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Trump to Speak with Putin About Potential Ceasefire in Ukraine; Israel Strikes Gaza, Shattering Fragile Ceasefire with Hamas; Judge Demands Answers by Noon from Trump Administration on Migrant Flights; Parents of Missing Student Ask Dominican Government to Declare Her Dead. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 18, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And after 280 days, they finally figured out a way to get two U.S. astronauts home. An update on the long overdue returns.

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening this morning, a high-stakes call between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. With the war still raging in Ukraine after three years, Putin is under growing pressure to accept the 30-day ceasefire proposed by the U.S., but so far he has rejected what Ukraine has already agreed to outright.

Trump has taken to social media to kick things off, saying, quote, many elements of a final agreement have been agreed to, but much remains. Thousands of young soldiers and others are being killed. It must end now. I look very much forward to the call with President Putin.

The Kremlin saying the call will happen this morning between 9:00 and 11:00 Eastern. CNN's chief national security correspondent, Alex Marquardt, joining us now from Washington. All right, what are you expecting out of this call? Having been in Jeddah to see sort of those negotiations and now this negotiation?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, I think that was a very reasonable post by President Trump. Things do appear to be moving quickly, but he's learning that this deal can't be solved in just 24 hours.

We did have that agreement by the Ukrainians last week to an immediate ceasefire. The Russians, of course, have not agreed. Now we have this phone call between the two presidents, which usually happens farther along in the conversation.

The Trump administration has approached it has approached this essentially in two steps. First, get the guns to fall silent, get the fighting to stop, and then we can talk about a peace agreement and everything that will go into that. But President Trump is already talking about those final elements. He's talking about dividing up assets and the concessions that both Russia and Ukraine will have to make.

So he's looking farther down the line. Here's a little bit of what he said on Sunday about this potential deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What sort of concessions will you be seeking to have Putin make to get a deal done?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think we'll be talking about land. It's a lot of land. It's a lot different than it was before the wars, you know, and we'll be talking about land. We'll be talking about power plants. That's a big question. But I think we have a lot of it already discussed very much by both sides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Sara, that reference to power plants is believed to be the Zaporizhian nuclear power plant, the biggest nuclear plant in Europe currently under Russian occupation. But of course, very big questions about what land Ukraine could get back from Russia, which has occupied around 20 percent of that country. So we will see what actually develops on this call.

I think President Trump is going to be listening to a long list of grievances, complaints, conditions, reservations from President Putin. And the big question is whether President Trump then says, listen, Vlad, you have to agree to this ceasefire now. Otherwise, I'm going to put a lot more sanctions on you and start to flood Ukraine again with weapons and make your life a lot more difficult.

But I think it is a big question whether Trump would take that tough a line with President Putin -- Sara.

SIDNER: You think he says things like, listen, Vlad, I am very intrigued by your commentary there, Alex Marquardt. I really appreciate it this morning -- John.

BERMAN: All right. With us now, CNN contributor, adjunct professor at Georgetown University, our former Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty. Jill, great to see you.

You know, we just heard Alex report. We heard the sound from President Trump say we'll be talking about land. Do you think there's any expectation that Vladimir Putin would be willing to give Ukraine land back that Russia has seized?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, I can't see any way that that would happen whatsoever. In fact, I mean, if you look at what's happening in Kursk, which is that part of Russia that the Ukrainians invaded and held for quite a while, the Ukrainians are being pushed back. And that is one of the objectives of President Putin to push them out of Russia and deprive the Ukrainians of some type of bargaining chip.

So, I mean, overall, I think what Putin will probably do and who knows, but I would say he will try to give an indication that he's on board. He wants peace. The details have to be ironed out in the future.

In fact, if you look at the comments by his press secretary this morning, it's kind of he said, this is, you know, one of the conversations in a chain of actions to establish a dialogue. In other words, drawing it out. I think that that is what Putin will do. Try to give an indication that he wants to have peace. But eventually, eventually.

[08:05:03]

BERMAN: How very Russian. So much like a conversation in a Russian novel, Jill, in so many ways. Is there an expectation you think that Vladimir Putin would ask for more land than he currently has? There's a lot of people speculating today, maybe Putin wants Odesa.

DOUGHERTY: Well, yes, that's a possibility. But I think one thing that he could want is official recognition by the United States that Crimea, and the four regions that Russia holds these oblasts that they hold in Ukraine are officially part of Russia. In other words, legal recognition of that, that would be really major.

There would be a lot of Europeans and others who would be quite concerned about that. Because, you know, you could -- the United States could simply finesse that in some way. But to come out and say these are officially part of Russia, that would be a very big win for Vladimir Putin. And that is exactly what he wants.

BERMAN: That would be a major concession. In fact, Jill, it's an interesting intellectual exercise to think back to Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump at the White House a few weeks ago. And what Zelenskyy said that so upset J.D. Vance and Donald Trump. And one wonders whether there's anything that Vladimir Putin could say on this phone call that would ignite ire by President Trump or the administration. Is there?

DOUGHERTY: Oh, I can't imagine that either, because, you know, Vladimir Putin is actually a very experienced official. And he's been in power for a quarter century. He's dealt with numerous presidents and international leaders.

And he is a former KGB agent. And we know that one of his skills is to be able to draw out the other person, give the other person the indication that he's, you know, on understanding and kind of on their side. So he will use all of these skills in this negotiation or this conversation, I should say, with President Trump.

So I don't think at all that there would be any blow up. In fact, I would expect the reverse. I think that Putin will probably flatter, you know, placate, give an impression that he wants to move forward with this ceasefire, but give actually, you know, specifically very little.

BERMAN: Yes, and again, if there is no ceasefire soon, Russia is gaining ground, correct? DOUGHERTY: Yes, that would be true. But, you know, you can have a ceasefire, but the question is, what kind of ceasefire? I mean, that's, you know, are there security guarantees that this won't happen again?

And, John, I think it's really important to point out here, you've got Putin playing two games. Number one is the issue of getting some type of ceasefire in Ukraine. But maybe the bigger thing for him is reestablishing that relationship with the United States, with President Trump, that he really wants that.

So he is going to do everything that he can to get back in the game. You know, relations are back, economic relations are back, diplomats are back. And two, let's say, you know, great powers are ready to divide up the world.

I actually think that's precisely the way he looks at it, and it may be the way President Trump looks at it.

BERMAN: Look, that's such important insight, Jill, already giving us sort of a decoder ring to analyze the conversation that could begin within the next hour. Great to see you this morning, Jill. Thank you very much -- Sara

SIDNER: Jill is just the best at this.

All right, breaking news this morning. Out of Gaza, the ceasefire has been broken and the war has resumed. Overnight, Israel launched deadly strikes in Gaza. The country's foreign minister says the strikes are a response to Hamas rejecting two mediation proposals presented by the United States. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OREN MARMORSTEIN, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL: Concrete proposals made by the American special envoy to extend the ceasefire. Hamas said no. So with no other choice, Israel is forced to carry out this activity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now, in the aftermath of the strikes, horrific scenes out of Gaza. Palestinian health ministry run by Hamas says more than 400 people have been killed, most of them children.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv. Jeremy, what does -- I mean, what does this mean for a ceasefire? Obviously, we're seeing what it means to the Palestinians in Gaza. It means death and destruction.

But also for the hostages who are still there and the families wondering if they're ever going to be free.

[08:10:00]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, without a doubt, Sara. For the time being, this ceasefire is dead and gone. Israel is not only returning to war in Gaza but ramping up military operations with plans for a, quote, massive offensive in Gaza.

What we have seen overnight was a massive aerial bombardment that killed over 400 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. One of the highest single-day death tolls that we have seen in Gaza in months now. More than 500 other people were wounded. And as we see all too often in Gaza, so many of the victims that we are seeing, both the injured and the dead, are children. And we have seen a number of children, including the bodies of several babies in the images that we saw coming out of Gaza.

The Israeli government said that it returned to the fight in Gaza because of Hamas' refusal to agree to new conditions to extend this ceasefire and release additional hostages. Hamas, for its part, has accused Israel of unilaterally deciding to do away with this ceasefire, and says that it was willing to continue engaging in negotiations to reach phase two of this agreement, which would mean an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops.

But this Israeli government has made clear that it was not interested in engaging in those longer-term negotiations about an end of the war and was instead seeking to release a smaller number of hostages in exchange for an extension of this ceasefire.

And that is prompting concern not only from people in Gaza, but also from the families of the hostages. We saw a statement from the hostages and missing families headquarters saying that the Israeli government has chosen to, quote, give up on the hostages. They say that they are shocked, angry and terrified by the dismantling of the process to return their loved ones.

We are expecting that there will be protests in Israel tonight that were already planned following the firing of Israel's domestic intelligence chief. We will see as you know whether those protests now evolve to take into account what has now happened, and the concern of the families of so many of these hostages that a return to war in Gaza means that their loved ones will be in grave danger.

One Israeli official, though, telling me that Israel will engage in a sliding escalatory scale of military action, which they say is designed to pressure Hamas to agree to new conditions and release more hostages -- Sara.

SIDNER: The pictures coming out of Gaza are absolutely devastating. And I know, as you said, those families waiting for hostages are also duly devastated. Thank you so much, Jeremy Diamond, for your great reporting there on Tel Aviv -- John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking just a short time ago. The family of the American student who went missing while on spring break now wants her declared dead.

And we are standing by as we approach the deadline set by a federal judge demanding the White House give details about the deportation of hundreds of alleged gang members and whether they flat out ignored the judge's order. And new this morning, they were fired, then rehired, and now these

federal workers are getting paid not to work. New developments in the purge of government agencies.

[08:15:00]

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SIDNER: This morning, a rapidly escalating fight between the Trump administration and the judiciary. The federal judge in Washington demanding the Justice Department provide details by noon today after the U.S. deported hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members under an 18th century wartime powers act. The judge wants to know what happened with deportation flights. The government allowed to continue Saturday night after the judge ordered them to turn those flights around. The White House, not backing down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The administration may continue doing these flights.

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Absolutely. These are foreign terrorists that the president has identified them and designated them as such, and we will continue to follow the Alien Enemies Act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right, joining us now is former federal prosecutor and defense attorney Shan Wu. You heard there what the administration is saying.

If the Trump administration defies the judge's orders, ultimately, are we in a constitutional crisis?

SHAN WU, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, that term, I think it's a little bit ambiguous, actually. I think as long as we're still in a process, there's not a really teed up direct defiance yet. So next step, court might hold the administration, might hold specific actors in contempt of court.

And then the question is, will that sanction be honored? Will directives be honored?

So right now, the Trump administration is really trying to muddy the waters. Maybe they don't know what the actual answers are. They don't want to give the answers. But we're not quite teed up to the actual defiance of the specific order yet.

SIDNER: So when you talk about who would they hold in contempt, would it be the DOJ attorneys that are in court? Is that sort of how this would work?

WU: That's one possibility. If the attorneys continue to not get the answers that Judge Boasberg has asked for, it's also possible individual people, for example, who gave the order, if we find out who gave the order, to say, keep flying, even though they were aware of the judge's order to turn the planes around or not for another one to take off.

As well as just generally, you know, the leads could be held in contempt.

[08:20:00]

The administration could be held in contempt, DOJ, DHS, et cetera.

SIDNER: All right, Tom Homan, Trump's immigration czar, as he's watching all this play out with the courts and the response from his boss, says, and I'm quoting here, we are not stopping. I don't care what judges think.

Your response? I mean, how is this law and order?

WU: Well, that's a good candidate for being held in contempt. If he goes into open court, repeats that statement, or is questioned about that. And again, right now, it's still not clear exactly who or how the judge's order was defied.

Their general statements, you know, don't really cut the mustard. They have to present it to the court. It's obviously not up to Homan or anyone else to decide, well, we don't agree with the judge's order, so we're not doing it.

That is going to hold them in contempt, but they need to give the judge the answers first. And that's actually going to be the first place they get into trouble if they continue to refuse to answer the questions.

SIDNER: What do you make of the government's argument? I mean, there is a legal way that has been used before to deport people from this country, correct?

WU: Correct. I mean, there are also ways we can deport people, including invoking the Alien Enemies Act. So you can invoke whatever act you want to invoke, but you have to show that it actually applies and that you're using it correctly.

And again, there is no judicial review at the moment. They're just talking out of both sides of their mouth about it. I mean, it's theoretically possible there might be a judicially upheld use of the Alien Enemies Act.

There could be other reasons to deport people. Maybe they are terrorists. Of course, we have no idea who actually got put on the planes either. That's another question the government's not answering.

Are they actually members of a gang? We don't know. Are they non- citizens, which is the only people that can be deported under the Alien Enemies Act? We don't know any of that. And that's what Boasberg, the judge, is trying to get to the bottom of right now.

SIDNER: The judge trying to get to the bottom of the details and all of the details on everything you just spoke about before anything can go forward. We will see what happens in court. Shan Wu, it is always a pleasure. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

All right, breaking overnight. The parents of the American student who went missing while on spring break, they are now doing the hardest thing and asking investigators to declare that she is dead as new video has emerged of her at a bar hours before she vanished.

And this morning, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are on their way home finally. Let's talk about this in just a bit. After they were in space for nine months, that was supposed to be just a few days.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, the parents of the missing college student, Sudiksha Konanki, have requested for local authorities to officially declare her dead, telling the Dominican Republican investigators believe their daughter drowned and that, quote, no evidence of foul play has been found.

Now, the last person known to have seen Sudiksha is fighting for his freedom. Authorities confiscated Joshua Riibe's passport and he's remained under police surveillance, despite they say that he's not considered a suspect.

John Miller is with us now. Great to see you. The fact that the family, and this happened just a couple hours ago, has asked for her to be officially declared dead, what does that tell you?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, I mean, for one thing, it just moves towards a legal closure. But for another reason, it leads towards the opening of different possibilities. For instance, if they were to bring a wrongful death suit against the hotel, against Joshua Riibe, to begin that process, to start getting that discovery, you have to have some ruling that the person is actually dead.

BERMAN: So this is an important legal step for them, potentially. Look, we've reported that Riibe is not a suspect, yet the authorities are holding his passport. Why? What does that mean?

MILLER: Well, that happened early on, which is after they used that passport for identification purposes, they kept it. That gave them the advantage or disadvantage, from his standpoint, to be able to say he's not a suspect, he's not in custody, he's not charged with a crime, but it also took away his ability to leave. So he was scheduled to fly out on the 8th, he is still there now.

And his family is filing papers in court this morning, a habeas corpus, basically to say he is de facto in custody, they want the return of his passport, and they want him to be able to leave. He is down there now with his Dominican attorneys and his father.

BERMAN: He's been questioned by all kinds of people there. What did they learn from him?

MILLER: So he's been questioned by detectives, he's been questioned by the attorney general himself, he's been questioned by two investigators from the Loudoun County, Virginia Sheriff's Office, who Mike Chapman, the sheriff, sent down there basically to kind of, let's get our own version without going through translators and maybe missing something in the seams.

And what they found is his story is consistent. He tells the same story essentially, with differences generated mostly by what new questions may be introduced or asked a different way.

BERMAN: And look, some of the things in his account, consistent as they may be, have raised questions. What are those?

MILLER: It's the questions he didn't answer, and there's a couple of logic gaps that they've been probing. One, when he was questioned the fourth time, they said, well, how do you feel about this? I can't answer that on the advice of my attorney.

What about the statement you made to your friend when you got back to the room about the girl? I can't answer that based on the advice of my attorney. Questions like that where the answers should have been simple or obvious.

What I suspect is, his attorney said, tell the story of what you know from when you were there and what you did or said, and nothing that requires you to react to somebody else's opinions or anything that causes you to speculate.

BERMAN: All right. When do you think he might get out?

MILLER: Well, that depends what the ruling is going to be from that court. The other option is they could go to the U.S. Embassy and say, we want a new passport, and then challenge authorities' ability to have him leave, because he is in a conundrum, which is he's not able to leave the country, and yet he's not charged with a crime or being held in custody.

BERMAN: All right. John Miller, obviously waiting for new developments from the D.R. Appreciate your reporting on this. Thanks.

All right, fired government workers who've been temporarily reinstated are now being paid not to work.

And the long national nightmare is over. At this very moment, they are playing baseball games or a baseball game that counts.

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