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White House Doubles Down on Criticism of Judges Amid Trump Administration Legal Fights; Judge Gives DOJ Another Day to Turn Over Details on Deportations; GOP Rep. Mike Flood Faces Angry Crowd at Town Hall; Netanyahu Facing Fury as Israelis Protest Resumed War. Aired 3- 3:30p ET

Aired March 05, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:42]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Donald Trump testing the limits of executive power. The President calling for the impeachment of a federal judge after that judge ordered a block of certain deportation flights in the White House's immigration crackdown. The judge giving DOJ a new deadline in the case.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Not holding back, angry voters are letting their lawmakers have it at town halls across the country. We'll speak to a congressman who faced the fury last night.

And was Ben & Jerry's CEO too political for his job? The ice cream brand says its parent company's decision to fire the top boss was more about politics than performance.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

SANCHEZ: This afternoon, the White House is taking aim against judge's ruling against President Donald Trump's agenda. Here's Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The judges in this country are acting erroneously. We have judges who are acting as partisan activists from the bench. They are trying to dictate policy from the President of the United States. They are trying to clearly slow walk this administration's agenda, and it's unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Among Trump's latest legal battles, the case involving his administration's efforts to deport hundreds of migrants to El Salvador using a rarely invoked centuries old wartime law. Today, Judge James Boasberg gave the Justice Department one more day to turn over information as questions mount over why the flights were allowed to continue this weekend after he ordered them to turn around. President Trump now claiming it's not up to a judge to decide whether those deportations are carried out after saying judges who derail his plans should face impeachment. CNN's Katelyn Polantz is with us now.

Katelyn, let's start with the DOJ. What exactly is the judge asking for them to turn over?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's giving them options, so they were supposed to turn over under seal just to him information specific about these flights. Who was on them? The people who were on them? Were they subject only to removal under this now blocked proclamation? That is part of what he wants from them.

But he also said today when they pushed back, you have another option. If you want to tell me that the information is classified or if it's state secrets, do that. And maybe you don't have to give this to me, but we're going to do this legally. That's what the judge's message is.

But what is so astonishing about this is it is a fight now between a federal judge in Washington, D.C. at the trial level and the Justice Department, the executive branch, the presidency that keeps ratcheting up, and then they keep backing off because in this situation, Judge Boasberg took it down a notch. But even the filing earlier today, when the Justice Department says we don't want to give you this information, even under seal, they called him petty. I mean, the word they used was picayune, but they're calling him petty. And they say you're micro managing. That was another word they used in their filing.

They wrote continuing - that the judge is continuing to beat a dead horse solely for the sake of prying from the government legally immaterial facts, underlining this political message that Trump is the President. Judges shouldn't be able to do these things. The sort of things you're hearing at the White House that is trickling into the court filings as well in legal arguments.

SANCHEZ: We'll see what happens at that deadline tomorrow.

Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much for the update. Brianna?

KEILAR: Let's talk more about this now with former U.S. Attorney and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman. He's also the host of the Talking Feds podcast.

So Harry, the DOJ in this last-minute bid to avoid handing over some of this information to the judge said that the judges', quote, "pending questions or gross encroachments on core aspects of absolute and unreviewable executive branch authority relating to National Security, foreign relations and foreign policy." Are they?

[15:05:04]

HARRY LITMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No. And it's the card they're trying to play. Even on the merits, Brianna, the question whether these people were all members of that group. The question whether this law, which as Boris says, never been applied in this circumstance applies. Those air solid down the middle questions for a judge. But the important thing to note here, Judge Boasberg, they - it's ironic a little that they call this picayune because they are trying again, and again, and again not to give over information, not about the merits. But Boasberg wants to know. He had this extraordinary hearing on Saturday. He said, do not do this for now, while we're deciding. If the planes have gone, bring him back.

He wants to know now did the Trump administration violate that order. That's all that - this is about. So, when they're trying to say he's micromanaging, they're missing the point whether purposely or not. He has drawn the line in the sand, it's true. He's like, you know, a dog with a bone, but he's not giving it up to find out now did they violate orders. Because that's something he wants to really figure out. He's the chief judge of that court, and if that's what they're the business of doing, he wants to lay down the law before anything else happens.

KEILAR: Picayune is an excellent SAT word, though. I think we can all agree on that here. Concern about nationwide injunctions from district courts. That's something that's come up before from Democratic and Republican administrations. You had former A.G. William Barr. You had Biden administration Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar. Do you see this current objection differently than those ones, though?

LITMAN: Not really. I see the point. It's a solid point, Brianna. That isn't really based on what Trump's trying to do. When a single judge enters an order - unless, of course, it's a class that is before that judge - it's a little bit tricky and complicated for the DOJ for all of a sudden it to be applied nationwide.

This happened in the Biden administration when a judge in Texas applied an order about abortion medication and tried to make it nationwide. So, I actually think that it's a solid kind of argument. It's got nothing to do, I want to be clear, with what we were just talking about. But as an overall theme, they should have - they should proceed methodically with the law. But that means go up to the appellate level, not just rest on a district court to freeze everything in the entire nation. I think it's a solid point.

KEILAR: Yes, with an injunction. The attacks on this judge, James Boasberg, continue. You just heard the White House press secretary and everything that she said about him. He's trying to usurp the President's authorities as a Democrat activist. She said some other things as well.

She knows that Boasberg was initially appointed to the bench D.C. Superior Court, but that often funnels judges onto the federal bench by George W. Bush. What is she doing?

LITMAN: It's really garbage and she's picked the wrong person. Boasberg is very much respected across the aisle. He's a centrist. He actually roomed with Brett Kavanaugh in law school. He was appointed to the FISA court by Chief Justice Roberts. So, she's just reflexively saying if he ruled against Trump, he must be some rabid communist activist. It really will not play within the federal judiciary. And I think that's one reason. Boasberg has said, I'm taking this on me now because I can handle it. This question of whether they're complying with orders or not, which is a huge question, right? Even leaving aside this dispute, if they came out of the box and are just trying to get away with not complying, that's something he wants to nip in the bud.

So, they're saying it for no good reason. And it's really understood as completely false by anyone who understands the federal judiciary.

KEILAR: Yes, he was appointed to the federal bench by Barack Obama. But you going to read the whole bio as you just stated. And it's a really interesting one as well. Harry Litman, thank you.

LITMAN: That's true. Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: Boris?

SANCHEZ: Despite being publicly excoriated and warnings from their leadership, some Republican lawmakers have continued holding in person town halls. Last night, in Nebraska, in an area that overwhelmingly voted for Republicans in 2024, Congressman Mike Flood was the latest to face a frustrated crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is where we're at? When are you going to stand up, and we're also on the human rights watch list? What are you going to stand up for?

REP. MIKE FLOOD (R-NE): How can you be against a balanced budget? How can you be against a balanced budget? Kids, democracy is in fact, messy, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're making it messy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:10:06]

SANCHEZ: Congressman Mike Flood of Nebraska joins us now.

Thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon, Congressman.

You had to have known you were going to get this kind of reception. Why did you decide to go against the advice of leadership and host this in person?

REP. MIKE FLOOD (R-NE): Well, when I ran for office, just like I did when I was in the Legislature for 10 years, I said, I'm going to do town halls. I already had a town hall scheduled. I knew it was going to be in Columbus. I'm going to do another one in Lincoln, which is the largest city in my district in August. And I just think there's value to - for me to show up across the district and let people express themselves and we certainly had the opportunity to see that last night.

SANCHEZ: Our correspondent, Danny Freeman, attended the town hall. He actually captured some video I want to share with our viewers of you speaking with constituents shaking hands outside the event. And I point this out because I've spoken to multiple Republicans who have dismissed these angry voters as paid agitators, suggesting without providing specific evidence that these folks have received payments from the likes of George Soros. What do you make of those claims? Do you think that Republicans dismissing this anger is going to put them at risk electorally?

FLOOD: Well, every member of Congress has to make their own decision. I will tell you, every single one of my colleagues are out in their districts to suggest that they're not engaging isn't accurate, to suggest that Republican members of the House aren't out doing everything they can to meet with constituents and to deal with the issues is simply not true. What I will tell you last night is I walked in the front door. I shook everybody's hand. They came from, you know, two hours away. I wanted to appreciate each one of them for taking the time.

I don't know whether anybody was paid or not. I certainly wasn't asking that question. I did see a lot of people there that had concerns about where the country's going. And, you know, I think it's good that they heard directly for me why I think the national debt is the number one issue facing America right now and we talked a lot about that.

And a lot of the concerns that I heard were from some of the spending cuts that DOGE and Elon Musk and President Trump are talking about. At the end of the day, as long as we're talking about cutting the budget, I think there's a lot of value to what happened last night.

SANCHEZ: It sounds like you believe that these were legitimate concerns from actual constituents and not some sort of staged effort to get clicks online or whatever they think these folks are trying to do at town halls that they're accusing of being staged.

I do want to ask you about what you just described your support for DOGE because you got booed when you argued that government spending urgently needs to be reined in. I wonder if you've got the sense from voters as to whether they're opposed to the idea of cutting spending generally or specifically the way that it's being carried out with some of the mistakes that even Elon Musk has acknowledged both in firing - in firings and some of the cuts that they've reported and also with limited visibility into who exactly is making those decisions. Do you think DOGE needs to improve?

FLOOD: Well, just the first part of your question there, what really surprised me last night and you just played a clip of it, I'm glad you did, when I said we need to balance the budget. That's not a red issue or a blue issue. That's an American issue. And I was somewhat surprised at the pushback on saying that we need to balance our budget. You know, the state of Nebraska does that a lot of states do that. It's absolutely something we have to do or the problems we're talking about today. They compound themselves by hundred times. At the end of the day, I did get a lot of questions about DOGE. I got a lot of questions about the process and, you know, when somebody asked me afterwards, you know, what do you think is going on here? And I said, well, people don't like change. People don't like change.

President Trump was elected in November. We've seen a lot of change, you know, in the White House and he's got a very healthy agenda. That has a lot of people riled up. I think last night was an opportunity for me to say, hey, these cuts are necessary if we want to get back on track. Is it a perfect process? No. You know, as you've said, they've acknowledged some mistakes.

One of the things that I wanted people to take away from that last night is that if you tell me what you're concerned about, and I look into it, if I see an issue that needs to be brought to the attention of the executive branch or to be dealt with in our appropriations committee or in Congress, I'm going to do that. And my first call isn't going to be a to a TV station. My first call is going to be to the person that's going to help me solve the problem. That's how we work constructively to make this process work. That's how I'm going to move going forward and I hope that the folks in the audience that heard me say that know that I'm very sincere when I say that and I encourage them to call my office if there's things you want me to look into.

[15:15:09]

SANCHEZ: I think part of the resistance to that change, Congressman, is tied to what it might ultimately cost. And it's unlikely that the U.S. will see a balanced budget unless entitlements are adjusted. It accounts for the largest chunk of government spending, as you know, by far. Can you guarantee that folks that rely on Social Security, and Medicaid and Medicare that, as the White House promised, they're not going to see a reduction in benefits? How do you make that math work?

FLOOD: Well, first and foremost, Social Security can't even be dealt with in reconciliation, and it will not be touched. And I made that point very clear. As to the process of reconciliation with regard to other mandatory spending, we have to let this process play out. I'm not going to get ahead of the Energy and Commerce Committee. There's going to be a really good effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse.

I think there are opportunities to make our systems more efficient, and we're going to have the opportunity, all of us in America, sometime this spring, to see a list of actual cuts that will allow everybody to weigh in. And I'm confident we can do this in a way where we don't disrupt the core services that we provide to the vulnerable, to the people who are not able-bodied, to the people that find themselves in a situation where they need nursing home care and they don't have any money.

We will figure this out. It's a process. It's unfolding. And I'm as excited as anybody to get through this, because for me, the federal deficit is my number one issue. And I think the more we're talking about it, America is winning, because we're paying attention to it. Democrats are paying attention to it. Republicans are paying attention to it. This is actually very positive, but we need to let the process work.

SANCHEZ: Is it your view that there is enough fraud and waste out there in these entitlement programs that eliminating the vast majority of it would lead to a balanced budget?

FLOOD: Well, I think what we've seen already, in terms of the USAID debacle and some of the other, you know, things that have been uncovered, there's a room for a lot of improvement in our federal budget and our payment system. Everybody's got to be watching the dollars. I absolutely do think there's room for improvement.

And I also think that when we are able to put together a reconciliation package with the pay-fors and the extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, that is a significant step in the right direction. To your point, we're not going to solve the federal deficit this year. This is a long-term play, but we are focusing on the right things. And with everybody paying attention, there's going to be disagreements over how to take the next step. At least we're dealing with an issue that is going to compromise your children, my children, my grandchildren, their children.

I mean, $36 trillion is an unspeakable tragedy for future generations of Americans if it's not dealt with.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, before you go, one of the rare moments of applause and, I guess, agreement last night at your town hall was when you expressed support for Ukraine. Our correspondent there, Danny Freeman, reported that you said to the crowd that Ukraine should not give up any land. From his statements, it sounds like President Trump has set the expectation that Ukraine will have to. The White House, though, has yet to articulate exactly what concessions they want to see from the Kremlin beyond just stopping shootings, stopping aggression.

I wonder what you think President Trump needs to press Vladimir Putin for, what you make of his statements about discussing land and potentially taking over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

FLOOD: Well, you know, President Trump's style in negotiating is not something that's easy to predict. It does ultimately get results. I just feel, you know, speaking on behalf of my constituents, my biggest fear is that if Vladimir Putin has some opportunity to claim - right now he has 20 percent of Ukraine under his control - what's to stop him from doing something in Poland? What's to stop him from going somewhere else?

I just think the guy's a thug. He's a murderer. He is an enemy of the United States. As far as I'm concerned, I'm supporting President Trump ending this war. I really don't want Russia to get any of Ukraine's land.

I tell you what, we missed an opportunity in 2014. We should have dealt with this when I believe President Obama was there, and we're dealing with the Crimean Peninsula. That was the first misstep in our foreign policy here.

[15:20:00]

He's going to want more and more and more. And I think we need to stand strong, and hopefully President Trump's able to effectively reach a compromise. Ultimately, it's going to be up to President Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine, not Mike Flood in Nebraska, as to whether or not they're going to enter into a deal. I certainly hope they don't have any more Russians than they need, because Russia's already taken 20,000 of their children, kidnapped them. I want those kids to come back to Ukraine, too. I haven't heard much discussion about that, though.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Mike Flood, we have to leave the conversation there. Appreciate you sharing your point of view, and good luck at that town hall in August.

FLOOD: Okay. Thank you very much. Have a good day.

SANCHEZ: You too.

Still to come, President Trump says he had a very good call with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. We're going to go live to Moscow with how this could impact a deal to end the war.

And another escalation in Gaza. Israel launching its first ground offensive since the end of the ceasefire, partially recapturing a key area.

And was it about the pints or the politics? Ben & Jerry says its CEO was forced out of the company because of the brand's progressivism. Details on that ahead, here on CNN News Central.

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[15:25:35]

KEILAR: The White House says ceasefire talks will resume in Saudi Arabia this Sunday after President Trump held calls with the leaders of Ukraine and Russia. The White House announcing this afternoon that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to a partial ceasefire on energy targets just 24 hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to do the same. CNN Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen joining us live now from Moscow.

Some different definitions, perhaps, on energy and infrastructure there, Fred, but where do these negotiations stand?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, first of all, I think that was a pretty big point of contention actually today here in Moscow as well. There was a call with Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin, where he was asked about that, about the U.S. saying in their readout that they were talking about energy and infrastructure installations and the Russians were talking about energy infrastructure installations. And he then said that unequivocally, the Kremlin says it only means energy infrastructure installations, so only things like power plants, oil and gas depots, for instance, as well. And he was then asked to clarify that. And at that point, he said, look, I speak for the President of Russia and that is Russia's position. So, that's where the Russians say that they want to be very clear about all this. There's other things, though, as well, where the Russians do say there are points that are important for them that the Ukrainians certainly have not signed on to and show no sign of signing on to.

One of them is that the Russians continue to demand that no more Western weapons be handed over to the Ukrainians. And there again, the spokesman for the Kremlin saying that that is something that the Russians absolutely raised on that call with President Trump when he was speaking with Vladimir Putin. So, it's going to be interesting to see how all of that unfolds.

At the same time, the Russians, Brianna, certainly believe that right now Vladimir Putin, and they are much in the driver's seat of all of this. They believe that time is on their side. Vladimir Putin speaking earlier today at an event here in Moscow said that he believes that right now Russian forces are on the cusp of ousting Ukrainian troops from that Kursk region, that little foothold that they still have on Russian territory. So, the Russians believe that they are moving forward. And so, therefore, they think time is on their side as far as this conflict is concerned. At the same time, of course, they are also looking forward to continuing these negotiations and possibly moving them forward as well, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much. Boris?

SANCHEZ: To the Middle East now and Gaza where officials say the death toll is rising after new Israeli airstrikes overnight. The IDF says it's now relaunched its ground offensive for the first time since the ceasefire ended. Moments ago, Hamas called today's ground incursion a, quote, new and dangerous breach of the deal that was in place. All of this as Israelis lash out by staging new anti-government protests. Anger building over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resumption of attacks. Let's go now live to Tel Aviv with CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

Jeremy, tell us about this latest offensive by the IDF.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, the Israeli military is describing this as targeted ground activities. And so far, this is the first time since the ceasefire has ended that Israel has actually sent ground troops deeper into Gaza to retake back territory that they previously held before this ceasefire went into effect. We are now talking about this Netzarim Corridor, which separates northern Gaza from the rest of the Gaza Strip. And it's been used strategically by the Israeli military in the past to control the movement of Palestinians from northern Gaza to the rest of the Strip and vice versa. And also to kind of encircle northern Gaza and try and route Hamas militants from there.

Today, the Israeli military announced that it had captured about half of that Netzarim Corridor, with indications very likely that they will move even further west to recapture that entire corridor. That could be a prelude to a broader Israeli military offensive in northern Gaza. We have heard, of course, the possibility of Israel sending 10s of thousands of troops back into combat inside of the Gaza Strip.

But what this could also be is certainly giving Israel another bargaining chip to use at the negotiating table as mediators are now furiously working to see if they can try and bring this ceasefire back to life to get Hamas to free additional hostages and Israel to agree to extend this ceasefire even further.

[15:30:02]

But in the meantime, before that actually happens, if it even happens, we know that the Israeli military is not only continuing to ramp up its ground activities in ...