Let's bring in "WORLD SPORT's" Amanda Davis, now live from London.

Amanda, good morning to you. What are officials saying about this incident?

AMANDA DAVIS, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah. Good morning, Polo.

The messaging very much from the authorities this morning is please do not speculate. We are carrying on our investigations and we will update as, and when we have any more information. There was really that unprecedented move very, very quickly from Merseyside police to reveal that they had detained and arrested the 53 year old white British male, who has now been confirmed as the driver of the gray car that you were talking about.

The police holding a press conference in the aftermath of their initial investigations, being very keen to clear up that they are seeing this as an isolated incident. They are not looking for anybody else in connection with the events as they unfolded. But as you very rightly mentioned, very quickly, saying as things stand, they are not linking this to terrorism. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNY SIMS, ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE, MERSEYSIDE POLICE: What I can tell you is that we believe this to be an isolated incident, and we are not currently looking for anyone else in relation to it. The incident is not being treated as terrorism. We would ask that people refrain from sharing distressing footage from the incident online, and please share any information directly with our investigation team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS: The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, has described the scenes as appalling.

The mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotheram, this morning talking of a day of joy overshadowed because, as you rightly pointed out, hundreds of thousands of Liverpool fans and their families were on the streets for a public holiday here in the U.K. yesterday. This is a very long, awaited parade for Liverpool and their fans, a city for whom football and this club is in the DNA.

They weren't able to celebrate their 19th league title that took place in the midst of the covid pandemic in 2020. So, this was a much bigger operation than we have previously seen. And so, the questions now very much how did the car end up on a closed section of road? What were the motivations behind it?

All of those kind of questions are the ones being asked this morning, as those 27 people, as you mentioned, have been hospitalized. Two, one adult, one child, very seriously. And we will continue to update as and when we get any more information -- Polo.

SANDOVAL: Such a great and massive event interrupted by this just awful incident.

Amanda Davis, thank you so much for bringing us up to speed. We appreciate you.

As we know it was a shortened trading week that's going to begin on Wall Street in just a few hours, and the U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the memorial holiday weekend. So, investors will be right now weighing President Donald Trump's decision over the weekend to delay a proposed 50 percent tariff on imports from the E.U. until July 9th, which he announced on Sunday. The expectation is that that could potentially have an impact on U.S. futures.

As you see here, the numbers showing, at least the hope right now is for some gains after that news. That's the expectation. You look at European shares at this hour remaining relatively steady, relatively stable, at least for now, with some gains there as well. So, some pretty noteworthy increases there amid the uncertainty over the U.S. trade policy. So certainly numbers to watch as well overseas.

Well, President Trump's sweeping tax and domestic policy bill heading to the U.S. Senate this week after narrowly passing the House on Thursday. The president admitting that Senate Republicans could make fairly significant changes to the bill but suggests that he's open to some of those alterations now. Number of senators have already raised concerns over the bill's potential impact on the national debt.

CNN's Manu Raju, with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, President Trump did secure the narrowest of victories last week when he was able to push through his sweeping domestic policy bill through the United States house by a single vote, this coming after the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, moved behind the scenes to lock down support from the various factions within the house GOP, negotiating with the moderates and the conservatives in getting this bill through. But here's the problem for Trump and the GOP is that the Senate

Republican conference has their own ideas. In fact, many Republican senators who I have spoken with over the last several days have significant concerns with the House bill and concerns that are much different than or really in contradiction with one another. Just take Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, someone who believes that the bill needs to go much further and completely restructuring the federal budget and to push through even more significant spending cuts.

This bill in the past, the House has roughly $1.5 trillion worth of spending cuts, but that is far less than the tax cuts that would be part of this bill. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimates it would be roughly $3.8 trillion in added to the federal deficits over the next several years. If that bill were to become law. So, Ron Johnson wants deeper spending cuts to offset that revenue loss.

But if you go too far on the right, you lose some folks in the middle. That includes Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who told me that she believes the new work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries, which would be implemented at the end of 2026, are too onerous. In fact, she told me it's very problematic to go down that route. So that is one push from the middle.

Some others, even conservative Senator Josh Hawley, has raised concerns about what he sees as a Medicaid benefit cut that was included part of the House bill.

But the challenge for Trump will be if he gives in to those concerns about the cuts to Medicaid, then he could lose support from some of the more conservative members, not just in the senate, but if it were to get out of the Senate through the United States House, where some of those conservatives fell in line last week because they believed that ultimately, that the bill that would come back from the Senate would look somewhat similar to the bill that passed the House, if not identical when it comes to spending cuts.

The balancing act will be very tricky for Senate Majority Leader John Thune because he was trying to get this done over the next several weeks because there is a ticking time bomb of sorts in this bill. There is a provision to raise the national debt limit to avoid the first ever debt default that could occur by August. If Congress does not act to raise the national debt ceiling, if they can't get this bill through, then the Congress could be staring at a potential debt default which is why there's a big push to get it done.

But here's another problem. There are some conservatives who simply don't want the debt limit increase as part of this bill, including Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.

[05:10:06]

All issues that John Thune, President Trump and other Republican leaders will have to resolve in the weeks ahead.

Manu Raju, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And President Donald Trump has launched a fresh attack on Harvard University, complaining that it has not submitted a list of foreign students, as the commander in chief had demanded.

In a social media post, the president wrote, I'm considering taking $3 billion of grant money away from, as he described it, a very antisemitic Harvard and giving it to trade schools all across our land. The president went on to write what a great investment that would be for the USA and so badly needed. Again, words from the president.

Harvard has already filed suit against the Trump administration, and last week, a federal court temporarily halted a government ban on the university enrolling foreign students. A trial in that case, set for July.

So, to come here on early start Israels latest offensive in Gaza could force more than 2 million war weary Palestinians to relocate. We'll tell you where and why some of Israel's allies are balking at that move.

Also, cautious optimism for continued nuclear talks after an Iranian spokesman set out what his country expects from the U.S. and also some of those non-negotiables. Also on the way, an update on a major jailbreak earlier this month in New Orleans, more prisoners have been recaptured, but that manhunt is still ongoing.

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[05:16:06]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. You're watching EARLY START.

The Israeli military says that it is preparing to carry out what it calls an unprecedented attack on Gaza. And it's now ordering Palestinians in most of southern Gaza to evacuate to a very narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea. This map giving you a sense of the area.

It's part of Israels stated plan to take over 75 percent of the enclave in the next two months, which would force more than 2 million Palestinians into roughly a quarter of Gaza's territory. Germanys chancellor now says Israels limits on aid and its relentless offensive in Gaza are indefensible, he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: What the Israeli army is now doing in the Gaza Strip, frankly, I no longer understand what the objective is to inflict such suffering also on the civilian population, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified on the grounds of a fight against Hamas terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANDOVAL: Meanwhile, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff says that a hostage release and ceasefire deal is currently on the table with a pathway to end the war in Gaza. But Israeli officials say that there has been no progress in those negotiations.

Let's go now to CNN's Paula Hancocks, who joins us live from Abu Dhabi, tracking the latest in the Middle East.

Paula, what else do we know about this evacuation order that potentially will further displace some of these Palestinian civilians?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, it's certainly a significant evacuation order. We're hearing from the IDF. They want Palestinians to move from much of southern Gaza. They've called Khan Younis a dangerous fighting zone, and also much of Eastern Gaza as well.

Now, there was already this buffer zone being created around the border between Gaza and Israel and also between Gaza and Egypt. And what we're seeing is the area that Palestinians are able to, to, to exist in is shrinking rapidly. It looks to be something like a quarter of the Gaza Strip will be considered whether Palestinians can go. And that is what the Israeli military is working on at this point.

Now, we did have an Israeli military official telling us that the plan is 75 percent of Gaza will be occupied by Israel over the next two months. We've also heard from the Israeli prime minister that he wants to move the entire population to the southern part of Gaza.

Now the U.N. is sounding alarm bells. It has said that there is actually about 80 percent of the territory that see the under an Israeli militarization zone. So, it's a no-go zone for Palestinians or it is considered, that evacuation orders will be put in place and have been put in place since the ceasefire was ended by Israel back in March 18th.

So, the situation for civilians on the ground is getting ever more dire. Now, we also have been hearing about aid potentially getting in a fraction of the trucks that is needed to get into the Gaza Strip. According to the United Nations. Weve also heard from this U.S.-backed but controversial GHF, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, that they have begun taking aid into Gaza.

Now their idea is to have just four points across the whole of Gaza that Palestinians will have to travel to. It's difficult to see how that will work, given the sheer amount of evacuation orders and no-go areas that are underway at this point.

But we haven't seen evidence, at least according to our sources on the ground, that this aid has actually got to the civilians that need it at this point. Now, we also heard, as you mentioned there, Polo, from the Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, saying there is a deal on the table that it would be half of the living hostages and half of those who have died are being returned in return for a temporary ceasefire.

[05:20:14] And then during that temporary ceasefire, negotiations would be underway to make sure that temporary becomes permanent -- Polo.

SANDOVAL: CNN's Paula Hancocks, with the latest in the Middle East. Appreciate you, Paula.

Well, elsewhere, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson tells CNN that compromise with the U.S. is possible, but Iran will never give up its right to enrich uranium. Tehran insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. But U.S. officials have said publicly that Iran must end all uranium enrichment.

President Trump himself has said that he is optimistic that the ongoing talks with Iran will lead to an actual deal.

Coming up, Russia launches new attacks across Ukraine as the kremlin dismisses Donald Trump's criticism of Vladimir Putin. And also later, nearly a dozen people have been treated at hospitals in South Carolina after a shooting on Memorial Day weekend. What police believe may have led to that violence.

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[05:25:43]

SANDOVAL: An update for you now on the war in Ukraine, where Ukrainian officials say that there have been even more Russian strikes overnight. And that includes the regions of Sumy and Donetsk. At least two people were killed and 16 others wounded there.

This coming as European leaders renew calls for a ceasefire. And also as Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, spoke about the lifting of restrictions for weapons delivered to Ukraine by Germany and other Ukrainian allies.

In the meantime, the Kremlin blaming what it describes as emotional overload for Donald Trump's recent critical comments about Vladimir Putin after the U.S. president called his Russian counterpart, quote, absolutely crazy over the weekend. Trump's remarks followed Russia's largest ever aerial assault on Ukraine over the weekend.

CNN's Clare Sebastian, following developments for us from London.

Good morning, Clare.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Polo.

SANDOVAL: So what do we know about these most recent comments from the Kremlin and the sort of back and forth from the White House, and Ukrainian officials and Russia as well?

SEBASTIAN: Well, the Kremlin is keeping a very outwardly calm exterior on this. Dmitry Peskov would not be drawn on the absolutely crazy comment from Trump when asked about this on Tuesday, on Monday, rather. So, take a listen to how he worded it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESPERSON: Of course, at the same time, this is a very crucial moment, which is associated, of course, with the emotional. Overload of everyone, absolutely. And with emotional reactions. We follow this very closely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: And again, we've heard from Dmitry Peskov in another call with journalists this morning and he said, look, the United States and Russia cannot agree on everything. He said there will always be certain differences. But he said there's a political will to continue working together.

And I think we see a real level of confidence from Russia in this statement because, look, we have seen repeatedly in recent weeks that Trump's frustration with Russia has bubbled over, that he's, you know, had these angry truth social posts directed at Vladimir Putin. But the U.S. hasn't actually done anything yet to get tougher on Russia.

Marco rubio was grilled about this on Capitol Hill last week, and he continued to maintain that the Trump administration's position is that not imposing further sanctions while sort of holding them over Russia is the best way to keep Russia coming to the table. Plus, the fact that in that very same Truth Social post where President Trump called Putin absolutely crazy, he also criticized President Zelenskyy, saying everything out of his mouth causes problems. I don't like it and it better stop.

So, I think the kremlin may be holding out some hope that that relationship, the breakdown of which, of course, led to the temporary suspension of U.S. military aid to Ukraine in March, might still be on unsteady ground. And I think look, as to the question as to whether Putin actually wants peace, the evidence on the ground shows only escalation.

Russia has now fired around 9000 drones at Ukraine since Ukraine signed on to that U.S. led ceasefire proposal on March 11th. Nights like we saw over the weekend with more than 300 drones, they would have been unthinkable a year ago. So, there's a significant escalation when it comes to the air war and on the front lines as well.

We see Russia setting its sights on regions that, until very recently would not have been seen as a priority. Like Sumy, where we saw Putin last week say that he wanted to create a buffer zone there. So, look, they do still want to engage with the U.S. I think that's clear from Dmitry Peskov comments this morning, but they are doing only just enough, I think, to keep Trump from sanctioning Russia further and meanwhile continuing to pursue, as they put it, their goals in Ukraine.

SANDOVAL: CNN's Clare Sebastian in London with that update. We appreciate you.

Still ahead here in EARLY START, millions of Americans, they shop at Chinese e-commerce sites Shein and Temu for their latest ultra low prices. So, what happens when U.S. trade policy forces those prices to go up? What happens next? We'll take that question to an expert.

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