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One World with Zain Asher

Trump And Musk Turn On Each Other In Escalating Public Feud; Russia Launches Massive Air Attack On Ukraine; Israel Confirms It's Arming Hamas Rivals In Gaza; Haitian Frustration At Travel Ban, Moves To End TPS; Combs' Ex-Girlfriend "Jane" Returns To The Stand; CNN Finds Health Protections For Miners Eroded Under Trump; ;Aired 12-1p ET

Aired June 06, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:00:28]

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Breaking up is hard to do. The second hour of "One World" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two big scouts in a pond. They're going to turn on each other eventually and that's what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The old adage, I'm counting to 10. I think -- I think maybe -- maybe they should count to 10.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop. You've lost your mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Will they bury the hatchet? Musk agrees that they are better together. Trump says that he's not interested in talking. The feud

captivating the globe.

Plus, Russia's revenge. In the dark of the night, the Kremlin launches one of its largest air attacks since the war began.

And later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE CLOONEY, AMERICAN ACTOR: And what matters? Honesty. Facts. Integrity. Accuracy. Truth. Good night and good luck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Making history. CNN is actually getting ready to do something that it's never done before.

All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher. You are watching "One World."

This vision -- the vision, rather, on display as a bitter feud escalates between two of the world's most powerful men.

A senior Russian official s taking notice, even joking that the Kremlin is ready to strike a peace deal between Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

It comes as the war of words between Trump and Musk continues with the U.S. president telling CNN earlier that the, quote, poor guy's got a problem.

On Thursday, the alliance between the president and his largest campaign donor imploded in a very public way with each of them hurling threats and

insults at the other on social media.

The White House is downplaying the flight -- the fight, while some lawmakers on Capitol Hill are weighing in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER NAVARRO, SENIOR COUNSELOR FOR TRADE AND MANUFACTURING: People come and go from the White House. He was a special government employee with an

expiration date.

With respect to what -- what Mr. Musk has been saying about the Big, Beautiful Bill and overspending things like that, I think that that dog

won't hunt when you do the math properly.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Girls are fighting, aren't they?

I think this breakup we've been seeing a long time coming, but we'll see what the impacts are it -- are of it legislatively.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think his relationship with Trump is salvageable at this point? Things have turned kind of personal.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Yes. I believe in redemption and I think it will over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: CNN's Kevin Liptak joins us live now from the White House. So, Kevin, from Elon Musk's perspective, I mean, you know, he spent hundreds of

millions of dollars on the campaign for Donald Trump.

And he looked at that Big, Beautiful Bill and he thought, wow, after all I've done for you, this is how you pay me back, essentially. Walk us

through what happened yesterday.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. Yes. And it did get pretty ugly. And you're right that it started as a policy dispute. Elon

Musk taking offense, one, that this bill in his view explodes the deficit. That's something the White House denies.

But also that it strips away some of the tax credits for electric vehicles, including Teslas that have been so important to his bottom line.

And so, as Musk started going after this bill, sort of quietly at first, but then much more vocally yesterday, that's when everything sort of fell

apart. That's when the wheels came off. Donald Trump firing back, suggesting that he had always wanted to get Musk out of the White House,

that once the glamour was gone, that he turned against him and even criticizing him for failing to wear makeup in the Oval Office last week,

when Donald Trump was awarding him a giant golden key.

And so you can kind of see how these two men started off with a policy dispute and ended with something much worse and much deeper.

And I think the question now is where this all goes, because at the end of the day, Musk is still a powerful voice within the Republican Party,

including with some of the senators who are now trying to decide how to vote on this massive piece of legislation that contains almost the entire

party of President Trump's domestic agenda. Many of them already shared Musk's concerns that it will increase the U.S. deficit by an unacceptable

amount.

And I think the fear is that Musk's open criticism will now embolden them to vote against it. That is something that Donald Trump really, really

wants to avoid.

Musk also is facing some risk here. His companies enjoy billions of dollars in government contracts that Donald Trump has already threatened to

withdraw.

You also hear some of Trump's allies, including Steve Bannon, saying that the president should start investigating Musk's immigration status.

[12:05:09]

And so you could see how all of this could deteriorate very, very quickly. At least on Trump's side of things, he seems, at least in his own telling,

ready to move on.

He told Dana Bash this morning that he's not even thinking about Elon. One thing that he is thinking about is getting rid of that red Tesla that he

bought in very high-profile fashion on the South Lawn in March. But as of just now, I was walking up here. The Tesla is still parked in the driveway.

ASHER: Yes, we all remember that. Free commercial. That free commercial that Donald Trump gave Elon Musk. My oh my, how things have changed.

All right. Kevin Liptak, live for us there. Thank you.

Days after Ukraine struck more than a third of Russia's cruise missile carriers, Russia responded with one of the largest airstrikes since the war

began, targeting broad swaths of Ukraine. Kyiv's mayor says at least four people were killed. Nearly two dozen were injured in the Ukrainian capital.

Weary President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had this to say about Russia's attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Everyone is a bit sleepy, right? But just a bit, right? They will not get what they want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more on Russia's massive strike.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Massive explosions rocked the Kyiv skyline overnight, shaking the Ukrainian capital

as the country endured another night of intense Russian bombardment.

Several emergency workers were killed in the capital and dozens of civilians were injured across the country.

In Lutsk, northwest Ukraine, as the sun rose, the missiles fell.

Athlete, Sofiya Romasyuk, a Ukrainian shot putter, captured the moment of impact.

She and fellow athletes from the Ukrainian national team were visiting the city for a competition when their hotel was hit by a blast. The country has

been bracing for Russian retaliation after an audacious strike by the Ukrainian military on airfields deep inside Russia.

As residents in Kyiv picked through the remains of their apartments this morning, many feeling lucky to have survived.

ARTEM (through translator): Usually we stay in the corridor during the attacks, and this time my wife also insisted that we sleep in the corridor,

so she saved my life.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): It wasn't clear if this was Putin's much anticipated response or just business as usual in Russia's aerial campaign.

Russia's defense ministry said it had struck targets in Ukraine in response to what it called Kyiv's quote, terrorists act.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy calling on America and Europe to put more pressure on Russia to end the war, saying anyone, quote, giving the war

more time to take lives that is complicity and accountability.

This after President Trump on Thursday compared Russia and Ukraine to children fighting and said, it may be better to let them continue for a

while.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Maybe they're going to have to keep fighting and suffering a lot because both sides are suffering

before you pull them apart, before they're able to be pulled apart.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: Millions of Muslims around the globe are celebrating a major holiday, Eid Al-Adha. Those in Gaza are marking the day amid food shortages

and Israeli strikes.

The Gazan Humanitarian Foundation briefly opened two aid distribution sites until they run out of food. This is several days of deadly chaos.

Right now, Greta Thunberg, and a group of activists are sailing to Gaza hoping to bring a much needed aid to the Palestinians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRETA THUNBERG, ACTIVIST: We are not carrying weapons, we are carrying food, sanitary products, medical supplies, things that are necessary to get

into Gaza that have been prevented by Israel from getting into Gaza.

And -- and we are sailing on international waters bringing humanitarian aid. If they stop this humanitarian aid, that is a crime. We are not doing

anything wrong here. We are just doing our part to continue to try to break the siege on Gaza and to open up a humanitarian corridor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Israel says it is arming the rivals of Hamas in an effort to counter the terror group. It's a move opposition politician say, will in danger

national security, calling the covert operation complete madness.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the plan saying it was a good thing. The arming of militias in Gaza appears to be the closest that

Netanyahu has come to empowering any form of alternate rule.

Our Jeremy Diamond joins us live now from Tel Aviv. I mean, obviously, this is a controversial plan. I think the big question for Israel is, is the

enemy of my enemy actually my friend?

[12:10:06]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Without a doubt. And it is a strategy that Israel has employed in the past. As we know, Israel allowed

for millions of dollars to ultimately flow to Hamas in a bid to destabilize the Palestinian Authority and -- and kind of present a -- a challenge to

the -- the ruling party of Fatah. And ultimately we know where that led.

And that is why we are seeing so much uproar from Israeli opposition figures, both on the right and the left side of the spectrum.

Avigdor Lieberman, the former Israeli Defense Minister, he's the one who actually revealed this on Wednesday. He called it complete madness and

argued that it was the equivalence of arming ISIS to counter Hamas.

We've also heard from opposition figures like Yair Lapid, who said that this is all leading to more disasters and Yair Golan, who said that this is

creating a new ticking time bomb in Gaza. All of them arguing that there's no guarantee that these weapons won't ultimately be -- be used against

Israel.

Now, two Israeli officials have told us that this operation was not authorized by the Israeli security cabinet, but rather authorized

personally by the Israeli prime minister following consultations with the security establishments.

The prime minister said that this was being done under the advice of security elements. We've also heard from Hamas directly, which says that

Israel is simply aiming to create a state of insecurity and social chaos.

And that leads to the question about what the end goal here is ultimately. Is it about facilitating a, you know, an alternative to Hamas' governance

in Gaza for a day after the war, something we know the Israeli prime minister has not really focused on? Or is this simply about sowing more

instability, posing more challenges to Hamas in the Gaza strip as the Israeli military continues its efforts to uproot Hamas from its position of

power in Gaza more than a year and a half after this war began?

Zain?

ASHER: Jeremy Diamond live for us. Thank you.

All right. There has been a global outcry over Donald Trump's move this week to ban travel to the U.S. from 12 countries and severely limit visas

from seven others.

Trump said the ban was partly in response to an attack on Jews in Boulder, Colorado, which was allegedly carried out by an Egyptian man who had

overstayed his visa. But Egypt was not on the travel ban list.

President of Chad, which is on the list, said on social media that his country had no plan to offer -- or no plane rather to offer Donald Trump

the way that Qatar did. All of this has been especially hard on Haitians. The travel ban comes just days after the Supreme Court allowed the

administration to revoke the parole status that allows thousands of Haitians to stay in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why (BLEEP) doing this for? That's what I want to know. Why (BLEEP) he's doing it? Never (BLEEP)/

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Joining us live now is U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus- McCormick. She's the co-chair of the Haiti Caucus in Congress and is the first Haitian-American Democrat elected to Congress. Congresswoman, thank

you so much for being with us.

I just want to get first and foremost your initial reaction when you saw that, A, Donald Trump had tried to -- is trying rather to implement another

travel ban similar, but it's much more refined than what he tried to do in the first term. But that Haiti of all countries was on the list as well.

REP. SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK (D-FL): Well, I was very disturbed and upset and a little outrage. I think most of the people in the community

felt the same way because of the justification that's being used saying that Haitian people are national threat to security.

There's no data to substantiate that. We've never had any kind of national security risks with Haitians. And so it was very weird and peculiar to

determine that.

But in the same breath, say that or fail to say that Haiti is safe enough to return Haitians back by ending TPS. So it seems very contradictory.

And right now, we're trying to understand why this position and what actually happens from this.

Another thing that we're looking at is when we look at what -- what does that mean? They're saying that green -- some green card holders, some visas

holders will be allowed to get in. But we're really worried about the implementation.

We've seen the poor implementation of many different policies. And I have nothing to make you think that this will be different. That if you have a

Haitian passport, you're going to be blocked and stopped from entering the United States, even though you legally have a right to enter here.

ASHER: Yes. There has been a lot of concern about the implementation and -- and just a lot of confusion overall about what this means to people who do

have valid visas and who do have, for example, permanent residency in the U.S.

When you think about what Haiti has gone through, and we've covered it for quite a while, for years actually on this particular show, just this idea

of economic turmoil, political problems, not to mention the sheer level of gang violence in that country. We've spoken to people on the ground. We've

had reporters go to Port-au-Prince to cover what's happening on the ground.

[12:15:03]

We've seen outside forces, including Kenyan troops, Kenyan police forces, tried to enter Haiti to sort of quell the violence. It hasn't worked, the

violence is still going on.

The fact that the U.S. is effectively, you know, turning its back on the Haitian people here, what -- what is at stake for ordinary Haitians with

this move by -- by the Trump administration?

CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK: Well, not just their survival, but the stability of the entire region. And why I mention that, like right now, we know that

there's a huge amount of guns that come out of Miami and go into Haiti.

And we still have been fighting that fight to stop it. But I would love to see the administration taking more proactive steps to stop that, because

all that does is inflame what's going on in Haiti, and also inflames what's going on throughout the entire Western Hemisphere.

But in addition to that, we have to make up our mind on what we're dedicated to. If we're dedicating to helping Haiti and recognizing that

there are gains in Port-au-Prince that need help, and even supporting Black Order being in Haiti right now, fighting some of the gangs, then we have to

establish and recognize that the TPS holders cannot return to Haiti because it's not stable.

But for us to say that Haiti's stable enough or not to make a decision, but end TPS and try to return them, and then with the same breath, say, hey,

we're going to designate Haiti as a foreign-terrorist organization, because it's so violent, it doesn't mesh.

And right now, we're closely watching what's going on with this TPS designation and what's going on in the courts, because their deadline was

actually June 4th for this -- the administration to determine if Haiti was safe enough to even return the TPS holder.

But today is June 6th, and we haven't heard anything. They haven't made that affirmative stance that is safe. And I suspect it's because they know

it isn't safe. You can't say that it's safe enough to deport over 520,000 people, but then say, hey, Black Order, get a contract and go kill gangs.

I spoke to an NGO as early as this morning, and they said that right now with the drones, it literally feels like a war zone, where in Port-au-

Prince they're fighting so hard with the drones.

In addition to that, they're forced to put their logos everywhere so the drones know not to shoot them. And that's an American company that's there.

So we have to access administration. What is it? Is it that Haiti right now needs our help? Or is it that we're going to punish the Haitian people and

it's safe? And I think that's yet to come and we have to understand it.

Even when they actually did the designation for foreign terrorists, I raised some concerns because for you to put that label actually opens up

the door to Black Haiti from getting the aid it needs, and for instances like this where now they're using that as a justification not to let

Haitians into the United States.

ASHER: Yes. I mean, you bring up Black Order. I mean, the very fact that you have private military contractors on the ground, I mean, it tells you

just the level of unrest on the ground.

I want to ask you why you think Haiti specifically was placed on the list. And if you look at the list of 12 countries, obviously they do have, you

know, unrest and perhaps civil war, and some of them have issues when it comes to battling terrorism in common. But there are a lot of other

countries that also have that same issue that were not on this list.

So, why do you think that Haiti -- why do you think that Haiti was put on this list?

CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK: I think it's misinformation. Like I said, there's no data to substantiate that Haitians, Haitian people have ever been a

national security risk ever.

We have some countries who are on the partial list, and they determined the entire country to be a terrorist country, such as Cuba. Whereas Haiti only

has Port-au-Prince, which is a small section that has 80 percent of gangs, and now you're trying to demonize all the people who are there.

And mind you, there's over 12,000 -- 12 million people in Haiti. And if you do the percentage, it's less than 0.000001, who are actually engaged in

gang activity.

So to place that label all on all the Haitians and to keep going through these steps, I have -- the only where I can justify is either

misinformation, which we would love to work with the administration so they can have the proper information so they could take the right steps.

And I also think that some of the rhetoric that we heard last year when they talked about Haitian people, the misinformation that was being spread

by JD Vance about Haitians being criminals, I think some of that is still reminiscing and still here right now today as a residue. And people do not

realize that Haitian people are actually very safe.

And even the gang members who are in Haiti right now, they've never committed crimes or acts outside of Haiti. So why -- what is the real

reason?

So we look forward to actually arguing like real legal principles why this label needs to come off of Haiti.

ASHER: All right. Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, thank you so much. Appreciate your perspective.

All right. Coming up, safety concerns in the U.S. coal country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH MAIN, FORMER U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR MINE AND SAFETY AND HEALTH: If you really care about the lives, the health, and safety of

miners, reverse all of these cuts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: From gutting health programs to closing mine safety offices, how some miners fear President Trump's cuts are putting them in danger.

And later, the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs continues today in New York. We'll have the latest.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:20:02]

ALEX BIRSH, VICE PRESIDENT AND COO, PLAYBILL: What makes Playbill itself so great is that it is almost always completely tied with joy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: How CNN prepares for an unprecedented live Broadway play on our air. We'll look at the mini magazine that's been a staple on Broadway for more

than 100 years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: Court proceedings in the sex trafficking trial of music mogul, Sean "Diddy" Combs resumed earlier today in New York.

Back on the stand is one of Combs' accuser using the pseudonym, Jane. She testified previously that she participated in drug-fueled sex encounters

called "hotel nights." This comes after a dramatic day in court yesterday.

The judge threatening to remove Combs from the courtroom if he kept on trying to interact with the jury by making facial expressions.

Joining us live now is CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister.

So, Elizabeth, just in terms of what we heard from Combs' ex-girlfriend, I mean, some of her tested when he was really troubling. Just walk us through

what she told the jurors.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so Jane, who is testifying under a pseudonym, that is not her real name, she's doing that

in order to protect her identity from the public. She is on the stand today, as you said, Zain, after yesterday, she is expected to be on the

stand for up to a week.

And prosecutors right now are going through painstaking detail of her relationship with Sean Combs. She was with Sean Combs from 2021 up until

2024 until the time of his arrest.

And I have to tell you, it's been very emotional today, Zain. She has been crying, hysterically crying at some points where she has to collect

herself, and it's hard to hear her. The prosecutors have asked her numerous times if she needs to take a break and wants to get off the stand.

But she has detailed many different things. Let's start with the drugs. She said that every single time that she had one of these "hotel nights" with

Sean Combs, "hotel nights" we've learned in this trial is synonymous for "freak-offs." Those times that the government says that Sean Combs coerced

women, like Jane and like Cassie, into having sex with other men, and often under the influence of drugs.

So Jane said that she was always on drugs. And I want to read you a quote, Zain. She said, I just felt like I had to take them because when I

wouldn't, it would just feel too real. I didn't want it to feel real. It was just easier.

[12:25:02]

Now, this is going to be complex for the jury to deliberate because this was a girlfriend in a consensual relationship. She said that she loved

Combs very much. She always wanted to keep her partner happy, but she said that she did not want to have sex with other men. She made that clear to

him.

In fact, a text from her was read aloud in court where she told Combs that she did not want to be having sex with other men, and he told her to stop.

Now, another thing aside from the drugs that she spoke about is just the volume of these men, these male escorts who Jane called a male entertainer,

that Sean Combs would bring into their sex life.

I have counted at least seven men that she has spoken about just this morning and going into detail of these different occasions, these different

alleged incidents where she says that Sean Combs would introduce these men into a hotel room and that she felt she had no other choice, Zain, other

than to comply and to have sex with them.

ASHER: All right. Elizabeth Wagmeister live for us there. Thank you so much.

All right. Coming up, it is the messy breakup everyone is talking about, including Donald Trump's former adviser Steve Bannon. His adviser to the

U.S. president, Elon Musk, about the fallout with the U.S. president. That's just ahead.

And later, why a Hollywood superstar decided now was the time for a Broadway play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLOONEY: I want to be able to look at our kids and say, there was a moment in time when this was happening. And -- and this is where I stood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[12:30:15]

ASHER: Welcome back to "One World." I'm Zain Asher.

The most powerful man in the world is talking to CNN about one of the messiest high-profile splits in political history. U.S. President Donald

Trump says he's not even thinking about Elon Musk and won't be speaking to him in the near future.

Their world-famous bromance exploded Thursday in a bitter public breakup. Musk, the richest man on the planet, and a top-Trump benefactor claimed on

X, "Without me, Trump would have lost the election. Dems would be in control of the House, and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate."

The breakup went public on Thursday with Trump announcing his displeasure with the tech billionaire after Musk blasted the President's sweeping

domestic spending bill. Let's not forget, the Trump-Musk bond had been one of the most powerful alliances in American history. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He's an amazing person. He's also a caring person.

ELON MUSK, THEN-TRUMP ADVISER: I think -- I think President Trump is a good man.

Not once have I seen him do something that was mean or cruel or -- or wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Last year, Musk plowed more than $290 million into the 2024 election to boost Trump. But now, it's all changed, where the former Trump adviser

Steve Bannon urging drastic action against the owner of Tesla and SpaceX.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER TRUMP ADVISER: The act should -- that President Trump should be taking immediately, I think, when he threatens to take one of the

big programs out of SpaceX, President Trump, tonight, should sign an executive order calling for the Defense to Production Act to be called in

SpaceX and seize SpaceX tonight before midnight.

The U.S. government should seize it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Time now for "The Exchange." The deep dive into the potential fallout from this explosive split between the world's most powerful man and

the richest one. Joining me live now is Ron Brownstein CNN and senior political analyst and a Bloomberg opinion columnist.

So, listen, I can't say I'm surprised that there was a falling out. I mean, there's just so much, so much ego here and, you know, they don't see eye-

to-eye on a number of issues. But did you expect it to be so public?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: These guys live in public, Zain, right? I mean, you know, I was racking my brain yesterday. This is

probably the most acrimonious political breakup since John F. Kennedy exiled Frank Sinatra in 1962, and Sinatra smashed his helipad with a

sledgehammer reportedly.

So, you know, as you say, this was, I think, inevitable, given how mercurial Musk is. And given that there are no permanent alliances for

Trump with anyone whose last name is not also Trump. So we knew we were going to get here.

I'm not sure anyone saw them going -- going nuclear as fast as they did on each other. But there, you know, I thought their responses to each other

are revealing a kind of deeper aspects of -- of what's going on here. But certainly, the -- the -- the anger and acrimony work is extraordinary to

watch.

ASHER: I mean, it's interesting because Musk has the most to lose with this because it's not as if, you know, Democrats are going to be, you know,

running out of the woodwork to try to support him.

And then with Republicans, especially MAGA Republicans, they are loyal to nobody but Donald Trump himself. So Elon Musk, just in terms of his

reputation and, you know, his popularity, I mean, other than, I guess, Silicon Valley, I mean, there's -- who -- who -- basically, what does he

stand to gain from falling out with Donald Trump so publicly?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, he does have more to lose. I mean, there's no question that Republican elected officials are going to side with Trump, not Musk,

if it really comes down to that. Although, Musk can make life pretty difficult for them if he wants to spend money either advertising in their

districts or supporting primary challenges from their right.

And Musk has a lot to lose in terms of government contracts and government regulatory decisions. But think about what we are saying there and almost

normalizing there. I mean, Trump is making clear in this episode something that is a broader truth about his presidency, that he basically sees public

policy as an extension of personal loyalty to him.

I mean, Musk's companies are not more or less capable of delivering the services that they are, the Defense Department and NASA on Wednesday. But

today, suddenly, all of that is at risk because Trump is signaling again, as he has on so many other fronts, including criminal prosecutions like

Eric Adams, that basically he views government as a way to reward allies and punish those he sees as adversaries.

And we are watching that transformation, you know, in real time, I think, crystallize to an extraordinary extent in his initial reaction, his

instinctive reaction was maybe even going to cancel your contracts.

And that, I think, is a very different vision of government than we've had for most of our history and one that Americans should not grow and you are

comfortable with.

[12:35:03]

ASHER: But also Elon Musk, I mean, you know, that his strategy of spending, you know, almost $300 million on Trump's campaign. I mean, it shows you

that he was expecting to benefit --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

ASHER: -- from that, obviously that. He's like, you know, I gave you $300 million, that wasn't just for my health, right? I didn't just give you that

money because I'm a nice person.

BROWNSTEIN: Right.

ASHER: Like, obviously, I'm expecting some form of payback and he expected the payback in the form of that Big, Beautiful Bill.

And so that's also an issue too. I mean --

BROWNSTEIN: Court order and other decisions.

ASHER: Yes. You know, but that's also an issue too. It's that, you know, for Elon Musk, he expected Trump to support him and to help him make money.

And Donald Trump obviously has weaponized the entire situation politically in order to try to punish Elon Musk for -- for, you know, humiliating him

publicly.

BROWNSTEIN: Those are two sides of the same coin. I mean, as I'm saying, Trump, and I think everyone recognizes that Trump sees the presidency in

purely transactional terms.

As a -- as a -- sees the federal government as a vast machine to reward allies and punish those who are adversaries and thus creating constant

incentive for everyone to stay on the right side of that line, whether it's, you know, the crypto industry, where his family is increasing its

financial involvement and are seeing a, you know, a -- a dropping of regulatory cases against them, whether it's foreign countries that are

providing an airplane, you know, to him.

All across the board, everyone gets the same message. And I think, you know, the -- the signal this is sending to all of those other tech

billionaires who showed up at his inaugural and have been trying in various ways to curry his favor is that no one is ever entirely safe in that world.

There's always the chance for the leader to raise the price or to push you onto the other side of that -- of that, you know, line from friend to foe

and tolerating a government that operates in that way and trying to buy it off and, you know, be -- be the winner in that scenario is really a lose-

lose situation.

It's kind of like the oligarchs in, you know, in Russia, you know, there really is no way to buy permanent safety or permanent peace.

No one could have spent more money than Musk. And I think Musk falling out of favor so spectacularly is a reminder to every -- that this road is not

only bad for kind of government overall and the country overall, it's really no sign of way to protect themselves.

ASHER: I want to talk about Donald Trump's strategy when it comes to immigration in this country. I mean, you know, every day I'm surprised

again and again because obviously it started off a few months ago with this idea just touting the idea of possibly deporting U.S. citizens who had

committed crimes.

We saw arrests on campus of pro-Palestinian protesters who were doing nothing other than exercising their free speech rights. And many of them

had valid visas, if not green cards in this country, then we saw essentially student visas being put on hold.

And now this idea of banning travel from people of -- of 12 different countries across the world, banning them from basically being able to enter

the United States.

Why is Trump doing this again? I mean, obviously, we saw this in the first time. He's obviously sort of tweaked it to make sure that it can hold -- it

can, you know, be held up in courts.

But what is his strategy when it comes to immigration in this country do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, you know, Trump frames most of what he's doing on immigration as a matter of public safety, about preventing threats that

he's deporting criminals, or he's preventing potential terrorists from coming into the country.

But I think the real motivation was revealed in something he did very early after he announced the president in 2015. So I mean, he hasn't discussed

much since, but he went down to Arizona and he proposed a constitutional amendment that would limit the share of the country that is foreign-born.

And I think ultimately, it is the concern about the changing composition of America that -- that motivates this more than anything else. There are

legitimate concerns about public safety and whether, you know, the large number of people applying for asylum under Biden, the -- the strain budgets

in big cities, all of that is real.

But when he's talking about accepting Afrikaner refugees and barring complete -- completely barring travel from other predominantly black and

brown countries, I -- I don't think you have to dig too far beneath the surface to find the real motivation.

And as I say, you know, remember -- remember his comments about why can't we have more, you know, immigrants from like Nordic countries and fewer

from those he described in very, you know, negative terms.

I think that is the core motivation for him. I mean, two-thirds of his voters say in polls that the growing number of immigrants is undermining

American culture and erasing our traditions. I think it's a cultural motivation at its heart, but certainly presented primarily at the public

safety issue.

ASHER: All right. Ron Brownstein live for us there. Thank you so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

ASHER: In just five months, President Trump has dismantled the safety net that for years has protected miners from injury and disease.

CNN's Kyung Lah travel to coal country where miners say they fear the impact of the cuts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[12:40:09]

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The stakes of choking off federal programs can be measured one breath at a time for David Bounds

in West Virginia's coal country.

DAVID BOUNDS, FORMER MINER: I have black lung that I obtained from the coal mines working in the mines.

LAH (voice-over): How many coal miners do you know who have black lung?

BOUNDS: Almost everybody gets it. It's hard to breathe. I'd say eventually nothing would be able to get air in a normal. I don't want to see nobody in

that shape.

LAH (voice-over): But Bounds fears more miners in America's coal region will now end up just like him.

A CNN investigation found the Trump administration has decimated programs aimed at protecting miners by gutting health programs, freezing hiring and

closing mine safety offices.

One significant change CNN found, impact inspections aimed at stopping the most troubled coal mines from becoming too dangerous fell 75 percent

compared to the same time frame last year. With the exception of the pandemic years, they're now at the lowest level since they started in 2010.

And that's when Joe Main was the assistant secretary of the Mines Safety and Health Administration.

MAIN: That was 2010. And that was the last mine disaster that we had in the United States. And the impact inspection program was one of the things we

put in place to say that would never happen again.

LAH (voice-over): Main says inspections are about preventing death.

MAIN: If you really care about the lives, the health and safety of miners, reverse all of these cuts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have been saving coal miners' lives.

LAH (voice-over): The cuts include these people. They're among hundreds of mine safety and health workers fired by the Trump administration. They came

to D.C. from across the country to protest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't just study problems, we solve them.

LAH (voice-over): Brendan Demich researches how to save miners after explosions and collapses.

LAH: Did everybody get eliminated?

BRENDAN DEMICH, VP, AFGE LOCAL 1916: Everybody -- yes, everybody in Pittsburgh had gone eliminated.

The shock of me losing my job and being told that, you know, we're not going to be protecting miners anymore. I -- it -- it was devastating to me.

LAH (voice-over): Demich learned he and other mining safety workers found out they were losing their jobs the same week President Trump said this.

TRUMP: And we're going to put the miners back to work.

LAH (voice-over): Trump signed four executive orders to boost the coal industry.

DEMICH: It's so weird to see this economy that we support our miners and we want to bring mining back, but we're not going to protect them from the

things that killed them on the job.

LAH (voice-over): Trump won 70 percent of West Virginia's voters in 2024. But not Paul Corbit Brown, the son of a coal miner and a Democrat.

PAUL CORBIT BROWN, SON OF DECEASED COAL MINER: I watched my dad die from black lung and it's not pretty. Where is Donald Trump? I defy him to spend

one hour in a coal mine actually doing the job. Not standing in a drive- through went and handing out French fries. You go under mine -- underground in mine coal for a day.

LAH: What has coal meant to the people here?

BROWN: Coal has always been a blessing and a curse all at once. Coal has given us jobs to provide for our family. Coal has taken our lives.

BOUNDS: I've got a (INAUDIBLE) that has children that's in the mines. I don't want them to be like me now. Excuse me.

LAH: Are you OK?

BOUNDS: Yes. I just got to get a little bit of wind. I'm (INAUDIBLE) too much. Sorry.

LAH: No, no, no, no, it's all right. That's -- this is what happens --

BOUNDS: I apologize.

LAH: This is what happens, huh?

BOUNDS: Yes, ma'am.

LAH (voice-over): At age 77, after more than three decades as a coal miner, David Bounds has felt forgotten, no matter which party is in power. It's

why last November, he says he left his ballot blank.

LAH: Do you just feel disappointed by all of Washington?

BOUNDS: I think we've been deceived. I think we've been took for granted. It just ain't right.

LAH: Despite what CNN found specifically on the mine impact inspections this year, a Department of Labor spokesperson tells us, the overall

inspection numbers are similar to historical trends. And the agency will, quote, achieve statutory yearly inspection obligations. One HHS

spokesperson says essential services will continue.

But as far as the health workers you saw in our story, many tell us that they're still on administrative leave and cannot do their jobs to help

miners.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:55]

ASHER: All right. A Nigerian nonprofit is on a mission to safeguard the country's journalistic heritage. The group called Archiving aims to

digitize and reserve decades of the country's newspapers and magazine. They're turning fragile print into an enduring digital legacy.

Painstakingly scanning page after page, the (INAUDIBLE) space team, is building a bridge between Nigeria's past and its future. Here's this week's

"Africa Insider."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FU'AD LAWAL, FOUNDER ARCHIVING: We are collecting stories about people who experience life in Nigeria. Yes, only the experience.

And as I said to ask, what would it take for us to have our own archives? There's a massive history vacuum. And we're basically transferring the

vacuum for everybody.

My first step to filling that vacuum is digitization. Second step is, what are all the interesting ways to make it accessible to people?

And of course, the third level I spend important to us is, how can we help people make sense of the things in the archives?

KEHINDE ONI-AJAYI, OPERATIONS ASSOCIATE, ARCHIVING: The first thing we do is to take inventory. Taking inventory involves checking for the title, the

information about the publishers, the dates.

This is March 30, then the year 1987. And then the issue, because we have different issues that come up same day. We put all this information in our

database and then we move on to scan.

LAWAL: I think we underestimate what it takes to get anything done. Every time you see a newspaper on Archiving, (INAUDIBLE) somewhere how to place

it, put the lid on top of it, scan, raise it, and flip it, and do it again and again and again.

The single biggest challenge we've had is access. It continues to be difficult to find old newspapers. But the reverse to our access problem is

that we have random people from everywhere. Someone says, oh, my -- my -- my grandfather died. I just had access to his library. Do you guys

(INAUDIBLE) magazines? Of course, yes.

SAMSON TOROMADE, STORYTELLING AND COMMUNITY LEAD, ARCHIVING: A lot of our work is about context. We want people to understand like Nigerian history.

So instead of having to do the research yourself page by page, AI can crawl through like our archives and put together like a really good package of

the story for you.

LAWAL: I feel like Nigerians have to learn that people never really changed.

Knowing the questions that have been asked and answered in the past, demands that we ask even better questions.

A lot of the things that we tend to even repeat accidentally happens all over the world. It's actually because our very nature as human beings is to

forget. And we just need more effective tool and instruments to remember.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:27]

ASHER: All right. This weekend, CNN is going to take you back in time to an era where a powerful politician ran rug shock over presidents and norms,

disrupting the lives of Americans and creating widespread fear and persecution.

One brave journalist took him on. We're talking about Senator Joseph McCarthy and CBS Newsman, Edward R. Murrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD MURROW, CBS NEWSMAN: Having searched my conscience and my files, I cannot contend that I have always been right or wise, but I have attempted

to pursue the truth with some diligence and to report it, even though, as in this case, I had been warned in advance that I would be subjected to the

attentions of Senator McCarthy.

We should hope to deal with matters of more vital interest to the country next week. Goodnight, and good luck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: The story of Murrow's courageous campaign against Joe McCarthy is being told on Broadway in the play "Goodnight and Good Luck," starring

Hollywood legend George Clooney.

CNN will air a live broadcast of the play Saturday night at 7:00 P.M. Eastern Time. It also streams on cnn.com as well.

George Clooney told us why Murrow's story is so important to him right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLOONEY: What's fun about the play is, although McCarthyism was bad, it wasn't anywhere near as pervasive as it is right now, the kind of fear that

you see kind of stretching through law firms and universities.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You think it's worse now than McCarthy's time?

CLOONEY: I do think it is worse now.

I want to be able to look at our kids and say, there was a moment in time when this was happening, and this is where I stood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: No Broadway production is complete without a program. The Broadway Playbill has been part of plays and musicals for more than a century. Our

Harry Enten went to find out more about the company behind the mini magazine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: What is the magic of Broadway?

ANNABEL MCCONACHIE, WAITING IN LINE FOR BROADWAY TICKETS: I just think there's like nothing like seeing performers live in a room.

ENTEN (voice-over): If there's anyone who knows about Broadway, its father- son duo, Philip and Alex Birsh, the CEO and CEO of Playbill. That's the company that creates the programs you see at every Broadway show.

It's been around for over 140 years, but run by the Birsh family since 1973.

BIRSH: Broadway, all of it, is all live. It is all right in front of you. It is a primal thing that we need is to be entertained by others in front

of us in full.

ENTEN: And when you go to Broadway, there is one memento that every theatergoer gets to hold onto.

[12:55:04]

PHILIP BIRSH, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, PLAYBILL: It's a time capsule that people really appreciate because there's so much change in the world. Yet, we

remain staunch in our devotion to giving people an accurate Playbill that is their souvenir and is their time capsule and celebrates the -- the work

that the people are doing on the stage and who created it.

A. BIRSH: And what makes Playbill itself so great is that it is almost always completely tied with joy.

ENTEN: We have this tremendous plant around us. How the heck does this work?

P. BIRSH: So the first thing we do is we use this Heidelberg press to print the insides of the Playbill and it changes every week.

Once we print the inside of the Playbill, we also have printed the outside of the Playbill, which is the cover of the show. So now we have both ends

of it.

And then we have a comment section called the Wrap where we have articles about all things going on in Broadway and then we take it over to the

bindery and we bind all those pieces together to have a finished Playbill.

ENTEN (voice-over): In a given month, the factory can make more than 300 different editions of Playbills because they can change so much. And fans,

well they gobble them up.

ENTEN: And do you hold on to your Playbills, keep your Playbills once you get them?

DEBBIE LEBEL, WAITING IN LINE FOR BROADWAY TICKETS: I frame them because I have an antique shop and there's where they go.

KAYDE MASON, WAITING IN LINE FOR BROADWAY TICKETS: I have every Playbill of every show I've ever been to because it's a memory. It's frozen in time. It

takes you right back to that moment where you experience something new and saw something amazing on stage.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: You won't want to miss it when CNN airs "Good Night and Good Luck" starring George Clooney live from Broadway. It happens at 7:00 P.M. Eastern

Time inside on Saturday night. That's 1:00 A.M. on Sunday morning in Central Europe, but 8:00 A.M. Sunday morning in Tokyo. It will also stream

live on Max as well.

All right. That does it for this hour of "One World." I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate you watching. Don't go anywhere at Bianna host "Amanpour" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END