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Chief Justice Issues Rare Rebuke Over Trump's Attack on Judge; Interview with Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE): Trump's Criticism of Federal Judge, Call with Putin, Democratic Party; FBI Investigating Tesla Vehicles Shot, Set on Fire in Las Vegas. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 19, 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]

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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.

A lawyer has filed a petition to try and stop her deportation, arguing that she deserves some due process. But feelings on this one are extremely heated. There's been a lot of criticism from law enforcement saying that she has an order of deportation against her and that this is due process.

But also public officials in Denver saying that this is not the type of immigration enforcement that Trump said he was going to focus on. He said he was going to go after people who had a criminal background, violent people. This is not who Vizguerra is. She's a pillar of the community, very important in the immigrant community in Denver, and now they want her to be let out.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We will see what happens with this case. Thank you for bringing us the story, Gloria Pazmino, this morning.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hours after the chief justice of the United States sends a clear message to the president to stop attacking judges, President Trump issues a new attack on a federal judge.

The FBI investigating a new incident of vandalism against Tesla. The president calls it an act of terrorism. Elon Musk indicates he thinks it's part of a greater plot.

And the last man to see a missing American college student alive is now officially freed from police supervision. Why the mother of the missing girl is now thanking him?

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

SIDNER: This is unusual. A rare rebuke from the Supreme Court chief justice to the president of the United States. But this morning, President Trump is doubling down on his attack on the federal judge that led to this criticism. It all centers around the legal battle over the Trump administration's flights deporting hundreds of accused gang members. Trump called the judge who ruled against those flights crooked and said he should be impeached.

That prompted an extraordinary statement from Chief Justice John Roberts, writing: For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.

But the president last night, denying he defied the judge's orders to turn those deportation planes around, even as questions remain about the timing of those flights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Going forward --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I had judges that were so corrupt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you defy a court order? We all know that was out.

TRUMP: I never did defy a court order.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you wouldn't in the future.

TRUMP: No, you can't do that. However, we have bad judges. We have very bad judges. And these are judges that shouldn't be allowed. I think they -- I think at a certain point, you have to start looking at what do you do when you have a rogue judge?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Joining me now, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, our CNN political analyst and White House correspondent for The New York Times. Thank you so much for coming on. Zolan, how rare is it for a justice, any justice, excluding even the chief justice role, to scold someone not by name, but clearly, he is pointing this at the president.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's very rare. This is a very rare rebuke from the chief justice. And in this case, you didn't have him coming out and taking a side in this ongoing court battle between the executive branch and the judiciary, but more so explaining that if an administration does disagree with a judicial decision, then there's a process for that. You have the appeals process.

And just the fact that we saw this kind of comment, essentially saying to knock it off here with these calls for impeachment, which really has been an all out full court press here, not just from the White House, but other Republican allies as well. What this really is a signal of is just that this case has become a flashpoint for seemingly a larger tension here between a White House consolidating power in the executive branch, moving forward with aggressive executive actions, and a judiciary and federal judges that are increasingly seeking to curb their power.

Legal experts are looking at this case and increasingly worried that the administration is coming close, if not yet there already, but coming close to openly defying a court order.

And again, just to step back, we're talking about a case here where this federal judge in D.C. actually hasn't issued a permanent injunction when it comes to these deportation flights.

[08:05:00]

It's essentially a temporary injunction. And at this stage, a fact finding mission to assess whether the administration violated a court order.

And even there, you're seeing the Trump administration stonewall that fact -- that fact searching mission, as well as launch this sort of broad based verbal assault on this judge.

SIDNER: Zolan Kanno-Youngs, thank you for walking us through that. There's a lot of different complications here, but a stunning rebuke indeed from the Supreme Court Chief Justice -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware. Senator, great to see you this morning.

In that soundbite that we heard just before that discussion right there, President Trump said he would never defy a court order and hasn't defied a court order. How reassured are you there?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): I'm not reassured at all. Look, President Trump says one thing and does the other from one week to the next.

He said the very first thing he was going to do as president was bring prices down. Instead, he's been slapping tariffs and then pulling them back and then imposing tariffs and then pulling them back, causing increases in prices, chaos in the market. That's just one example of a dozen things where he said he'll do one thing and he's immediately done the other.

At least he is saying he won't defy a court order, but he is ordering the folks who work for him, principally Elon Musk, who's leading DOGE, to keep doing things that district court judges have already said violate the Constitution.

BERMAN: You know, I think it's interesting because this is about immigration and illegal immigration into the United States. And when I ask the question, you immediately turn the focus to the economy there, which is an interesting, interesting way to answer a question about immigration. Scott Jennings, this is a case, the case is about deporting what the White House calls illegal Venezuelan gang members in the country here.

And our friend Scott Jennings calls that an 80-20 issue. 80 percent of the country wants to deport them. Are you comfortable having this debate on this issue? COONS: Look, the issue is whether or not federal court orders will be followed by President Trump. And whether that's on firing folks who work at the Veterans Administration or eliminating USAID or deporting people, that's less the issue than whether or not this longstanding core pillar of the United States and our system will be respected by the Trump administration.

Of course, they're picking one of the least sympathetic cases possible to push the very limits of their power. But we in the Senate are clear about what it is they're doing. And I think in the courts and what you just heard from Chief Justice Roberts makes it clear that they, too, are clear about what he's doing.

BERMAN: Impeachment would -- if the House were ever to vote to impeach a judge, which is unlikely to happen, it's only happened a very few times, that would go to the Senate. Does it have any legs in the Senate?

COONS: No.

BERMAN: That's a pretty clear answer right there.

Let me ask you about the phone call between President Trump and Vladimir Putin that happened yesterday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he's going to speak with President Trump today.

What do you think the United States, that Ukraine, got from that phone call?

COONS: Nothing. Look, Putin has been playing Trump for years. Putin got recognition, engagement. He's being treated as an equal, not as a pariah. President Trump has not been treating him as the aggressor, as the nation that violently invaded Ukraine and has murdered thousands of civilians, has kidnapped thousands of Ukrainian children, has decimated the Ukrainian economy. What we should be doing is advancing a core Republican principle back to Ronald Reagan, peace through strength.

Putin is only going to stop advancing on the battlefield when we make it clear that we're locking arms with our European partners and investing even more in Ukraine's defense. Then Putin might actually come to the table.

But as we saw yesterday, Putin promised Trump a 30-day ceasefire on attacks on infrastructure and energy, and then promptly dropped a glide bomb on a major piece of energy infrastructure.

BERMAN: Well, again, the White House yesterday says it was a 30-day pause on energy and infrastructure, and today the Kremlin came out and said there's no and there. It was just energy infrastructure. What does that tell you?

COONS: It tells you that just as happened in the many years where there was a so-called Minsk process after their 2014 invasion of Crimea and the Donbas, and there were repeated attempts at ceasefires, which Putin and the Russian military violated over and over again. I don't think we can trust him to actually keep any of the commitments

that he may make. I think he's going to play for time and keep advancing on the battlefield.

There was a big development in Germany yesterday where the German Bundestag voted to invest massively in defense, and they will continue to partner with us if we continue to lead in defending Ukraine.

BERMAN: Democrats in the Senate have had a heck of a 10 days or so.

COONS: What do you mean?

BERMAN: Exactly. Obviously, the government did not shut down. Basically, the government funding passed through the Senate.

[08:10:00]

Bernie Sanders was on with Kaitlin last night and talked about what he sees as problems in your party. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-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. The Democratic Party has virtually no grassroots support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So the Democratic Party has virtually no grassroots support.

COONS: So I had a great event in Delaware this week with the whole congressional delegation, with folks who are families, patients, caregivers, to fight the upcoming cuts to Medicaid by Republicans. What unites the Democratic Party, what will mobilize the folks who are going to be impacted by huge cuts to Medicaid by the bill that is on its way through the House right now, is denying care to millions of Americans.

I reject Senator Sanders' characterization of Democrats as in the pocket of billionaires. There are more billionaires in Donald Trump's cabinet than in any cabinet in history. Elon Musk, an unelected billionaire, the richest man on earth, is leading efforts to slash federal agencies.

Clearly, the Democratic Party, after the last election, does have real work to do to prove that we hear and connect with working people in my home state of Delaware and across the country.

But I think the contrast between the priorities of Democrats and Republicans in this moment, when the Republicans are working hard to cut Medicaid to pay for more tax cuts for billionaires, and Democrats are coming together to defend Medicaid, I think the contrast is sharp and clear.

BERMAN: All right, very quickly, you voted on the opposite side of Chuck Schumer last week.

COONS: Yep.

BERMAN: You have confidence in him this morning?

COONS: Look, we were in a tough spot. I disagreed with Leader Schumer, but he assessed that the risks of a shutdown, given Trump and the ways he's breaking the law, violating the Constitution, tearing up the government, were greater than the risks of voting for the CR.

I voted for the CR. The good news this week is, as a party, we are united and moving forward.

BERMAN: Chris Coons, Senator, great to see you. Thanks for coming in.

COONS: Thank you.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Tesla cars set on fire and vandalized in several cities. Elon Musk calling it a coordinated attack. The attorney general calling it domestic terrorism and vowing to take action.

Plus, free to leave, a judge making a major decision in the case of a missing college student.

And a testy town hall in Maryland, a Democratic lawmaker confronted by furious constituents, fed up with the party's response, how it's responding to Trump's policies.

Those stories ahead.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, the FBI is investigating after several Tesla vehicles were shot at and set on fire in Las Vegas. Attorney General Pam Bondi calls the attacks nothing short of domestic terrorism. There have been attacks on Elon Musk's Tesla dealerships across the country. President Trump makes clear who he blames.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you consider this an act of domestic terrorism?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think so.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?

TRUMP: I think that if and when they catch the people, and I hope they do, the good thing is they have a lot of cameras in those places, and they've caught some already having to do with that. I think that you will find out that they're paid by people that are very highly political on the left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, he didn't provide any evidence of that. Let's get right to CNN's Josh Campbell for the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The FBI and local police are investigating yet another act of vandalism at a Tesla facility, this time in Las Vegas. Police responded to 911 calls early Tuesday morning reporting gunshots and flames at the Tesla repair center. Upon arrival, they found multiple cars set on fire.

ASSISTANT SHERIFF DORI KOREN, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: This was a targeted attack against a Tesla facility. We believe the suspect approached the business wearing all black clothing, and he used what appeared to be Molotov cocktails and a firearm to conduct his attack.

CAMPBELL: Authorities say the word resist was spray painted on the building.

KOREN: We do not believe that there's any further threat to the general public. However, as a precaution, like we do on many of these types of incidents, we've increased our police presence, in particular at Tesla locations.

CAMPBELL: While police say they believe this was an isolated incident, it does follow multiple other acts of vandalism at Tesla dealers, including places like Kansas City, Missouri, the Chicago area, and Southern California. Tesla founder Elon Musk took to X calling this an act of terrorism.

Now, authorities say multiple personnel from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force are conducting an investigation in order to identify the suspect and a motive.

SPECIAL AGEN SPENCER EVANS, FBI: Violent acts like this are unacceptable regardless of where they occur. And specifically to those who might think that something like this is justifiable or potentially even admirable, we want to let you know it's a federal crime. We will come after you. We will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.

CAMPBELL: Now, one aspect of Tesla products that could assist the FBI in this investigation is the fact that many of the company's vehicles are equipped with video camera technology that could be used to identify the suspect. Authorities say they are currently working with Tesla in order to help exploit any footage that may have been captured of the attack.

Josh Campbell, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: All right, our thanks to Josh Campbell.

CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson is joining me now. We want to talk about some of these issues. What do you, first of all, make of the way that Trump and the DOJ are handling this situation?

[08:20:00]

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Sara, good morning to you.

SIDNER: Good morning. I always forget to say good morning and you always embarrass me, Joey.

JACKSON: It is all the time. It is all the time.

SIDNER: It is all good.

JACKSON: So here's the point, though, right? I don't think violence should be politicized at all.

SIDNER: Yes.

JACKSON: And when we talk about issues of vandalism, there's a distinction between vandalism because people are having fun and doing maybe not so smart things.

SIDNER: Sounds like you're familiar with that.

JACKSON: Yes, my days in the Bronx. But the reality is, is that when we're talking about here, about that vandalism being really tethered, connected, related to a broader message, it's disturbing. And we have to be very, you know, clear when we talk about this, because just as this involves Elon Musk, who's doing some things that many people find repulsive.

What is his title, by the way? Who knows? We know he has a lot of power.

There could be other instances, right? White supremacists or others who engage in acts that are untoward, inappropriate, illegal that present other problems.

So in talking about this, just I think we have to be very clear and not making it a political issue, but sticking to the facts, the law and whatever that mats out the Department of Justice should pursue.

SIDNER: Speaking of which, the AG is calling this domestic terrorism. You mentioned the fact that if it is politically based, in other words, you're doing it because of a political message. So when you look at this scenario, could she actually go after anyone who was caught burning up a Tesla?

JACKSON: So I don't think anyone who's caught burning up a Tesla. But I think when you have this type of approach where it seems to be that Teslas are on fire, they're blowing up, there are signs that say, you know, defy or what have you. It presents a problem.

Every case, Sara, is a fact by fact inquiry, depending upon the facts, the circumstances, the nature of the offense. But when you have wholesale destruction, no matter what you think about Elon Musk, whether you're a fan or not a fan, the issue is, are you in terms of domestic terrorism let's define it.

Are you doing -- through an act of destruction or violence -- something that is designed to intimidate or influence people, the civilian population? And that's pretty troubling. Designed to influence policy, designed, in other words, to have the government really engage in other type activities that you might agree with.

And so this, in general, is very troubling. And how it plays out over the course of time is really going to define whether it's domestic violence or something else.

SIDNER: Yes, so whether it's domestic terrorism or not, but always the facts of the case have to be looked at. It's what you have posted, why you did it, et cetera, et cetera.

So it begs the question for an administration that literally pardoned January 6 violent rioters who broke into the Capitol and terrified Congress people and others, police and hurt police in the Capitol. Suddenly, this is now a big part of the agenda of the AG. How do you sort of see as a citizen this clash?

JACKSON: So, Sara, we are in some very troubling and difficult times. And I say that because prosecutors, especially the DOJ, Department of Justice, federal entity, a lot of resources, a lot of authority, a lot of power, a lot of federal statutes that have been approved by Congress, right, that can get people an awful lot of jail time. And the issue really is because of that discretion, it could be abused.

And you could pardon people who don't deserve to be pardoned. And you can go after people because of a political affiliations, political ideologies, and not really what your eye on the actual crime. And it's very much a concern when you look at what's happening and the person emboldened to do it and seemingly just giving carte blanche to do what you want, to go after who you want, for whatever you want, to impose a penalty that could be draconian and just certainly improper.

So when you say how do you reconcile it, it's very difficult, right, facts, just objectively speaking, to reconcile. But I can tell you that prosecutors every day decide to dismiss cases and prosecutors every day decide to go full bore on things that we say, what? So we have to keep our eye on this.

SIDNER: It is the facts that should rule the day when it comes to what prosecutors end up doing.

JACKSON: And that's it, Sara. And it's when it gets into this political realm, it's just dangerous. And I think a lot of people can be hurt, really is.

SIDNER: Joey Jackson, it is always a pleasure. It is never dangerous or never hurts when you come on and talk this through.

JACKSON: A privilege to be here. Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: See how respectful he is, John.

BERMAN: With you.

This morning, the last person to see a missing American college student has been released from police surveillance. We've got new details on the investigation.

And new this morning, it may soon be harder to file a social security claim. It's possible millions of Americans will now be required to show up in person.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, this morning, the young man who investigators believe was the last person to be seen with a missing college student, Sudiksha Konanki, won his fight for freedom. Attorneys for Joshua Riibe argue that he was wrongfully detained. Konanki's parents have asked that she be declared dead after she went missing nearly two weeks ago on a spring break trip to Punta Cana.

CNN's Jessica Hasbun is in the Dominican Republic with the very latest. Good morning.

JESSICA HASBUN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. That's right. A judge in the Dominican Republic granted Joshua Steven Riibe's request for freedom.

He was believed to be the last person to have seen missing U.S. student, like you said, Sudiksha Konanki, who nearly vanished two weeks ago in Punta Cana on March 6th. Riibe argued he was detained improperly without charges. He appeared in court Tuesday to request his freedom.

This came after Konanki's parents, like you said, urged Dominican authorities to officially declare their daughter dead.

[08:30:00]