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AG Bondi: Alleged MS-13 Member Associated with Very Violent Crimes Arrested; Musk Touts $1 Million Award to Signers of Petition Against Activist Judges; Vance, Second Lady to Visit U.S. Base in Greenland, But No Dogsled Races. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 27, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A man that officials describe as a major leader of the MS-13 gang has been arrested in Virginia. Here is Attorney General Pam Bondi.

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PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: All we're saying now, for certain reasons, we're not identifying him by name. He was one of the top members, top three in the entire country, head of the East Coast, one of the three leaders and I will say, very violent crimes. Very -- anything you can associate with MS-13, he was the leader over it.

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KEILAR: We're told the man in custody is 24 years old. He's from El Salvador, but there's few other details that are being released at this point. Bondi says the alleged gang leader is in the U.S. illegally, but, quote, will not be living in our country much longer.

Former FBI deputy director and CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe joins us now to talk about this. Really glad to have you here, Andy, because you actually ran the office that investigated and prosecuted MS-13 members. And as you hear Pam Bondi, I mean, very strongly insinuating that this guy is going to be deported there, first just talk to us about how significant this arrest is.

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, it's a big arrest. I mean, MS-13 is a really horrible group. It's absolutely a transnational organized crime group. It's one that we've been fighting here in the United States and particularly in Northern Virginia for many years. The Washington field office of the FBI has a satellite office in Prince William County. They do amazing work in partnership with detectives from Prince William County.

[15:35:00]

That's the group that made this arrest yesterday. They have a history of taking down these sorts of guys. In 2022, you had a bunch of members of MS-13 were convicted of committing two homicides here in Northern Virginia. More recently, you had another leader of a clique or a group in Reston, Virginia, that was convicted of perpetuating six homicides, I believe five or six murders.

So this is a bad group, bad guy, good thing he's off the street. But really, as you suggested, the devil is in the details about how he's going to be treated.

KEILAR: Yes, deporting him, would that be the right move or the wrong move?

MCCABE: Well, what you would expect here, he's been arraigned apparently on very minimal charges, simply being an illegal immigrant in possession of a firearm. What you would expect, if he's actually the leadership figure that they have stated, and the Attorney General clearly said he's been involved in many, many violent acts that they're aware of, you would expect him to come back in and supersede with much more significant charges, maybe RICO charges, not only to take him down, but the rest of his organization. That would be the normal way to do this, and that's consistent with U.S. policy that people who commit crimes in the United States should be arrested and prosecuted here and should serve their sentences here before they're deported.

But we'll see if that happens, because I think she's foreshadowing with her comments a little bit here that this guy might not be long for the United States. They may decide to just send him back to El Salvador, which would be a massive departure from the way the United States government has traditionally looked at interdicting and prosecuting organized crime members.

KEILAR: And it wouldn't be the first time they've done that, right? Because there was another alleged top leader of MS-13, Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, who was deported to El Salvador earlier this month. And that raised a lot of eyebrows -- this is a picture of him -- because U.S. investigators presumably could have benefited from getting some information from him or trying to at least. They believe that he has information that could implicate top Salvadoran government officials in possibly corrupt deals. How strange was it to you that he was deported?

MCCABE: Yes, really strange, because if he's got that kind of information, he most likely has just as valuable information about MS- 13 members here. And we know, Brianna, we know from our long history of working targeting organized crime, targeting transnational crime, targeting drug trafficking operations, the way to do this is to take people down, turn them into sources of information, and use that information to pursue other prosecutions. Because, like it or not, we have a lot of these people here.

And taking out one or two leadership people, that's great, it's progress. But if you don't fully exploit the intelligence that they have to offer, you're missing out on an opportunity to take out the organization here in the United States.

KEILAR: Yes, great to get your insights, especially with your background when it comes to MS-13. Andrew McCabe, thank you so much.

MCCABE: Thanks. KEILAR: When we come back, the power of the pen and money, how Elon Musk is going after what he calls activist judges. Stay with us.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Elon Musk is touting another million dollar -- lost my paper there -- another million dollar award to Wisconsin voters who sign his online petition opposing what he calls activist judges. Now, the billionaire announced the first big winner last night and says he's going to announce another one tomorrow.

KEILAR: Musk used the same approach last year to drive up voter registrations in swing states ahead of President Trump's reelection victory. This time, the wealthiest man in the world is eying Wisconsin's high-stakes Supreme Court election.

CNN's Hadas Gold is here with more on this. Hadas, tell us the details.

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this race in Wisconsin, this Supreme Court race, it's also being seen, though, as a really important, one of the first, really, referendums on the Trump administration and really a question about whether Musk is the next conservative kingmaker. Now, Musk has long railed against what he sees are activist judges. These are usually judges that just rule against the Trump administration or against DOGE.

So they put his PAC, America PAC, has put up this petition. Now, it's only for Wisconsin voters, and it's a very short one. It essentially just says, you know, I am in opposition to activist judges.

But what it really is is a massive data-gathering operation, and it's focusing on Wisconsin voters getting their things like e-mails and cell phone numbers that will be used to help get out the vote next week. Now, you get $100 if you sign the petition. You get another $100, actually, if we refer somebody who also signed up.

And as a surprise, they started to give out $1 million to random people who signed up. One person has already received this. Another person, Musk says, is going to get this tomorrow on Friday.

Now, Musk has already spent, if you combine his personal spending as well as his PAC spending, something like $20 million in this race. It's a massive amount of money that is poured into the race. Now, why is Musk focusing so much on this race?

Beyond the fact that Wisconsin is a swing state and beyond the fact that he rails against activist judges and it's a referendum on the administration, but it's also, he believes it's because this Supreme Court could help determine whether Republicans will continue having a majority in Congress because he believes that if the Democrat, the opponent in this race, Susan Crawford, if she wins, he believes that Democrats will try to redraw the congressional districts in Wisconsin. And he worries that that could mean that Republicans could lose something like two seats. And with that razor-thin majority in Congress right now, those two seats could really matter.

[15:45:00]

And that's why he's getting so involved in this race -- guys.

JIMENEZ: Hadas Gold, really appreciate the reporting. Thanks for being here.

All right, still to come, Vice President Vance and the second lady's controversial visit to Greenland as President Trump eyes the island for takeover.

I'm going to talk to a member of the European Parliament who had some, let's call them salty words for Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: Today, Greenland is gearing up for Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife to arrive. As leaders there condemn President Trump's bid to, quote, buy the self-governing Danish territory. Just yesterday, Trump said this.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a island that, from a defensive posture and even offensive posture, is something we need, especially with the world the way it is. And we're going to have to have it. And so I hate to put it that way, but we're going to have to have it.

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[15:50:00]

JIMENEZ: Now, the Vance's itinerary dramatically changed as outrage grew in Greenland over the trip. They will no longer go to one of the world's foremost dog sled races. But the pair is now set to visit a U.S. base and meet service members tomorrow. We're also learning the trip will include Michael Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Utah Senator Mike Lee.

With me now is European Parliament member Anders Vistisen. He is a Danish lawmaker who has spoken out, we'll call it bluntly, against President Trump's desire for Greenland in the past. Thank you for being here.

Look, in response to the initial plans for the visit, Greenland's prime minister called it highly aggressive. And with this scaled back version, the Danish foreign minister has said it's a positive thing that Americans are canceling their visit to Greenlandic society and instead going to a U.S. military installation. How do you feel?

ANDERS VISTISEN, DANISH POLITICIAN WHO BLASTED PRESIDENT TRUMP OVER GREENLAND: It's de facto a humiliation of the president and his vice president. We've seen media reports all through the day here in Denmark of the American consulate in Nuuk trying to get appointments in with the second lady, being rejected over and over from everything from private business owners to private residents. So in the end, I think it shows very clearly how the Greenlandic people view this very aggressive posture from the U.S. administration that they simply don't want a visit from the second family.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, we heard some of it before we came to this interview, but obviously just after Trump was inaugurated and the president had floated this idea of buying Greenland, you went on and, I'll quote you here, you told him to F off. So I think I know how you felt then. But how do you feel now when this idea or this concept has clearly not gone anywhere over in recent months?

VISTISEN: I think most Danes, like me, feel deeply offended. We have been very close allies of the United States for 80 years now. We have allowed military presence in Greenland.

We have higher casualties per capita in Iraq and Afghanistan wars than the U.S. have. So in that sense, being called bad allies from the U.S. administration is not only factually wrong, it's also deeply hurtful and resentful. And it's tearing apart what have been a very good transatlantic bond between Denmark and the U.S. for 80 years.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, we just heard President Trump this week saying we need Greenland for international safety and security. He goes on to say, I hate to put it this way, but we're going to have to have it. How seriously are you taking these types of comments? And how concerned are you about the persistence of these comments?

VISTISEN: We take the intentions very seriously, but the argumentation is bogus in every way. America have had security bases, military installations in Greenland since 1940. They have decided themselves to scale back their military presence.

If they wanted to upscale that for any serious reason, there would not be any objections from Denmark or Greenland. There's no obstacles in getting American companies into mine Greenland. Actually, the Greenlandic homebrew government encouraged that.

So there's really no other argument for this persistence than Donald Trump wanting to enlarge his territory and apparently enlarging it by taking it from an allied nation, the Kingdom of Denmark.

JIMENEZ: So let's just talk about the sort of security arrangements that have been there in the past. Clearly, the president has set his eyes on sort of expanding that presence. He cited international safety.

I mean, what is the current relationship right now between the United States, Greenland and the Danish people, of course, as well at the moment right now, militarily? Let's just start there.

VISTISEN: Militarily, there has been agreement between Greenland, Denmark and the U.S. of military installations, U.S. military installations on Greenland since 1940. So there has been no hindering of whatever military presence America wants. It's bases that have the status of diplomatic missions. So when Vance and his wife is going to Greenland tomorrow, they are basically visiting a base that is U.S. territory and there is a full American leeway to do what they want militarily there as part of the NATO and as part of the military installations they have on Greenland.

JIMENEZ: But, of course, the risk is when it expands beyond the parameters of the bases and as part of the agreements we've had in the past. Anders Vistisen, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it.

VISTISEN: Thank you for having me.

JIMENEZ: All right, when we come back, do you remember who your college commencement speaker was? The 2025 graduating class of the University of Maryland probably will. Can you guess?

There's a hint if you look at the bottom of the screen here. The answer is next.

[15:55:34]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: Graduation season just around the corner and the University of Maryland just announced its commencement speaker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERMIT THE FROG: Uh, I guess it's me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That's right, Kermit the Frog going to address the graduates' family and friends at the ceremony in May which is awesome, right? Pretty cool. His appearance is thanks to the long history between the university and Muppets creator Jim Henson who graduated actually from UMD in 1960.

JIMENEZ: And very serious here. Kermit said in a statement, Nothing could make these feet happier than to speak at UMD.

[16:00:00]

He said the class of 2025 is going to leap into the world and make it a better place.

No better messenger.

KEILAR: I agree. I would argue for Muppets or cartoons or really all kinds of characters to just be the ones giving commencement speeches and bringing happiness to all of us.

JIMENEZ: You've got to make sure, one, the graduates are awake. You know, sometimes they have a little bit of a night the night before, you know. You've got to make sure you bring the energy.

KEILAR: Oh, do they do -- I don't know. I wasn't about that way.

JIMENEZ: That's true. I don't know. I've heard

KEILAR: I've heard.

JIMENEZ: I've heard.

KEILAR: All right, "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END