Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Violent Tornadoes Rip Through The South Overnight; Deadly Storms Slam Alabama Laving Widespread Damage; Witkoff Says He Expects Trump-Putin Call This Week; Democrats Fume Over Schumer's Handling Of Shutdown; Rubio: Attacks On Houthis Will Continue Until Shipping Threat Ends; "Tesla Takedown" Movement Sparks Protests Outside Showrooms; 59 Killed In Nightclub Blaze Sparked By Pyrotechnics; First Photo Of Pope Francis As He Recovers In The Hospital; 2025 NCAA Bracket To Be Revealed Today. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired March 16, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:33]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we start this hour with this breaking news.

The severe storm threat ramping up once again this weekend. More than 50 million Americans in the path of this powerful storm. Tornado watches are now in effect from Florida all the way to Pennsylvania.

The same system slicing through the Deep South overnight, bringing a deadly mix of tornadoes, rain and hail. The death toll now up to at least 35 people across seven states. Destruction is widespread from Mississippi to Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no. Oh no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Intense, violent winds ripping through neighborhood after neighborhood, tearing homes and businesses apart, even tossing a school bus in Alabama right there. The storms knocking out power for nearly 200,000 customers across several states.

And now these dangerous storms are pushing east, triggering new watches and warnings.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here with more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: More than 700 total storm reports just since late Friday. You can see that by all of the dots that are located on this map. It's actually hard to see underneath all of the dots in the map, but that really just goes to show you the scope of this particular severe storm that we had.

And several of those reports were actually tornado reports. And that's because right now is the time of year we really start to see those begin to ramp up, but peaks in May and continues into June.

But March is really the month where we start to see a lot of those tornado reports on the upswing. And we could still end up seeing some additional tornado reports as we go through the rest of the day today.

This is where we have the main threat for severe thunderstorms for today. You'll see it stretches from Pennsylvania all the way down through Florida. We are talking the potential for tornadoes, as well as damaging winds that could be 50, 60, even 70 miles per hour.

That's more than enough to bring down trees and power lines. You could also end up seeing some hail mixed into some of these storms by late this evening. You're still looking at some of those strong thunderstorms across Richmond, Virginia, over near Raleigh, even stretching down into portions of central Florida.

But through the overnight, we finally start to see it exit much of the southeast. And then the focus really just becomes much of the northeast. The concern here is that it's going to time up with the morning rush.

So places like New York, Boston and even Hartford, Connecticut. You're looking at about 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. right here. This is going to be very heavy rain in some spots as many folks are headed out to work or even making their way off to school.

We also start to get some cold air infiltrating on the backside of this system. That means you're going to start to see that transition over into snow for some of these locations, especially in the higher elevations of the green and white mountains, could even see it accumulate to several inches in those spots.

We don't really see this system exit much of the northeast until very late Monday night, but even for some portions like the Cape and even Maine, it really doesn't even exit the area until we get to late into -- or late into the morning on Tuesday.

Winds are also expected to be strong tonight as well as early tomorrow, but the good news is, by tomorrow afternoon we finally start to see some of those winds begin to calm back down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much. That same storm system has already caused a lot of damage this

weekend. Alabama's governor says there are reports of damage in nearly every county in her state.

CNN's Rafael Romo is live for us in Alpine, Alabama, just west of Talladega. So Rafael set the scene for us. What are you seeing there? What are people doing?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of people coming together here, Fred, to help each other, to clear the debris. But I just wanted to show you the powerful, devastating force of a tornado that ripped through this community.

If you look right behind me, Fred, this is a high school bus that was lifted up by the tornado. And as you can see there, it ended up on top of the roof of that gymnasium building right behind us.

And also you can see on the other side how badly damaged the roof of that high school gymnasium ended up being.

And the interesting part of this, Fred, is that you can see the path of the tornado because of the trees that it knocked down across the street on this side.

[14:04:52]

ROMO: There's a church that was mostly spared by the storm. Not even the steeple got damaged. And earlier I had an opportunity to talk to the pastor, Pastor Charles Kelly, who told us about what happened here overnight. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PASTOR CHARLES KELLY, WINTERBORO COMMUNITY CHURCH: The church really sustained very minimal damage. We had some windows knocked out, but just the exterior storm windows. Got some shingles pulled up, a couple of roof vents. We've got on the little fellowship hall, the white house behind us, there's some roof damage there.

But, man just by God's grace, I mean very, very minimal damage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Fredricka, unfortunately, two people have been confirmed dead -- dead here in Alabama. One of those people, a gentleman just down the street here in the Winterboro neighborhood, a gentleman who lived in a mobile home, according to authorities.

And Alabama -- Alabama governor Kay Ivey said that out of the 67 counties here in the state, 52 have sustained some kind of damage.

Now, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much, Rafael Romo. We'll check back with you as people, you know, try to assess the damage, clean up, pick up the pieces as best they can. All right. Neighboring Georgia also cleaning up after a night of

intense storm activity.

CNN affiliate WXIA shows us what it looked like after the storm swept through last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA NORD, WXIA METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Melissa Nord here in Dallas, Georgia in Paulding County, where a suspected tornado touched down overnight last night and where I'm standing right now is on Villa Rica highway, just north of Paulding County High School.

This is debris that the storm threw around and tossed around like pick-up sticks. You can see this is a small kind of two by one, little piece of wood. This is kind of plywood board. And then this is a larger, heavier three by three that ended up on the floor here of this gas station parking lot.

And you can see behind me, look at this, this is sheet metal. This metal came from the awning of this gas station that hangs right over the gas pumps. And as the strong winds came in, they likely got underneath that lightweight awning, which flies like a feather, right. And it picked it up and it tossed it onto the building.

So you can see what's normally anchored in the ground there from the gas station is now flung up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: I mean, incredible examples of how ferocious and strong those winds were.

Stay with CNN to track the storm threats that continue all afternoon and into the evening. Again, the same storm system that caused havoc last night is still on its way. Moving eastward in the northeast portions of the country as well.

All right. Also look for updates on CNN.com.

All right. Now to new developments in the high stakes Ukrainian peace talks. We're learning that President Trump will likely speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week as discussions intensify on brokering a ceasefire deal with Ukraine. Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff made the announcement today on CNN, saying he also expects the ceasefire deal to be reached within weeks.

The anticipated conversation between the two leaders comes after Witkoff recently held a late-night meeting in Moscow with the Kremlin leader. The issue of land concessions remains one of the major sticking points in peace talks.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is joining us now from West Palm Beach, near Trump's Florida home.

Kevin, bring us up to speed on where things stand. KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, this conversation between Trump and Putin would mark the second phone call between the men since Trump reentered office in January.

Witkoff said he expected it to be a good and positive conversation, in part because these two men have a relationship existing from Trump's first time in office. But it will come at a critical moment as Trump tries to put in place this ceasefire that Ukraine has already agreed to, but that Putin has yet to sign off on, even though he says he agrees to it in principle.

Now, Witkoff has been down here in Florida debriefing the president on that late night conversation he held with Putin last week. He said he emerged from that with positive signals, in part because of the body language from the Russians. But also because he says that the bridge between the Russian position and the Ukrainian position seems to be narrowing.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: The two sides have -- we've narrowed the differences between them, and now were sitting at the table. I was with the president all day yesterday. I'll be with him today. We're sitting with him discussing how to how to narrow it even further.

[14:09:46]

WITKOFF: As the president said, he really expects there to be some sort of -- some sort of deal in the coming weeks, maybe -- and I believe that that's the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So Witkoff, they're signaling quite a condensed timeline to get this ceasefire into effect. But in his interviews this morning, he did also indicate that there are some sticking points that the two sides will have to work through most critically on this issue of the Russian-held territories in Ukraine.

This is something that the U.S. says that Ukraine will have to give up as part of this ceasefire talk. It's something that Putin has made a condition of agreeing to the ceasefire.

But Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, has said that this is a nonstarter. And even many European leaders say they will not sign up to a deal if it seems to reward Putin for his invasion.

So this will be an issue that the United States, Russia and Ukraine will have to work through as part of this agreement.

The other thing that Witkoff said in the interviews this morning is that technical teams would hold discussions this week with the Russians and with the Ukrainians as they work to put this ceasefire into effect very quickly.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kevin Liptak, thanks so much.

All right. New CNN polling out today shows the Democratic Party's favorability rating among Americans has dropped to a record low of 29 percent; more than half of Americans held an unfavorable view of the party.

And a majority of frustrated Democrats say their party leaders should do more to stand up to President Trump and stop the Republican agenda.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is facing criticism from some congressional colleagues about his decision to back a GOP spending bill to avert a U.S. government shutdown. Schumer argued a shutdown would have been more detrimental to Americans.

Here's what House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said about Schumer's decision this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Look, Chuck and I disagreed as it relates to the approach and outcome relative to what we viewed as a reckless Republican spending bill and the effort to try to jam these cuts down the throats of the American people.

At the same period of time, Chuck and I agree on the overwhelming majority of issues moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me right now is Domenico Montanaro, NPR's senior political editor and correspondent. Great to see you. Domenico.

So what was Senator Schumer's political calculation on his decision to, you know, back the spending bill? We know he said out loud, you know, a government shutdown would be worse. But I wonder if he has any second thoughts about that now.

DOMENICO MONTANARO, NPR SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, I mean, I think that he was thinking that by shutting down the government, then they would be blamed. The Democrats would be blamed for that and that he would have a hard time being able to keep some of the programs running that are important to Democrats.

He mentioned things like SNAP, you know, which is low-income food programs, and that they felt like or he felt like that Democrats were put in a really difficult situation, a difficult position that was really a no-win situation.

But, you know, it's a tough thing, especially when you see the kind of polling that you're pointing to where that really is about Democrats.

And because, you know, in the CNN polling, only 19 percent of Independents have a favorable rating of the job that Democrats are doing, but only 20 percent of Independents have a favorable view of the Republican Party either.

So this is about a lot, largely Democrats who are upset and frustrated with what they see as a Democratic Party that's lacking a message and unable to really fight back against the Trump administration, who they wholeheartedly disagree with on a raft of issues.

WHITFIELD: Are Democratic-elected leaders kind of looking inward about leadership, whether it be about gains or deficits at this -- are they rethinking their leadership at all?

MONTANARO: Well, I think that that clip that you played from Hakeem Jeffries was really interesting because it was a little bit of a reversal from the day before when he -- or two days earlier when he sort of dismissed a question about whether or not the Senate Democrats needed new leadership.

Clearly, he was caught off guard. A lot of House Democrats were caught off guard, really upset about it.

You know, I do think that at some point, Democrats are going to start thinking about who they need in this moment to be a leader going forward. But at the same time, you don't want to wind up having this kind of, you know, internecine fight that winds up shedding -- putting a spotlight more on your own issues within your party rather than a united front, being able to talk about what Trump is doing.

And I think that that's the real issue here is that there's no real messenger on the Democratic side right now who's been able to step forward, take the limelight and be able to say, here's the vision that Democrats have and how the Democrats would govern differently than Trump and how they would be able to do that going forward.

[14:14:43]

MONTANARO: I think that's what 2028 is going to be all about. And frankly, really exciting if you have two sides where, you know, Trump can't run again and you have Democrats having to step forward and make an argument to people about what the vision is that they want going forward.

Republicans are going to have to do that because it's going to be post-Trump, and so are Democrats as well. So it's going to be really fascinating to watch.

But we're years away from that, obviously, and Democrats want to be able to in 2026, be able to take back at least the House. Certainly the senate is not likely, but the House is where they're going to have to do it, and they're going to need a message to be able to do that.

WHITFIELD: Well, thus far, I mean, House Minority Leader Jeffries seems -- appears to be, you know, very popular. People are happy with his approach, at least among other elected leaders.

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, meantime, is appearing at the top of the list when Democrats were asked which leader best reflects their core values, beating out Vice President Harris, Senator Bernie Sanders and President Obama.

And we're learning that, you know, House Democrats are so infuriated with Schumer's decision that some have begun to encourage her to start running against him in the primary. What are you hearing?

MONTANARO: Well, that election is four years from now, so who knows what's going to happen between now and then and whether or not she'll actually go ahead and do that.

But I think in the more immediate term, the warning signs for Democrats are that midterm elections are about activism. They're about the base because, there's -- they're always lower turnout elections. And Democrats are going to need their base to be fired up and with them, while also not alienating Independents and having a message going forward that people can get on board with all over the country in those swing districts and be able to get out the base.

You can see it at the town halls, where a lot of Republicans are having to face down, you know, which may be a lot of Democrats who are going to these town halls.

But I covered the Tea Party, and I know that in 2009 and 2010, when the Tea Party showed up to a lot of those town halls, you could see then what the tip of the iceberg was and what it was leading to in that next midterm, which, you know, back then, President Obama called a shellacking because Democrats lost 63 seats because the energy was with Republicans.

And Democrats need to be able to get on board, get unified, to be able to have a message and a party that fully backs them, to be able to stand up to Trump, if that's what they want to do.

WHITFIELD: All right. NPR's Domenico Montanaro, great to see you.

MONTANARO: Hey, great to be with you.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much.

All right. Still ahead, dozens of people killed after U.S. strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen. President Trump's national security adviser now issuing a warning to Iran about its support of the rebels.

Plus, Tesla take down -- coast to coast protests outside Tesla showrooms over Elon Musk's cuts to the U.S. government.

[14:17:35]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. New today, more information on the consequences of those U.S. attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen yesterday. Multiple leaders of the rebel group were taken out, according to national security adviser Mike Waltz. Houthi officials say at least 31 people were killed and more than 100 were injured in the attacks.

Last week, the group threatened to resume attacks on ships in the Red Sea if Israel didn't lift its blockade on Gaza. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. is prepared to do even more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We're not going to have these guys, these people with weapons, able to tell us where our ships can go, where the ships of all the world can go, by the way.

It's not just the U.S., we're doing the world a favor. We're doing the entire world a favor by getting rid of these guys and their ability to strike global shipping. That's the mission here. And it will continue until that's carried out.

That never happened before. The Biden administration didn't do that. All the Biden administration would do is they would respond to an attack. These guys would launch one rocket. We'd hit the rocket launcher. That's it.

This is an effort to take away their ability to control global shipping in that part of the world. That's just not going to happen anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Houthi group is vowing to retaliate after the strikes. President Trump also warning Iran to end its support of the Houthis.

Joining us right now, Dr. Matthew Levitt. He is a former FBI counterterrorism analyst, and he is now the director of the counterterrorism program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Great to see you, Doctor.

So does it appear the U.S. has done significant damage to the organization to stop it from resuming any attacks in the Red Sea or elsewhere?

DR. MATTHEW LEVITT, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: Thanks for having me.

Look, it's going to take more action than what we've seen so far for there to be significant damage. But this is a step up from what we've seen in the past.

To date, both United States and United Kingdom airstrikes really did hit this launcher, you know, that rocket. And that alone isn't going to change the Houthis' decision making.

We really need to raise the costs for them so much that they understand this is no longer in their interest. Part of that has to be disrupting Iran's ability to continue to supply them weapons. As long as they can still get more weapons, they will use more weapons.

And you've already seen senior Iranian officials since these U.S. airstrikes saying, well, you know, the Houthis are separate from us. We don't really control them, trying to move a step back because the Iranians also understand this is a shot across the bow in their direction. If you continue to pursue your nuclear program, this is something you

could be experiencing, too.

[14:24:46]

WHITFIELD: The Trump administration also warned Iran today about its support for the Houthis and other militant groups. Have a listen to what national security adviser Mike Waltz said about the possibility of direct military action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, all options are always on the table with the president. But Iran needs to hear him loud and clear.

It is completely unacceptable and it will be stopped the level of support that they've been providing the Houthis, just like they have Hezbollah, just like they have the militias in Iraq, Hamas and others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Do you see Iran heeding this warning?

DR. LEVITT: I certainly see Iran hearing the warning. And I see Russia interested in playing a role in communicating this to Iran.

The United Arab Emirates just passed along a letter from the president to the Iranians, which they have acknowledged receiving. I don't think the Iranians are just going to change their behavior because of the nature of that regime.

But I do think they are beginning to understand that the United States is serious about preventing Iran from being able to fund proxies that can do things in the case of Hamas like October 7th; in the case of Lebanese Hezbollah, over a year-long of shelling rockets on Israel; and in the case of the Houthis, disrupting international shipping and commerce in ways that affect, as you heard from the Secretary of State, not only the interests and the economic interests of the United States, but of the entire world.

WHITFIELD: So with Hezbollah and Hamas both reeling, you know, from war, how much is Iran's influence degraded in the region?

DR. LEVITT: Degraded is the right term. Iran still has a lot of influence. Hamas is really not capable of doing a whole lot.

But Hezbollah still is. Their capabilities are significantly degraded, both in terms of rockets and forward-deployed weapons along the border with Israel. But they still have thousands upon thousands of rockets.

They wanted to spark another conflict with Israel. They could. But they're unable to do that over a long period of time.

And whereas Iran once saw Hezbollah's rockets as a way of deterring Israel or anybody else from attacking their nuclear program, Hezbollah no longer has that level of capability.

So Iran, I think, really has gotten the message, especially when you add into this that Iran attacked Israel now twice and twice the Israelis have struck back very, very hard. And they're beginning to understand there are real consequences to that kind of behavior.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much for being with us today, Dr. Matthew Levitt.

DR. LEVITT: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right. Protests are ramping up outside of Tesla dealerships as Americans voice outrage over the U.S. government cuts by Elon Musk's DOGE.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's just going through with a sledgehammer and just tearing everything down. And that is not ok.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:27:39]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:31:59]

WHITFIELD: Right now, protesters are demonstrating outside Tesla showrooms across the country, and they say they are in it for the long haul. The nationwide boycott began last month after Elon Musk's growing involvement with slashing thousands of U.S. government jobs. Dozens more of these demonstrations are scheduled through the end of April.

On a smaller scale, some Tesla owners say they're removing the branding decals to protest Musk and DOGE's role in federal cost cutting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RANKIN, ATLANTA TESLA OWNER: A frustration with our government probably in total. Things aren't going super well. Micro-empowered because it's almost nothing that I've done. But yeah, it makes me feel like I'm doing something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones has more from California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Tesla dealerships from coast to coast, growing signs of discontent.

PROTESTERS: Elon Musk has got to go.

JONES: The target? The world's richest man, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

ELON MUSK, TECH BILLIONAIRE: This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy.

JONES: Outraged by Musk's dismantling of the federal government, protesters are taking it out on his business.

PROTESTERS: Hey, ho, ho! Elon Musk has got to go.

JONES: What's your sign say?

PROTESTER: It says two things. It says honk if you hate fascists and boycott Tesla swasticars.

JONES: Why should people boycott Tesla?

PROTESTER: Because Elon Musk is destroying our government. Nobody elected him.

TAMMY SILVER, PROTEST CO-ORGANIZER: Elon Musk's wealth is based on the value of Tesla stock. Well, the value of Tesla stock is based on air and dreams.

SHARON DELUGACH, PROTESTING TELSA: So we're sort of hitting him in the wallet, getting him where it hurts even though, you know, he's richer than god. So it's hurting his reputation. I really believe its hurting his reputation worldwide.

JONES: Anti-Elon bumper stickers popping up, including these sold on Amazon marketed specifically to Tesla owners. And since December, Tesla stock has lost nearly half its value.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They have one which is $35,000, which is pretty low.

JONES: President Trump using the White House as a Tesla showroom in an attempt to reverse that trend. And on Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi issuing a clear warning on Fox Business.

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: If you're going to touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything. You better watch out because we're coming after you.

JONES: In recent weeks, Teslas were engulfed by a fire in Seattle. A charging station torched in Massachusetts, and a Molotov cocktail was thrown to a dealership in Oregon after shots were fired at cars there. Not the scene at this southern California protest, part of dozens nationwide.

SILVER: This is a joyous, festive protest and nonviolence, and I urge people, like minded people, to do this at every Tesla dealership in the country.

(END VIDEOTAPE) JONES (on camera): That organizer, by the way, Fred, owns a Tesla herself. She and others are saying they will continue to protest, including here in Burbank this afternoon. Now, despite them, despite that protests, you saw that there yesterday. Someone still walked into a dealership and bought themselves a model 3 -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Okay. Julia Vargas Jones in Burbank -- thanks so much.

All right. Jake Tapper is back tonight with an all new episode of "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL", where he revisits some of the most sensational scandals in American culture.

Jake, what do you have for us tonight?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL: Thanks for having me, Fred.

So this episode is all about Wall Street, specifically the American energy company Enron. The company was considered a superstar in the 1990s and was run by the imaginative and charismatic Jeffrey Skilling, making it one of Wall Streets most desired corporations. But in 2001, large scale fraud was revealed across the company, causing many to take a closer look at the internal workings of the company and Skilling's leadership.

I spoke to something of a whistleblower at Enron, Sherron Watkins, about what was really going on at the company during that time. Here's a little preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What was he doing that was so alarming and such a no-no?

SHERRON WATKINS, ENRON WHISTLEBLOWER: 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. We're going to write it up to 15 and put 5 million on the income statement.

That 5 million is just bogus. You just made it up.

TAPPER: And that's what Jeff Skilling did.

WATKINS: That's what they did. Yes.

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

WATKINS: Yes. But just a month ago, we had just bought the asset.

TAPPER: There actually is a hard number.

WATKINS: 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.

WATKINS: 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)

TAPPER: The scandal surrounding Enron showed how faith in a in a visionary leader and groupthink can sometimes turn into blind trust, following somebody off a cliff.

And in the case of Jeffrey Skilling and Enron, it led to disaster -- Fred.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Jake Tapper, thanks so much.

An all new episode of "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL" with Jake Tapper airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

All right. In this breaking news, were seeing the first image of Pope Francis since he entered a hospital in Rome.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:29]

WHITFIELD: A night of partying turning into tragedy overseas. This video posted on social media capturing the moment early this morning when a nightclub caught on fire in north Macedonia, north of Greece, and you can see the sparks from the pyrotechnics appearing to light the ceiling on fire just above the DJ's head, right there. At least 59 people are now dead, and more than 150 are injured.

The head of a hospital treating some of the victims, saying the majority of those people who died were trampled in the crowd, crushed. Dozens were treated for second degree burns to their hands and faces. Police detained the owner of the nightclub and four people are wanted in connection to the disaster. The country's justice minister vowed that all those involved will be held responsible.

Pope Francis offered prayers to the victims of the nightclub fire while he battled pneumonia in a hospital in Rome. And for the first time since he has been admitted in that hospital, were now getting our first look at the pope right there. The Vatican releasing this photo taken this morning while the pontiff celebrated mass.

I'd like to bring in now, CNN's Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb, who remains there in Rome.

Christopher, this is pretty good news to see an image of him. What more can you tell us?

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka. After 31 days in hospital, we see the first photo of Pope Francis since he went in there for treatment for a respiratory infection. That is pneumonia in both of his lungs. We're seeing this first photo of the pope after he concelebrated mass, which is basically celebrating the mass with other priests.

Now, it's the first time the Vatican has told us that the pope has concelebrated in the past. We were told he simply participated in the mass or received the Eucharist.

So suggests that the Pope is returning to some form of normal leadership of the church, the functions of a -- of his role as pope. That is why I think this photo is significant, and the detail that he is going back to concelebrating or celebrating the mass.

Now, of course, Francis is 88 years old. This is the most serious health crisis that he's faced since his election as pope. He's been through really a very difficult time in hospital with breathing crises, with all sorts of problems and concerns.

[14:45:02]

And we were told that he's in a -- well, he's still in a complex clinical condition.

However, the recent signs from the Vatican are that he is improving slowly, gradually. He's still on oxygen, needing oxygen therapy and help. But this photo and the recent updates from the Vatican are giving people here in the Vatican calls for hope that he may be able to come out of hospital in the not too distant future.

However, there is no time frame given by the Vatican on that, and they are saying he still needs to be in hospital for the treatment. Its been a very serious health crisis for the pope, but encouraging signs on Sunday, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Christopher Lamb, thanks so much.

All right. In this country, it's March, so it's March everywhere, but it's time for the madness in this country. Tonight, we'll learn which teams will go dancing and which teams will have their bubble burst.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:40]

WHITFIELD: Okay, get ready to fill out those basketball brackets. Today is selection Sunday and 30 more tickets to the big dance are getting punched to the NCAA tourney this weekend, also exciting.

I really have no idea who to pick, who would be the favorites this year because I've been paying attention. There's been so much else going on.

But, Don Riddell, you pay attention all the time.

DON RIDDELL, CNN HOST, WORLD SPORT: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

RIDDELL: So the madness hasn't officially set in, but the fun has already begun. A great story brewing in New York City. St. John's winning their first Big East title in 25 years, taking down Creighton by 82 points to 66. In the tournament final. R.J. Lewis scoring 27 of his game high 29 points in the second half, breaking Chris Mullins 1985 Big East tournament title game record. Put your shades on.

Future looks pretty bright. These players weren't even born the last time the Johnnies won the title.

Coach Rick Pitino in year two breathing belief into the program. Here was his message after the win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK PITINO, ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY HEAD COACH: Hello, St. John's fans, this is for you. This title, this is for you. We've said it often that St. John's is New York's team. So all of you are part of this Big East championship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: Meanwhile, no flag, no problem for Duke. Cooper Flagg has emerged as the freshman phenom this season, but he was injured for the ACC championship game against Louisville. Tyrese Proctor was the star of the show, instead knocking down six three pointers to secure Duke's 23rd conference title. They should now be a lock for the number one seed, and they'll be hoping for their first national title since the Coach K era.

WHITFIELD: Oh my God, it's so -- legacy is strong. It is really incredible and exciting. Okay, so I'm getting excited now, even though I didn't really know who was in it. But you --

RIDDELL: Quickly learn, yeah.

WHITFIELD: Okay. All right. Let's talk about a little golf. Is it happening today in Florida?

RIDDELL: Well, yes and no. So it's the players championship, which everybody knows is the fifth major. It's one of the big tournaments. Unfortunately, that weather that came over here in Atlanta last night is now in Jacksonville, northern Florida.

So they've had to suspend play at the moment though Rory McIlroy, who was the champion six years ago, is leading. He's 12 under through 11 holes. So when they do resume later in the day, Fred, with this golf course, there's a very good chance that this tournament will be decided on the 17th hole.

This is the island green. It's the iconic hole where a lot of golf balls end up in the water. And while your tournament might end there, I've been speaking to a guy who knows what to do with those balls.

WHITFIELD: Okay. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIDDELL (voice-over): The 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is one of the most famous holes in golf.

Everyone wants to play the island green, and almost everyone is going to lose something there. And if so, this guy will find it.

JIM BEST, GOLF BALL SCUBA DIVER: I see like two other two people too few people actually do see it right? Underwater. And I've been working for 30 years doing this.

RIDDELL: What led you to want to go in there?

BEST: Well, the golf ball, sir, golf balls. Seventeen, the bare minimum is like 70,000 balls that come out of there. It's an island green and that whole water area has balls in it from the tee to pass the green. Everybody wants to hit that green. And as I'm watching some guys do, but mostly it's just a challenging green.

RIDDELL: Jim salvages golf balls from other courses in Florida, too. But the 17th hole at Sawgrass is so hazardous to golfers that their watery grave is his, Aladdin's cave.

BEST: This is Tiger Woods's ball from 2005, we've got Donald Trump's ball here.

RIDDELL: Okay.

BEST: POTUS number 45, maybe this is Tom Brady's ball.

RIDDELL: Apart from golf balls, have you found anything else in their?

BEST: Clubs, alligators, what do you want? What do you want to start? For a couple of years there were some large gators in there and that was fun.

Cell phones, mainly putters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh, and the putters, like, yeah.

RIDDELL: Yeah, you know how the putters get in there?

[14:55:01]

WHITFIELD: That's right.

RIDDELL: He's found phones, sun hats, sunglasses. And at his peak, he was finding 2 million balls every year. Not just on this course or this hole, but just across Florida and all the way up the Eastern Seaboard.

WHITFIELD: Oh, that's crazy.

Okay. Challenging green, yes, but challenging pond with the gators and all that. But that is the case.

RIDDELL: Quite a few brushes.

WHITFIELD: Wow. He's amazing. That's very fun. Thanks for bringing that to us.

Don Riddell, appreciate it.

All right. This week, two of the most powerful world leaders are set to speak on the phone or something like that. President Trump and President Putin, will they be able to reach a deal to end the Ukraine war?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)