Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Deadly U.S. Storms; U.S. Strikes Houthis in Yemen; Trump Warns Iran to "Immediately" End Houthi Support; Putin's Response to Ceasefire Plan; Inside Look Into DOGE Cuts at IRS; Environmental Protection Cut; Voter's View of Democrats in Congress; Trump Takes Aim at Education System. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired March 16, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: Actually, one that is old and familiar. One marked by narrow nationalism, protectionism, insecurity, and constant mass scale violence and war.

Thank you for watching this special hour on America First. I'm Fareed Zakaria.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

Deadly storms are extending into a third day across the U.S. We'll have the latest on the damage already done, and a look ahead to what to expect the rest of the weekend. The U.S. is striking Houthi rebels in Yemen in what President Trump is calling decisive military action. We'll have a live report from the Middle East. And it's been a brutal week for environmental activists. I'll speak with one of them about her concerns with the Trump administration's rapid fire climate deregulation.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: The sun will soon rise in the southern U.S. and people will get their first look at the damage done by a night of violent storms. The system that spawned them has left a path of destruction across the country since Friday, killing at least 33 people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's it. That's it. That's a tornado. Look (INAUDIBLE). Look at that. All that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no. Oh, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All that heart stopping footage was taken by one family as a tornado passed their home in Mississippi, where at least six deaths have been reported across the state and several people are still missing.

In Missouri, multiple tornado outbreaks killed at least 12 people in five counties. Dozens of homes sustained damage, trees and power lines came down. The U.S. National Weather Service warns that this storm system continues to produce what appear to be large tornadoes along with strong and damaging winds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm glad we didn't get it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: More than four million people across multiple states are still under tornado watches. Several storms are still expected to continue pushing east on Sunday and impact much of the U.S. East Coast. CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the latest forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It has been a very active period of weather over the past two days with numerous confirmed tornado reports. But Saturday alone, there was more tornado warnings issued than any single day since last April. It really shows you how active it has been. Numerous reports of wind damage as well, over 400 reports, and several dozen reports of hail and large hail stretching from the Gulf Coast all the way through the Ohio River Valley.

So, where is this system headed? Well, of course, it's just moved through the greater Atlanta region, and it is quickly marching eastward, and with this line of storms comes another round of severe weather today, but not as widespread and not as severe as what we experienced across the deep south. But we still need to keep a close eye to the sky.

Charlotte, Charleston, Raleigh, all the way to Knoxville, these areas, even inclusive of the nation's capital, we have a slight risk of severe storms today, and this includes the potential for tornadoes, of course, damaging winds and large hail. We've already seen that with this system that's moved through, again, across the deep south.

There's a lot of wind energy associated with this system as well. So, as it departs and moves off the East Coast, doesn't take much to take those winds from the middle parts of the atmosphere and extrapolate them down to the surface. And remember, there's lots of forest across this region, very brittle trees that could snap quite easily when you're talking about wind gusts in excess of 50, 60 miles per hour.

So, there's also something else that's compounding the threats here, which is the flash flood concern. There has been a significant amount of rain that's falling from the sky already across the Mississippi and Tennessee River Valley. But additional rain is to come, and that is, of course, basically highlighted along the East Coast. But any of the rain that's fallen could still potentially bring overnight flash flooding, especially across these areas throughout Central Tennessee, even into Northwest Georgia. So, we'll keep a very close eye on that as the system continues to turn off the East Coast. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Houthi leadership is now vowing revenge after a fresh round of deadly U.S. attacks against the militant groups in Yemen and more U.S. action could be on the way. I want to go live now to CNN's Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi. So, Paula, walk us through this action by the Trump administration and the repercussions in Yemen and across the region.

[04:05:00]

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, these are strikes that the U.S. military and allies have been carrying out against Houthi targets. Now, they say this is because the Houthi rebels have been targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea and also in the Arabian Sea. We did hear -- see a post from the U.S. president, Donald Trump, on Truth Social, where he said the Houthi attack on American vessels will not be tolerated. We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective. There was also a message for Iran. He said to Iran, support for the Houthis terrorists must end immediately.

Now, the Houthis are part of this so-called Axis of Resistance. So, they are armed and equipped by Iran and supported financially, hence the message for Iran there. And certainly, there is believed to be a wider message here showing Tehran that America will take military action if it feels that it is threatened.

Now, we know that the Houthis themselves had carried out attacks on well over a hundred vessels in this area of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden saying that this was because they were showing support for Gaza and they would stop firing on these ships with missiles and drones once a ceasefire was put in place.

Now, they did temporarily, but then when Israel halted all humanitarian aid to Gaza, they then said that their so-called ban was on vessels in this area was going to recommence saying it was on Israeli ships. But in reality, there were many more vessels that they had targeted.

Now, we've also had a response from Iran. The foreign minister, Sayyid Abbas Araghchi, has said on Twitter on X, the U.S. has no authority or business dictating Iranian foreign policy. So, also pushing back against what the U.S. has done.

This is a continuation of a policy that we did see under the former U.S. president, Joe Biden. There had been a number of U.S and British and other allies carrying out these military strikes on bases, on missile defense systems of the Houthis. They had limited success, though. Up until this point, the Houthis were still able to carry out these attacks on commercial shipping, many ships around the world have had to take alternate routes, which were very costly to the industry.

So, what we're hearing now really from the Trump administration is that this is going to be a more consistent policy. This is not going to be a one-off reaction when they feel the need is necessary. We've heard from a source familiar that this could continue consistently for the days and weeks ahead. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. I appreciate that. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, thanks so much.

President Trump continues to put a positive spin on Russia's response to his 30-day ceasefire plan for Ukraine. He'll be debriefed this weekend by his envoy, Steve Witkoff, who met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday. But Trump already says that all signs coming from Russia seem to be, quote, "hopefully very good" and that the meeting with Putin was very productive.

The Russian leader has agreed with the U.S. proposal in principle, but he added a list of conditions that made some people question his sincerity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed with the proposal, but said Putin is manipulative and wants to continue the war.

Many U.S. allies also say Moscow's response isn't good enough. On Saturday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer led a virtual meeting on Ukraine, involving some 25 countries, and as Nic Robertson reports, they want to push Moscow to the negotiating table.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: So, this virtual meeting lasted about two hours, the British prime minister saying a bigger gathering of leaders that included leaders from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan as well, included a coalition of the willing, and he said a lot had happened in those past two weeks, specifically that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, had signed up to President Trump's peace deal, the ceasefire, the 30-day ceasefire.

And he said very clearly, Vladimir Putin is not doing enough. The world, he said, is watching. They're waiting for action. And then, he laid out steps that this coalition of the willing will take.

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We won't sit back and wait for Putin to act. Instead, we will keep pushing forward. We agreed we will keep increasing the pressure on Russia. Keep the military aid flowing to Ukraine and keep tightening restrictions on Russia's economy to weaken Putin's war machine and bring him to the table. And we agreed to accelerate our practical work to support a potential deal.

[04:10:00]

So, we will now move into an operational phase. Our militaries will meet on Thursday this week here in the United Kingdom to put strong and robust plans in place, to swing in behind a peace deal, and guarantee Ukraine's future security.

ROBERTSON: Starmer didn't get into specifics about which country was going to give which contribution. He said more countries there that they were more contributions put forward during the meeting. He was asked in the press conference about support from the United States. He said, absolutely. President Trump, he said, absolutely committed to getting peace in Ukraine and all the support that comes with that.

Now, President Zelenskyy, who was also on that virtual call, thanked the various leaders who were on it, also pointing out that there were more than previous, saying it was important that these meetings were happening frequently. But he said very clearly this was going to put more pressure on President Putin.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Everybody understands that Ukraine needs help as never before. Everybody greeted Ukraine with the real victory in Jeddah, the diplomatic victory. Everybody considers that this is a serious progress. And now, Russia will -- it will be hard for Russia to get out of this situation. It has to show, if it agrees to cease fire, that it supports the end of the war, or it wants to go on with the war. And this is what everybody is expecting, and everybody will give signals both to the United States of America.

ROBERTSON: Zelenskyy also thanked President Trump, but cautioned against President Putin's lies. He said that in the area of Kursk, where President Putin has said that Ukrainian troops are surrounding, he said, that's not true. Now, President Trump had asked President Putin to spare the lives of those Ukrainian troops because Putin had said that they were surrounded. And then, Putin had come out later and said that he'd given them the offer to surrender. Clearly, Zelenskyy implying here that Putin is trying to scam Trump.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: People crying at work and managers apologizing for having to fire them. Still ahead, IRS workers describe what's happening behind closed doors as Elon Musk leads a job cutting effort at the agency.

Plus, the Trump administration implements sweeping environmental deregulation. We'll have those stories and more coming up after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:00]

BRUNHUBER: A judge is blocking President Donald Trump from using a wartime law to speed up mass deportations. For now, the White House says it's targeting alleged members of a Venezuelan gang that it considers a foreign terrorist organization. President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act on Saturday, but a temporary restraining order was issued hours later.

The 18th century law has only been invoked three times in American history. It was used to justify detentions and expulsions of German, Austro-Hungarian, Italian, and Japanese immigrants during World War I and World War II.

The U.S. is sending a naval destroyer to areas near the southern border to help with President Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigration. The USS Gravely is on its way from Yorktown, Virginia, after playing a critical role in the Red Sea responding to Houthi attacks. The U.S. military says the warship will help better protect the country's, quote, "territorial integrity, sovereignty, and security." Now, the move comes after thousands of U.S. troops were also deployed to the southern border.

Americans have less than a month to file their annual taxes, but the U.S. Tax Collection Agency, the Internal Revenue Service, is in chaos amid the Trump administration's push to downsize the government. Some IRS workers spoke with CNN about an ongoing wave of firings, which one expert dubbed a shotgun approach to job reductions. Julia Benbrook has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: New CNN reporting is giving us a glimpse into what these IRS workers are dealing with as they prepare for more cuts. In interviews with CNN, multiple current and former IRS workers describe the atmosphere right now as one of intimidation.

One IRS employee who's spoke with our team anonymously said this about how they see DOGE's recent actions. They said, quote, "They just randomly dropped by people's offices demanding access to systems. They're bullying us and there's no discipline in what they're doing, which really worries me."

Another current IRS employee who works outside of Washington and is a local union leader has said they're worried about morale as they have seen workers crying in the office and managers going around apologizing for firings that they really had no say in.

Now, in the last month, as DOGE has set up shop inside the IRS, we've already seen thousands of workers fired, and they're set up to shutter over a hundred taxpayer assistance offices around the country. This, as those massive layoffs, nearly 20 percent of the workforce expected are looming. Those are expected by May 15th. So, just two months away now.

In response to some of that CNN reporting that I laid out, here's what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had to say in a statement. She said, quote, "This story is based on anonymous sources and the fraudsters always scream the loudest. The vast majority of Americans support President Trump rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse."

What is happening at the IRS is a part of the Trump administration's broad effort to shrink the size of the federal government. And recent polling shows that the majority of Americans do have concerns with 62 percent of those surveyed saying that they think that the cuts could go too far and that they're worried that important programs will be shut down.

[04:20:00]

On the flip side of that, 37 percent said that they think that the cuts aren't going far enough when it comes to weeding out the waste, fraud, and abuse that the Trump administration regularly references.

In Washington. Julia Benbrook, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, it's been a tough week in the fight against pollution and climate change in the U.S., with multiple cuts and sweeping deregulation implemented by the Trump administration. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is closing its 11 environmental justice offices, which work to monitor and combat high levels of pollution. The administration says the closures align with President Trump's push to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in what it terms wasteful spending.

Now, on Friday, three former EPA chiefs warned of huge implications of climate and environmental rollbacks, which could have dire consequences. They urged Americans to demand that lawmakers and judges defend protection of the environment, and for cities and states to use policy to fight for continued protection despite these deep federal funding cuts. This is how current EPA chief Lee Zeldin described the moves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE ZELDIN, U.S. EPA ADMINISTRATOR: EPA will be reconsidering many suffocating rules that restrict nearly every sector of our economy and cost Americans trillions of dollars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right. For a deeper dive into what's at stake, we go live now to Henna Hundal, U.N. Climate Change Conference delegate in Lafayette, California. Good to see you again. Thanks so much for being here with us.

So, the EPA called this the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in the history of the United States. We saw more than 30 actions to roll back restrictions on air and water pollution. It's been described by some as environmental shock and awe. What concerns you the most here?

HENNA HUNDAL, DELEGATE, U.N. CLIMATE CHANCE CONFERENCES: Yes, thank you very much for having me, Kim. I appreciate being with you.

You know, what struck me about this is that we have truly entered a new era of unyielding partisanship. Why do I say this? Well, just as EPA head Lee Zeldin ushered in what he called the most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history, these 31 actions, which span everything from reconsidering regulations around power plants, air pollution, waste water, risk management for chemical facilities, I mean, things that are so critical. You know, that very day we had former EPA leaders across Democratic and Republican administrations, across President H. W. Bush, Bush, and Obama, lambast these decisions as catastrophic and endangering human life. And I think it's really important to remember that the EPA was founded by a Republican, President Nixon, with overwhelming support. And we know the majority of American support initiatives like reining in air pollution, protecting wildlife, have very favorable opinions about our national park. So, if these were put in plain language, these would be wildly unpopular.

And the final point to this is, I think it's just rich that these are being couched under the language of increasing everyday affordability for Americans. I mean, to the extent that we want to read into President Trump's victory as a mandate for everyday affordability, which may be a goal that we can all laud, I mean, something as simple as protecting Americans from unbreathable air certainly does not fall under that purview.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And on that, I mean, one thing that has many climate activists concerned is the plan to rescind the EPA's conclusion that greenhouse gases endanger public health, which is essentially the bedrock of the EPA's climate change regulations. What impact might that have?

HUNDAL: Well, it would just be absolutely devastating. I mean, that was initiated in 2009 under the Clean Air Act, whereby they declared that six greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, were endangering the health and wellbeing of Americans presently and in the future.

And so, that really is the legal foundation for a lot of these climate change regulations. And, you know, that -- well, just targeting that and undermining that would really hamper our ability to take to court some of these new initiatives that the Trump administration is trying to do in terms of these actions to roll back all of those protections. So, that would be --

BRUNHUBER: Yes. On that, exactly, the legal fight. I mean, the Trump administration has to give scientific reasons for many of these changes, and they will have to defend them in court, as you say. So, climate activists cling to the hope that because they fired so many people at the EPA and slashed funding, they won't be able to provide all of this. So, how are states like California, where you are, fighting back against these moves?

HUNDAL: Yes, well, really quickly to that point, I will say here is one of the bright spots. The Trump administration does not seem to have a coherent messaging around climate and the environment. You know, in the same week that EPA head Lee Zeldin is saying that he's trying to drive a dagger through the heart of the, quote, "climate change religion," we had Energy Secretary Chris Wright give a speech in which he said that climate change is a side effect of building the modern world. So, which is it?

[04:25:00] And quite frankly, the notion that we can continue to fundamentally alter the chemical makeup of the atmosphere, our oceans, our biomes on this planet without expecting that bill to come due just belies all scientific findings. So, I would say we actually have the messaging on our side on that front. It's really hard to, you know, wordplay the way out of this one.

In terms of what states can do, I think California will really be for looking at, for example, what President -- sorry, Governor Newsom is doing. You know, we know that he had initiated a mandate that by 2035, all new cars sold in California would be zero emission vehicles. And he also came out and said, very shortly after President Trump was reelected, that if Trump would target that federal credit for electric vehicles, he would come in and enable the state of California to provide that $7,500 rebate.

So, I think we should really take our cues from him in terms of how states can utilize their own resources to keep up these efforts, even if the Trump administration doesn't want to do it federally.

BRUNHUBER: Finally, you spoke there about scientific findings. I mean, whether the Trump administration believes in climate change or not, more studies are showing its impacts. A new report by NASA found that sea levels rose higher than expected last year. Another report by researchers with WaterAid found that many large cities across the world are now being hit by so-called climate whiplash. They're suffering from frequent extremes of both wet and dry conditions, cities like Melbourne, Nairobi. Dallas, Texas, even other cities have seen their climates fluctuates and flip, for instance, changing from wet to dry. So, he's like Madrid, Hong Kong and San Jose in California, where you are. So, it just underscores what's at stake here.

HUNDAL: Absolutely. The impacts are undeniable. And very quickly, to some of our earlier points about the actions that the EPA is now taking. One thing they want to do is roll back all the environmental justice efforts that President Biden had heralded. You know, talking about the differential impacts of these things in those different cities that you mentioned, we know that all places do not feel these impacts equally.

I mean, just look at some of the neighborhoods in New York City. Some have a green canopy or have more foliage that provides more natural cooling effects from those unbearably hot summers that we experienced last year. You know, we know there's an 85 mile stretch called Cancer Alley along the Mississippi River, where the rate of cancer risk is 700 times higher than the national average due to some of the chemical pollutants there. I mean, we know we need to do this on a local level, targeting these different impacts, and I think that actually is a bright spot. That's a point of hope because locally, you know, people can really rally together and perhaps local officials can step in for the Trump administration two months into their leadership has failed.

BRUNHUBER: We'll have to leave it there. Always appreciate having you on. Henna Hundal, thank so much.

HUNDAL: Thank you so much, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Well, Democrats in Congress say they're doing what they can to resist President Trump's agenda, but some voters say their best isn't good enough. While we're running the numbers, straight ahead, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:00]

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

President Donald Trump signed the new stopgap funding bill Saturday to keep the U.S. government open for the next six months. He praised Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who sided with Republicans to help advance the bill hours before a government shutdown.

Senate Democrats came under intense pressure to oppose the Trump backed bill from members of their own party. Schumer and nine other senators who crossed the aisle on an earlier procedural vote are now facing backlash, highlighting deep divides within the Democratic Party. CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Voters views of Democrats in Congress, the lowest ever approval ratings on record per Quinnipiac University. Look at this. Approved 21 percent among all voters. Look at the disapproved level. Holy Toledo. 68 percent of all voters disapprove of how Democrats are doing in Congress.

Now, you might think that is low, and this is the lowest number on your screen here down at 21 percent. But I want to bring you over here to how Democratic voters feel, because this is truly unbelievable. Amongst their own party, how do Democratic representative senators, how are they viewed? Get this, the plurality disapprove at 49 percent. More Democrats disapprove of the job that their party is doing in Congress than approve. Get this only 40 percent approve. These are truly horrific numbers. They're in the trash bin of history. That is how low these approval ratings are.

What do Democrats want from their own party, right? Do they want them to agree with Trump more or do they want them to oppose Trump more? OK. Democrats in Congress oppose Trump too often, just 4 percent. How about the right amount? Just 19 percent. How about not enough? You don't have to be a mathematical genius to know that this is the largest number on your screen, 77 percent of Democratic voters say that their party in Congress does not oppose Donald Trump nearly enough.

So, you might be thinking to yourself, with this shutdown, that did not actually happen where the Democrats gave Trump and the Republicans the votes. I can tell you with pretty much no doubt that their party, at least in the American public, does not like that. They want them to fight Trump more. When you get 77 percent of your own party agreeing on something, you know that is the direction that they wish their representatives and senators in Congress, in Washington, actually went.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: A show of Ukrainian solidarity down under a small-town cafe is taking on President Trump's handling of Ukraine and his recent tariffs on Australian steel and aluminum, one American beverage at a time. CNN's Ben Hunte has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Your country is in big trouble.

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It was a heated exchange in the White House, but it wasn't just U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that were riled up from that fiery meeting.

JAN GILES, CAFE OWNER: It's schoolyard bullying. And we don't accept that anywhere. You know, you don't treat anyone like that, let alone a head of state. Absolutely disgusting.

HUNTE (voice-over): It also struck a nerve nearly 16,000 kilometers away from Washington in Binalong, Australia, a small village in New South Wales with a population of about 500, where a cafe is now adding surcharges on U.S. products. The owners say they're taking a stand for Ukraine and civility.

ADRIAN SYKES, CAFE OWNER: We just felt we needed to do something, it might be small, to try and help the people of Ukraine, especially after what they've been through and the way Trump and Vance treated Zelenskyy.

[04:35:00]

HUNTE (voice-over): Marking up U.S. products like Cokes and taking American made spirits off the shelves. The cafe says it will donate the proceeds of its so-called tariffs to the Australian Red Cross Crisis Appeal for Ukraine.

SYKES: The reaction's been fantastic. Over the weekend we had a jar there for donations. People were putting in $20, $50. It's got our total donation up over $2,000 for the appeal. And you know, sensational effort for a small town.

HUNTE (voice-over): And with the U.S. adding tariffs to Australian steel and aluminum, the cafe says that's all the more reason to continue their campaign. A small protest in global terms, but one that means a lot to some residents in this corner of the world.

SYKES: You may notice the American flag. We've turned that upside down. It actually symbolizes a state of distress. It's an international symbol for flags. And we feel that's how America's going right at this moment. HUNTE (voice-over): Ben Hunte, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, we have an update on the murders of the four Idaho college students that shocked the nation in 2022. Authorities are now releasing the disturbing frantic 911 call in which a crying woman tells dispatchers one of her roommates is unconscious. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the most chilling look yet at what unfolded inside that home in November 2022. The fear, the confusion, it all comes through in the audio recording of a 911 call that CNN obtained. I want to start with the moment the call was placed. I'll just warn our viewers that this may be difficult to listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 911, location of your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, something is happening. Something happened in our house, we don't know what.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is the address of the emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 1122 --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: You can hear the panic in their voices as they struggle to explain what's happening. One voice trying to give the address before breaking down in tears. That call lasted about four minutes and at times multiple people can be heard speaking to the dispatcher to the point that at some point she urges them not to pass the phone around. The confusion continues to build as they first report an unresponsive roommate. Then, mention seeing a man in the house the night before. Listen to that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I just tell you what happened pretty much?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is going on currently? Is someone passed out right now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't really know, but pretty much 4:00 a.m. --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. I need to know what's going on right now, if someone is passed out. Can you find that out?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I'll come -- come on. Let's -- we got to go check. But we have to. She's passed out, what's wrong. She's not waking up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: A gut-wrenching moment in that call. Court filings did reveal that before this call, the surviving roommates had been texting each other about the man inside. Messages sent nearly eight hours earlier, around the time investigators now believe the murders were taking place. Yet, 911 wasn't dialed until nearly noon the next day. Prosecutors say this call along with those messages will help establish a timeline they will present at the trial.

The defense, however, may argue that the delay and the chaotic nature of the call could raise questions about what the surviving roommates understood at the time. Bryan Kohberger, the 30-year-old accused in these murders, is set to go to trial in August. He has pleaded not guilty and could face a death penalty if convicted. His defense team, however, is pushing to have that death penalty option removed. Claiming in another recently unsealed motion that Kohberger exhibited all core diagnostic features of autism spectrum disorder when evaluated by a neuropsychologist. And that has a significant impact on his daily life.

They say executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments. It is unclear if or when Kohberger was previously diagnosed.

Julia Vargas Jones, CNN. Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: The Trump administration wants to make some big changes to the U.S. education system. Well, we'll look at whether they're making things better or causing chaos. That's coming up next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:40:00]

BRUNHUBER: Since taking office, Donald Trump has been carrying out a full-frontal attack aimed at reshaping the U.S. education system. He's made clear he wants to eliminate the Department of Education and let the states run their own school systems. Now, to that end, the administration announced this week it was cutting nearly half the department's staff, with some 1,300 employees told they'll be terminated in 90 days. A lawsuit from Democratic Attorneys General in 20 states claims Trump is trying to damage the department so badly that it can no longer carry out its major functions.

Now, at the same time, the administration is taking aim at colleges and universities, threatening to withhold funding from schools over some student protests. As a result, Columbia University announced Thursday it has expelled, suspended, or revoked the degrees of students who participated in a pro-Palestinian takeover of several campus buildings last spring.

Well, now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is warning that visas will be denied or revoked for immigrant students who join what he calls pro-terror riots.

All right. So, what does all this mean? Joining me to talk about it is Isaac Kamola, director of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom at the American Association of University Professors. Thank you so much for joining us here. So, just to start off, what do you make of how the Trump administration is going specifically after Columbia University, demanding that it change everything from how it recruits students, to shutting down some of its programs? I mean, have you ever seen anything like this before?

ISAAC KAMOLA, DIRECTOR, AAUP CENTER FOR DEFENSE OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM: Thanks for having me, Kim. This is the closest precedent that people would point to might be McCarthyism. But McCarthyism was the persecution of individual faculty members for individual personal beliefs. What we're seeing at Columbia is really unprecedented.

It's the use of the federal government and the full power of the federal government. To force an academic institution to acquiesce to its ideological beliefs, right? So, the letter that the Trump administration sent to Columbia demanded that it closed the -- a program, a department, the really influential middle studies and African studies department that is widely regarded has international reputation.

[04:45:00]

They demand that it be closed because they disagree with the content that is being taught that the requiring of student -- of the sanctioning of students, of revoking of visas, the adoption of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, basically making demands upon the institution, demanding that it fundamentally change what it does, what it teaches, how it interacts with its students as a precondition for returning funding that the administration has cut. This is an unprecedented attack and a really effort to use political tools to determine what is taking place on a college campus.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And on that, I mean, the way the administration's going after protesters as well, for instance, the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil. What kind of chilling effect will this have on free speech on campus?

KAMOLA: The chilling effect is very, very, very real and it exists at all levels. So, as far as faculty goes, we are living in this strange world in which things that were totally normal, the types of research that we did that was totally normal is now being treated as somehow deviant.

So, for example, I heard a story of somebody who studies cell segregation, which is something that has to do with cancer. I don't know anything about it, but this is the story, right? Is that they study cell segregation and because segregation was in the term, then that got flagged as something that could potentially be cut, right? These kinds of insane prohibitions on certain words and terms because of some ideological fantasy that the administration has.

As far as the administration is going, the administration is scared that they will end up in the crosshairs like Columbia and so are engaged in anticipatory obedience. Universities are scrubbing their wet their websites, changing their curriculum, changing the titles of courses and having conversations with faculty about what they should and shouldn't teach. Researchers are unsure if their research is going to go forward because of some sort of interpretation that, you know, the federal government might have.

And it's chilling student protest. You would expect to see massive protests on student -- on college campuses because of these kinds of draconian policies. However, the type of repression that students are facing is causing a real chilling effect. This is something a conversation I have with every faculty member that I'm in conversation with is a concern about will we be able to do the work that we are trained to do?

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And more broadly, I mean, beyond just targeting the university specifically over all these things the Trump administration, as I mentioned earlier, has fired nearly half the staff of the Department of Education, basically in efforts to gut the whole department. I mean, what effect would that have?

KAMOLA: Yes. The Department of Education does lots and lots of really, really important things, many of which are not appreciated. I don't think are even appreciated by this administration. It's been turned into kind of a boogeyman, but in fact, the work of the Department of Education is really essential.

Let me just give you a few examples. So, the Department of Education oversees the distribution of Pell grants and student aid. The Trump administration says it's going to move that into the Department of Treasury. However, we know that even a small disruption, like when they -- there is the redoing of the facts of forms a year or two ago, there was massive disruption in the whole process.

So, if you're cutting and slashing the processes and the experts who are responsible for making sure that student loan and student aid money gets out the door, then you're going to see massive disruptions in the distribution of funds. And many schools, you know, can't survive two, three, four, five months without receiving student tuition payment. So, there could be a massive economic ripple effect.

BRUNHUBER: Yes.

KAMOLA: The Department of Education is also really important for protecting vulnerable students. There's a bunch of policies that are being used to make sure that students are treated fairly and equitably. They also oversee institutions both K-12 and higher education to put in standards for quality higher education.

So, if you see this slash budget, you're going to see a greater likelihood of scam universities, scam K-12 charter schools are going to be increasingly unregulated. And then, on top of that, you're not going to be able to collect the data.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Well, listen --

KAMOLA: To know if the department is working.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, there's no question this will have a seismic effect across all levels of education, which is presumably what the administration wants. We'll have to leave it there because we do have some breaking news we want to share. But, Isaac Kamola, thank you so much for being here with us.

KAMOLA: Sure. Anytime. Thanks for taking this important story.

BRUNHUBER: All right. And we are following breaking news coming out of North Macedonia, 51 are dead and dozens more injured in a nightclub fire.

[04:50:00]

Now, that is according to the country's interior ministry. This is the scene with firefighters on site as people stand at the club's entrance. Now, we will bring you more developments as they come in as we follow this breaking news. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: A 2,000-year-old scroll is revealing new details about ancient philosophical writings and it's all thanks to artificial intelligence. Scientists used the technique on a scroll buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. CNN's Nick Valencia has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This charred scroll could contain valuable insights into Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, but the contents are challenging to get. Charred from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., the few hundred scrolls left unopened are in fragile condition. They're known as the Herculaneum Scrolls, named for the town that was buried in the eruption. Opening one could destroy its contents, so researchers have now turned to artificial intelligence to help discover what's inside.

[04:55:00]

Using A.I., scientists have performed the first virtual unrolling of one of the scrolls. The process uses a particle accelerator that speeds up electrons to emit light 10 billion times brighter than the sun. The light is then directed into laboratories as x-ray beams to scan inside the scrolls without damaging them. A.I. was trained to spot ink and put together images from the scan to make the text clearer for researchers to decipher.

STEPHEN PARSONS, PROJECT VESUVIUS: So, we've zoomed in essentially with an x-ray microscope is how you can think of this. And we're just looking at very, very detailed structures on the surface and identifying where there's ink. And anywhere we find ink, we sort of paint it on the virtually unwrapped surface. And at that point, text emerges on that image. And once there's something that resembles text, we partner with the scholars here in Naples and around the world who specialize in these texts and they're able to read it.

VALENCIA (voice-over): The virtual unrolling of this scroll revealed substantial parts of the papyrus, including several columns of text. It is the newest breakthrough in the Vesuvius Challenge, a competition which encourages people to decipher texts from these scrolls using computer vision and machine learning.

PARSONS: The virtual unwrapping methods that the research team and the community have developed are really converging to the point where we think this year, we're going to substantially read an entire scroll for the first time. So, that would be historic for a single scroll.

VALENCIA (voice-over): This scroll is expected to contain ancient philosophical writings that have not been seen for nearly 2,000 years. Researcher Michael McOsker thinks the text will be from the philosopher Philodemus, inspired by Epicurus.

MICHAEL MCOSKER, RESEARCHER, UNIVERSITY OF COLLEGE LONDON: Epicurus argued that the world physically is just atoms and void and combinations of them. And that, ethically, therefore, the gods don't care about us and we should live pleasant lives. He argued for a sort of ethical hedonism. Getting new texts is great. Getting new texts from an author that I've worked on for a decade and a half now is even better news. But I'll be happy whatever it is.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Nick Valencia, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, that wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:00:00]