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National Security Adviser Added A Journalist To Text Chat On Highly Sensitive Yemen Strike Plans. South Korea Battling Worst Forest Fires In Decades; Palestinians Hold Largest Anti-Hamas Protest Since October 7th; Pope Came So Close to Death Doctors Mulled Ending Treatment; Motorcyclist Found Dead After Falling Into Sinkhole in Seoul; Chinese EV Maker BYD Eclipses Tesla in Sales; Research Finds Chewing Gum Release Microplastics Into Saliva. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired March 26, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:27]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, denying, deflecting and downplaying. Donald Trump and his top national security officials say nothing was classified when military attack plans were discussed on an unsecured app.

Firefighters in South Korea struggle to contain unprecedented and deadly wildfires.

And new details on just how grave the Pope's condition became during his treatment for double pneumonia.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us, and we begin with new developments in the group chat by top U.S. officials that laid out sensitive, if not classified, information about a military strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen. U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is now taking full responsibility for mistakenly adding a journalist to that chat. He attacked The Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, as a loser, and said he has asked Elon Musk for help in getting to the bottom of the controversy.

President Trump is also going after Goldberg, calling him a hack and a sleaze bag, and at the White House on Tuesday, he tried to deflect from the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, it wasn't classified, as I understand it. There was no classified information, there was no problem, and the attack was a tremendous success. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Earlier in the day, when the president claimed there was no classified information discussed in the chat, he refused to answer a follow up question from our Kaitlan Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: But you will conduct an investigation, is what you're saying in to this?

TRUMP: We'll look into it, sure. I would look into it. Anything like that, I would -- I would ask them, it's not really an FBI thing. It's really something having to do with security. Security like, will somebody be able to break it? Are people able to break into conversations? And if that's true, we're going to have to find some other form of device, and I think that's something that we may have to do.

COLLINS: Mr. President, who told you that information was not classified?

TRUMP: Another question, please. Go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Goldberg says he didn't initially go public with the details shared in the chat, but he has more reporting still to come.

Meantime, the directors of National Intelligence and the CIA told senators they think Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is the one responsible for determining if anything discussed in the chat was classified. Democrats on the Intelligence Committee gave them a grilling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TULSI GABBARD, U.S. DIRECTOR IF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Senator, I don't want to get into this.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Ma'am, did you -- we want -- you're not going to be willing to address. So, you're not -- are you denying? Will you answer my question, Ma'am? You are not T.G. on this group chat?

GABBARD: I'm not going to get into this specific.

WARNER: So, you refuse to acknowledge whether you are on this group chat?

GABBARD: Senator, I'm not going to get into this.

WARNER: Why are you -- why are you going to get into specifics? Is this -- is it because it's all classified?

GABBARD: Because this is currently under review by the national security.

WARNER: Because it's all classified? If it's not classified, share the text now.

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): Director Ratcliffe, this was a huge mistake. Correct?

JOHN RATCLIFFE, CIA DIRECTOR: No.

Inadvertent mistake of adding a reporter.

OSSOFF: And that wasn't a huge mistake? That wasn't a huge mistake?

RATCLIFFE: They characterize it as a mistake.

OSSOFF: This is an embarrassment.

We will get the full transcript of this chain, and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: More now from CNN's Chief U.S. National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This annual worldwide threats hearing in the Senate Intelligence Committee was really hijacked by this extraordinary story over this security breach, with committee senators hammering the intelligence officials in front of them over how and why this happened.

Now, no Republican senators asked about this scandal, it was only Democrats. And the top two intelligence officials there, the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and the CIA Director John Ratcliffe. They repeatedly claimed that what was said in this Signal chat was not, in fact, classified at any time. That is something that has now been echoed by the President Donald Trump and Mike Waltz, the National Security Adviser.

[02:05:02]

As a reminder, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, he wrote that the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted in the group about operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons that the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.

And multiple times, both Gabbard and Ratcliffe appeared to try to point the blame at the Secretary of Defense Hegseth, saying that they couldn't answer the questions, and he should.

At one point, though, Ratcliffe did admit that what he called pre- decisional strike deliberation, he said, should be conducted through classified channels, and he admitted that that kind of information would be of interest to foreign intelligence services who are doing some spying.

He went on to claim that what he put in that Signal chat, including the name of a CIA officer who works for him was not classified. The Democratic senators, led by the committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner then responded that if the information wasn't classified, they should simply turn it over.

Now, Waltz said tonight that he wants those deliberations from the chat to remain confidential. It does remain to be seen if that will be the case. There are now several Republicans on Capitol Hill calling for a deeper look at what happened, and the Trump administration is still struggling to explain why what was said that sensitive information should not be considered classified.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Cedric Leighton is a CNN military analyst and retired Air Force colonel, he joins me now from Washington. Good to have you with us.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's good to be with you, Rosemary. Thank you.

CHURCH: So, the White House is in damage control after journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to the Signal group chat that shared war plans, targets and weapons ahead of a missile strike on Yemen. It is worth pointing out that later Tuesday evening, Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, came out and he reiterated what he said the day before, saying nobody is texting war plans.

Now, I just wanted to get your view on what he means by that, and basically your overall response to this blunder.

LEIGHTON: Yes, Rosemary, so when he's talking about war plans, Secretary Hegseth is, I think, hiding behind kind of a veil where we colloquially use the term war plans, even though, technically we don't use that term anymore in the United States military. The war plan term was something that was phased out after World War II.

But colloquially, it does mean that any type of contingency or operational plan that we're using.

So, what he may be referring to is that particular semantic fact that he didn't technically text out a war plan, but he may have texted details of a contingency plan or an operations plan, and those contingency plans or operations plans would have had details such as, you know, types of aircraft to be used, types of weapons, types of targets, those kinds of things.

So, that's the kind of thing that may have gone out based on the reporting from The Atlantic. But the other thing to note here is that this may be a distinction in some ways, without a difference that Secretary Hegseth is trying to make here, and the very fact of you know, this being a very sensitive issue means that some kind of classified information, most likely was transmitted in this particular case.

And as far as the operation is concerned and the reaction to this situation from the White House, I would have to say that, you know, they were very much in damage control mode. It is, you know, very clear that a lot of the members of the president's staff are not very comfortable in their roles at this particular point. They are new in the administration, obviously, but it's very clear that they have, in essence, done things that would circumvent normal security processes, normal security procedures and normal procedures that we use to safeguard classified information.

CHURCH: And President Trump is saying that no classified information was shared in the group chat, but the journalist involved says that's not true, and he plans to report more on this.

If Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared the details of war plans, including targets, weapons and time references. Is that considered classified? Or can Hegseth declassify it, as some Republicans are suggesting he did?

LEIGHTON: Theoretically, he can declare it, but I have never seen an operations plan or any type of war plan that is unclassified, certainly not a real one.

And in this case, we were talking about a real operation, not an exercise operation, not something that can be passed office, that is being fake. In that sense, this was a real operation involving real lives, real weapons and real service members.

[02:10:08]

So, it is any type of operation like this always carries at least a minimum classification of secret. Some of the more compartmented operations, of course, have a higher classification, classification like top secret and including compartmented digraphs that are associated with programs like that.

CHURCH: And President Trump is defending his National Security Advisor Mike Waltz whose Signal account mistakenly added the journalist, but it was Hegseth who communicated the classified information on Signal. Key Democrats are calling for Hegseth to be fired. Is that what needs to happen?

LEIGHTON: Well, I think certainly one should take responsibility for one's actions, and in this particular case, I could see both gentlemen leaving their posts. But in reality, that won't happen. I'm certain it won't happen.

So, in this particular situation, I think it would be wise because of the leadership issues involved and the fact that he exercises command over the military forces of the United States would be wise for Secretary Hegseth to vacate his post.

CHURCH: And at a hearing Tuesday, two of Trump's intelligence officials, Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe avoided answering questions, instead shifting responsibility to Hegseth. Again, it seems to come back to him and the information that he specifically shared on the Signal app. If Hegseth had been a military officer, would he have lost his job?

LEIGHTON: Yes, in most cases he would have, of course, it depends on the exact circumstances and what his commander would be willing to do in terms of the judicial proceedings, but as far as the Uniform Code of Military Justice is concerned, as well as the Espionage Act and other laws pertaining to this kind of thing, he would most likely have lost his job, possibly been reduced in rank, and there's even a possibility of jail time.

So, it's a very, very serious offense for normal people in the military, and it should be a serious offense for people who will command those people.

CHURCH: And President Trump says that they will conduct an inquiry into how this happened, but he doesn't think the FBI needs to be involved. What do you think needs to happen next? And do you think they've learned a big lesson here?

LEIGHTON: Well, I think they've definitely learned a lesson. It's been very interesting to watch the body language of everyone from the president on down when they discuss this issue, when they're forced to discuss this issue. The normal procedure would be for the Inspector General of the Department of Defense to be involved or the investigative arms, such as the Office of Special Investigations in the U.S. Air Force, or the Criminal Investigation Division in the army. Those kinds of entities are, of course, NCIS and the Navy.

So, those are the kinds of entities that would be part of a normal investigation of this type. They would potentially work with the FBI in certain situations. But if it's a military member, the service law enforcement arm would take care of that, and then would decide whether or not charges are warranted, and then proceedings would go from there to include potential for court martial.

CHURCH: Cedric Leighton, many thanks for joining us and sharing your analysis. Appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Rosemary, thanks for having me.

CHURCH: It's nowhere near the full cease fire Donald Trump has been pushing for but there appears to be some progress in efforts to halt the fighting in Ukraine. The White House says the two sides have agreed to stop attacking each other's ships in the Black Sea, to ensure safe navigation and to suspend strikes on energy facilities for 30 days.

These deals, in principle, came after days of parallel talks in the Saudi capital, but there are strings attached from Moscow, the Kremlin has said it will only comply after sanctions are lifted on banks involved in agriculture as well as food and fertilizer exports.

The U.S. president says his administration is looking at those conditions. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president said the Riyadh talks have not led to any agreements on Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy adding that Ukraine has no faith in the Russians to abide by their terms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): If we see that someone violates, we believe that we then appeal to the American side through all possible channels with the facts and evidence that the Russian side violated something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Fred Pleitgen has our report from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The United States, Russia and Ukraine have essentially agreed to a cease fire in the Black Sea. Now, all three sides say that they agree that fighting should stop in the Black Sea, the use of force should end. There should be freedom of navigation, and also that civilian ships should not be used for military purposes, and that all of that should be monitored.

[02:15:10]

However, while the Ukrainians say they believe that this deal went into force the moment that it was announced by the United States, the Russians are saying, not so fast. They say that they want their agricultural bank taken off sanctions list, and they want it hooked back up to the Swift international payment system.

I was in touch with the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, and he says the Russians are taking this harder line because they felt the last time that a Black Sea initiative was in place in 2022 and 2023 that they got the shorter end of the stick, and because all the sanctions that were on those Russian companies and banks, it was very difficult for them to export their goods.

However, the Russians are saying that communications with the United States are continuing in a positive way. And one of the things that Dmitry Peskov hailed as well is that both Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a list of critical energy infrastructure that should not be hit, that includes oil and gas installations and crew including pipelines, but also, of course, nuclear facilities as well.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAN DUCK-SOO, ACTING SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It is breaking records of the worst wildfire in history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: That was acting President Han Duck-Soo briefing South Koreans on the devastating wildfires that have been burning since the weekend, causing unprecedented damage.

More than 17,000 hectares have burned, including historic, cultural and religious landmarks. 23,000 people have evacuated their homes, and more than 10,000 people are battling the fires.

Helicopters deployed to fight the fires are grounded after a pilot was killed in a crash while working to contain a fast spreading fire southeast of Seoul. The pilot is one of 19 people confirmed killed in the fires so far.

CNN's Mike Valerio is live in Seoul. He joins us now. So, Mike, what is the latest on these deadly and devastating fires?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I would say that that helicopter crash is the latest development that we have in the ripple effect, Rosemary, is because of that firefighting helicopter crash, fire choppers across South Korea are being grounded, choppers that otherwise might have been sent to the region to help out.

So, you're seeing the tableau that looks more like Spain or Southern California. You know, this isn't totally unique to South Korea, but certainly the spread and scale of what we're going through now is quite arresting.

And I'm wondering control room, if we can switch to the pictures of the Gounsa Temple. These are certainly arresting images that we saw only a couple hours old. This is a place, Rosemary, that's been around for more than a millennia, built in the year 681, and when you look at this and then the next image that's going to come up, in the next one, you just see the image of a giant bronze bell that barely survived.

So, that's what we're talking about here, not only the human toll, but also the cultural toll that is being afflicted, that is happening now in these regions of South Korea.

We're talking about North and South Gyeongsang Province. So, if you think of South Korea like the palm of your hand, we're talking about the bottom right hand corner of the palm of your hand. That's the area where this is happening at.

So, this moved from really a local emergency over the weekend on Saturday -- on Saturday to a national emergency, warmer spring temperatures and gusty winds that are fueling the flames.

And as we look to tomorrow and towards the weekend, the storyline that we're watching is a UNESCO Heritage Village in the city of Andong that could be threatened, fires that are just a couple kilometers away. We did see images earlier today of teams that are trying to make conditions more damp around this world heritage UNESCO site.

So, that if there is an ember that crosses that is sent a few kilometers away from the front lines that it won't have optimal conditions to spread.

Also, good news, the biggest fire that we have is 68 percent contained across the nation. We're expecting a little bit of rain tomorrow, and then temperatures down into the single digits Celsius and some wintry precipitation on Saturday, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Some encouraging news there. Mike Valerio in Seoul, many thanks for that live report.

Palestinians in northern Gaza are demanding their voices be heard. Just ahead, details on the growing anti-Hamas demonstrations in the Enclave, back in just a moment.

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[02:24:19]

CHURCH: Anger and frustration in northern Gaza. On Tuesday, Palestinians took part in what's believed to be the largest anti-Hamas protest since the October 7th attacks. Video obtained by CNN showed large crowds, estimated to be in the thousands chanting: for God's sake, Hamas out and we want an end to the war.

The protests come after the Gaza Health Ministry announced the death toll had surpassed 50,000 on Sunday, with children accounting for nearly 16,000 of those deaths. A message shared on social media appears to call for nine anti-Hamas demonstrations across Gaza today.

[02:25:02]

Hamdan Ballal, an Oscar winning Palestinian director, is now free from Israeli custody. Ballal has now returned home to the village of Susya in the West Bank where he was attacked by Israeli settlers and detained by the Israeli military on Monday night, according to eye witnesses. A group of activists captured this video that night. They say more than a dozen Israeli settlers attacked the village with batons, knives and at least one assault rifle.

Israel's military accuses Israelis and Palestinians of throwing rocks at each other, Ballal is a high profile victim, but the assault is one of many that Israeli settlers have committed recently against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Turkish police have arrested more than 1,400 protesters following days of demonstrations that the government has deemed illegal. Seven journalists were also detained, including a photojournalist for French news agency AFP. AFP is demanding his immediate release, calling his detention a serious attack on the freedom of the media.

Anti-government protests have rocked the country amid public anger over the jailing of Istanbul's mayor, the main political rival to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested a week ago and denies the corruption charges against him.

Still to come, new details about the most difficult days of the Pope's stay in hospital, we will tell you the conversations doctors had about his treatment, back in just a moment.

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[02:31:10]

CHURCH: Hospital staff who cared for Pope Francis considered stopping his treatment at one point. The revelation comes from an Italian newspaper that spoke with healthcare workers involved in his treatment. CNN's Christopher Lamb has details on what changed their minds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Five weeks after Pope Francis entered the hospital and was treated for double pneumonia, we are learning new details about how close the leader of the Catholic Church came to dying. According to his doctor, Sergio Alfieri, the situation became so dire at one point, a tough decision had to be taken, whether to stop treatment and "Let him go," or force it and try all the drugs and therapies possible.

Dr. Alfieri telling Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, the Pope's health deteriorated after a serious breathing crisis and the Pontiff inhaled his own vomit. But Alfieri says it was Francis' personal nurse to whom the Pope delegated medical decisions, who insisted they not give up and to continue trying all the drugs and therapies, a decision that saved the 88-year-old Pontiff's life, but risked damaging his other organs in the process.

Alfieri said the Pontiff alert throughout, knew he was facing the end, at one point, holding onto the doctor's hand for comfort. The doctors had the Pope's inner strength helped him get through. With daily updates of Francis' time in the hospital, it was an anxious period for the Vatican as they only released this one photo of him during his 38 days of treatment, the absence of a hands-on Pontiff keenly felt across the church.

Francis is a Pope who regularly grabs the world's attention. Appearing publicly for the first time on Sunday, the Pope looked frail and he is back at his residence in the Vatican. Doctors have ordered him to take two months of recovery. He must avoid meeting big groups for risk of further infection. It's unclear whether he will lead or be present at Holy Week and Easter Celebrations, the high point of the Christian year. But given what he has been through, the Pope is lucky to be alive.

Christopher Lamb, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

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[02:37:58] CHURCH: A motorcyclist was found dead in South Korea's capital Tuesday, after falling into a sinkhole. Officials say the body of the 33-year-old man was found inside a subway tunnel under construction, around 50 meters from where he had fallen. It took rescuers 18 hours to locate him. They reportedly had to pump out water, dig through dirt, and navigate past construction equipment and other debris. The cause of the road collapse is under investigation.

Elon Musk's Tesla Company is facing some tough competition from overseas. It is now being outsold by BYD, the biggest name in Chinese electric vehicles, which posted annual sales of more than $100 billion for last year, topping Tesla's revenue. The head of BYD says the company had rapid development in 2024 with a 29 percent jump in sales from the previous year and sold more than 4.2 million cars, including electric and hybrid vehicles.

Well, for the gum chewers out there, new research is likely to burst your bubble. A new pilot study now being peer reviewed has found chewing gum can release microplastics into your saliva. That's possibly due to polymers used to give gum its chewiness and flavor retention. The findings based on 10 popular gums in the United States show that both synthetic and natural gums were found to contain microplastics.

Analysis revealed that just one gram of chewing gum released about 100 microplastics on average, with 94 percent of microplastics being released in the first eight minutes. Researchers say they don't yet know what the potential effects of microplastics are on the human body, adding that this study does shed light on the product's environmental impact. Doesn't sound good, does it?

[02:40:00]

Well, thanks so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN newsroom." Do stick around.

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[02:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)