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GOP Congress Members Face Angry Constituents Across the Country; NASA Astronauts Return to Earth after 9 Plus Months in Space; President Trump Hails Great Call with Putin; ICE Detains Undocumented Mother and Immigration Activist. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 19, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Heckling, booing, and angry demands. Congressman Mike Flood, the latest Republican member of Congress, to face anger from voters back home. Anger over DOGE, Ukraine, and tariffs that all went down in a rural red district of his.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE FLOOD (R-NE): There's a lot of people in this room that don't support what DOGE is doing. But for the first time, we are making some progress.

How can you be against a balanced budget?

(CROWD YELLING)

FLOOD: How can you be against a balanced budget?

CROWD: Tax the rich!

FLOOD: All right.

CROWD: Tax the rich!

FLOOD: All right.

CROWD: Tax the rich! Tax the rich! Tax the rich! Tax the rich!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: You're hearing them say tax the rich, him arguing with his constituents. Voters also sharing their frustrations over the Trump administration's lack of support for Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.N. ambassador for U.S. last month voted with Russia, North Korea, and other dictator countries that Russia didn't invade Ukraine and did nothing wrong. This is where we're at. When are you going to stand up?

And we're also on the Human Rights Watch list. When are you going to stand up?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Flood ended up pushing back on the crowd at one point. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLOOD: What message are you sending to these Columbus high school students?

CROWD: This is what democracy looks like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: This is what democracy looks like is what you hear them saying. Some people did give Flood credit for actually showing up in person to listen to their concerns as some Republicans have canceled town halls. And he said he would continue to show up.

And it wasn't just Flood facing angry voters last night. A Democrat congressman, Glenn Ivey, hearing from frustrated constituents that his party isn't doing enough to push back against President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not interested in hearing that you are in the minority. We know that. We want you to show some of the backbone and strategic brilliance that Mitch McConnell would have in the minority.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want you to show fight. And you are not fighting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Interestingly, Democrats and Republican constituents aligning with their message and more town halls are scheduled today. We will continue to monitor them for you.

All right, over to you -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, CNN political analyst Jackie Kucinich and Mark Preston. You two friends of mine, you're much too young to remember the Tea Party situation in the town halls then. And when people flopped to yell at their members of Congress back in 2010.

Mark, the question is, when does this anger that we're seeing pretty consistently here turn into more than just an airing of grievances and into a political movement?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I mean, a political movement it's starting right now, but it's not being driven necessarily by the leaders of the Democratic Party. It's being driven by the grassroots, you know, at the bottom. And it's really just starting.

Look, I've been saying this for weeks, for months now. Donald Trump will have this year to get through what he wants to get through. He's not on the ballot again.

The folks who are going to have to face the consequences are the likes of the Republican Congressman Flood who was back home yesterday and all these other Republicans that will have to go back home in August.

Really, the focus should be around July 4th. We're going to start to see this really bubble up. And then by August, you're going to see a lot of these DOGE cuts are going to take place. And by the way, they're not all just happening here in Washington, D.C. They're all spread out across the country. So that's why you're going to see these town halls turn very volatile.

BERMAN: You know, Jackie, Mark used the word grassroots there, which, again, was a word that we heard back in 2010. And then then it was the Democrats responding. Now it's the Republicans responding. It's not grassroots. They use the word astroturf.

[07:35:00]

These are fake protests. These are organized leftists going in to flock these Republican town halls.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So I think time will tell. Right. Republicans were able to harness the Tea Party movement and able to use it to add to their numbers, whether Democrats will be able to harness this voter anger going into 2026. That remains to be seen. We'll have an early test in terms of the Virginia gubernatorial election, which is at the end of this year.

But really, it had -- this movement has a long time to build until we get to actual -- the actual midterm elections. The other thing will be interesting to see how many primary challenges we see on the Democratic side, because as you saw in Glenn Ivey's town hall, the ire isn't just directed toward Republican this time, Democratic voters are also ticked off.

BERMAN: Yes, again, since you both use the word grassroots there, let me play a little bit of sound from Bernie Sanders last night, which I believe was right here on CNN, when he is talking about the Democratic grassroots or the lack thereof. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): No one is in the caucus more critical of Schumer than I am, but it's not Schumer. It's the caucus. It's not the caucus. It's the Democratic Party. In the Democratic Party, you've got a party that is heavily dominated by the billionaire class, run by consultants who are way out of touch with reality. It has the Democratic Party has virtually no grassroots support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We'll get to Schumer in a second, Jackie, but that last part from Bernie Sanders, that's some tough love there, saying the Democratic Party has no grassroots support.

KUCINICH: This is very but this is also classic Bernie Sanders because he's someone who has been able to harness new parts of the Democratic grassroots. And as you as you saw there, though, it is it is operative when you're talking about whether Schumer will be able to stay in control of the Senate Democrats. He didn't go as far to criticize Schumer in terms of, you know, saying that he was the wrong leader right now.

He said it's not about Schumer. It's about the Democratic Party writ large. And frankly, you're hearing that from Democrats of all stripes right now, not just progressives, but also middle of the road Democrats. They don't like where the party's going.

BERMAN: Mark Preston, Alexandra Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi's daughter, once on television told me, you know, Nancy Pelosi can stab you and you won't even know what happened. I think Chuck Schumer might know it happened this morning. Listen to what Nancy Pelosi said during an event last night when she was reflecting on what happened last week with Chuck Schumer not using the power of a shutdown.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I myself don't give away anything for nothing. And I think that's what happened the other day. We could have, in my view, perhaps gotten them to agree to a third way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I don't give away anything for nothing. That's what happened last week, Mark, she says.

PRESTON: Look, I in my short career here in Washington, D.C., I would say that Nancy Pelosi, along with Mitch McConnell, is probably the smartest politician I've ever encountered. And certainly somebody that, you know, plays by the rules when the rules work for her, but is willing to to fight hard. The reality is with Chuck Schumer, though, what did he have to give if he had shut the government down?

I mean, this is what the Democratic Party is talking about. If they shut the government down, then Elon Musk would have used that as a way to cut more jobs. So like he was in a no win situation.

The problem with Democrats, they don't know how to message right now. You know, they're not unified. And the fact is, is Jackie saying they need to figure out like where their party's going, if there's going to be primary challenges.

And the last thing to note, Democrats are really reeling from having, you know, leaders that stayed for too long in their positions. And that's why we don't see this really long Democratic bench right now.

BERMAN: Jackie, I want to ask one last question on this battle with the judges that's happening within the White House. A battle the White House thinks is, you know, an 80-20 issue, as our friend Scott Jennings likes to say. If they're fighting on immigration, they think they're winning no matter what.

There's a little bit of a backlash among conservative opinion leaders right now. Traditional conservative opinion leaders, including Rupert Murdoch owned groups here.

The New York Post writing, sorry, Elon, even deporting illegal gangbangers must heed the rule of law -- from the New York Post editorial board.

The Wall Street Journal, he campaigned on deporting gang members, but he can't defy court orders. And then again, in the Wall Street Journal, Chief Justice John Roberts speaks up for the judiciary. Trump, don't heed the dangerous urge to attack the rule of law.

A little bit of a guardrail there from, again, people who are traditional supporters of Donald Trump.

[07:40:00]

KUCINICH: But I think that last one, the words John Roberts were the operative ones there. And I think that's who Trump is listening to his impulse to or his decision to weigh in to the operative ones there. And I think that's who Trump is listening to his impulse to or his decision to weigh in to this debate.

I think you didn't -- in Trump's Truth Social post, I guess, early this morning. He's still criticizing the judge, but you didn't see the impeachment word, whether or not he doubles down on that later today. We'll have to wait and see.

But, you know, as someone who is very reliant on the Supreme Court right now for a whole wealth of his agenda items, it's that seems to be a bridge too far of really going after them.

BERMAN: Quick last word, Mark.

PRESTON: John, yes, if I may, I just want to do a fact check. I know this is Daniel Dale's lane, but let me just jump in. A couple of days ago, you had made this outrageous claim that there were like a trillion or a zillion Dunkin' Donuts in my hometown of Arlington, Massachusetts, which, of course, is not true.

So I did a little bit of research, John. This is the number right here. If I can show you, there's four in Arlington, right? Four of them. But look at this. Sara, there's four of them where she grew up, down in Miami Lakes.

Kate, who's probably out in Goshen, Indiana right now, God knows, at her wonderful vacation. There's two. Look at our good friend, Jackie Kucinich. There's ten in Columbus. Don't let Jackie talk. She's going to say something not nice.

But John, this is the key. Mr. Massachusetts, this is how many are in Carlisle.

BERMAN: We don't have a stoplight. We don't have a stoplight in Carlisle, Massachusetts. All we have is an ice cream stand, but it isn't Dunkin' Donuts. But yes, I take your point there. I do take your point. You can hear it by your voice. You're more of a asshole than I am.

Jackie Kucinich, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

SIDNER: Can we just keep this segment going? Is there anything else you want to fact check John on?

PRESTON: I could say a lot of things about a lot of people. Let me start with that.

SIDNER: Please. Waiting. I'm never going to cross you, Mark. I can tell you that right now. John is over there, and he's smarting. He really is.

All right. Thank you, guys. Thank you, John.

This morning, NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are undergoing extensive medical checks and getting used to gravity again. These pictures are just awesome. I love to watch this happen.

They returned home after nine months on the International Space Station. They were only supposed to be there, as you know, for just over a week. Here is that stunning moment that they reentered Earth's beautiful oceans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And splashdown. Crew 9 back on Earth.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So beautiful. It doesn't look real, as our sweet Lou just said. From here, return to Earth protocols include keeping the crew at Houston's Johnson Space Center before doctors give them the OK to go home.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is at the Johnson Space Center. And, Ed, I'm so jealous. I am jelly of you today because I just am fascinated with all things space. What are you hearing? What are you seeing?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is fascinating, you know, and we should have mentioned as well the beautiful pod of dolphins that tried to steal that moment of these astronauts splashing down there in the Gulf waters. So, you know, they really kind of stole the show there temporarily. But those astronauts are back here in Houston, where, as you

mentioned, they will continue undergoing that extensive testing. And really a lot of this is designed just for these astronauts to regain their strength. Told they will be doing work in swimming pools to regain all of that.

We talked with a number of astronauts yesterday throughout the day. And one of the themes that kind of stuck out to me, Sara, is just how different every astronaut reacts to returning back here to Earth. Of course, it depends on how long you've been up there, 286 days for Butch and Sonny. So those effects might be very different for them.

But it also ran the gamut as to exactly what they would experience once they were back down here on Earth. And medical experts here with NASA talked to us about that yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOE DERVAY, NASA'S FLIGHT SURGEON: Almost every organ system in the body is impacted to some degree, whether it's the skin, the neurovestibular, the bone muscle, as you alluded to, the immunological system, the cardiovascular system. So we have programs that our human health and performance team focuses on to try to make sure that we're covering all those areas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: So, Sara, we should also point out that a part of this for the astronauts is not terribly set in stone. As we've spoken with NASA officials here in Houston, there is no clear timetable as to how long the astronauts will go through all of this. Everybody is a little bit different, as I mentioned.

So it could be days. In some cases, it could be several weeks for others. But that's all part of the reentry process, not just that capsule returning to Earth, but also for the humans reentering their regular lives here back on this simple little planet -- Sara.

[07:45:05]

SIDNER: Hey, Ed, I just noticed this, and I'm sorry, but I think your brother works for us here in New York. Have you ever met Phil? I don't think you have.

One of these days I'm going to put you together because I'm pretty sure you're related, and I just discovered this. It's like a message from the stars.

Any who, that was awesome. I loved seeing the dolphins. I'm glad you mentioned it. And I miss you, brother. I really, really do. We have to get you up here in New York very, very soon. This is such a cool story that you're covering this morning.

Thank you to you and your crew. And thank you.

PHIL: No problem. SIDNER: I appreciate it. Thank you, Phil.

All right, breaking overnight. Ukraine's President Zelenskyy says he will speak to President Trump today by phone one day after a call between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. That story and more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, breaking just a few minutes ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he expects to speak with President Trump today by phone. Just one day after President Trump says he had what he calls a great call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Now that call did not secure a ceasefire in 24 hours like Donald Trump long promised while he was campaigning. What did come from it was an offer to halt attacks on energy infrastructure. And this morning the Kremlin is putting space between itself and the White House even on that.

They now say their offer only concerns energy infrastructure, not energy and infrastructure. Like the White House readout said, there is a distinction there. Let's get right to CNN's Frederik Pleitgen in Moscow this morning for the very latest.

Good morning, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, John. And one of the other things that the Russians also agree on is that for themselves this was also a great call.

If you looked at, as we did, Russian state media over the past 24 hours or so or over the past 12 hours since that call happened, the Russians are certainly saying they believe that Vladimir Putin was the winner of that call, that he stood his ground up for Russian things that they want to achieve here in the war in Ukraine and certainly also didn't give up too much.

But you're absolutely right. That big question about energy infrastructure or energy and infrastructure is certainly the ones that was out there earlier today as the Kremlin held a conference call with journalists where the spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, said that as far as the Kremlin is concerned, they are talking about attacks on energy infrastructure and not energy and infrastructure.

But even with that overnight, the Ukrainians are saying that energy infrastructure in Ukraine was also targeted. The Russians handing that right back and saying the Ukrainians also tried to target a refinery in the southwest of Russia in the Krasnodar region and that at least one oil tank there went up in flames.

Nevertheless, the Russians once again, with a very positive assessment of that call, saying today that President Trump and Vladimir Putin of Russia trust each other and will work towards normalizing relations.

But of course, John, all of this going on as the war on the ground is still very much in full swing. The Russians are saying they're making big advances in the Kursk region, that little foothold that the Ukrainians still have on Russian territory. Vladimir Putin just a couple of minutes ago at an event here in Moscow, coming out and saying that he believes Russian forces are on the cusp of ousting Ukrainian forces from that territory.

So the Russians saying they're making advances, also saying that they believe this process is already in motion. However, at the same time, it seems as though there are still certain discrepancies between the way the White House evaluates the call that happened yesterday and the way the Kremlin does -- John.

BERMAN: Important discrepancies. All right, Frederik Pleitgen in Moscow. Fred, thank you very much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, joining me now is Bill Browder. He is the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management and head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign. He was once one of the largest foreign portfolio investors in Russia before he turned activist, speaking out against Russian human rights violations. It's lovely to have you on.

There is such a difficult situation still going on in Ukraine. Putin says he talked to Trump about removing intelligence and all U.S. military aid to Ukraine. But then Trump told Fox News last night that they didn't discuss that at all. Who do you believe, the former KGB operative or President Trump, who is known for having a bad relationship with facts?

BILL BROWDER, CEO, HERMITAGE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Well, I don't believe anybody in this particular story. I mean, it's pretty straightforward. So about a week ago, President Zelenskyy agreed to a 30 day unconditional ceasefire in order to have a proper peace negotiation. And then the ball was in Putin's court to agree the same.

And putting aside all this nitpicking of who said what, the one thing we know is he didn't say that. He rejected the proposal for a 30 day unconditional ceasefire.

Now, all this talk about having a great meeting and a great call and one and a half hours, it doesn't change what's going on. Putin continues to launch his unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine. And by the way, 57 minutes after he promised -- Putin promised not to attack energy infrastructure, they attacked energy infrastructure in Ukraine.

And so Putin can't be believed. His promises can't be trusted. And and put it quite simply, he's humiliating Trump in front of the whole world.

SIDNER: Well, that's quite a statement. President Trump says the next step would be full ceasefire. How many steps away are we? Because we don't even have a partial ceasefire.

[07:55:00]

And as you said, Putin has clearly said no to a 30 day ceasefire. So how far are we away from something larger?

BROWDER: We're a million miles away from something larger and we're a million miles away for one simple reason. And that is that Putin has no intention of stopping his invasion of Ukraine. This is a maximalist strategy. He and he has not altered from this from day one.

The whole point of his invasion of Ukraine was to take Ukraine, to make Ukraine a part of Russia and then to move on to other countries. That that's been his stated outward position. And he hasn't altered in one way, shape or form.

And so we're all sort of fantasizing that there is some type of peace that's that he's going to give. The only way that Putin will agree to any peace is if he's in a weak position. And the only way to put him in a weak position is to arm Ukrainians with a lot more than we've already given them and allow them to use those arms to hit targets inside of Russia. And if we did that, then there might be a negotiation.

SIDNER: You're saying that the U.S. has to show strength in its support and more support for Ukraine, which so far, I mean, they were pulling things away from Ukraine because that meeting here in the United States got so contentious.

Let me ask you about how you think Europe will step in here. And can Europe step in in place of the United States if they simply cannot come to any terms with Putin?

BROWDER: Well, Europe is going to have to step in because it appears based on everything we've heard that Donald Trump is going to step out. And if the U.S. steps out, US supplies 40 percent of the financial and military aid for Ukraine. And that means that Europe will have to step in.

And what we saw yesterday was that the Germans, who have always been very frugal about defense spending, have agreed on a massive billion dollar defense increase in order to deal with. And then, of course, there is the 300 billion dollars of Russian money that's sitting almost all in Europe, which can be confiscated.

So can Europe step in? Yes and no. Europe can step in in a big way financially, and there's a lot of money to be had if the Ukrainians need it. But the Americans do provide very valuable intelligence. The U.S. has an unparalleled ability to determine what's happening on the ground and to warn the Ukrainians. And just for a few days, when the U.S. stopped providing that intelligence, there was a battlefield disaster in Kursk.

And so yes and no. I mean, it's going to be ugly if the U.S. steps out, but it doesn't mean that the Ukrainians are going to surrender if that happens, because surrender is worse than what they're experiencing right now.

SIDNER: Yes, Bill Browder, thank you so much. I really appreciate you talking me through this this morning. A lot of very serious things need to happen in order to keep Ukraine the way that it is. All right, community organizations and Denver's mayor are demanding

ICE release an undocumented mother and immigration reform activist who was once named to Time magazine's 100 most influential list.

Jeanette Vizguerra is being held at a facility in Aurora, Colorado, according to her attorney. The mother of four received international attention during President Trump's first term when she took refuge in a church for three years trying to avoid deportation.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is here with me now. What are you learning about this case that has a lot of emotions very high?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara. In fact, she sort of became a symbol of resistance, if you will, especially in immigrant communities during the first Trump administration, when she took refuge inside that church in order to avoid being deported.

Now, this all traces back to 2009 when Vizguerra was stopped during a traffic stop over expired inspection stickers. And during that traffic stop, she was found to have a fake Social Security number on her. That set off a whole series of events for several years where she has been fighting her deportation order. And it was in 2016 that she takes refuge in the church.

She sort of becomes an international symbol, a big activist in the immigrant community in Denver. And in recent days, I spoke to her daughter yesterday. Vizguerra told her that she had a feeling that she was being surveyed by law enforcement.

She could tell that she was being followed on her way to work. And it was on Monday night while she was working at a local Target on a work break that immigration officers surrounded her and took her into custody.

Now, she's been in detention in Denver ever since. They've been holding vigils outside of that facility. Her daughter told me that she's in there. They want to make sure that she doesn't get out to go perhaps be deported to go to the airport.

They've been watching the buses as they make their way out of the facility to make sure that their mother is not in there.