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Interview with Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA): House Armed Services Committee Receives Briefing on Iran Operations; Lawmakers Racing to Strike DHS Funding Deal, but Hurdles Remain; TSA Deploys Extra Officers to Help at Houston's Bush Airport; Savannah Guthrie Gives First Interview Since Mom's Disappearance. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired March 25, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Back now to our breaking news in the war with Iran. The House Armed Services Committee had a closed-door briefing from officials this morning, leading Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace to post this, I will not support troops on the ground in Iran, even more so after this briefing.

We're joined now by the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington. Sir, thank you so much for being with us.

Congresswoman Mace, walking out of this Iran briefing and saying what she just said on social media, is that your understanding of where we're heading now, that U.S. troops will be on the ground in Iran?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA), RANKING MEMBER, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Well, there is bipartisan concern about where this is headed. I don't know for sure if troops are going to be put on the ground.

[14:35:00]

As you know, we are moving two sets of Marines, two Marine expeditionary units, so about five, there's like 2,500 in each group, so about 5,000 Marines are being moved in the area, and then there's about 1,000 from the 82nd Airborne on the Army side.

And what was frustrating, we didn't get an answer what they might possibly be used for. There's no way a ground force that small could do anything approaching regime change. We didn't get an answer on what specifically they were being used for.

It didn't sound to me like the administration is committed to ground troops, but the lack of clarity on what the plan is, how they hope to achieve their objectives, that was a concern for just about everybody in the briefing this afternoon.

KEILAR: So is that strange that they wouldn't provide you that clarity? Does that give you perhaps the impression that they are maybe being sent predominantly to exert pressure on Iran as they are trying to negotiate with Iran? SMITH: That's the problem. We really don't know. And the one thing we do know is there's five -- that would be, gosh, 6,000 more U.S. troops in the area of combat. So they would be vulnerable. So if we're sending them there and they're going to be vulnerable, what's the force protection plan? That was another question that came up several times.

And then if you're not going to use them, why send them there? It's quite possible that you're right. It's just sort of like a threat, the hope that this will put more pressure on Iran to back down.

But that's really the problem with all of this. I mean, the goal seems to be to get Iran to capitulate, either through regime change or through whoever's in charge saying, OK, we won't build a nuclear weapon, we won't build any more ballistic missiles, we won't support any more terrorist groups. But what is the path to getting that outcome?

We don't seem to be any closer to that outcome now than when we started this war, and the costs have been high. Thirteen service members have been killed, hundreds more have been wounded, thousands of civilians have been killed, and the global economy has been massively upended. And we don't seem any closer to that objective.

And crucially, what's the plan now? What is going to get us closer to that objective? And if that objective isn't achievable, what short of that are they hoping to accomplish by continuing the war?

KEILAR: And what might Congress's role be in this? I wonder what you think, because we just heard the White House briefing and Karoline Leavitt declining to commit on whether the president would seek congressional authorization before deploying troops in Iran. What is your reaction to that?

SMITH: I mean, that should be Congress's role. We've had a couple of War Powers resolutions. We should pass that and say, you can't do this unless we give you authority.

And that should be our role, is to block the president from doing this absent our authority. And then we should target the money. If he won't give us the vote on whether or not to authorize it, we should say, no funds are available for continuing this war in Iran.

There's a lot more that Congress could be doing. The Republican majority, even though they're complaining about what's going on, they are completely unwilling at this point to use our power to try to rein in the president on this very, very crucial issue.

KEILAR: On the negotiations that the president has touted, is it clear to you the status of those negotiations and these 15 points of agreement that are in discussion?

SMITH: Yes. Well, they're not points of agreement. They're 15 points that the president would like to see Iran capitulate to.

KEILAR: Demands.

SMITH: Iran has made it very, very clear. Yes. Demands might be a better word.

Yes, Iran has made it very clear that they don't support doing that right now. As near as I can tell, this is back channel negotiations. There's really no direct contact between Iranians and U.S. officials.

It seems like maybe Kushner and Witkoff are talking to someone who's talking to the Iranians. But to the extent that there is any communication, the clear signal has been Iran is not where we want them to be. And they're saying they've got no intention of moving in that direction.

KEILAR: Do you expect there to be a meeting with the vice president in Pakistan, Pakistan hosting a meeting between the U.S. and Iran later this week?

SMITH: I don't know about expect, but I think that's what the White House would like to see happen. They want to force Iran to the negotiating table. Thus far, they've been unsuccessful.

And part of Iran's problem is the last time they were at the negotiating table, their leadership all got killed. So I think that's going to make it harder to convince them that we can talk to them in good faith. And that puts us in a much tougher position to achieve our objectives.

You know, as I pointed out, the military options to achieving those objectives, very tenuous. And now the diplomatic options are also less because of how we've handled diplomacy to date.

KEILAR: I want to ask you before I let you go about reopening DHS and where you are on these discussions.

[14:40:00]

We're hearing from people who, you know, work for the Coast Guard or are in the Coast Guard are expecting that they actually are not going to get paid. I know we've been reporting that the Coast Guard has been paid, but there are other folks working for the Coast Guard, other parts of DHS who are not getting paid. I think folks in the Coast Guard are expecting perhaps actually they're not going to get paid this paycheck coming up here.

Will you support this deal that is being discussed in the Senate? Or are we going to be looking at Congress going home for recess and we're just going to see this continue on?

SMITH: I don't think we should go home for recess without resolving this problem. It is an enormous problem. It is impacting certainly all of the federal employees who aren't getting paid, but all the people who depend upon those services.

I just signed a discharge petition last night that would fund everything but ICE. And that's the camp I'm in. I think also we do have an opportunity here because Markwayne Mullin and the president have both said that they're willing to make some changes in ICE procedures.

So codify that, you know, put it into this piece of legislation. But again, I'm in the fund everything but ICE camp. And then if we have to keep negotiating ICE, and we do, let's keep negotiating that.

But let's pay TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA, everybody else.

KEILAR: All right, Congressman Adam Smith, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

SMITH: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still ahead, an emotional interview as Today Show host Savannah Guthrie speaks publicly for the first time since the disappearance of her mother, 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

[14:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're continuing to track the latest out of Houston and airports across the country where we've been seeing some really awful security lines. TSA workers are just days away from missing their second full paycheck since the shutdown started 40 days ago. At least 480 TSA employees have quit their jobs.

Thousands more have been calling out. CNN's Ed Lavandera is live for us from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. And Ed, there is some good news to report today in the sense that the lines are shorter than they have been.

You told us that they were less than two hours, where we've been seeing lines up to four hours. But the bad news is that it's just because it's a low traffic day at the airport and we're expecting it to pick right back up tomorrow.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's the thing we're facing here. So, you know, enjoy this. If you're traveling today, you kind of hit the travel lottery jackpot being able to navigate and get out of Houston Intercontinental Airport here on this particular day.

This is nearing the end of the line. One of the two checkpoints that is open in this entire airport. There's five terminals, nine different security checkpoints, and this is one of two that is open to the general public.

So it's difficult times, as we mentioned, the callouts from TSA employees who are not getting paid. We just got stats about the callout rate at this airport for yesterday, and it's 43 percent. That might be one of the highest numbers we've seen on that particular issue here at this particular airport, definitely this week. So that's a significant number. And obviously that means that even though these checkpoints might be open, there might be times of the day where not as many lanes can be open, and that's why they're consolidating everything to begin with and sending passengers through two different terminals. But that is clearly going to be a thing to watch is where that number stands as we get into the day.

But real quick, Boris, if you look, you know, these areas here below us, they were filled with people yesterday. Not right now. That's the good news.

But we can expect these areas to be filled with passengers come Thursday and Friday as well -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Ed Lavandera, live for us in Houston. Thank you so much for the update there, Ed.

Coming up, Savannah Guthrie says her family is living in agony. Those words coming in her first interview since her mom, Nancy, went missing nearly two months ago now. You'll hear the sound bite when we come back.

[14:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. Russia is ramping up attacks against Ukraine as part of a new spring offensive, firing more than a thousand drones in the last 36 hours. The Ukrainian military says more than 500 were fired in a rare and deadly daytime attack on Tuesday. Over a dozen locations targeted in other strikes overnight. This video is from the city of Lviv, where the mayor says at least 22 people were injured.

Also, a Democrat has just flipped a deep red Florida House district that includes President Trump's Mar-a-Lago. Emily Gregory won the special state House election defeating the Trump endorsed Republican candidate John Maples. Gregory is a business owner and military spouse.

In an interview with CNN after polls closed, she said that Trump was not a factor in her campaign. Instead, she focused on issues of affordability.

And nearly the entire country will see above average temperatures this week, with heat expected to break over 100 records. The heat wave stretches from coast to coast, but as you see, it will mostly impact central states over the next two days. This caps off an unusually warm month of March for many states, as hundreds of record hot temperatures have already been recorded -- Brianna.

KEILAR: NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie gave a heart-wrenching account this morning about how she's coping since her mother, Nancy, disappeared nearly two months ago, setting off a nationwide search for her and the apparent kidnapper. This is the first interview that Savannah has given since her mother was taken. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, TODAY SHOW HOST: Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony. We are in agony.

[14:55:00]

It is unbearable. And to think of what she went through, I wake up every night in the middle of the night, every night, and in the darkness, I imagine her terror, and it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought, and I will not hide my face that she needs to come home now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That full sit-down interview will air tomorrow and Friday. A source telling CNN Savannah is expected to return to host Today sometime next month. And remember, if you have information that could help investigators, you can call 1-800-CALL-FBI or 520-351-4900.

You can also submit information at tips.fbi.gov. We'll be right back.

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