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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
U.S. Embassies Ordered To Pause Student Visa Appointments; White House To Cancel All Federal Contracts With Harvard; Poll: Americans Skeptical Of Tariff & Trade Policy; Thousands Rush New Aid Distribution Site In Southern Gaza; Zelenskyy To Meet With Germany's Merz In Berlin Soon. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired May 28, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon. It is Wednesday, May 28th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York.
And straight ahead on EARLY START.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The Trump administration is sending a letter to federal agencies, effectively canceling all remaining federal contracts with Harvard.
LARRY SUMMERS, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY: This is a step towards tyranny. It's a step towards an authoritarian government.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The flood of people came on a rising tide of hunger, overrunning this aid distribution site in Gaza.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Humanitarian operations must be enabled without any further delay.
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: A former employee of Sean Combs, Capricorn Clark, testified all day for emotional and sometimes grueling testimonies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is one of the most direct appeals we've seen of anybody to how much their heart was engaged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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SOLOMON: President Trump appears to be ramping up his fight against higher education. His administration is pausing all new student visa appointments as it plans to require international students applying to study in the U.S. to go through an expanded social media vetting process. There were more than 1.1 million foreign students in the U.S. during the 2023-2024 school year. Meanwhile, as Harvard University celebrates commencement week and
hundreds really to support international students, CNN has learned that the White House is directing federal agencies to cancel all remaining contracts with Harvard that's worth about $100 million.
A letter to federal executives reads, quote: We recommend that your agency terminate for convenience each contract that it determines has failed to meet the standards.
Now, this comes on top of more than $2.5 billion in recent federal cuts to Harvard. That's after the university rejected Trump administration demands to change its admissions process and some of its curriculum.
CNN's Kristen Holmes has details now from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The Trump administration is sending a letter to federal agencies, effectively canceling all remaining federal contracts with Harvard to the tune of $100 million. And in that letter which CNN obtained, they say, not only to cancel the existing contracts, but they also say this, going forward, we also encourage your agency to seek alternative vendors for future services where you had previously considered Harvard.
So this is just their latest attempt to not only undermine, but really kneecap the university who they have accused of alleged antisemitism on campus, of really promoting Democratic ideals and having a liberal bias. And Donald Trump over the weekend saying that they just had too many foreign students.
One thing to point out here, as we talk about all of these grants and contracts, we don't really know what exactly these contracts are for or what that grant money was for. You hear a lot of Trump's allies applauding this move, saying that this is a way to kind of undercut the liberal elite in education. But one thing to keep in mind is that not all of this money is to fund students going to Harvard. A lot of the money is for different things like medical research or technology research. So, what exactly this is doing we don't really know the full extent yet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: Our thanks to Kristen Holmes there.
Federal judge has allowed Elon Musk's department of government efficiency to access sensitive U.S. treasury payment systems. Tuesday's ruling lifts a court-imposed block on the DOGE team accessing systems that control trillions of dollars of payments. It also holds the private information of millions of Americans. A coalition of 13 states sued earlier this year to block doge access, pointing to the team's lack of proper training. They had argued that DOGE could use the treasury systems to cut-off funding to programs such as Social Security and Medicaid. Trump, meantime, has given full pardons to a reality TV show couple facing long prison sentences. Todd and Julie Chrisley of the TV show "Chrisley Knows Best" were
convicted of a conspiracy to defraud banks out of more than $30 million. They were also found guilty of trying to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. The couple's daughter, Savannah Chrisley, campaigned for Donald Trump and spoke at the Republican National Convention. Todd and Julie Chrisley have maintained their innocence and were appealing their convictions.
President Trump's decision to delay 50 percent tariffs on imports from the European Union sent Wall Street soaring on Tuesday.
[05:05:04]
The Dow gaining 740 points. The S&P and the Nasdaq both finishing higher by more than 2 percent.
Let's take a look and see if the markets can maintain that momentum when trading gets started in just a few hours. Markets at this point still very early, 5:04, just about, lower by about let's call it, 2/10 of a percent. Nasdaq off, but not quite as much. But the Dow off about 2/10 of a percent at this point.
Trading, meantime, is underway in Europe where markets are mixed. There you have the CAC40, well, all pretty much trading near the flat line there. And taking a look at Asian Pacific markets, which are lower, closed lower by between flat for the Nikkei. But the Hang Seng off about half a percent. Shanghai just about flat.
Consumers, meantime, appear to be feeling better about the economic outlook in the U.S. the conference board reports that consumer confidence rose to 98 in May, up from 87 or 85.7 in April. Now, this is the first monthly gain since November. It's also the biggest increase since March of 2021.
But the enthusiasm, well, it may not last long. President Trump's so- called reciprocal tariffs are set to go back into effect by early July, and economists say that, well, prices could start rising in a month or two, bringing renewed inflation concerns.
A new polling shows that Americans are still skeptical about President Trump's tariff and trade policies.
CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten walks us through the numbers.
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HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: When it comes to President Trump and his tariff wars. The American people are asking, what the heck is going on out there? Indeed. Let's take a look at a recent CBS News/YouGov poll.
Does Donald Trump have a clear plan for tariffs and trade? Guess what the majority of Americans say? No, he does not, 55 percent, compared to just 45 percent who say yes. Of course, in the American public, the independent vote is so important, 64 percent of independents say that Donald Trump does not have a clear plan when it comes to tariffs and trade.
And there's a good reason why the American people are confused. We can see this in this metric. That is the trade policy uncertainty index. Get this. At this point, compared to a year ago, the uncertainty index up 846 percent through the roof. My goodness gracious.
In fact, the trade policy uncertainty index is higher now than in any month prior to 2025. And this index goes all the way back since 1960. It just seems like every single month this index is showing a new record high because of Donald Trump's policies.
Now, of course, we're thinking about the European Union, right? Will there or will there not be a 50 percent additional tariff on the European Union? And why is that so important in America? Well, I want you to take a look here.
What is number one in America? Who is the number one trade partner with the United States? Well, when you put the European Union together, they are number one. We're talking 4.9 percent of U.S. GDP in 2024.
My goodness gracious. A very large part of the economy. You'll also notice over here, what else is number one? Well, what's the number one smartphone. It's the iPhone in America.
Why is that so important? Because Donald Trump of course, is threatening additional tariffs on Apple for their iPhone. And that is the number one smartphone with 155 million active units. My goodness gracious.
So, if Donald Trump decides to put in these additional tariffs on either Apple for their iPhone or in the European Union as a trading partner, that could have a massive impact not just on the economy abroad, but on the United States as well. Of course, at this particular point, who the heck knows what Donald Trump is going to do? And that is why the American people believe he has no clear plan when it comes to trade policy and tariffs.
Back to you.
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SOLOMON: Still ahead for us, U.S. authorities track down two more prisoners escaped from Louisiana and are working to close in on two more.
Meanwhile, neighboring state is looking for its own fugitive. We'll have those details.
Plus, scenes of pure desperation in southern Gaza, with thousands of hungry people rushing to grab food at a brand new distribution site.
And police in Liverpool, England, released new information about the parade crash that injured dozens of people. What they're saying about the suspect when we come back.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back.
Palestinian officials say that Israeli gunfire killed one person and wounded nine others in southern Gaza Tuesday. This came as the new U.S. backed venture to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza erupted in chaos on its very first day. Thousands of people rushed into the Gaza humanitarian foundation distribution site in Rafah. Israel's military fired warning shots over the crowds as they tore down fencing, climbed over barriers and stormed the facilities.
The GHF is supported by both the U.S. and Israel, but it's been widely criticized by the U.N. They warn that the group's methods would create security risks and violate humanitarian principles. It comes after an 11-week Israeli blockade of all food and humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave, pushed more than 2 million Palestinians closer to famine.
Israel has since begun allowing a small amount of tightly controlled aid deliveries into Gaza. The U.N. says it's not nearly enough.
CNN's Oren Liebermann now walks us through what happened in Rafah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The flood of people came on a rising tide of hunger, overrunning this aid distribution site within hours.
They want order, but there will be no order because these are desperate people who want to eat and drink, says Shafiq Kadaiya (ph).
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On Tuesday, the new U.S. and Israeli-backed aid mechanism began operating, an effort to keep aid away from Hamas while still helping Gazans. But the scene soon descended into chaos. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the GHF, that runs the mechanism, said its staff fell back to allow what it called a small number of Gazans to take aid safely. But this was not a small crowd.
One million people dream of a piece of bread. It's incredible. We had to come from one place to another for a bag of flour, this man says.
Thousands of people who have endured a complete 11-week Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid swamped the facility in southern Gaza, grabbing boxes of food and carrying them off.
Salim Abu Rabiya (ph) says he walked seven or eight kilometers to pick up food.
This war has destroyed families. We want our freedom. Look at the people suffering, he says. Women walk for kilometers for a liter of oil or a kilo of sugar or beans because none of these countries can stop the war. These men say their friend was shot by Israeli forces. The Israeli military says they fired warning shots outside the compound. The foundation said it handed out 8,000 boxes of meals with basics like oil, flour and pasta, each supposed to feed a family for half a week.
They say the flow of meals will increase each day, with a goal of 1.2 million people fed by the end of the week. A far cry from the first day. Three distribution sites are crowded in the corner of southern Gaza, where an evacuation order was issued Monday, one more in central Gaza, but none in the north.
We don't want aid in the south, this woman says. We want it here. We want to eat while we are on our land.
Here, like in so much of Gaza, food remains a scarce commodity. In this soup kitchen in Gaza City, no one waits for the boiling food to cool before filling their empty containers. Hunger drives the crowd forward, but not everyone is so lucky.
Look, there are people who got the food and we won't get anything, says young Ibrahim Nasir (ph). Look at this crowd and I've been waiting since the morning.
Palestinians here plead every day for the world's attention, finding little comfort in what they say are empty promises of more aid.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance is paying his respects to the victims of last week's shooting at a Jewish museum in Washington. He visited the Israeli embassy on Tuesday, signing a book of condolences at the couple's memorial table.
Twenty-six-year-old Sarah Milgrim and 30-year-old Yaron Lischinsky were shot and killed as they left the Capital Jewish Museum. They were soon-to-be engaged.
The suspect was arrested, and the Justice Department is investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism and a hate crime.
Still ahead for us, Donald Trump growing increasingly frustrated by Vladimir Putin. And that apparently has the U.S. president considering moving forward with more sanctions. And apparently, the ninth time was not the charm for SpaceX.
Coming up, what went right during the company's latest test flight of its most powerful spacecraft and what went wrong? We'll be right back.
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SOLOMON: Donald Trump appears to be growing increasingly impatient and frustrated with Vladimir Putin amid escalating attacks on Ukraine. And sources say that the U.S. president is now considering slapping new sanctions on Russia. A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers are also lobbying him to impose new sanctions. Senators are working on a new sanctions bill, but there may not be as much appetite for it in the Republican-led House. Trump has said privately that he's concerned that new sanctions could push Moscow away from peace talks.
This all comes more than a week after the U.S. says that Mr. Putin promised that he would send over a so-called memorandum of peace that would lay out requirements for ceasefire with Ukraine. White House is still waiting on that document. Moscow says it's working on it.
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MARIA ZAKHAROVA, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: Russia continues to work on a draft memorandum on a future peace treaty, defining a number of positions, such as principles of settlement, the timing of a possible peace agreement and a potential ceasefire for a certain amount of time. If appropriate agreements are reached.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: All right. Let's go live now to CNN Sebastian Shukla in Berlin, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet with the German chancellor very soon.
Sebastian, good morning to you.
What can we expect to come out of this meeting?
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yeah. The Ukrainian president is due to arrive at the chancellery in around 45 minutes time, where he'll be greeted with those full military honors, and the new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz. The two of them are then going to go into meetings that will be behind closed doors. And then at around 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time, the two of them will appear for a press conference together. And it is in the press conference in particular, that we will get a flavor and understanding of what the two nations have agreed here.
The thing that is being trailed without any confirmation at the moment, our discussions around the Taurus missile systems that Germany has so far under the previous chancellor, Olaf Scholz, refused to hand over to Ukraine for fears that it may result in an escalation of that war that was unnecessary from the German perspective. Friedrich Merz, for his part, has changed Germanys stance on that and where he's -- he's made it more clear now that he's open, perhaps, to the delivery of those weapons systems to Ukraine.
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And indeed, he's repositioning Germany as a more forthright, forceful, vociferous supporter of Ukraine. Given that this will be the third meeting of the two leaders in three weeks, and those three weeks since Merz assumed the chancellorship here in Germany full time.
So that will be the key thing to look out for, as well as what other military aid and assistance that Ukraine has been asking for, for some time, and also aid packages, which may well include the ability for Ukraine to buy its own missile and other weapon systems from other countries around the world.
So, we will start to get a better understanding of exactly what will come out of the press conference and the deals that will be made between these two.
SOLOMON: Sebastian, meantime, I mean, where do talks stand between the U.S. and Russia on ending the war in Ukraine as Trump? You know, at least publicly, appears to be growing increasingly frustrated with Putin.
Where do things stand there?
SHUKLA: Yeah, I'd say those are a little more uncertain than what we may see here today. You have to only look at what the president has posted on Truth Social yesterday, saying what Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would already have happened to Russia and I mean really bad. All in caps. He's playing with fire.
That is a continuation of the tone that we saw last week from the U.S. president, where he said that Vladimir Putin had gone crazy following the series of huge waves of attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and marks this idea that perhaps the White House is shifting its tone slightly and that it feels that the Russians are not taking the American efforts seriously to try and broker a ceasefire, or at least get all the parties around the table to talk.
Sebastian Shukla, watching that meeting there in Berlin, Sebastian, thank you. We appreciate you being with us this morning.
Still to come, a Trump owned media company makes a massive bid for bitcoin. We'll discuss the growing criticism as the Trump cryptocurrency empire expands and the White House takes its campaign against immigration to the Supreme Court again. Details on their push to speed up deportations, when we come back.
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