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Musk to Visit Pentagon as It Considers Major Cuts to Top of Military; Trump Denies New York Times Report that Musk will be Briefed on China War Plan; Global Travel Chaos as Power Outage Shuts London's Heathrow Airport; Interview with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL): Democrats Face Voters' Fury in Town Halls. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 21, 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]

LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: He also said in the post that she had been his right hand for the past eight years and consistently proven to execute and get expletive done. And he said, I don't know how I'd function without her.

So clearly she was very close to him. And so that leads people to believe, John, that she was witness to, you know, a lot of the allegations that have been made against Combs, that if these things did in fact happen, that she would be someone who would not only be aware of it, but who may have participated in it. And those are the allegations against her.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And now we are hearing from her. Lisa France, thank you very much.

A new hour of CNN NEW CENTRAL starts right now.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening today, Elon Musk heads to the Pentagon. The Defense Department says the billionaire is just visiting. But there are new questions after The New York Times reports he could be briefed on a top secret plan for possible war with China.

Global travel chaos unfolding this morning after a massive fire knocked out power at Heathrow Airport, shutting it down. Flights and travelers around the world are affected. We'll tell you how long before Heathrow is up and running again.

And a judge in California filmed himself loading a gun in his chambers in an unusual dissent against an appeals court's ruling in a gun case.

I'm Jessica Dean with John Berman. Kate and Sara are out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: So happening today, Elon Musk is set to visit the Pentagon. That much everyone agrees on. But why?

The Pentagon says it is just a simple visit. The New York Times reports the world's richest man will be briefed on top secret war plans involving China. At the same time, federal agencies are considering new contracts with his businesses.

Now, the president responded quickly overnight, saying, quote, China will not even be mentioned or discussed. As for Elon Musk in the middle of the night, he called the report pure propaganda and issued a warning to any potential Pentagon leakers, quote, they will be found.

With us now, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political correspondent with Axios.

So you have the Times report. I should note the Wall Street Journal's got a version of this, too. Then you have the statements from Trump and Musk.

Let me ask this. Why is the notion of Elon Musk getting briefed if he is at the Pentagon on Chinese war plans? Why might that be radioactive to some?

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I'd say two different reasons. One is the fact that Elon Musk's company, Tesla, has extensive ties with China, financial ties. A lot of the products in Tesla's are, you know, connected with Chinese businesses. Elon Musk has a huge financial stake in the future of China.

And the other matter is the fact is it just shows his growing influence. This is no longer just a DOGE, you know, performance that he is becoming incredibly -- the world's richest man is becoming incredibly more influential in the White House. So both of those two things are reasons why there have been concerns. I imagine is why it leaked to both the Times, the Journal as well.

BERMAN: And the speed of the response from President Trump and ultimately Elon Musk. Politico notes this morning the speed and vehemence of the response tells you to an extent they know the perception problem this creates.

THOMPSON: Absolutely. And I would say, you know, I know all the reporters on that Times byline. These are the heaviest of hitters over there. And they could not just dismiss this away. And I would also say there's no such thing as a simple meeting with the world's richest man. There's always a reason for everything Elon Musk does.

BERMAN: Alex, you're so deeply sourced in Washington and the White House in this world. Do you get a sense that the White House thinks that Musk carries more political baggage now than he might have one week, two weeks, three weeks ago? That in other words, he is more problematic, at least from a political standpoint, as time goes on.

THOMPSON: Actually, all the people I've talked to say the opposite. In fact, they're very happy to have Elon take all the incoming while Trump sort of, you know, floats above it a little bit more. In fact, like Elon can be the bad cop because Elon Musk is not running for office.

And they're actually a little bit happy that the Democrats are sort of training their focus on him. Now, whether or not that is a good strategy, we don't know yet. But I can tell you that the Republicans and the Trump administration officials I talked to are actually happy that Elon is taking all these arrows instead of Trump.

BERMAN: That is terrific insight. We enjoy your reporting. Thanks so much for being with us, Alex Thompson. Nice to see you -- Jessica.

[08:05:00]

DEAN: And joining me now to talk more about this is CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Good morning to you.

Let's just talk first about how unprecedented it might be for Musk to get this type of briefing. What's your analysis here?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, good morning, Jessica. So it's very unusual for someone who was involved in procurement and providing material systems, especially the kinds of systems that Elon Musk and his companies provide the Pentagon to have a briefing that, you know, potentially could include something like the war plan for against China.

So these are the kinds of things it is -- it certainly does happen that CEOs of defense contractors do come to the Pentagon. But they never get briefings that would involve war planning in minute detail. They don't get access to those kinds of things unless it directly pertains to something that they're building for the Pentagon.

And it's very rare for someone like that to come in. And especially given his status now, there's, you know, probably several facets to a visit like this. But it's definitely not done just to, you know, do a quick tour of the five-sided building or the five-sided puzzle palace, as we call it.

DEAN: And then you factor in Musk's business dealings with China, where he sits with his business. Does that make him a counterintelligence risk, those sorts of conflicts? How do they play into this?

LEIGHTON: Yes, that is actually a significant question, Jessica. And yes, he is potentially a counterintelligence risk. And that doesn't mean that he is going to deliberately provide information to the other side, although that would be the quintessential counterintelligence risk.

But he has a lot of dealings, especially with China, but he's also had some dealings with Russia. He, you know, has a global business. And quite frankly, the more you know about certain things, the easier it is sometimes to buttonhole somebody like that and get information from them.

So it has to be very -- these things have to be very carefully orchestrated to get the types of clearances that would be required for an access to a war plan, for example, especially a very sensitive war plan. That takes a huge background investigation for normal people. And the vetting process is a very extensive one, and that's done obviously deliberately. You want to make sure that the counterintelligence risk is as little as possible, as low as possible for anybody who has access to something like that.

DEAN: And listen, the president and Elon Musk have both been quite forceful in saying that's not -- that this is not happening, they're not going to talk about China. What else might this be about for somebody like Musk to come to the Pentagon, in your experience? What else would they be talking about?

LEIGHTON: So one of the things could be the requirements process in general. There's a very large requirements process that goes on in the Pentagon, and those requirements are often driven by war plans. So, for example, let's say you, you know, have a war plan for, you know, a particular country, and you require a certain type of weapons, you require a certain type of intelligence architecture or a certain type of communications or architecture or logistics feed to that particular theater of war.

So it would be something that he could be briefed on, you know, in his role as DOGE. It would become, you know, something where he would potentially look at the entire requirements process. There have been a lot of efforts to reform that process, to make it more responsive to the warfighters, and that would be a logical thing for him to do in that role.

The problem becomes that he's also a defense contractor, and that is where the potential conflicts of interest actually lie.

DEAN: All right, Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news this morning. Airports around the world are rolling out emergency measures, travel chaos that could last weeks. And this is after a huge transformer fire near London's Heathrow Airport caused power outages -- I think are still ongoing -- and shut down the airport. This morning, hundreds of thousands of travelers around the world are going nowhere.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's tough. It's obviously a Friday, so, you know, I'll still get home tomorrow, hopefully. You know, it'll just take me an extra day to get back to my wife and my daughter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, and I do understand there's even more breaking news on the investigation in just moments ago. Let's get to CNN's Nada Bashir outside here at Heathrow. What have you just learned?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John.

[08:10:00]

We're getting new information from the Metropolitan Police, which has, of course, been looking at the investigation into what caused this fire at the substation just near Heathrow. This just coming in now that the Met's counterterrorism command is now leading inquiries given the location of the substation and the incident -- of the impact of the incident that it has had on Heathrow Airport, of course, Europe's busiest airport. So, this is a significant development that the counterterrorism command is now leading on that inquiry.

There have, of course, been many questions mounting as to what caused the fire. The impact has been hugely significant. As you mentioned, hundreds of flights now either cancelled or diverted, thousands of passengers impacted by this. Heathrow Airport now brought to a standstill. We're just by the tarmac here. No flights coming in or out today. So, a huge impact.

Take a listen to what the deputy commissioner of the London Fire Brigade had to say a little earlier in a press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN SMITH, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, LFB: The fire involved a transformer comprising of 25,000 liters of cooling oil fully alight. This created a major hazard due to the still-live high-voltage equipment and the nature of the oil-fueled fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Now, of course, we see that dramatic video coming in overnight of the huge flame which engulfed the substation in haze just about four miles from Heathrow Airport. Important to note that this is also a residential area. Some of those residents nearby were forced to evacuate as well as a precaution and no injuries have been reported. While the area has been cordoned off, it has largely been cleared as safe for residents. We've heard from fire officials who have said that they do not expect any impact for local residents.

But as you mentioned, John, the impact is being felt worldwide. Europe's busiest airport brought to a standstill. Thousands of passengers impacted. We're seeing many flights diverted with passengers telling us that they haven't been provided with any information as to how they can get home with a lot of uncertainty as to where these flights are heading.

And, of course, we've seen some airlines now putting in emergency and precautionary measures as a result. Heathrow Airport is set to remain closed for the duration of Friday. But officials have also warned there will be significant disruption over the coming days. So it remains to be seen whether or not we do see Heathrow Airport back up and operational over the weekend -- John.

BERMAN: And, again, just to reiterate the breaking news. Nada Bashir just reporting seconds ago that counterterror officials are now leading this investigation into the fire at the substation that shut down and has continued to shut down Heathrow Airport. The reasons being given are the location near Heathrow and the impact that it's had, which has stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers.

We're going to wait for more details on this. If we learn, for instance, they found any signs there may have been deliberate measures taken to set this fire. Nada Bashir, keep us posted. Obviously, this is a developing story -- Jessica.

DEAN: We have seen some fiery town halls across the country as constituents clash with lawmakers. But that wasn't the case for Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who got the support of thousands last night.

And DOGE blocked from accessing the personal information of millions of Americans. We're going to have more on this search a judge is calling a quote, fishing expedition.

Also, almost every cyber truck on the road is now being recalled. The dangerous defect that officials say can lead to a crash.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: There is no shortage of anger and frustration at town halls across the U.S., and lawmakers from both parties in recent days have faced constituents back home. Last night, Republican Congresswoman Harriet Hageman got another dose of it, one voter questioning her about the Trump administration's claims of fraud in government spending.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Having looked at Musk, DOGE, go whatever website, you are a lawyer. Where is this fraud?

REP. HARRIET HAGERMAN (R-WY): This is the fraud. Spending is the fraud. As an example.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But that's your job! Not Musk's job! That's your job, not Musk's!

HAGERMAN That's what we need. That's what we need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Now, Democrats have also faced the fury of voters in town halls this week, but there was no fury last night for one Democrat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHEERING)

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DEAN: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez getting a rock star welcome at a rally in Arizona with Senator Bernie Sanders. She told supporters there that Democrats need a party that, quote, fights harder for them.

Joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. Good morning to you. Of course you are a former chair of the DNC. I want to start first by asking you this. A number of Democrats are begging their elected officials to do something. Your party just doesn't hold any level lever of power at this moment. So what do you do?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): Thanks for having me and I can tell you very clearly what we're doing. We are fighting the Trump, Musk and his DOGE bags in Congress, in the courts, and the community. In Congress, you know, we only -- we have a very small margin.

[08:20:00]

The Republicans are, you know, they have to, they've got a three-seat margin. Right now about a two-seat margin. And so making sure that we hold Republican members of Congress accountable to do their jobs, to insist that Republicans in Congress step up and not slash Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. They're planning to cut almost a trillion dollars from Medicaid and we need one Republican, two Republicans to step up and make sure that we avoid devastating the health care for children, seniors, and the disabled.

In the community, we're having town hall meetings and spending time with our constituents. I was all over my community this week hearing from constituents on topics ranging from the war in Ukraine and what Trump is doing to abandon democracy in Ukraine. And also to hear from people about their concerns about Musk rummaging around their private data and risking the cuts to Social Security.

So and then of course in the courts we're signing on to amicus briefs and we have nonprofit organizations that are filing lawsuits and winning them and slowing and stopping the Trump train from devastating people's lives.

DEAN: And I hear you on all of that and yet we just saw this Republican budget passing with some Democratic support in the Senate. I know you voted against it in the House. Democrats in these town halls have told their senators they want them -- and I'm using their words here -- to fight dirtier, to show some backbone.

What do you say to those voters and and to others in your own party who also Democrats are angry at?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well I completely understand that when you have a lawless administration that is suggesting that we impeach judges just because Trump disagrees with their ruling. When you have someone in office who has an unelected billionaire who's being allowed to run roughshod through agencies and rummage around their private data, fire millions of veterans and the employees that are taking care of them. That's incredibly frustrating.

What we have to do is we have to make sure -- and we will -- be focused on the November 2026 election. We have to win three seats and I think we're in a very strong position to do that because of the reaction that you see from constituents, including Republicans constituents, who don't like the direction that this country is going in. Donald Trump's numbers are dropping. He is not lowering prices for Americans in housing and groceries and in so many other ways like he promised. Instead he's levying chaotic tariffs, starting trade wars with other countries and people's costs are going up. So the contrast between Democrats and Republicans is being made clear and we're going to continue to press the case in Congress, in courts and in the community to make sure that we build momentum towards Election Day and take the House majority back so that we can make sure that we have an institutional way to stop them.

DEAN: And as I noted you are a former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Our recent polling showing just 29 percent of Democrats have a favorable view of the Democratic Party. They're at historic lows.

How do you see Democrats getting themselves out of the wilderness? Because respectfully at this point, I mean that's brand new polling, they don't -- it seems like people in the Democratic Party aren't pleased.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Each of us are focused, Jessica, on interacting and spending time and communicating with our constituents and these elections are won in individual congressional districts across the country. I appreciate that there are people who are frustrated and polling that (INAUDIBLE) that Chuck Schumer made, except for one, every single member of the Democratic caucus in the House voted against that budget vote last week.

We are going to see Republicans, in order to be able to cut taxes for billionaires like Musk and their billionaire and millionaire donors, they're going to slash Medicaid. They're going to continue to fire vital employees who take care of our veterans and our students. Trump is unlawfully closing the Department of Education. What's going to happen to students on Pell Grants? To students with IEPs? There's seven and a half million kids in this country who have special education needs that Trump is just going to throw into the wilderness and we're going to press the case in our congressional districts.

We have candidates that will beat Republicans who are going to be vulnerable. They're being told by their leaders not to show up to town halls or even answer to their constituents because they're afraid. They know that they don't have the voters and Americans on their side and they're going to lose the election in November as a result.

DEAN: All right, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

[08:25:00]

A new roadblock for DOGE in court. What a federal judge had to say about the Trump administration trying to get access to Social Security data.

And then there's this judge showing off his guns in a video taken inside his chambers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This one comes with a standard 21 round magazine. Comes from the factory just like that. You can buy a similar version that comes with the with a seven round magazine that fits flush.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, new this morning. A federal judge blocked Elon Musk's team from accessing sensitive data at the Social Security Administration in a scathing opinion. The judge accused the agency of engaging in a, quote, fishing exhibition and called it an intrusion into the personal affairs of millions of Americans.

Let's get right to the scene. It's Katelyn Polantz for the latest on this. Good morning, Katelyn.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.