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Major Search For Univ. Of Pittsburgh Student In Dominican Republic; Senate Dems Introduces Bill To Force Trump To Rehire Fired Veterans; L.A. County D.A. Asks Court To Withdraw Resentencing Request For Menendez Brothers. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 10, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:30:32]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: An urgent search is underway by land, sea and air for a University of Pittsburgh student who has been missing for several days in the Dominican Republic.

20-year-old Sudiksha Konanki was on spring break. Police say she was last seen on surveillance camera last Thursday in Punta Cana with seven other people entering a beach around 4:00 in the morning.

Authorities have been questioning a young man who they say was with her right before she disappeared.

CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest for us.

Rafael, what more are you learning about this case?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Boris. Well, authorities have been interviewing the young man in his 20s who they believe was the last person to see the missing college student from the University of Pittsburgh.

She's identified by officials as 20-year-old Sudiksha Konanki. According to both her family and authorities, she arrived last Monday in Punta Cana, a beach town in the Dominican Republic, together with five other young women who are friends of hers.

What I was able to find out earlier today, through a law enforcement source in the Dominican Republic, is that the young man told police he and Konanki went into the ocean, where he claims the young woman was swept away by a wave.

But he also told police that he believed that she had followed him out of the ocean before he fell asleep on the beach, because he was feeling ill.

According to the law enforcement source, this is the timeline they've been able to put together. Konanki was last seen on surveillance camera with seven other people entering the beach at the Republica Hotel in Punta Cana on Thursday at 4:15 in the morning. Five young women and one young man who were with her left the beach

area at 5:55 a.m., but Konanki stayed behind with the young man, who was also part of the group.

That young man is seen on surveillance video leaving the beach area four hours later at 9:55 in the morning. Konanki was reported missing to the hotel staff at 4:00 in the afternoon that very same day.

Overnight, I also spoke on the phone with her father, who has traveled to the Dominican Republic. Subbarayudu Konanki described his daughter as a very nice girl and a very ambitious young woman who wanted to pursue a career in medicine.

She's a pre-med student at the University of Pittsburgh, where she's a junior. The family initially requested the assistance of Loudoun County authorities in Virginia, the state where they live.

This is what the local sheriff had to say about the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE CHAPMAN, SHERIFF, LOUDOUN COUNTY, VIRGINIA, SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: It's possible that she never went into the water. It's possible that there's something else that could have happened to her. So we can't just assume that that's the case. So we have to, you know, presume that, at this point, anything's possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And, Boris, the Dominican National Emergency System is coordinating search efforts on the island for Konanki.

According to a statement, officials are using four teams of drones equipped with advanced technology that have been deployed to conduct a thorough search in the coastal area of Bavaro.

Originally from India, Konanki is a permanent resident of the United States, as is her family. Her father told me they have been living in the country since 2006 -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Rafael, to be clear, that young man who is being questioned, is he also a tourist?

ROMO: He is a tourist. He was with the group initially and they were all hanging out together the night of the 5th and the morning of the 6th.

What police have told us is that they are all Americans, with the exception of Konanki, who was born in India but raised in the United States -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Rafael Romo, thank you so much for that update.

Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour.

A major rescue operation is underway at the site of a fiery collision involving a U.S.-flagged oil tanker and a Portuguese cargo ship off the northeastern coast of England.

A spokesperson telling CNN that all of the tankers crew members have been accounted for and brought to safety but could not confirm how many we're on board at the time of the collision.

The British Coast Guard says it has sent a helicopter and lifeboats from nearby towns, as well as vessels with firefighting capabilities, to respond to the incident.

And CVS is looking to grow itself by shrinking. The pharmacy chain plans to open around a dozen stores this year that are about half the size of its traditional layout and have only a pharmacy, ditching the front end of the store that traditionally has sold snacks, greeting cards and other consumer staples.

The smaller stores are one aspect of CVS's turnaround plans, which have also included more than 1,000 store closures and thousands of layoffs.

[13:35:06]

And a Vatican source telling CNN Pope Francis is showing a good response to treatment for the first time since his hospitalization about three weeks ago.

This comes after a statement from the Vatican press office on Saturday that described a, quote, "gradual, slight improvement since episodes of acute respiratory failure a week ago."

The Vatican source cautions that the risk of another breathing crisis does remain, and the prognosis is still reserved.

Democratic lawmakers saying they have a plan to force the Trump administration to rehire fired veterans affected by the mass federal layoffs. Next, we're going to talk to a veteran fired, not once, but twice under DOGE cuts.

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KEILAR: Senate Democrats are introducing legislation today that's aimed at forcing the Trump administration to rehire veterans who lost their jobs in the recent government layoffs. Veterans make up 30 percent of the federal workforce.

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The Trump administration has not provided information about how many veterans have been fired, but Democrats are estimating that number to be in the thousands.

This is happening as the secretary of Veterans Affairs acknowledges his agency is looking to eliminate 80,000 jobs. More than a quarter of those employees are veterans.

I'm joined now by Chris Wicker. He's a vet who was recently fired from his job at the Small Business Administration.

Chris, you are an Air Force veteran. You spent about a decade as a military intelligence analyst, and you were recently fired from your job at the Small Business Administration, not once, but twice. Is that right? Explain that.

CHRIS WICKER, AIR FORCE FIRED FROM GOVERNMENT JOB: Yes, Ma'am. So first of all, thank you very much for having me.

Back in early February, as business was going on as usual at the Small Business Administration, where, here in Minnesota, I was the deputy director of the Minnesota district office.

And one day, without any forewarning, and certainly without any coordination with my supervisor or leadership that I was aware of, I received a letter saying that I had two-weeks' notice and that I was being fired for performance reasons.

I knew very well that I was not having performance issues. I spoke to my supervisor. He had not conveyed any performance issues. But there it was, two weeks because of my probationary status.

Only two days later, I was in a management call with senior leadership at the agency and we we're all told, if you received this message, you are not being terminated. It was sent in error. And I very quickly afterwards received an email that said as much.

And 24 hours later, I once again received another email, the same as the one before from an automated robot saying please see the attachment. And here again, it was a signed letter telling me I was being terminated for my performance. Only this time, it was effective immediately.

KEILAR: And this one was real?

WICKER: This one was absolutely real. And I would even offer that the first one was real as well. It maybe was sent out in a draft form, but it certainly conveyed the intention.

But the second one that I received was signed on agency letterhead. I asked my supervisor, the district director here in Minnesota, and he confirmed it was true.

KEILAR: So what do you make of these firings that you're seeing of veterans, who make up a big part of the workforce? But just the federal workforce in general, as it's also being, you know, vilified for just being, you know, this sort of bloated workforce of bureaucrats?

WICKER: This has been a lot of chaos. Veterans have made promises twice. They have made a promise to join the military in uniform to serve their country. And then after fulfilling that service, they've made a second

commitment to their country, making the very same oath in front of the very same flag that as part of the federal workforce, as long as they do their job well, the government will return the favor with job security.

And both times we have betrayed those veterans. And then, to make matters worse, on the back end, we're gutting the very agency that's supposed to take care of them after this very unexpected disruption to their lives.

Whether they're seeking unemployment assistance, whether they're seeking assistance for mental challenges that they're having, resulting possibly from post-traumatic stress, to even simple services such as working with the Small Business Administration through the V.A. to start a small business.

And so for our veterans, this has been promise after promise, followed by a lot of betrayals and broken promises.

KEILAR: And we've seen, Chris, this administration after administration, including Trump in in his first term, make it a priority to hire veterans, right?

What do you -- how do you sort of square that with what you're seeing, the firing of veterans and what is actually quite popular with some Americans, this idea of reducing the federal workforce?

That is something that does have a lot of traction. How do you square these things? How do you explain that to someone who says, you know, I do think government should be smaller?

WICKER: You know, this isn't really a conversation about small government or big government or red government or blue government. This is about good government.

And the government makes a promise to its veterans that in return for their service, they will receive preferential consideration in the hiring process. They also promise veterans that in what's called a reduction in force, they will also receive some special considerations in the drawdown process.

But when you fire a probationary worker, which is what's happened here in the thousands, none of that special consideration is happening.

And so here again, we're talking about a betrayal where we've said we'll take care of you. But apparently, that only means on the front end because there was no consideration, using my case as an example, on the back end.

[13:45:08]

And so we're seeing a constant discussion about what's best for our veterans and who cares more for our veterans and vote this way because they'll care for our veterans or vote that way. But at the end of the day, what we're seeing right now is chaos

resulting in exactly the same kind of unintended casualties that one would expect when you don't do the proper coordination and when you don't follow the process.

KEILAR: Chris, where do you go from here? Where do veterans who've been fired go from here?

WICKER: I would assume that a lot of veterans are doing exactly what I'm doing this week. I'm doing the dishes to make up for the fact that I'm sitting around this house without contributing. Now I'm scrambling on LinkedIn.

But I'm in a very unique position where I have a little bit of time and a little bit of flexibility, before my wife completely loses her patience with me.

That I can take the opportunity to speak out for federal workers who are still employed and being demonized, to speak out for veterans who are federal workers, still being demonized, and to speak out for those who have been lawfully -- unlawfully terminated.

And so I'm going to take this opportunity so that my colleagues in the government can get back to taking care of their families and get back to looking for good work. And I'm going to sit here and stick up for people because it's what needs to be done.

KEILAR: Yes. Well, I'm glad to hear you have a little flexibility. We've heard of many cases where you're talking about the sole earner in these cases for some of these veterans who have been let go.

Chris, thanks for talking to us. Thank you so much for your service. We really appreciate it.

WICKER: Thank you, Ma'am.

KEILAR: Chris Wicker.

And next, a major update in the Menendez brothers case as the pair is fighting for a resentencing.

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KEILAR: This just in. The L.A. County D.A., Nathan Hochman, has asked the court to withdraw the previous district attorney's request to resentence Lyle and Erik Menendez.

The brothers have been serving a life sentence without parole for the 1989 fatal shootings of their parents inside their Beverly Hills mansion.

SANCHEZ: Well, the brothers claim that they were physically and sexually abused by their father, and they've asked for a new trial, clemency or resentencing. Defense Attorney Misty Marris joins us now live to discuss.

Misty, this is a bit confusing because the brothers are seeking freedom through different avenues. And while one appears to have been closed off, there is this other avenue, this resentencing hearing that appears to be moving forward.

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, Boris, it is confusing because there are several different pathways the Menendez brothers are pursuing.

One is what's called a Habeas Corpus Petition based on new evidence that's been discovered after the trial that is still pending. Although the district attorney said he doesn't believe that that holds merit, it will be for a judge to decide. That still exists.

Then we have this pathway where the Menendez brothers are seeking resentencing under a California penal code, under the California law. That's what Nathan Hochman was speaking about today.

Now, the district attorney's recommendation, there should be no resentencing of the Menendez brothers at this time, but it can go to the sentencing hearing. But the recommendation is vastly different from what prior District Attorney Gascon had said.

Then you have a third pathway, which is clemency or pardon by the governor. So those competing pathways here.

Right now, this presser was focused on the resentencing, although I must say I watched a press conference, but I feel like I saw a closing argument in court for why the Menendez brothers should not be resentenced.

KEILAR: Well, talk a little bit more about that, because I think, if anything, the case of these brothers has been so impacted over the years by political considerations.

And just how you have district attorney's thinking about how hard or soft they need to be on crime at any given moment as they (TECHNICAL ISSUES.

MARRIS: Yes. So the prior district attorney, Gascon, had made a recommendation that resentencing was appropriate. That's the motion that's on the books with the court right now.

So what we saw was Hochman, who had said he wants to do a complete and full investigation and look into everything, back into the record, before making his office's recommendation.

Well, he said, you have to withdraw that prior motion made by Gascon's office and take a look at our submission, Judge, because a judge will ultimately decide as opposed to a three-page statement of facts that Gascon had, we have 60 pages.

Think about the difference between the arguments that are going to be set forth before the court when you have that dichotomy of what the district attorney intends to present.

So ultimately, while it will be up to a judge, certainly here, Hochman has set forth a more thorough analysis of the why the district attorneys recommendation is what it is.

SANCHEZ: Does it seem most likely, Misty, that this is going to wind up being determined by California's governor, Gavin Newsom, and whether he decides to grant clemency?

MARRIS: So that is another factor, because it's a totally separate process that doesn't involve the district attorney.

But if the governor goes to the Parole Board, and the Parole Board makes a determination about whether or not someone should be eligible, they list out all of the factors, they do this analysis, and the governor takes it into consideration.

[13:55:06]

But something I found very, very interesting in this press conference is that Hochman, when laying out his position on this and the office's position, went back and used a prior decision made by Gavin Newsom.

In the Sirhan Sirhan -- that's the person who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy -- where the Parole Board actually said he should be eligible. And Governor Newsom said, no, he should not.

And Hochman actually mirrored that framework that Gavin Newsom had set up when making that decision and did his analysis based on that.

So I think, Boris, there is some acknowledgment by Hochman that he knows this other path exists, and he's actually kind of setting forth the arguments that would be against that.

However, Gavin Newsom can act independently as the governor in conjunction with the Parole Board. So it's certainly is another path.

SANCHEZ: Really a fascinating legal study for a case that is so divisive and so controversial.

Misty Marris, thank you so much for breaking that down for us.

MARRIS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Here's a quick look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Ouch. We're following the Wall Street jitters over these trade wars and recession fears.

The Dow currently down nearly 800 points. It's been about a week, week and a half of days like this. Stay with CNN. We'll discuss in just a few minutes.

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