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Heathrow Airport Shut Down; Desperate Families of Deported Migrants Hunt For Answers; Pentagon Welcomes Elon Musk. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 21, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:48]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A billionaire walks into the Pentagon, but why? It's raising a whole lot of questions about conflicts of interest. What we're learning about Elon Musk's meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus: global travel chaos, one of the busiest travel hubs in the world, London's Heathrow Airport, shutting down after a fire breaks out nearby, hundreds of flights and tens of thousands of passengers feeling the impact. We're following the latest there.

And brackets busted, pretty much all of them, March Madness living up to its name, though there are plenty more wagers to make.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Billionaire Elon Musk's mysterious visit to the Pentagon today raising some serious questions.

His closed-door meeting with senior military leaders, including Defense Secretary Hegseth, coming as the close ally of President Trump makes sweeping cuts throughout the federal government, but today's Pentagon visit putting a spotlight on Musk's potential conflict of interest.

His SpaceX company has a lucrative contract with the Defense Department that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. "The New York Times" is reporting the original plan was to brief Musk on the military's plan for a potential war with China, a country his Tesla electric car company has deep financial ties to.

Just moments ago, President Trump denied that report, though, saying Musk was at the Pentagon to talk about DOGE cuts, not China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But I don't want other people saying, anybody seeing potential war with China. We don't want to have a potential war with China. But I can tell you, if we did, we're very well-equipped to handle it. But I don't want to show that to anybody. But, certainly, you wouldn't

show it to a businessman. Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible perhaps to that.

Elon was over there today to address costs, DOGE, a thing called DOGE, which you have heard about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Oren Liebermann is with us now.

Oren, tell us what you're learning about this meeting.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Donald Trump's comments there are just the latest attack on "The New York Times"'reporting, as there's effectively an all-out press to try to say that it was completely false, and that's not why Elon Musk was here.

He showed up at about 9:00 this morning and was here for just under 90 minutes. He left at about 10:21 in the morning, shortly before Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth headed over to the White House. Now, we expected the meeting to be in what's known as the Tank, and that's a room where sensitive meetings are held with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In fact, much of this morning, there was a crowd outside of that room. There was also Admiral Chris Grady, the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He went into the room. The chief of staff for the defense secretary went into the room. But Musk ultimately did not.

Instead, he headed straight upstairs for a meeting with Hegseth. And he was there, again, for a bit over an hour or just short of 90 minutes. When he came out, CNN had the chance to ask him first how the meeting was, and he said the meeting essentially was fine and that he's been here before.

On his way out of the building, he was then -- he then shook hands with Musk. I'm sorry. He shook hands with Hegseth, the defense secretary, and said, "If there's anything I can do to be helpful, I'd like to see you."

When Musk was here and was asked about whether the meeting itself related to China, he wouldn't answer that. And when Hegseth was asked by "The New York Times," all he would say is: "Why would I tell you?"

We then saw the continued pushback on whether the meeting was about China in the White House there, Trump saying it was about DOGE, the efficiency efforts.

KEILAR: All right, Oren Liebermann, thank you so much.

Let's talk more about these developments with retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. He's a CNN military analyst. Also with us is Josh Rogin, lead global security analyst for "Washington Post Intelligence." [13:05:03]

So, some confusion, I guess, over exactly what Musk would be there to talk about. But let's at least talk about the cuts before maybe we talk about the China piece of this. The cuts, the plans that are under consideration, Colonel, include consolidating combatant commands, possibly eliminating a directorate that oversees development, training and education for the joint force, and halting the expansion of American forces in Japan.

What kind of impact would it have to target those things?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It would be a significant impact, and those things sound a little bit fluffy, Brianna, but what they actually are is the mechanism that the Pentagon uses to synchronize training, for example, in the case of that one directorate.

That directorate is responsible for synchronizing the training of the different services so that they actually train the right kind of things to fulfill the war plans, the needs of the war plans and the needs of the combatant commanders. So that's one aspect of it.

If you cut the number of forces in Japan, that sends a message to China, which says, hey, we're actually not as serious about confronting you in the Pacific as our rhetoric indicates. So if you cut the forces in Japan, that's going to have a negative impact not only on our ability to project power in the Pacific, but it's also going to have a negative impact on our allies the Japanese, as well as the South Koreans.

SANCHEZ: On that note about sending a message to China through these troop movements, I wonder, if you're Xi Jinping sitting in Beijing watching Elon Musk reportedly first get a briefing on Chinese war plans and then not, what's going through your mind?

JOSH ROGIN, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Right.

Well, I think we should separate the two things. Did he get a briefing on Chinese war plans? Apparently not. What does that even mean? You know, there's a lot of different war scenarios, a lot of different plans. He wasn't there long enough to really get into it. So I think we should just put that in the category of, we really don't know what that reporting was based on.

And, to be honest, I think "The New York Times" may have rushed that out a little bit too fast with a little too weak sourcing and a little too vague details. And they left themselves open for an attack by Trump, which they now -- that they got.

So putting aside the whole war plans thing, everything Cedric said was absolutely right. It's part of a pattern of Musk undermining U.S. alliances and forcing U.S. national security departments, including the State Department and the Defense Department and the intelligence community, to pull back from cooperation with other countries that have depended on us for 80 years. And that's a very big deal. And it's just the beginning. And we could

see cuts in troops to Europe, South Korea, Japan, pulling back of commitments in the Philippines. There's a whole long list of countries that are now have to work about, is all of our military strategy wrong because we depended on the United States to be our partner and that might not be true in a year?

And that's a massive story that Elon is right in the middle of, which has nothing to do with whether or not he went into the SCIF or not, which is really not that important at the end of the day.

KEILAR: And yet Trump announced that Boeing will build this F-47 fighter jet for the Air Force today. We're talking about downsizing.

Airplanes are always so expensive, aren't they?

ROGIN: A boondoggle, usually, a $2 trillion program for the F-35, the F-22, 20 years of overruns and corruptions and mistakes. And, yes, they're great planes, but if you think about how wars are fought in the future, very expensive manned aircraft are just not the thing that you want to spend all your time and money on.

It's kind of like having a missile shield to cover the entire continental United States. Sounds cool, but it's going to be a huge boondoggle that's going to take money away from the things that we need, really, which are cyber, in my opinion, drones, future technologies, A.I.

And so, yes, no, I think it's just a huge problem waiting to happen, but I don't know. Maybe -- Cedric, maybe you feel differently.

LEIGHTON: Well, actually I think, in part, you're right.

The one thing, Josh, that I found interesting is that the F-47 is supposed to kind of be a quarterback for a fleet of manned aircraft plus drones. So this is kind of their collaborative combat aircraft concept. So in addition to the next-generation air dominance aircraft, which they're not quite sure whether to categorize as a fighter or a bomber or both, they then have this collaborative combat aircraft system that they basically want to have an aircraft, a manned aircraft like the F-47 going out there, and then a fleet of drones that will then be directed, presumably, by the pilot in the F-47.

Now, whether or not that actually happens, that is another story.

ROGIN: Yes, that doesn't sound expensive at all, right? I heard the one version where the drones come out of the plane, like the plane has the drones, and then, I mean...

KEILAR: I saw that once. I saw "Star Wars."

ROGIN: Seems a little ambitious.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER) KEILAR: It's a great movie.

ROGIN: And the Chinese, they announced their generation six fighter. That's why they're doing this, because the Chinese leaked the information about their fighter, so Trump has to combat it. So I get that in a propaganda kind of versus propaganda kind of way.

But, I mean, let's have a think about this before we spend another $2 trillion on planes.

LEIGHTON: Well, and the thing is, Boris and Brianna, the idea here really should be to synchronize your war plans, your strategies with the money that you spend.

[13:10:02]

ROGIN: Ideally.

LEIGHTON: Ideally -- with the types of technologies that you're that you're actually going to put out there.

And Josh is absolutely right that the Chinese, what was it, about a month ago or so, they released videos of their sixth-gen -- purportedly sixth-generation aircraft flying around, very mysterious- looking planes that kind of fit the mold of what a sixth-generation aircraft should look like in terms of stealth capabilities and potential quarterback, I will call them, capabilities that you would have in a situation like this.

So these are these are exciting technologies, but they have to be managed properly. And this is where with DOGE effort could potentially pay dividends in a situation like this.

SANCHEZ: You also have to wonder about Boeing itself, given some of the issues that the company has recently had.

We have to leave the conversation there, though. Colonel Cedric Leighton. Josh Rogin, appreciate you both joining us.

ROGIN: Any time.

LEIGHTON: Thanks so much so.

SANCHEZ: So, in about an hour, lawyers for President Trump's Justice Department will come face-to-face with the judge amid this ongoing legal battle over the administration's decision to deport hundreds of migrants under a centuries-old wartime law.

Judge James Boasberg has given the DOJ multiple chances now to turn over information about why those flights were allowed to continue to El Salvador last weekend, even though he had ordered them to turn around.

KEILAR: And in the days following, Trump has ramped up his attacks on Boasberg. He even called for him to be impeached. He accused him of wanting to keep what he claims are criminals the country. The White House maintains those who were moved are gang members, but hasn't provided evidence of that. Here's President Trump about an hour ago at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But these were a bad group. This was a bad group, and they were in bad areas, and they were with a lot of other people that were absolutely killers, murderers, and people that were really bad with the worst records you have ever seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez live for us now with more.

And, Priscilla, there are a lot of questions, and now it's specific questions about individuals, about who these people are. You spoke with some other families. What do they tell you?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

And we spoke to multiple family members who are just absolutely floored because they are learning over time that their family members have been sent to El Salvador, their family members, of course, Venezuela nationals who were in the United States.

And even in court declarations from Trump officials, they concede that many of those that were removed did not have criminal records in the United States. In other cases, they listed convictions and charges against those sent, but, all in all, they have not identified any of them.

Now, I did go to Dallas yesterday where I spoke with a woman. Her name is Yuli (ph). Her brother was in the U.S. attention system as of last October after legally entering the United States at a port of entry. Now, she last spoke with him last Friday and has been scrambling to get answers after not hearing from him. He vanished.

I was with her yesterday when she finally got the confirmation that her brother was indeed sent to El Salvador. CNN only had permission to play her side of the phone call. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: So the 15th, he was deported to El Salvador. Is that correct?

Can she communicate with her brother? She wants to just confirm one more time that she was -- I'm sorry -- that her brother, who's a number we have provided, was deported to El Salvador on March 15.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, you can see her there breaking down. She later collapsed on her couch along with her family and repeatedly cried that her brother is not a criminal. There, she was on -- there's a photo of her brother. She had been on the phone there with the Department of Homeland Security.

I was having to translate for her because the official did not speak Spanish. Now, she is trying to get answers as to where to go from here. So are attorneys who have filed in court, including on behalf of others like one man who had a Real Madrid tattoo that they say has been mistaken to be with ties to Tren de Aragua.

This has been a consistent theme that we have seen. Many of these, including Yuli's brother, had tattoos. We have seen this with ICE over the years, where they will make -- or say that there's an affiliation with the gang, and over time learn that it's not or in other cases that it is.

But this is the only chaos and confusion that some of these families are dealing with, because out of nowhere they learn that, after their family members disappear from the U.S. system, they're suddenly in El Salvador and are slowly getting confirmation like we got there yesterday.

[13:15:09]

The full story will be airing later today.

SANCHEZ: And, Priscilla, what can we expect from this afternoon's hearing?

ALVAREZ: Well, this is certainly escalating.

The judge is getting closer to deciding whether or not the administration defied his court order that has been at the center of this because last Saturday he had said the planes needed to turn around. That obviously did not happen.

And the Trump administration is maintaining that they do not have to provide that information after invoking the sweeping wartime authority, saying essentially that the executive holds the cards here. So we will see what comes out of this upcoming hearing, but certainly this is not de-escalating any time soon.

SANCHEZ: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for the update.

We will, of course, be monitoring that hearing as it happens later today.

Still to come, London's Heathrow Airport brought to a standstill. What we know about a fire that's upending travel around the world.

Plus, more Democratic lawmakers getting an earful from voters. And the message? Play dirtier.

KEILAR: And later: Going into debt for food delivery? DoorDash soon letting customers take out loans for their late-night eats.

These stories are more all ahead this hour on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:20:46]

SANCHEZ: We have breaking news into CNN.

London's Heathrow Airport just announced it will restart some flights later today after a significant power outage caused major travel disruptions. A huge fire led to the shutdown at Europe's busiest airport, potentially impacting more than 100,000 international travelers.

A U.K. utility company announced a short time ago it had restored power to parts of the airport on an interim basis.

CNN's Max Foster is live for us at Heathrow Airport.

Max, what is the power situation now? And what's the plan for restarting flights?

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is some power back on but this is a backup system, if you like. They have diverted electricity towards the airport from elsewhere, so it's really just a temporary solution currently.

Everyone asking the question how on earth this could happen, one fire at one electricity substation taking out an entire airport that links up to all the other hubs around the world and has left thousands of people stranded all around the world. And all day there have been no flights coming from this major airport, so huge questions today.

There was backup systems and backup generators, but they failed. So, basically, they weren't a backup system. So there's lots of questions there. The other question is how they're going to get all of these planes all around the world back into order and all of the passengers back to the U.K. or to their other destinations, because this is a major international hub.

So it plugs into all the other systems. So it's really a very chaotic scene here. And people are in a pretty desperate situation. But we have been told some flights will be starting in a couple of hours. These are long-haul flights. And they're going to prioritize repatriation, so people that need to get back somewhere.

But, of course, the problem there is, how do you get hold of those people who need to get to the airport? The whole airport's closed off. Only certain passengers are going to be allowed back in. So, how many of them can actually get here to get onto those flights?

So, a really chaotic situation. And the real failure here is that there wasn't a system that could resolve this one fire at one plant that took out an entire airport.

SANCHEZ: Yes, quite a mess, and a lot of questions raised because of it.

Max Foster, live for us at Heathrow, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour.

The NTSB says 68 bridges across the country need to be evaluated now to determine if they're at risk of collapse if they're hit by a ship. And among the bridges on the list, the Golden Gate in San Francisco, the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan.

The recommendation was issued nearly one year after that container ship lost power, struck that pillar of the Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing it to collapse. Six construction workers who were working on the bridge fell into the Patapsco River and died.

In the meantime, a federal judge is temporarily blocking the Trump administration from deporting a Georgetown University fellow. Badar Khan Suri was detained and accused of being a mouthpiece for Hamas propaganda. He's also accused of having close ties to a suspected or known terrorist. Suri's attorneys deny the government's claims.

And, in a court filing, they argue that his detainment is part of the administration's effort to clamp down on individuals -- quote -- "purportedly based on their participation in Palestine-related speech."

And an American who had been held hostage by the Taliban for more than two years back now on U.S. soil. George Glezmann spoke with reporters after he arrived today at Joint Base Andrews. He says he feels born again. He credits President Trump with helping secure his release.

Glezmann was released after weeks of negotiations led by Qatari and U.S. mediators. He was detained by the Taliban back in December of 2022 while he was making a short trip to Afghanistan to explore the country's history and culture.

And next: with Congress on break, lawmakers getting an earful from their constituents back home. And the message for Democrats is resounding: Fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They can go eff themselves, is how I feel about it. So, what are we doing? We need to fight back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:29:28]

KEILAR: Today, Democratic voters have a few more thoughts for their lawmakers before they head back to D.C. -- quote -- "Fight dirtier. Do something. Step up or step aside," all things heard at heated town halls here in the last 24 hours as the party is facing some fresh fury.

Progressive Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said this about her party's direction:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): We have been obsessed with figuring out the perfect message, and not doing the perfect thing on behalf of working people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: At an event in Arizona that drew thousands of voters, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also called on Democrats to fight harder.