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Search for Survivors in Bangkok; Vance on High-Stakes Trip to Greenland; Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is Interviewed about Vance's Trip to Greenland; Mangione Granted Laptop in Jail; Damage to U.S. Intel Gathering from Disclosed War Chat Texts. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 28, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: So, the fact that spending rebounded is great because it does suggest that the drop in January was more driven by kind of a post-holiday hangover and some bad weather. But the real test is going to be in the next coming weeks and months as Americans react to all of these tariff hikes.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Yes, another couple months of reports to kind of get a real sense of what the -

EGAN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: What the tariffs are doing.

It's good to see you.

EGAN: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks so much, Matt.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, a powerful earthquake rocks southeast Asia. The death toll is rising. Officials say more than 80 people are trapped in the rubble of one building alone.

Going to Greenland. The vice president and his wife currently en route as residents there are riled up after President Trump's promise to get the island one way or another.

And buyer's remorse from some Trump voters after Elon Musk and his team come for their jobs.

Sara Sidner is out today. I'm John Berman, with Kate Bolduan. And this is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BOLDUAN: The breaking news this morning, right now rescue crews are trying to find and rescue what they believe is 81 people who are trapped underneath a collapsed building in Bangkok, Thailand. It crumbled to the ground after a major earthquake rocked the region, killing at least six people, injuring dozens.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Just look at that. Absolutely terrifying. Like a skyscraper falling to the ground. At least three people are confirmed dead from that collapse. The 7.7 magnitude quake hit central Myanmar, leaving a wave of destruction across one of Asia's poorest nations. The death toll is expected to rise over the coming hours.

I want to bring in on the phone CNN photojournalist Mark Phillips, joining us now. He's in Bangkok.

Mark, can you hear me?

MARK PHILLIPS, CNN PHOTOJOURNALIST (via telephone): I can, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much for jumping on.

Tell - tell everyone, we're going to show some video that you've been able to send in. Tell everyone what you experienced, what you have seen.

PHILLIPS: Oh, when I was - it was about 1:30 in the afternoon and I was in my apartment, which is 12 floors up. And at first it was a gentle shake, which I - actually I thought I was having a fainting, actually, to tell you the truth. And then, as it went on, it just got stronger and stronger and stronger. Now, I noticed that the light fittings were moving backwards and forwards, the curtains were moving, doors were opening and closing.

And I've been in earthquakes before. And they're usually short and sharp. You know, I did the Japanese tsunami. I've been in Pakistan and Afghanistan when there's been earthquakes. But this went on for like two minutes to the point where usually you sit there and, well, I'll wait this out because it's dangerous to leave.

But as it went on, and as it got stronger, there was a thought, I've got to get out. And as I was leaving my apartment, I think everybody else had the same idea. So, everybody made it to the stairs. And we all got downstairs.

But there was a lot of debris falling off my building and I think several buildings around. But, you know, it's - it is - he feels kind of, you know, you have no control over it. There's nowhere to run. So, it was a rather terrifying moment.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: We had another - another man who is in Bangkok as well on earlier in the show, and he was talking about how it was just - people were so scared to - to go back into the - into their apartment buildings or into any building. He said people were just kind of like on the streets because it was so terrifying, and it went on for so long. How are - what did you see when you - when you left the apartment? PHILLIPS: Well, there was a lot of people out in the streets. And

you're right, there was people who were terrified to go back. And everybody was told not to really go back into the buildings because there may be aftershocks, which is the right thing to say. So, there was a lot of people down there. And it was kind of strange.

I live in the middle of Bangkok. It's very busy. But you have people like ladies who were in the street who were having facials, who were still wearing all the - the face cream. It was that kind of - they didn't know where to go to. There was a gentleman I spoke to who was kind of in - half dressed. He -- you know, he was dressed properly, but he said I was having a massage at the time and I had to run out.

So, everybody, you know, it was - everybody got out very quickly. And then there was that confusion. What do we do now? Do we wait?

Also the, you know, the - the underground service, the train service, that all stopped. So, people kind of left on their own. How do we get home from here? And that was the next big thing.

So, Bangkok, on a Friday evening, is difficult enough to get around.

[09:05:04]

But with an earthquake, it was total gridlock. And you couldn't - you couldn't get anywhere.

BOLDUAN: And - and knowing you, Mark, I'm sure you're - you're out now working, reporting on what - what all is going on around you. I'm sorry I didn't ask initially, is everything OK with your apartment and everyone you know?

PHILLIPS: Yes. Yes, yes, my partner, actually, she was in a building that was 73 stories high. So, the - I called her and she said, yes, we - I had to walk down 73 stories to get to the ground. But everybody was OK. In fact, you know, that's the one good thing about Bangkok. Even though three people have died, and where I'm sitting at the moment, the construction site, 80 people are still missing, the death toll is slightly fairly low for a city of this size. So, that's a good sign that, you know, construction here is quite good.

But it's still early day, and we have to see, you know, how it pans out and what happens by the light of day, whether those numbers do move up.

BOLDUAN: That's absolutely right. And whereas Bangkok has - has strong infrastructure, Myanmar, where the epicenter is, is absolutely not. So, that's another part of - of this unfolding kind of disaster that we're watching.

PHILLIPS: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Mark, thank you for jumping on - on the phone with us, well, this morning here and I really appreciate it. It's going - let's see what happens today as rescue operations, as Mark is there to report on, rescue operations are underway as they're trying to get some 81 people out right now from underneath the rubble of that collapsed skyscraper.

Mark Phillips, thank you so much.

John.

BERMAN: All right, happening now, Vice President J.D. Vance, and his wife, Usha, are on a plane headed for Greenland where they could get an arctic reception. And by that I mean chilly.

President Trump is on a persistent pursuit of the territory, saying just yesterday, quote, "we'll go as far as we have to, to gain control of it." The people of Greenland voicing their opposition to becoming part of the United States. In a recent opinion poll, 85 percent of Greenlanders said no thanks.

Let's get right to the White House. CNN's Kevin Liptak is there.

And, Kevin, it's interesting, this trip has changed a lot, maybe for different reasons.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, when this trip started out, it was just going to be the second lady, Usha Vance, and she was going to visit one of the world's most preeminent dog sled races in an attempt to sort of ascertain some more about Greenlandic culture.

It is now a very different visit. The vice president is aboard, and they are not visiting the dog sled race, they're going to a U.S. military installation high above the Arctic Circle to talk about the Space Force.

And just to give you a little bit of the backstory here. When the first trip was announced, it did draw some - some blowback, both from Danish officials, Greenlandic officials, but also from everyday Greenlanders who said that they would protest this visit. They had actually planned to turn around and silently protest Usha Vance's motorcade as it was driving to that dog sled race.

As J.D. Vance watched this outrage grow, he essentially said, look, if you're going to have a problem with this visit, the problem is with me. I'm coming along for it. And it really did change the tone and tenor.

Now, of course, it's taking a much more militaristic tone, a much more political tone. He's taking a larger delegation, including the national security advisor, Mike Waltz, the Energy secretary, and the senator, Mike Lee, of course, all coming against this backdrop of President Trump's ambitions to somehow try and acquire Greenland. One official says that Vance will use this visit to criticize Danish officials for what he says is poor stewardship of this island.

But when you listen to those Danish officials, they say that if Trump wants to gain a military foothold in Greenland, he really just needs to ask.

Listen to what one said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERS VISTISEN, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: America have had security bases and military installations in Greenland since 1940. They have decided themselves to scale back their military presence. If they wanted to upscale that for - for any serious reason, there will not be any objections from Denmark or Greenland.

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 a - from a - from an allied nation, the kingdom of Denmark.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, it's probably no surprise that Trump's interest in Greenland has sparked the attention of Vladimir Putin. Putin himself was in the Arctic region today. He says that it's no surprise that Trump is interested in gaining more American presence in the Arctic. But he says that Russia will protect its own interests in the region as well.

John.

BERMAN: All right, Kevin Liptak, at the White House, thank you very much.

With us now is Congressman Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Yes.

BERMAN: And just one quick question on Greenland.

[09:10:02]

One other thing that happened since when this trip was originally announced, when it was just the second lady and now, is the whole Signal scandal.

SWALWELL: Yes.

BERMAN: And I wonder if the vice president's decision to go, if you think that was somehow affected by that.

SWALWELL: Why is J.D. Vance in Greenland? Greenlanders don't want J.D. Vance in Greenland. And Americans don't want him there. I mean he should go to Greensboro or Green Bay and go to a supermarket and see what is really, you know, crunching and hurting everyday Americans right now.

This is just so insulting to the rest of the world. And we're losing alliances the way we treat other countries like some Risk, you know, game board. And I've met, in the last couple weeks, with Canadians, with members of the European parliament, and they're telling me, it may take generations. And - and our lifetime, we may not see the damage undone that this kind of nonsense is doing to us in the world.

BERMAN: I do want to talk about Signal and the group chat and the continued fallout from that.

As you look to the future, and you serve on all kinds of committees that deal with the military in the past and intelligence, what do you think the impact will be from this going forward?

SWALWELL: Well, I want to know, are they going to continue to use this type of chat environment for future operations? No one has answered that. And every member of Congress, at least on our side, should ask every intelligence official and every military official when they appear under oath before Congress, are you using Signal chat?

And, by the way, DOGE, these guys are obsessed with deleting jobs. Maybe there's one job they should create, someone to monitor who's in the group chat.

BERMAN: You know, it's interesting, the attorney general of the United States, Pam Bondi, was on TV last night, and she actually said that she thinks Signal is secure and that maybe there will be chats - she didn't specify chats dealing with military attacks, but there would be government-related chats that take place on it going forward.

SWALWELL: That's fine. There's a lot of, you know, different apps that you can use to make us efficient. This was a military strike with no security awareness as to who was in the chat.

And by the way, John, the American people are not going to be gaslit about this. They know that anyone else in the military, anyone else in the intelligence community, if they had done this, they'd be gone. They'd lose access to any classified information. They'd never be able to work in the government again. And that's why Pete Hegseth and Mike Waltz should no longer be in the government. And it's just a complete lack of accountability that Donald Trump is showing by keeping them.

BERMAN: Roger Wicker, the Senate chair of the Armed Services Committee, Jack Reed, the minority ranking member there, have written a letter asking for an inspector general report at the Pentagon into this. Is that enough?

SWALWELL: Go nowhere. It will go absolutely nowhere. And Republicans will do nothing. They're - they're just going to shrink, hide under the bed, just like they always do.

And, by the way, inspectors general were completely fired by Donald Trump. So, these are his people who will investigate him. So, it's going to really be on Democrats in Congress to hold them accountable as much as possible. People like Democracy Forward and Marc Elias in the courts, who are pressing, you know, to get as much information about this. Hold on tight. Keep democracy alive until the midterms. Win in the midterms, and cut our hell in half. That - that's the plan for the next year and a half.

BERMAN: You talked about the midterms. Your colleague, Elise Stefanik, member from New York, who had been in House leadership, and who had been nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the president's pulling her nomination because they're afraid of the margins there.

How do you feel about her continued presence in Congress? What does that tell you?

SWALWELL: Yes, it tells me that there's momentum. And to Americans who are asking me at the town halls I've been doing in Republican districts across the country, I'm telling them, your activism is working. We're almost victims of our own success in that because they put Stefanik back in Congress because they knew that we were very likely going to win that seat. Where Donald Trump won by 20 points in her district back in November momentum is building. People, Republicans, Democrats, independents, they don't want to lose their health care. They don't want to, you know, call Social Security and have nobody answer the phone. And so, we are starting to build momentum, and that feels pretty good.

BERMAN: I got to let you go, but do you think your leaders have figured out a way how to harness that energy or momentum?

SWALWELL: Yes, they're sending us to Republican districts where Republicans won't hold town halls. And in Wisconsin, by the way, on April 1st, that's going to be a big test. Elon Musk is spending $20 million there to try and win a state Supreme Court seat that could determine whether there are two additional House seats for Democrats that were taken under gerrymandering. That's going to tell us a lot about where activism is right now in the heartland of America.

BERMAN: Congressman Eric Swalwell, appreciate your time.

SWALWELL: My pleasure.

BERMAN: Thanks so much for coming in.

SWALWELL: Thanks.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Still ahead for us, a judge says accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione now can have access to a laptop while behind bars. Why prosecutors say it's the latest example of the man accused of murder getting special treatment.

And a child complains to a babysitter of fearing there are monsters under his bed. And the truly troubling discovery she made when she looked underneath.

And an incredible overtime comeback for Texas Tech to punch their ticket to the Elite Eight. We have all the March Madness highlights coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:19:04]

BERMAN: This morning, a judge says he has no objection to accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione's request for a laptop behind bars. Mangione's legal team requested the device so he can review documents related to his upcoming murder trial.

CNN's Kara Scannell back with us again this morning to explain what's going on here.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. So, the judge - the New York state judge has said Mangione can have this laptop. And his lawyers asked for it because they have thousands of hours of surveillance video remember from that big manhunt, nationwide manhunt, as well as some photos, police body cam videos, all of this material that they say he needs to help them go through and that there are not enough hours in visiting hours with his legal team for him to do that. So, the judge signed off on it over the objection of prosecutors who thought that this was just another level of special treatment that they said Mangione was getting.

Now, they have allowed Mangione to change into plain clothes, normal clothes, to appear before the judge outside of that prison jumpsuit.

[09:20:04]

And in this most recent court appearance, within a pair of socks there were two heart-shaped notes. And that is something that prosecutors raised to the judge as saying, hey, look, we gave him special treatment. They got these notes to him that shouldn't have happened.

Now, Mangione's team had said that was inadvertent. It was innocent. And that they said that they really need this. So, the judge is going to allow it.

The next step is that a federal judge, because Mangione is in federal custody, because he's also facing federal murder charges, will have to sign off on this. But there's not expected to be an objection there.

BERMAN: I wonder how it will actually work inside the prison itself. And do they have to approve of it?

SCANNELL: So, the prison will monitor whatever terms they've agreed to. And in this instance, like some of these other cases, like Sean "Diddy" Combs, he has a laptop. It's really controlled. It is - the evidence is preloaded onto it. He can't freely surf the internet or be in contact with his supporters. It is purely a device for evidence.

Now, he can use other computers to communicate with the outside world. Those are monitored communications by the Bureau of Prisons. This is supposed to be more isolated, contained, and just to help him review all these thousands of hours of videos to help prepare for his defense.

BERMAN: You know, the interest grows, obviously, as this case moves forward.

Kara Scannell, thank you very much for these new details.

All right, funding cuts, students being detained, programs threatened. The impact of the president's moves on college campuses.

And a babysitter checking for monsters underneath a child's bed finds something honestly even more terrifying.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:14]

BERMAN: All right, breaking news. U.S. officials now tell CNN that the text messages sent on Signal discussing battle plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen, that those texts may have caused the U.S. long-term damage to gather intelligence on the group.

CNN's Katie Bo Lillis is here with us with this new reporting.

Katie Bo, what are you hearing?

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN REPORTER: Yes, John, so up until now we've been talking about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's texts to this Signal thread, talking about operational details of these strikes against the Houthis as really sort of the most concerning information that was - that was made public that would normally be very, very classified under sort of normal U.S. government procedures.

But my colleague, Zach Cohen, and I talked to a number of current and former U.S. officials who said there were two other texts in this thread from other officials that were equally concerning for - for slightly different reasons. One of them was from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who, in the part of the discussion about whether or not to delay these strikes sends a text to the group where he says, look, if we delay, and I'll quote, that will give the CIA better time to, quote, "better identify better starting points for coverage on Houthi leadership."

This pretty clearly, according to our sources, indicates that the CIA was doing overhead surveillance on Houthi targets. This is not something that is, in and of itself surprising, but offering the Houthis sort of a clearer breadcrumb to figure out how the U.S. was surveilling them, might allow them to avoid that surveillance in the future.

Then, in a second text from National Security Advisor Michael Waltz later in the thread, he tells the group after the strikes are done that the U.S., quote, "had positive ID" of a particular senior Houthi leader, quote, "walking into his girlfriend's building." This, again, really kind of draws a roadmap for Houthi militants in terms of how the U.S. was conducting surveillance on their movements, on their leadership. Again, making it easier for Houthi leaders to potentially avoid that kind of surveillance in the future.

This is why, according to our sources, this kind of information is normally kept deeply, deeply classified.

Now, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, as well as the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and other senior Trump administration officials, really emphasizing, no sources and methods in here, nothing classified. According to our sources, not only is that a bit unlikely, but maybe is a semantic debate at the end of the day. As one of our sources put it, the Houthis have always been difficult to track. Now you just highlight for them that they're in the crosshairs.

John.

BERMAN: Yes. This seems to get to the, quote, "methods" in the sources and methods phrase there.

Katie Bo Lillis, thank you so much for that new reporting.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, this morning, lawyers for Columbia University graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, they're headed back to court. They're fighting to get him released from federal custody.

Now Khalil, who helped lead pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia, is currently being held in Louisiana. He is one of several students - all international students - to be detained by immigration authorities in recent weeks. You're seeing some of them there.

The Trump administration trying to deport them. The latest warning and threat coming from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa.

REPORTER: It could - you're saying it could be more than 300 visas?

RUBIO: Sure. I hope. I mean - it will - I mean, at some point I hope we run out because we've gotten rid of all of them.

Why would any country in the world allow people to come and disrupt - we gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses. And if we've given you a visa, and then you decide to do that, we're going to take it away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:30:04]

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is the president of the American Association of University Professors, Todd Wolfson. He's also a professor of journalism.