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Now: WH Briefing As New Texts Are Released From Group Chat; Journalist Reveals Attack Plans Shared In Group Chat; DHS Secy. Noem To Tour El Salvador Mega-Prison. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 26, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: -- and it will continue until this administration feels it no longer has to and these terrorists have been taken out.

Which, again, is something the previous administration should have done. But they didn't. And now we've inherited this crisis.

Stephen?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you, Karoline.

I'd like to clarify something about the investigation. And also ask about some conservative commentary on the investigation.

Mike Waltz said last night that he had spoken to Elon Musk about figuring out how Jeffrey Goldbergs number got into his phone. You mentioned the NSC and the White House counsel's office investigating.

Can you just clarify who is investigating, who is leading that? And also Dave Portnoy, who endorsed President Trump, said today that he thinks that Mike Waltz should leave. Could you respond to that?

LEAVITT: Sure. Great respect for Dave Portnoy, but I just answered that previous question from Jennifer.

As for your original question about who's leading, looking into the messaging thread, the National Security Council, the White House counsel's office, and also, yes, Elon Musk's team.

Elon Musk has offered to put his technical experts on this to figure out how this number was inadvertently added to the chat. Again, to take responsibility and ensure this can never happen again.

(CROSSTALK)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I have two questions. One on a follow up on something you just said. But since we have these messages released and you said that the president has now personally reviewed them.

In the chat, at one point Pete Hegseth wrote, "14:15 strike drones on target and in all caps." He said, "This is when the first bombs will definitely drop."

Does the president feel that he was misled by his national security advisors, whoever it was that told him there was no classified information in there? Now that he's seen these messages.

LEAVITT: I've now been asked and answered this question three times by the -- both of you, and I've given you my answer. The president feels the same today as he did yesterday.

Phillip?

COLLINS: Sorry. My follow up on what you had just said --

(CROSSTALK)

LEAVITT: Go ahead Philip.

COLLINS: I have a quick --

(CROSSTALK)

LEAVITT: I'm not taking your follow up.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: -- Karoline--

(CROSSTALK)

LEAVITT: Kaitlan, I'm not taking your follow up.

Philip, go ahead. I've called on you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.

The vice president seemed to express some frustration that Europe wasn't doing more to police waterways in their backyard, noting in that Signal thread that 40 percent of European trade goes through the Suez Canal.

Does the president share that opinion and frustration? And then going forward, should the Europeans be responsible for policing that waterway?

LEAVITT: Well, the president was asked this question yesterday by the pool in the cabinet room, and he answered this question.

He said, yes, he believes that Europe has been, as the vice president put it, freeloading on the backs of American taxpayers and on the off the backs of the United States of America.

And he wants to ensure that Europe pays their fair share. He's always been very honest and upfront about that. And I think the vice president shares those concerns with him as well.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And then one more. LEAVITT: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You know, enlisted soldiers, sailors and Marines would face consequences if they shared this type of information inadvertently with a reporter. Can you tell us more why the president is so willing to give Mike Waltz a mulligan here?

LEAVITT: Again, I have now been asked and answered the same question using different language multiple times.

If anybody has another question, there's a lot of different things going on in the world.

(CROSSTALK)

LEAVITT: We have tariffs possibly being implemented later today. The president is going to talk about that at 4:00 this afternoon.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: OK. Thank you for taking my question.

I wanted to, first and foremost, thank the administration for the election integrity executive order, because so many journalists for four years were banned from talking about this very subject. So thank you to the administration for that.

My question is, yesterday, President Trump, when signing the order, said that there was more to come when it comes to election integrity. Would that include -- include same-day voting and hand-counted paper ballots?

And why are Democrats so against election integrity measures like -- like obviously proof of citizenship when it comes to voting in a United States election?

LEAVITT: Well, it's a very good question. You'll have to ask the Democrats why they're against so many common-sense things, not just mandating voter I.D. Why are they against men in women's sports?

Why are they against deporting foreign terrorists from American soil who have been designated a foreign terrorist organization? I'm referring to Tren de Aragua.

As for the election integrity executive order that the president signed yesterday, this is in an effort to restore trust in American elections. There were more than 10 steps taken, 10 executive actions taken throughout this one order.

It directs the department -- or the attorney general, rather, in Homeland Security, to prevent non-citizens from any involvement in administering elections. There's also another host of actions.

We can provide the fact sheet for you, but it's a very strong election integrity executive order. And the president would also like to see Congress do something about this very important issue. (CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- about Judge Boasberg question.

LEAVITT: Sure. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Karoline, the Republicans and Democrats alike have been expressing some concern about the frequency with which senior Trump officials have been using the Signal app. Has there been discussion, or would there be a review about how often they use Signal?

And -- and if you could explain to us how they might be considering other applications to get away from something like this happening again?

[13:34:59]

LEAVITT: Sure. Well, again, first of all, Signal has been an approved app for government use. It's an encrypted app. And as I said, it's the most safe and efficient way of communicating, especially when people can't be in a SCIF or inside a room physically together.

I think, as the president said yesterday, he wishes that everybody could be in the room. And it's our goal to ensure that everybody can be.

But again, no classified information was discussed in this chat. And any time classified information is discussed amongst high-level officials across this administration, secure lines of communication are used.

Including, by the way, our special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who I understand the "Wall Street Journal" erroneously reported that he was on this Signal chat on a personal device while in Moscow.

That is absolutely false. Steve Witkoff did not have his personal device, nor did he have his government device with him. He was given a classified protected server by the United States government, and he was very careful about his communications when he was in Russia.

So rest assured to the American public, this administration is taking every precaution when it comes to protecting our national security.

And that's why the American people reelected this president, because they know that our national security is in good hands with the -- the president of the United States.

Speaking of the vice president, I understand he's going to be speaking any moment now. I would hate to counter-program the vice president of the United States.

You'll also hear from the president at 3:00. He will be honoring women's history at the Women's History Month Celebration. We have a lot of great women across our cabinet who -- who will be in attendance. So we'll see you all there. And then you'll also hear from the president again at 4:00 when he

talks about tariffs. So plenty of time for more questions.

Sorry it's a bit shorter today, guys. Well see you later.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: The White House press secretary there just wrapping up the briefing as she took a number of questions.

Didn't like all of them because a number of them were repeated questions as -- as reporters were trying to get an answer specifically about that information, the additional information that's been now released by Jeffrey Goldberg in "The Atlantic" in terms of this text chain.

The information that was on it, which a number of folks have looked at and said, yes, that would absolutely qualify as classified information.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yes.

HILL: She said the president feels exactly the same way he did yesterday, that he is not concerned about this information. And was asked multiple times whether anybody was going to lose their job. Does not seem that they will.

SANCHEZ: Yes. She kept repeating what you heard at the end there, that the president is said to have this 4:00 p.m. press conference talking about auto tariffs.

She said that he may actually be announcing tariffs, to which, apparently, we're being told by our reporters that markets started trending downward.

HILL: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It appears that the White House is trying to counter-program this story.

And I want to go to CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who's in the room now.

Kaitlan, I found it interesting, first, that she rejected your question and said that she had already answered it, even though she didn't directly address the substance of what you were asking. And then that she rejected your follow up, which is atypical.

COLLINS: Well, and I would just point to what we've been what we've been hearing from Republicans on Capitol Hill who have described this White House as trying to twist itself in knots to say that this is not classified information.

That's what Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, had to say earlier today. You also heard from Roger Wicker, from John Thune, from other top Republicans, including Lindsey Graham, who is a very strong ally of President Trump's. Saying that this is certainly sensitive information now that everyone can read these texts after they we're released by Jeffrey Goldberg in "The Atlantic".

And the president himself was maintaining yesterday that none of this information was classified.

And given, Karoline Leavitt said that she had just been in the Oval Office with President Trump personally reviewing these messages, essentially, arguing to my colleague, Peter Alexander, that, yes, President Trump had seen and was aware of these messages that we're released today.

I read the one from Pete Hegseth. It was in all caps saying, "This is the time that the bombs will definitely start falling."

That is one that I've seen people point repeatedly to as obviously sensitive information about exactly what that strike in Yemen was going to look like and when it was going to happen.

Asked if the president felt misled by whoever it was that told him this was not classified information that was contained in that message, Karoline Leavitt said that she had answered that question there, maintaining that it was not any classified information.

Obviously, that's an argument that we're seeing play out right now with the director of National Intelligence and the CIA director on Capitol Hill.

My follow up question to her that I did not ask but asked as she was leaving the room here was the White House has repeatedly turned as a defense here to trashing Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of "The Atlantic."

Criticizing him, saying that he's a registered Democrat, criticizing his past reporting on President Trump, which is certainly not lost on anyone because the president holds a personal disdain for Jeffrey Goldberg, I think it's safe to say.

The question then is raised, why is his number in the National Security Adviser Mike Waltz's phone? Because it was Mike Waltz, who has acknowledged he did add Jeffrey Goldberg to this group chat, which is why he was privy to all of the sensitive information.

That question, though, went unanswered -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: It is fascinating to hear the press secretary question openly who Americans would trust more, Jeffrey Goldberg, who previously had this reporting directly from John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, saying that Trump told him.

[13:40:02]

And for context, Kelly is a retired general, a Gold Star father. Trump allegedly telling Kelly that fallen servicemembers we're suckers and losers. And saying, if Americans would rather trust Goldberg or the defense

secretary, who during his confirmation process, Kaitlan, had all sorts of ugly details emerge and barely actually got confirmed, right?

COLLINS: Well, and obviously the White House has stood by Pete Hegseth. They certainly did during that difficult confirmation process. And you've seen how he's argued. He's often one of the public-facing faces of this administration who is out there arguing the presidents message.

But now, obviously, there has been so much focus and scrutiny on him, because when you look at the -- the development of that message as it goes along, it is Hegseth that then details that game plan after you see that policy discussion that was happening very much between the vice president, Defense Secretary Hegseth Stephen Miller, another top aide to the president.

It was then when Pete Hegseth starts responding and the defense secretary is laying out what this attack is going to look like, what they're striking, when Mike Waltz later responds to -- to brief the vice president on the success of the attack and even detailing Houthi leaders girlfriend's house that they saw him enter, and then say that the building did collapse.

It was that level of detail in these messages. And so obviously, these are questions that are continuing to mount for the White House.

And one development we did hear here is that the president himself will be speaking shortly at about 4:00 p.m. Eastern inside the Oval Office.

He will have the answer to answer these questions about confidence inside his top national security team now that he can read the messages that were included in this Signal group chat.

HILL: Absolutely.

And just one more question on that, Kaitlan. And I believe you may have even discussed this last night on your show.

As we look at, to your point, really, the White House tying itself in knots, right, as we've heard from a number of different lawmakers and these different explanations, there is also this sense, as I understand it, that this is a White House that does not, of course, want to admit that anything is going wrong.

Especially with, to Boris' point, the secretary of defense, when that was such a difficult confirmation process to get him there in the first place. Do you have a sense of how much that is also part of the consideration in terms of what we're hearing from this White House?

COLLINS: That's a great point, Erica. And I do think that plays a lot into what you're seeing publicly from the administration and why the president personally made that decision to add that event to his schedule yesterday. Where we were part of the pool at CNN. We went into the cabinet room and Mike Waltz was seated there at the table. And it was kind of this public show of support where the president answered questions from us on this and then also turned to Mike Waltz to -- to kind of lay out his argument.

It was the first time we had heard from him since the story had been released. And a lot of that is the president publicly wanting to -- to kind of contain the message on this. He often believes he's his own best spokesperson on this.

But I just will tell you, behind the scenes, the White House does recognize the mistake here of adding a reporter to that group chat of having that message out there, especially with the timing of these Capitol Hill hearings.

Because then the DNI has to be briefed on this. The CIA director has to be briefed on this. And so certainly behind the scenes, they're acknowledging this.

And I've also been told personally that the president has asked why his national security advisor has Jeffrey Goldbergs phone number to where he could so easily add him to this because of the presidents fixation and disdain for Jeffrey Goldberg.

And so this is certainly something that is happening behind the scenes, even if publicly they are saying they are all on board with the national security team here.

SANCHEZ: And we just want to point out for our viewers, the defense secretary, who is traveling right now, set to depart Hawaii in a few moments, is set to speak to reporters. We understand that he's going to make some remarks.

Kaitlan Collins, from the White House, thank you so much.

[13:43:38]

Stay tuned for those remarks from the defense secretary. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:48:05]

HILL: We are continuing to follow the breaking news. Of course, the fallout, the questions from now, seeing these full text messages, which were published from "The Atlantic." Jeffrey Goldberg being added, of course, to that text chain on Signal.

To dive in a little bit more to what we're seeing, CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton joins us now.

Colonel, there's a lot of talk about whether or not this was, in fact, classified information. The details that we're revealed in this text chat and what an adversary could take away from that information. What is your take on what we saw and the type of risk it could pose?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Erica, there are several things to look at here. First of all, you have the specific weapons platforms that are mentioned right here. You have the F-18s that are mentioned and you have the M.Q-9, which is the Predator Reaper drone.

The other thing that you have, the timing, 12:15, 13:45. This is when he did this. And then he talks about the first strike window starts at, you know, at this particular time. And that the strike package should be on time.

The other thing is that he mentions this term "trigger base." So that could mean several different things. But what we're talking about here probably is either an asset in -- an asset that is out there that is waiting to be tasked to hit a specific target.

They know what target they're going to hit, but they're only going to hit if they're given that go ahead to do so or it could be a euphemism for a particular base that they're at. So that is the first part of the text.

The second part here, again, we have the same thing with the -- the weapon system. And you have the times where everything happens.

And then he says -- at 14:15, he says there were -- or 2:15, he says, "Strike drones are on target." And this is basically when the drones will actually drop the bombs. And that will be based on the coordination with the F-18s that are working those so-called trigger- based targets.

[13:50:00]

So this is one of the areas where you can see how much detail is actually, used in each of these texts.

And then the other thing you have is the second strike. So not only did we talk about the first strike, but we talked about the second strike.

And you mentioned, the weapons, he mentions the weapons platforms and the fact that the Tomahawks are being launched. These are the shipborne missiles that are actually going to be used in this kind of an operation.

And this is where they would -- the aircraft carrier launches these, you know, the F-18s from this perspective. But the other part is, of course, you launch the tomahawk missiles that he talked about here.

And this is, you know, a very critical element because it shows all the different aspects of the weapons platforms that we have here. And here you have the target being struck. And of course, the resulting explosions from that, that area.

SANCHEZ: Colonel, what does it tell you that the specifics -- the specific targets that they picked we're targeted? Is there anything that reveals something to you about the effort to go after specific Houthi rebels?

LEIGHTON: So one of the key things to -- to see about this, Boris, is that the very fact that he's talking about specific targets means -- it can mean several things.

But if you know the target area and you're an intelligence analyst, you're looking at the area where we're talking about. You're looking at Sanaa, the capital, which is possible area.

And then this -- this city near the Saudi border, which is called Saada, and that is a stronghold of the Houthis. So, you know, at the very least that one of two areas is going to be struck by this, maybe even both.

And if you were intercepting this kind of information, you would know that to prepare -- if you are the one that is charged with informing the Houthis, you'd know to prepare these areas for a possible strike.

And that's why this kind of thing is really important, because the reason you classify these kinds of conversations and the plans that are resulting, you know, in -- in these kinds of strikes, the reason you classify that is to prevent the adversary from knowing what you're going to do.

And if that ever got out into the open, they could protect these areas. And that would make it really hard for us to conduct these operations as successfully as we did.

HILL: It's really important to walk through all that.

Colonel, really appreciate it. Thank you.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Erica.

HILL: Well, as we wait to hear from the defense secretary, we are expecting that just moments from now, we are also closely following another big story.

Today, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on her way to El Salvador, where she is set to tour the notorious mega prison where more than 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members are currently being detained after the Trump administration deported them from the United States more than a week ago.

SANCHEZ: CNN's David Culver joins us now live with more details.

And, David, you've actually been inside this prison. I wonder what you think Secretary Noem is going to see when she visits today and what she might not see.

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So this is a prison that is really iconic across Latin America. And it's growing in its celebrity status, if you will, Boris and Erica, across the world at this point. I've got to tell you, I mean, this is the only place that I've been into that has had folks who are alleged to have committed really heinous and brutal crimes where I've had folks reaching out on social media saying, hey, can I get tickets? How do I sign up to go?

And it's because it's risen to this level where people think it's just really, in Latin America, more than anything else, a status and symbol of what is right in combating crime.

That's certainly the perception from there. Now, there's a lot of criticism when it comes to CECOT, which is the formal name of the terrorism confinement center in El Salvador.

Because folks are obviously concerned with people not getting access to due process and maybe not even going forward with full convictions and still ending up in this supermax facility.

It is huge. It's a mega prison that can hold up to 40,000 people. And we did get a tour late last year. And I'll give you a sample of what we saw inside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER: All right. We're going to go in here.

(voice-over): And late last year, we stepped inside to see it for ourselves. These men described as the worst of the worst, tattooed with reminders of El Salvador's dark past.

It's tense and uncomfortable. But here, officials say comfort isn't meant to exist.

(on camera): There's no mattresses, there's no sheets. You've got a toilet over here for them to go to the bathroom. You've got this basin here that they use to bathe themselves. And then you can see there there's a barrel of water that they can drink from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER: And, Boris, to your question, what exactly will Secretary Noem see? It's going to be highly curated. These are structured tours. It's not very likely she'll be able to veer off into just any sector she might want to go into.

And I think one of the most important things that she may not see is the stories behind some of these individuals and why they are there. You know, that's obviously something that she's going to be curious about certainly with those from Venezuela who we're deported.

But your time is rather limited, and they cite security for trying to move people in pretty quickly.

HILL: David, as there is all of this interest, right, there's also interest not just in the -- in the prison itself. And we've seen a lot of it through your excellent reporting.

[13:55:06]

But also in this model and whether it could be used somewhere else. Is that part of what Kristi Noem will be looking into?

CULVER: I think so, yes. And, Erica, it's called the Bekele model, named after President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador. And this is one that, as a lot of people praise it, a lot of people criticize it.

It is certainly a mano dura. You know, the hard fist that that he uses in going after criminals there.

I think what's really interesting is you talk to people in El Salvador -- and we've made several trips down there. The vast majority will tell you perhaps we've sacrificed civil liberties, but we're able to walk the streets, we're able to feel free.

And I think it puts in a context the level of brutality that many people in El Salvador and really across Latin America, have experienced.

And for them, it's justified when you see this harsh treatment of -- of prisoners and really the -- stripped of any sort of identity. And for them they say, well, that's fine to take place so long as it allows us to live freely and have access to things like, you know, just being able to leave our homes, quite frankly.

SANCHEZ: David Culver, thank you so much for giving us that preview of what the secretary is going to experience. I appreciate it.

Still ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, the latest on the fallout from the exposure of attack plans on a Signal group chat. We're expecting any minute to hear from the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, before he departs Hawaii. We're going to bring that to you live. Stay with CNN.

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