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Second Round Of Violent Storms Striking From Louisiana To Ohio; U.S. Special Envoy To Brief Trump Following Meeting With Putin; Democrats Fuming Over Schumer Helping GOP Avoid Government Shutdown; Video Shows Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil Being Detained; DOJ Probing Whether Pro-Palestinian Protests Broke Anti-Terror Laws; Tensions Flare At Town Hall As Voters Confront NC Congressman; Food Insecurity Rises Alongside Higher Prices. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired March 15, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:06]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Tornado damage widespread in parts of Missouri. The death toll rising there in just the last few minutes. Officials are now saying at least 11 people have been killed and at least three deaths in Arkansas. And now, they are blaming this severe weather which flattened homes and businesses and battered communities with heavy rain and hail.

Those same storms whipping up high winds across Texas and Oklahoma fueling fast-burning wildfires and forcing officials there to issue evacuation orders. Firefighters battling more than 130 fires across Oklahoma on Friday. The fast-moving flames have destroyed multiple homes. And just moments ago, the governor declared a state of emergency in 12 counties.

CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking these storms. I mean you've got winds whipping up this kind of, you know, severity of wildfires. You've got hail and now tornadoes too?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And there is actually a blizzard component on the north --

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh.

CHINCHAR: -- and we just haven't really had a chance to really dive into. Yes, you've got pretty much everything involved with this particular storm. Look at all of these dots. I know it's kind of hard to see the map underneath but every single one of these represents some type of severe weather report. That could be a tornado report, could be hail, it could be damaging winds, whatever.

It's all of them right here, and this is just in the last 24 hours and it's all part of that same system here. Again, it stretches from Canada all the way down to the Gulf Coast. Tremendous amount of lightning especially in the southeastern sector here and this is where the bulk of those severe thunderstorms are located.

You can see we have a couple different tornado watches. This one here for portions of Louisiana that is valid for about one more hour, 1:00 p.m. Central Time. The one that's over here in portions of Mississippi, this is valid until 6:00 p.m. Central Time.

We are awaiting a new one that is about to arrive for portions of Alabama. And when I say portions, I mean, really most of the state of Alabama. This one that will come for Alabama and the one that is already in effect for Mississippi, those are labeled PDS. That stands for particularly dangerous situation.

And they're doing that because they want people to understand how significant these tornadoes are going to be and that they can likely be long track, meaning, they are on the ground for a tremendously long period of time.

You already have several tornado warnings that's the pink purple color you see there and then the orange indicates severe thunderstorm warnings that we've had. Really anywhere within this scope here has the potential for severe weather.

Yes, you're talking tornadoes, you're also talking hail that could be golf balls by the size of baseballs throughout the afternoon and also very damaging straight line winds that could be 60, even 70 miles per hour. Even without a tornado that is enough to bring down a tree, to bring down a power line so keep that in mind.

Tornadoes specifically though when we talk about those, we are -- they are -- the Storm Prediction Center is using the term violent. This is not a random adjective that specifically means EF4 and EF5 tornadoes. They account for less than 1 percent of the tornadoes that we typically get here in the United States but they account for 66 percent of the fatality.

So please, please, please, take this very seriously as this line of storms continues to shift eastward. And it will, once we get into the late afternoon in the early evening hours, you're focused more over portions of Nashville, Huntsville and down through Birmingham. Then the line continues to make its way eastward through the overnight hours is really going to be the peak for places like Atlanta and Knoxville.

So please make sure you have multiple ways not just your phone but other ways too to get those emergency alerts overnight so that you get woken up if something happens say at midnight 2:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m. and you happen to be asleep.

Tomorrow morning, it continues its trek off to the east so places like Charlotte, Raleigh, Columbia, South Carolina. You will have the potential for that as we head into the day tomorrow.

Now this looks very similar to the map we just showed you the overall severe but this is specifically for the tornado threat and this hatched area that's what we call it. It's where it's got. You can see the lines there. This is anywhere where you have a much greater chance of having those EF2 tornadoes or larger.

And again, some of them could be on the ground 20 minutes, 30 minutes maybe even as much as 60 minutes. In addition to that, you also have some flash flood warnings because some of these places have been getting rain over the same spots over and over again.

So in addition to all of the other stuff that we have to worry about for today, you also have the potential for flooding. The greatest threat is going to be in this red area here but pretty much anywhere on this map.

If you line up with some of those storms that we call them training where they just keep going over the same spots, you have the potential for flooding. Some of these spots 2, 4, even 6 inches of rain before this system finally moves out.

WHITFIELD: It seems like it's moving very fast too.

CHINCHAR: Not as fast as we would like.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right, that's right. We want it out of here completely, that's right.

All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

All right, new this afternoon, we're learning that President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Mar-a-Lago this weekend to brief the president on his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin which was held earlier in the week.

The U.S. is proposing a cease fire between Russia and Ukraine. Putin says he agrees with a ceasefire but he's got conditions that he wants to add, including banning other countries from supplying weapons to Ukraine and halting any mobilization and training of Ukrainian troops.

[13:05:13]

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says Vladimir Putin's response to the proposal, I'm quoting now, "isn't good enough". Starmer was speaking to a meet -- meeting, rather, a group of Ukraine's allies calling themselves the coalition of the willing in that kind of teleconference right there.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is in West Palm Beach near the president's Mar-a- Lago home. So Kevin, what's the message that we expect Witkoff to deliver to the president?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, American officials who have described this meeting have described it relatively positively although we have not heard from Witkoff himself and that is what makes this meeting I think so important as the president works to ascertain what exactly Putin and Witkoff discussed in that late-night meeting on Thursday.

We did just see the president in the last few seconds right on his Truth Social account that it was a good meeting, that it was productive and that all signs seemed to be hopefully very good. And so the president voicing some cautious optimism as he looks to bring this war to an end.

But all that said, Putin himself has expressed some reservations about this ceasefire deal that President Trump is hoping will be agreed to. He has applied some conditions including mandating that the U.S. no longer provide Ukraine weapons in the course of this month-long ceasefire so that Ukraine doesn't regroup once that ceasefire ends.

So it is clear that Putin seems to be hoping for much more substantive negotiations as he looks to bring this war to an end. That is very different than what President Trump is hoping for. He hopes to bring the fighting to an end immediately and then use that period of time to negotiate a broader peace in Ukraine.

And so you do see some differences there, but President Trump voicing some optimism that there could be an opening here. Of course, American officials have sort of framed these negotiations as the ball now in Russia's court, as essentially testing Putin's will to bring a peace to the fighting there.

Putin, of course, has said that he wants to see some concessions on the Ukrainian side including potentially keeping some of the land that Moscow now occupies in the course of that three-year war. And so I think that the how this proceeds going forward is sort of unknown.

One thing that both Putin and Trump have said over the last several days is that they look forward to speaking to each other again and that could be a point of discussion as Putin briefs Trump here -- down here in Florida.

WHITFIELD: All right, pretty fascinating. Kevin Liptak, thank you so much.

All right, let's continue the conversation now. Joining us is Evelyn Farkas, she's the former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia and Ukraine and is now the Executive Director of the McCain Institute.

Great to see you. So Putin's conditions including, you know, a demand as it pertains to Ukraine and NATO membership and then even as Kevin was just talking about, you know, territory that Ukraine would cede, give up territory. I mean, is he serious? Is this a Vladimir Putin who seriously wants to cut a deal with these kind of conditions?

EVELYN FARKAS, FMR. DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR RUSSIA, UKRAINE, EURASIA: Yes, I mean, Fredricka, it doesn't sound like it because clearly he's still giving the administration his maximalist list. He's not, you know, recognizing that he has to compromise and he's stalling for time I think because he clearly thinks that he might have a chance at dislodging the Ukrainian troops from that little piece of territory, Kursk, where the Ukrainians are still fighting and they have occupied as a bargaining chip.

WHITFIELD: And so given that, if there were a ceasefire deal, what, you know, based on your expertise of Russia and Putin, what do you -- how would he be using that time? I mean, certainly as not promoting more peace but instead strategizing for the next military move, right?

FARKAS: Yes. I mean, so first, you know, again Ukraine has accepted an unconditional ceasefire. So Putin could go ahead and do that, but clearly, he doesn't want to as I said because he's stalling for time, he's trying to grab more land back.

Now, if they had a ceasefire, then they would have to have negotiations about a compromise and everybody knows roughly what a compromise would look like. You can't have a compromise if Ukraine doesn't have a security guarantee and Russia probably can't give up Crimea.

And then the rest is, you know, kind of important but, you know, details. I mean, Ukraine needs to know it'll never get invaded again and Russia has to show that it got something from this horrible war that they launched against the Ukrainians in 2014.

[13:10:00]

WHITFIELD: And a condition, if you put it that way, that Zelenskyy is, you know, suggesting that the U.S. would monitor ceasefire violations between Ukraine and Russia and that any peacekeepers should be based on Ukrainian soil. Do you see the U.S. liking that idea?

FARKAS: Well, we haven't seen any sign that our administration would be open to that based on comments that the Secretary of Defense has made and even the president but you never know. I mean, this is an ongoing negotiation.

We may end up deciding that we can provide a security guarantee perhaps not directly to the Ukrainians, but to the Europeans who might -- who seem willing to deploy their forces in Ukraine. So in that way, it would still be in essence a security guarantee from the United States but our troops would not have to go into Ukraine and, you know, be on the ground there.

WHITFIELD: The U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, you know, calling on both Ukraine and Russia to make concessions to achieve peace, you know, European allies are wondering, you know, whose side is the U.S. on and when even Rubio suggests that does that reveal anything more about how the U.S. is positioning itself in this negotiation process for a ceasefire deal or any kind of peace deal?

FARKAS: Yes, I mean, I think so far the administration went about this process in not the optimal fashion which is to say that they put pressure on the aggressor Russia hoping that Russia would compromise. But Ukraine actually is the weaker party that needs to have support and the pressure needs to be put on Russia.

So we have not conducted our diplomacy in the wisest fashion if we want to get a peace deal quickly. We have to put pressure on Russia which is the aggressor, which is still pressing its offensive although slowly in Ukraine in the east. Ukrainians lately have started to get back a little bit of territory there.

But if we want peace, if we want to compromise, then we have to back the, in essence, the weaker party over the long run which is Ukraine.

WHITFIELD: All right, Evelyn Farkas, we'll leave it there for now. Great to see you. Thank you.

FARKAS: Thank you, Fredricka.

All right still ahead, the U.S. government will stay open after Congress passed a GOP stopgap funding bill. New details on the deep divide inside the Democratic Party after 10 Democrats backed the measure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:12]

WHITFIELD: The stopgap spending bill to fund the U.S. government for the next six months is now headed to President Trump's desk for him to sign into law. The Senate passed the spending bill in a 54 to 46 vote on Friday. The government will now remain open through the end of September. Ten Democrats voted with the Republicans to advance the bill and avoid a shutdown.

Joining me right now to discuss this is Claudia Grisales, a congressional reporter for NPR. Also with me is Marianna Sotomayor, a congressional reporter for the Washington Post. Great to see you both.

CLAUDIA GRISALES, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, NPR: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right, Claudia, you first --

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Thanks for having us.

WHITFIELD: -- the decision by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to support the funding of this bill sparked an intense backlash from House Democrats who almost unanimously opposed it. Is this a short term sting for Schumer and other Democrats who voted in favor of the measure or is this a long term problem?

GRISALES: It is actually part of a long term problem. It is a reminder how this party was left in shambles last year after the election, and they still haven't recovered. They are still in a political wilderness. So the party needs to find its way out. We're not clear that they will.

Obviously, this vote led by Schumer in the Senate has created a new wave of bad blood within the party. We saw house Democrats rebuke that decision very strongly. We saw House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries say next question when he was asked about whether there should be new leadership in the Senate. But this moment is just emblematic of the crisis that has taken hold of this party and continues.

WHITFIELD: So Marianna, will this be mostly a problem for Schumer in terms of his leadership or his leverage within the party, or is this more indicative of, you know, a big problem within the Democratic Party altogether?

SOTOMAYOR: A little bit of everything. I think for him, it is definitely the leverage that he has within the party. He does have right now a bit of a credibility crisis. And the reason why, as Claudia pointed out, House Democrats all, except for one, voted against this funding bill. And the big reason why that I've been hearing consistently throughout the week is because the Democratic base is not just your usual, you know, activists always riled up.

Democratic voters are very upset. They want to see Democratic lawmakers fight. And even if you ask some senators, those who voted against this funding bill, they agree with House Democrats on the fact that this was a moment of leverage.

You were not going to win with this funding bill. We weren't going to win with the shutdown, but you could at least show Democratic voters that lawmakers are willing to put up a fight against Trump.

[13:20:09]

This was their moment. Of course, Schumer argued there will be many other moments. Shutdowns themselves are very catastrophic, and there were 10 Democrats who did agree with that. But something that I've also heard from Senate Democrats is that they felt leaderless throughout this week.

They were pretty surprised that it really took Schumer to realize to see that House Republicans could actually pass a bill on their own to then at that moment bring together Senate Democrats and try to make a decision on that front. They felt like it was a little too late for a leader who should have thought ahead that House Republicans could actually get this bill through the finish line.

WHITFIELD: So, Claudia, you know, ahead of that vote, Schumer said this would be salt in the wound if there were a government shutdown, given all the hits that federal workers have taken already as a result of the decision making from the Trump administration. Why does that argument from him seem to be falling flat amongst Democrats?

GRISALES: Because federal workers have been put in an incredible position in terms of what we're seeing of this rapid fire dismantling of sections of the federal government. And it's clear they're asking for help. Many are looking towards Democrats to save them if possible, but it's not clear that that will happen.

And so, some saw the shutdown as an opportunity to try and stop this breakneck speed from Republicans, this continued dismantling, we saw another wave of dismantling of more sections of the federal government.

So Schumer's argument does fall flat at this moment because we saw another wave of dismantling last night, as if a reminder, shutdown or not, President Trump is going to continue in terms of these efforts and taking over, you know, in terms of his decisions, bypassing congressional powers, upending foreign policy and bending the constitution.

So it's a big problem that they're facing.

WHITFIELD: So Marianna, what might those other opportunities be that Schumer is speaking of? SOTOMAYOR: Well, you know, this funding bill goes and keeps the government functioning until the end of September. So we do have an October 1st funding deadline. So that is another potential point of leverage that Democrats can, in their eyes, hopefully negotiate with Republicans to actually go through the funding process that Congress is supposed to go through every month.

There was this worry that in passing this funding bill, essentially, you're giving Trump even more power. There's no guardrail from Congress specifically allocate funding. It's just an extension of current funds. So that's one moment.

There could be other moments but, you know, it's a little tricky. We've seen how successful Republicans have been, particularly in the House with their narrow margin this term because of Trump. They've been able to pass so many more bills.

They, of course, are now going to focus on their, as Trump calls it, the one big, beautiful bill that's going to be focused on border security policies, energy policies, as well as tax. That's a Republican only effort, but Democrats think, you know, as time goes on, and unfortunately, as a number of these changes by DOGE start to affect people back home, that could be Democrats moments to jump in and say, listen, when we were in power, we could govern.

That those are the kind of arguments I think that Schumer is going to start looking for.

WHITFIELD: Claudia, last word?

GRISALES: And related to that, yes, related that major legislation is the debt limit that has to be sorted this summer. Can Republicans pass that on their own, or is that setting up yet another clash between these two parties?

WHITFIELD: All right. Great to see you both, Claudia Grisales, Marianna Sotomayor. Thank you so much.

All right, still ahead, President Trump furthering his crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio now warning that immigrant visas will be revoked for those who join what they call pro-terror riots.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:28:34]

WHITFIELD: Right now, Cuba is suffering a nationwide power outage that has left up to 10 million people in the dark. The blackout began last night after the country's power grid suddenly collapsed. Officials are racing to restore service, but this weekend's outage marks the latest in a series of infrastructure failures on the island. You might remember, back in October, most of Cuba was in the dark for nearly an entire week.

And happening right now, a Columbia University student self-deported to Canada while another was arrested by ICE. This follows the U.S. Justice Department's ongoing investigation into whether pro- Palestinian protests at the university violated federal anti-terrorism laws.

And we're now seeing the moment Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by federal agents.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What? You're going to be under arrest. So turn around, turn around, turn around, turn around.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. OK. Let's not --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop resisting. Stop resisting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, OK. He's not resisting. He's giving me his phone, OK?

He's not -- I understand. He's not resisting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turn around. Put your arm behind you.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

WHITFIELD: This video was recorded by his wife. It was later shared by the ACLU on Instagram. Khalil's green card was revoked by the Trump administration for his involvement in campus protests last spring.

Let's bring in now CNN's Gloria Pazmino. Gloria, great to see you.

[13:30:00]

So, Columbia University is under increasing scrutiny from the Trump administration over those protests after also losing a lot of money in federal funding. So what are you learning about this?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Fred. I'll get to the latest on those two students who are facing immigration action.

But first, I want to get to some new details that we are learning today from a motion that Khalil's attorneys filed on his behalf last night. This is a motion for his release, claiming that his First Amendment, his due process rights were violated.

And arguing that Khalil's detention is punitive and retaliatory. They want the court to release him and to declare the government's actions unconstitutional.

Now, Fred, as you said, we obtained the video of the arrest, which we are seeing there. This was recorded by his wife, who is eight months pregnant, as they were taking him into custody.

Also in the video, we see Khalil's wife trying to get some information out of the officers. Where are they taking him? What are their names? And we see as they become increasingly frustrated with her and they just barely engage as she is asking questions.

Now we're also learning some new -- new details about what happened in the hours when he was arrested here in New York last weekend to when he was transferred to Louisiana, where he remains in detention as of today.

We learned that during that transport to Louisiana, the immigration officers that were with him directly heard from a White House official who said that they were requesting updated biometric information on Khalil.

We've heard just how much involvement the White House appears to have had in this specific arrest of this one student.

Khalil was not allowed to take his personal belongings. In fact, he was told that they were taking him to New Jersey and that he would be brought back to New York. And now we know that he ended up in Louisiana.

He was denied requests to call his attorney, and agents did not identify themselves during the process of transfer.

Now, while Khalil remains in custody, the administration appears to be ramping up its actions against the university.

Homeland Security officials confirmed that ICE arrested a second Columbia University student related to violations of her student visa, and another Columbia student allegedly self-deported back to Canada. This is all according to immigration officials.

We were also told that last week there was a warrant search -- a search warrant, I should say, served to look into two dormitories at Columbia University. But the university says that no one was arrested or detained -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: Wow. Lots of layers there.

All right, Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much.

All right. A state of emergency is now declared in Georgia as a line of violent and deadly storms marches east, packing intense tornadoes, damaging winds and hail. We're tracking the storm next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:37]

WHITFIELD: All right. SpaceX successfully launched the latest crew of NASA astronauts to the space station.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, ignition and liftoff.

Go, SpaceX. Go, Nasa Crew 10.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So their arrival will allow NASA Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to finally return home with the crew leaving the station.

The two we're only supposed to be at the station for about a week, but technical issues turned their journey into a nine-month stay. Both crews will be on the station together for about a week during the handover.

All right. We are continuing to follow this breaking news. Severe storms, pummeling parts of the southeast.

The governor of Georgia has just issued a state of emergency as that state braces for potential weather threats. Tornadoes already being blamed for at least 14 deaths now across Missouri and Arkansas.

CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is back with us.

So you said earlier, I mean, this is a storm system stretching the gulf states all the way up to the Canada border.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and even into Canada a little bit, too. Yes, it's a huge storm. And we have so many different impacts with it.

Again, look at even just from Kentucky down, look at all of that lightning that you are seeing with these particular storms, especially on the southeastern side of this.

It's also where we have the best potential for the tornadoes. So you've got several tornado watches in effect right now. These are across portions of Mississippi. That is valid until 6:00 p.m. Central Time tonight.

And then this new one that got issued across portions of Alabama. That is valid until 8:00 p.m. Central Time tonight.

The one thing they share in common, though, is they are both listed as PDS. That stands for particularly dangerous situation.

They are emphasizing the potential for violent tornadoes and long track tornadoes, meaning they are on the ground for prolonged periods of time.

And that term "violent," by the way, that is not a random adjective. It means something. The Storm Prediction Center uses that term to reference EF4 or EF5 tornadoes.

That is the highest you can get on the tornado scale. They only account for about 1 percent of the total tornadoes we get in this country, but also about 66 percent of the fatalities.

So please, please, please take this very seriously as we go through the next several hours. You can see numerous tornado warnings out there. That's the pinkish purple color you see here on the map. I mean, look at this. You're talking at least a half a dozen of those.

[13:40:05]

The orange ones, severe thunderstorm warnings. So even if you don't have a tornado warning where you are, you could have a severe thunderstorm warning with winds of 60 to 70 miles per hour.

That's still plenty enough to bring down trees and power lines. Some large hail associated with some of these storms as well.

You zoom in a little bit closer, a lot of these areas, as these storms slide east, they're getting stronger. They're starting to ramp up. But they can go back down.

Some of them, however, have had a confirmed history of something actually on the ground. So do keep that in mind.

Really anywhere you see on this map for today has the potential for severe thunderstorms, especially the red and also the pink area. That's where the greatest threat, particularly for tornadoes, is going to be today.

But even tomorrow, the storm keeps going. All of these areas you see here have the same potential for the same impacts we have today. So you could still see tornadoes. You could still see some hail. You could still see damaging winds.

The threat does go down a little bit, but it doesn't go away, especially for cities like Charlotte, Raleigh, Washington, D.C. Even all the way down towards Jacksonville, Florida, could see that potential.

Here's why. You can see the storm as it continues to slide eastward. So by this evening, Nashville, Birmingham, Montgomery, that's where the main threat is going to be.

Then the overnight hours, it slides through places like Knoxville, Atlanta, Georgia, before sliding into Charlotte, Columbia and then Raleigh as we go into the day Sunday morning.

And then maybe the early portion of Sunday afternoon before finally, into the overnight, getting back out over the water, we can finally say goodbye to this system.

WHITFIELD: It does have quite the journey.

All right. Thank you so much, Allison Chinchar.

All right. Coming up --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHUCK EDWARDS (R-NC): I was proud to vote recently for the House budget resolution, which provides the framework for --

(SHOUTING)

EDWARDS: And you wonder why folks don't want to do these town halls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: -- anger boiling over at a town hall hosted by North Carolina Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards. Some people even chanting, "Shame on you," and banging on auditorium doors. Congressman Edwards is joining us live straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:46:54]

WHITFIELD: Tensions flared at a North Carolina town hall this week when a packed auditorium of angry voters confronted Congressman Chuck Edwards.

For 90 minutes, the Republican lawmaker faced a barrage of yelling and questions ranging from the presidents trade war to recovery from Hurricane Helene.

And that was just inside the venue. Outside, a large crowd was heard banging on the doors and chanting, "Shame on you!"

CNN's Isabel Rosales has more from Asheville.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a brutal hour and a half for Congressman Chuck Edwards, who endured at times insults, shouting matches and searing questions about doge, the cuts to federal workers around the nation and also the Trump administration's policies as well.

Constituents of the 11th district wanted answers from their representative. They wanted to remind him that he's in Washington to represent the 11th congressional district and not the interests of D.C.

Here's a fiery exchange between a man who identified himself as a veteran and Edwards. Watch.

EDWARDS: Thank you for that feedback.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're lying. I'm a veteran.

EDWARDS: To --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

EDWARDS: To be clear --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(APPLAUSE)

(CHEERING)

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't stand up for us. You didn't do what (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You don't get to do this. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: There we're a variety of issues that we're brought up, whether it was Ukraine, the U.S.'s relationship with allies like Canada, whether it was about the economy.

But it was very clear that the issue of DOGE, these federal cuts, they spanned across the political aisle with these constituents.

I also heard many of them complimenting Edwards for holding an in- person town hall in the first place, against the advice of GOP leadership, who have told Republicans to either right-out skip town halls or transform them into virtual settings.

Isabel Rosales, Asheville, North Carolina, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And tune in next hour when North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards joins me here live.

All right. President Trump's trade war is not only rattling Wall Street, it is also raising anxiety among so many Americans who are desperate to make ends meet.

CNN's Rosa Flores heads to Houston to see how some families there are getting by.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIANCA PENALOSA, HOUSTON RESIDENT: Everybody needs something, you know?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bianca Penalosa takes her place in the back of the line of this north Houston food fair.

PENALOSA: Look in the front, baby, because your ponytail is going to be crooked.

FLORES: The single mother of three children with another on the way --

PENALOSA: I have good, good babies. All my family, they are good. FLORES: -- is a survivor of domestic violence and was on the brink of

homelessness after a divorce. Forced to move in with her parents. Now food banks are her lifeline.

[13:50:01]

PENALOSA: It is the only way that I can survive.

FLORES: Bundled up in the cold pre-dawn hours, many elderly on fixed income all increasingly worried about what rising food prices and the impact of tariffs will mean for them.

(on camera): This is Maria Martha De Leon.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) How old are you?

MARIA MARTHA DE LEON, HOUSTON RESIDENT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FLORES: So she's 72 and she's on a fixed income.

(voice-over): She was the first in line, arriving at 4:30 a.m. to secure one of 250 slots for a box of food.

DE LEON: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FLORES (on camera): You're worried about the tariffs?

DE LEON: Si.

FLORES: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DE LEON: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

FLORES: She says that with the tariffs, she just doesn't know if she's going to have enough money to buy food.

(voice-over): The food from the food fair comes from the Houston Food Bank, which saw a 22 percent increase in the amount of food distributed this January compared to January of last year.

(on camera): The CEO of the food bank describes a potential nightmare scenario that he says could happen if there are cuts in social programs, coupled with job losses, which could mean an increase in demand and desperation.

BRIAN GREENE, PRESIDENT & CEO, HOUSTON FOOD BANK: If we do go into a recession, then it's going to be even more people. Like, not only are we not able to meet the increase in need, we'll actually be having to make significant cuts in what we distribute.

ROSALVA HERNANDEZ, MANAGER OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, BAKERRIPLEY: OK. And we're already at 197.

FLORES (voice-over): The head of the monthly BakerRipley Food Fair gets emotional watching familiar faces.

HERNANDEZ: This is my family. These are my people.

FLORES: And says there's been a 13 percent increase in need this month compared to last month.

HERNANDEZ: We hear, you know, they're not getting food stamps. They lost their job. They're ill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

PENALOSA: Good morning.

We get some potatoes, broccoli. What else? Oh, bananas.

FLORES: Bianca says she can't work because she has to care for her two boys with disabilities. They're 6 and 11. And the $400 in food stamps she receives each month is not enough.

PENALOSA: I have to be grateful for everything that they give us here.

FLORES: But with tariffs looming, Bianca is preparing to take more drastic measures to make ends meet. Like boiling tap water instead of using bottled water, diluting juices and milk for cereal.

PENALOSA: More?

FLORES: And feeding her kids less.

PENALOSA: Less fruit, less vegetables, to eat a little bit less than we're supposed to be eating.

FLORES (on camera): So you would ask your kids to eat less?

PENALOSA: To eat less. So that's why I'm telling them it's going to be, you know, very tough for us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:57:12]

WHITFIELD: In today's "START SMALL, THINK BIG," we meet an entrepreneur who is using his passion for his family history to teach visitors all about Austin, Texas, including a tour of the river his ancestors were sold on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JAVIER WALLACE, FOUNDER, BLACK AUSTIN TOURS: My name is Dr. Javier Wallace and I am the founder of Black Austin Tours.

I took a lot of courses about the history of black education in America. I never thought in a million years that I would be able to create a business based on my history, based on our history as a people of African descent in this world. At Black Austin Tours, we do an east Austin walking tour. We do a

downtown walking tour. We do a food and music tour, and we also do a kayaking tour on the Colorado River.

I found records of people who had enslaved my family, and they trafficked us through the different ports, like the port of Galveston and the Colorado River being one of them.

Hemsley Coursey, my fifth great grandfather, who was born in Maryland and who was sold south from Baltimore, Maryland, by Hope Slater, one of the biggest domestic slave traders in United States history. He was sold here in Texas.

This is exactly what people meant when they say, "I'm going to sell you down the river."

History was something that had always been and will continue to be a passion of mine, but it was nothing that I ever thought could grow into something that could generate not only revenue and money for myself, but for my community.

And what has come out of Black Austin Tours has been the most fulfilling thing that I've done in my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Tomorrow night, CNN has a new episode of "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL WITH JAKE TAPPER." It follows the story of Enron, one of the most successful Wall Street corporations in the 90s. It's collapse was part of one of the biggest corporate frauds in American history.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR & HOST, "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL": What was he doing that was so alarming and such a no-no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In effect, if I just bought a company for $10 million from you and one month later, I'm saying it's really worth $15 million. We're going to ride it up to $15 million and put $5 million on the income statement. That $5 million is just bogus. You just made it up.

That -- that --

TAPPER: And that's what Jeff Skilling did?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what they did. Yes.

TAPPER: They would just assess what they thought it was worth?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TAPPER: But --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But just a month ago, we had just bought the asset.

TAPPER: There actually is a hard number?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a hard number.

TAPPER: But they would not do that. They'd say, well, we think we can get five times this on the market and so we're going to say this is worth $50 million?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes. It was all legal, but you just can't write things up like that. I mean, that was the beginning of -- of the seeds of the -- of the fraud that killed Enron.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And you can see a new episode of "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL WITH JAKE TAPPER" tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.