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Senate Faces Midnight Deadline; Chaos Erupts at GOP Town Hall; Passengers Evacuate After Engine Catches Fire; Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) is Interviewed about The Ukraine War. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 14, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

DYLAN MULVANEY, TRANS INFLUENCER: Miss Piggy, the cast of "Sex in the City." Oh, my gosh, Frida Kahlo, Marsha P. Johnson. Like, I think it's - Joni Mitchell. Both sides now.

MULVANEY (singing): I've looked at life from both sides now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I was going to ask you to sing. I don't have to now. Thank you.

MULVANEY: Oh, there we go.

SIDNER: You did Joni.

MULVANEY: And it's - we got Joni. But I - that kind of feels like my life in a way. I feel like I've looked at it from both sides and - and this is the side that I'm supposed to be on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Decision day. Congress has until midnight to avoid a government shutdown. The top Democrat in the Senate and his surprise move to now say he'll vote yes on the Republican bill. This - he says a shutdown would be worse, but other Democrats do not agree.

Outrage in North Carolina. A Republican congressman holds a town hall and faces a lot of anger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a veteran. And you don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) about me. (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What else went down? The CNN reporter who was in the room will join us live.

And the impact of Donald Trump's trade war, and what a little bit of disruption, as he's called it, really feels like. Kentucky's bourbon industry on the line.

John is out today. I'm Kate Bolduan with Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: The clock is ticking on Capitol Hill this morning. We are just hours to go to avert a shutdown. Senate Democrats facing a pretty difficult decision. Do they grit their teeth and vote for a bill most of them do not support to keep the government open, or not? Their leader, Chuck Schumer, accusing President Trump and Elon Musk of wanting a shutdown. So, he says, he'll back the bill now. But some of his colleagues, still not convinced. Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, said yesterday he was a hell no on the bill. And here's what he told us just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): I am even more hell no. You don't stop a bully by handing over your lunch money, and you don't stop a tyrant by giving them more power. And that is exactly what this House Republican spending bill does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Senator Merkley making it very clear where he stands right now.

We're giving you a live look at the Capitol where we are joined by CNN's Arlette Saenz.

Arlette, will Schumer have the Democratic votes to push this forward, or are there enough Democrats who say, hell no, we're not voting for this?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the big question, Sara, heading into today is whether enough Democrats will get to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's side after he really issued that stunning reversal announcement just yesterday. He had initially said that all Senate Democrats were united in opposition to this government funding bill, only to reverse course and reveal that he himself will vote to avert a government shutdown when the Senate votes on that a bit later today.

The move has really left many Democrats up on Capitol Hill stunned. And it comes at a time when there are deep divisions and fissures within the Democratic Party about how to proceed in countering President Trump. Many Democrats felt that this was their best leverage point to try to counter much of Trump's agenda.

And you have this, you know, split playing out between the Senate and the House. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement last night that they still believe that this plan would wreak havoc on the country and they won't be complicit with it. But then you have Schumer saying that he feels that a shutdown would essentially embolden President Trump and make what he is doing to the federal government even worse.

Here is a bit of his explanation that he's offered up in interviews since yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): So, I knew I'd get criticized.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

SCHUMER: But I felt obligated for the country, for my Democratic caucus, to the people, to explain how bad a shutdown would be. And if we had it - if we went into a shutdown and everything bad happened, I had to give people this warning.

SAENZ: Now, we expect this vote to play out later this afternoon. Republicans will need eight Senate Democrats to get on board in order to clear a procedural hurdle to get to that government funding vote. So far there's only two publicly Senate Democrats who have said that they will support this. That is John Fetterman and Chuck Schumer. And Schumer, last night, told reporters that he does not - cannot guarantee that those Democratic votes will be there. So, a key test will come this afternoon as this is really coming down to the wire, once again, with that government shutdown deadline looming at midnight.

SIDNER: It keeps happening because Congress isn't doing anything that is a longer bill.

[09:05:02]

They just can't seem to get through it.

Arlette Saenz, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: With us right now is CNN anchor, chief political correspondent, general awesome person, Dana Bash.

SIDNER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. Sara cosigns.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks. Good - good night, everybody. I can just leave now.

BOLDUAN: Sara cosigns. Exactly. And -

BASH: I'm just going to leave now.

BOLDUAN: Dana, this is giving me horrible, wonderful flashbacks of all the time we spent together on The Hill covering shutdowns.

BASH: I know. I know.

BOLDUAN: This is really an interesting situation, though. Schumer backing this one and lays out very clearly one, two, three in his op- ed why he's doing it.

Jeff Merkley basically just told me that he doesn't believe what Schumer is saying in terms of, Schumer says a shutdown is going to give Donald Trump more power to cut faster. Merkley says he doesn't agree. He thinks this is the only way they gain more leverage. It just - I'm just, like, what does this look like in the coming hours?

BASH: Yes. Well, first of all, that was a really interesting and telling interview that you did with Senator Merkley.

I think what this all spells, if you kind of weave all of this together, is a frustration that we have been hearing, I've been hearing privately from Senate Democrats since the discussions began. And certainly this week as they have been heating up about what to do. And that is, the lack of clarity, the fact that the Senate Democrats met privately, not once, not twice, but three times in rooms trying to hash this out with no sense from their leadership until late yesterday of where they wanted to go.

And so what that does, Kate, is that leaves the base, which is the Democratic base, which is understandably frustrated, to say, like what's going on? And then the senators, because they don't have a clear strategy, they don't have a clear message. And so, what you're hearing and seeing is all of these Democrats kind of scrambling to try to figure out the best way to approach this, as opposed to the leader saying, until last night, which he is finally now saying, saying this is the way we're going to go. This is where we're marching. This is what we're going to say as we're marching.

So just for example, you heard Merkley say that this is going to give too much power to - to Donald Trump and to Elon Musk because you're just giving them a budget that is going to last until September. What we're not hearing is that, that's true, but these budget numbers, Kate, they're Biden's budget numbers. And this is something that the Republicans in the House voted for holding their nose because there are - there's some cuts, but not real cuts here.

So, there are some Democrats I talked to who say, why didn't we just declare victory from the beginning and say a shutdown is bad, just as Chuck Schumer is saying, and - but this is great news, the Republicans have come to us on our spending levels. Who would have thought? And it is the lack of clarity that is - is frustrating for the Senate Democrats. And that is really angering the base.

BOLDUAN: And what you're - what you're getting at is, when it comes to a shutdown, as we've seen time and time again, who - who gets the blame?

BASH: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Obviously, both sides say the other is to blame. Who gets the blame? You know, it's one of those, like, history will tell you. But in the most immediate, it will have a - it will - it has and can have an impact on midterm elections. And you have some very important elections coming up in the Senate for Senate Democrats.

And, I mean, Merkley definitely disagreed when I said, how can you - you know, basically how can you not be - face blame here? He does not think that they will. It's one of those, you're taking a chance. You know, that's the risk that you have to - you have to make a decision and you've got to take a chance that that's going to be the outcome that remains, I guess.

BASH: Right. I mean there are two factors. It's the political blame. And then there's the actual substance of what will happen if there is a shutdown. And that's the argument we're now hearing from Schumer, the argument being that the president and Elon Musk will use the fact that federal workers are either coming to work if they're essential without pay -

BOLDUAN: Right. What - what -

BASH: Or - right, or home -

BOLDUAN: What guarantees that this brings Republicans and Democrats back to the table to make a - make a deal after this? This is so different, this - where we are right now.

BASH: Right. Exactly. There's no guarantee that there will be any compromise that will be different today than in five days or five weeks, if it would last that long. But also, it is the more immediate reality that the executive branch is looking for any excuse that they possibly can find to get rid of federal workers. Well, if the federal workers aren't there, the idea is that it would be easier to do that.

Look, there are no clear answers. There are no clean answers. This is really, really difficult. All we know is that this is a week where there has been outrage at Donald Trump about trade, about cuts, and we're ending the week with the focus somehow being back on Democrats who aren't even in charge.

[09:10:07]

That is not a good political, winning situation for the minority right now.

BOLDUAN: You're framing, I think, is - needs to drive the day and will drive the day through the weekend, absolutely.

It's great to see you. Thank you.

BASH: I'll have my people call your people.

BOLDUAN: Yes, have those people call my people. You mean how we just - we're going to text when we go to commercial break? Perfect. Sounds good.

BASH: You mean that? Yes, exactly.

BOLDUAN: OK.

SIDNER: I was going to say, aren't we all each other's people at this point?

BOLDUAN: Exactly. People. People. Bringing my other people. Sara, what you got? SIDNER: I got more stuff for you. And I'm going to be joining Dana at

noon. So, this will be fun.

All right, this is what is happening in North Carolina. Angry voters cursing, shouting and demanding answers during Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards' fiery town hall in North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHUCK EDWARDS (R-NC): Actually, I believe that the president is very supportive of Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: People walking out, screaming, saying, we don't believe you, calling him a liar. Constituents were upset over President Trump's sweeping federal layoffs and cuts, the tariffs and his handling of Russia's war on Ukraine. And they wanted the congressman to tell them why this is all happening.

Joining us now is CNN national correspondent Isabel Rosales.

You were in the room for the fireworks. What did you hear and see?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was highly energetic, Sara, and very tense. It was a packed house. More than 300 people packed, crowded into this auditorium. Hundreds of others outside who couldn't get in because of the number - restrictions of how many could be in that auditorium. So loud at times there are chants that you could hear it from inside of the town hall.

For an hour and a half, Congressman Edwards had to endure insults, jeers and searing questions about DOGE, about the Trump administration's policies and what in particular hit a nerve were all of these cuts to federal jobs across the nation. That drew a lot of ire from the crowd.

I want you to listen now to a Vietnam veteran, a registered Republican from the 11th district. We caught up with him before the town hall. And then right after he left, not even halfway through, because he couldn't stand what he was hearing, he says, from Edwards.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS BOEHME, VETERAN AT GOP REP. EDWARDS' TOWN HALL: The Congress passes the laws and decides how our money is spent. Not - not some -

ROSALES: DOGE.

BOEHME: Billionaire clown from South Africa. So, you know, I want him to stand up. And -and it's not that hard. He volunteered. Nobody forced him to run for Congress. So, he took that same oath.

A town hall is for the congressman to hear what his constituents want. It's not to make a campaign speech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And Elon Musk came up a lot during that town hall. In fact, one of the moments for a standing ovation that generated a lot of hoots and laughter from the audience was a constituent-read question. And the question was, tell us five things, Congressman, that you've done this week. Obviously, a play on Musk's email to federal workers.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes. I mean, look, Republicans have been told not to have these town halls. So, he gets some credit for actually going and listening to his constituents. His constituents clearly have a lot to say that they want him to do differently.

Isabel Rosales, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also this morning, CNN has learned both the FAA and the NTSB will be investigating the scary moment that played out on the runway at Denver International Airport. A Dallas-bound American Airlines flight bursting into flames just after making an emergency landing there.

We're going to show you, this is the view from inside the terminal as other travelers watch the 172 passengers on board evacuate, some forced onto the wing of the 737.

CNN's Whitney Wild joins us now with much more on this.

And, Whitney, what's the latest you're hearing?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The National Transportation Safety Board, Kate, is now looking into this. There are so many questions, not only about how this incident happened, but how the evacuation unfolded. As you just showed, these passengers left the plane. They were on the left-side wing as the fire began to consume the right side engines. Some of the other passengers were able to exit this plane using the slide.

But what you see in this video, Kate, is that some of these passengers are containing luggage, which can slow down an evacuation. So, these are all of the questions that the NTSB is going to work through when they're looking at the totality of this incident.

As you said, this started around 5:15 Central Time when this plane left Colorado Springs.

[09:15:03]

It was supposed to go to Dallas. But about 20 minutes into the flight, the pilots were aware that there was an unusual vibration from the engine. They were concerned enough that they called air traffic control in Denver and said, we got to land. So, they land. But what the air traffic control radio shows, Kate, is

that they - there wasn't a lot of urgency. They were not concerned as they were making this approach to Denver that this was an emergency. That changed rapidly. They got on the ground. That's when the flames began to consume that right side engine.

Passengers, obviously, highly concerned. Here's what some of those passengers said about this incident.

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INGRID HIBBIT, PASSENGER ON DIVERTED AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT: As soon as the plane landed, it was a very abrupt landing, everyone started screaming and we heard "fire." I looked out the window. The window started - there was flames out - out of the window where I was looking out.

MICHELE WOODS, PASSENGER ON DIVERTED AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT: We landed and it was fine. Everything was fine. But then the minute we landed, it was like, smoke started filling the cabin and people started kind of screaming and pushing and jumping up and yelling. And there were people saying, don't push, don't push.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: Kate, it's just the latest in a string of incidents where your flight is going fine, and then all of a sudden there's an emergency. And so, you know, clearly just adding another layer to the many layers of concerns about flying right now, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Whitney, thanks so much for the latest update on that.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, he said he could solve this war in a day. Now, the polling as to what's happening in reality. Will President Trump's approach to ending Ukraine's war bring peace? New CNN poll out this morning says most American's don't think so.

And minutes away from the opening bell. And moments ago we're hearing President Trump's commerce secretary say it would be, quote, "fair" to put auto tariffs on cars from Japan, Korea and Germany.

And a second federal judge says thousands of federal employees who were fired in sweeping mass layoffs must now be reinstated. But for how long, and when? Those stories, ahead.

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[09:21:32]

SIDNER: All right, new details this morning on a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff. According to officials with the administration, the meeting went on for several hours in Moscow yesterday. The Kremlin says Putin sent additional signals to President Trump via Witkoff, and that there are grounds for cautious optimism.

Joining us now is Washington congressman and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith.

We will start with this. Trump very adamant that Putin wants peace. However, Putin is not signaling that he is going to agree to the ceasefire that is on the table right now, where Ukraine has made some concessions. So, what do you see happening? What do you want to see happening going forward? And who is holding the cards at this point? Because Putin hasn't been asked to concede anything at this point.

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Yes. Well, the first big point is the one that you made. And there's been some, I think, not accurate reporting on that. Putin said no to the ceasefire. This, well, he's open to it. No, he said no to the ceasefire that was offered. Zelenskyy said yes. You know, no, but - or, sorry, yes, but is not a yes, it's a no. So, let's be clear on that. Putin has said no to the ceasefire.

And then when you look at the conditions that he's sort of vaguely talked about, it really points to the central problem here. Look, the Trump administration approach to get to this peace agreement has been to try to force Ukraine off of their maximalist demands. They've been putting pressure on Zelenskyy in a thousand different ways to get him to back off of the idea of retaking all of Ukraine, you know, holding Putin accountable, you know, trying him for war crimes, all of that. And that's fine.

But what Trump hasn't done is what you just said. He hasn't put any pressure on Putin. In order for a peace deal to be achieved, you have to force Putin off of his maximalist demands. And what that means is, giving security guarantees to Zelenskyy when Trump has done the exact opposite. He's undercut it. He's pulled aid. Yes, he's turned some of it back on. But he's put all the pressure on Zelenskyy, and Putin's just waiting. There's no indication at this point that Putin supports a ceasefire.

SIDNER: I want to talk about the economy quickly here. We were just hearing from the commerce secretary saying, hey, it might be fair to put up tariffs on Germany and Japan, on their cars. President Trump promising heavier tariffs in this fight that he has started, the sort of tariff war, if you were, the trade war, if you will.

What do you see happening here? What is, in your mind, Donald Trump's end game with all this?

SMITH: Well, Trump's endgame at this point is just to try to coerce whatever other country he can. And that's a real problem. It's been devastating to our economy. Tariffs can be a really important tool in building up a strong economy. I believe in industrial policy. I've often said, and I say this as Adam Smith, there's no such thing as free trade. There's really not. Every country, they have tariffs, they have different blocks on it, different pieces of this. The question is, how do you tactically and strategically use those tools to help your economy?

Well, that's not what President Trump is doing. He's simply lashing out at every country he can in an effort to coerce them, in a way that is incoherent and, at the moment, is doing great damage to the economic welfare of the American people. If there's some plan in there, if there's some, here's the jobs were going to create, here's how we're going to protect the jobs of American people, I don't see it.

[09:25:04]

So, I don't think chaos, coercion, and alienating every country on the face of the earth is a path to economic prosperity for the American people.

SIDNER: But do you see the free trade agreement as a mistake, a mistaken policy?

SMITH: I'm sorry, which free trade agreement are we talking about?

SIDNER: The initial free trade agreement that is in NAFTA.

SMITH: No, I'm serious.

SIDNER: Yes.

SMITH: I mean - I mean, and I think that's it. I think in some American's minds, or, sorry, not in American's minds, but in the Trump administration's mind it's like, trade is bad by definition. So, let's lash out at it.

And, look, they're - I have voted for some trade agreements. I've voted - I voted against others. You know, not every agreement is good, but you have to have principles behind it. What industry are you trying to protect? What goods do you need to flow in so that you can grow the industry? You know, putting the massive tariffs that we've done on steel and aluminum, well, steel and aluminum go into manufacturing.

SIDNER: Right.

SMITH: So, we're actually probably harming manufacturing by doing those massive tariffs. We're harming the ability of U.S. companies to compete. I want to see some sort of intelligent economic plan. Trump, right now, is clearly expressing the anger of the American people. And justifiably so. That the economic deals that we have made over the course of the last 40 years haven't worked for way too many of the American people. I completely agree with that. The rich have gotten richer, and the working class has gotten screwed. No two ways about it.

SIDNER: Can I - can I ask you one last -

SMITH: But what is Trump's plan, other than being angry.

SIDNER: Yes.

SMITH: Sure. Sorry. SIDNER: Can I ask you one last question? And one last question is, Chuck Schumer has done a flip flop in 24 hours. Once he says, look, I'm not voting for the CR, this stopgap, to - to keep the government open. And now he says, no, I have to vote for this CR. And the messaging is all over the place with Democrats. When are Democrats - or is this a problem for Democrats not having a message that is cohesive?

SMITH: Yes, it's absolutely a problem. And look, the CR was - was always a lose-lose situation. There was no good decision. And I think we should have made that clear a lot earlier. And I watched the interview with Dana Bash a moment ago, and I think she did a good job of, on the one hand, but then again on the other. You know, it's - it's very difficult. I think we should have sent that clear message.

We have a lot of things that we can be strong on right now. Trump abandoning Ukraine in favor of Putin. The crazy tariff policy. The - the random firing and random shutting down of programs. I saw the coverage of the town hall in North Carolina. You know, everything right now is going in the wrong direction. Consumer confidence is going down. The stock market is going down. Jobless claims are going up. Inflation is going up. The price of eggs is going up. Measles are spreading. You know, the bird flu is spreading. So, we've got a lot of good arguments.

Instead, picking a fight in the one area - I mean, first of all, the American people don't even know what the hell a CR is. OK. So, how are you going to have a debate that's really going to be effective? And yet we're full - you know, we're going at each other over some very, very complicated issues instead of focusing on those things that I just laid out that I think are very positive issues on the Democratic side.

So, yes, we are divided. Now, part of that is, you know, there's a lot of people who are justifiably freaked out by what Trump is doing, and they want us to fight back and win today, right now. And that option is not on the table. There's no one message, there's no one tweet, there's no one argument that is suddenly going to stop Trump's attempted autocratic takeover of the country and destruction of our economy. We have to fight hard every day, but we have to understand two things, you got to be smart about it, not every idea that comes into your head is going to help that argument. And, two, it's not going to happen today. We've got to be in this for the long haul and fight it every single day. And wrapping ourselves around the axle on a debate over the CR, yes, just probably not the best choice.

SIDNER: I will leave it there. Congressman Adam Smith, it is a pleasure, and have a wonderful weekend. Really appreciate your time this morning.

All right, ahead, the Trump administration has taken its fight to end birthright citizenship, it is now headed all the way to the Supreme Court.

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