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CNN This Morning

Deadly Storm System Rakes Across Central U.S.; Congress Avoids Government Shutdown, Senate Passess Spending Bill 54-46; U.K. Prime Minister Leads Call With European, NATO Allies On Ukraine; Supreme Court Signals No Rush To Decide Trump Birthright Citizenship Appeals; Dolly Parton Makes First Public Appearance Since Husband's Death; "United States Of Scandal With Jake Tapper" Airs Sunday At 9:00 ET/PT. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired March 15, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. It is Saturday, March 15th. You're up early and with me, and I appreciate it. This morning, there's a lot going on, starting with the powerful storm system. It is pushing through the country, bringing heavy rain, strong winds, and tornadoes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's here. Look at all that debris. Oh, my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And we're getting our first look at some damage left behind overnight and tracking the threat for more dangerous storms ahead throughout the weekend.

Now, you might have noticed the government is still open for business after Democrats helped Republicans pass a bill to stave off a government shutdown. But that act of bipartisanship is exposing some deep rifts within the Democratic Party. We'll get into that.

Also, representatives of two dozen countries are meeting this hour to discuss bringing an end to the war in Ukraine, even as Russia continues to launch fresh attacks.

Plus, what a new CNN poll reveals about how Americans feel about Trump's handling of the war.

We're starting this morning right there with the breaking news. At least three people have been killed in Missouri after powerful storms ripped through the central U.S. The massive system is bringing some strong winds, heavy rain, hail, tornadoes. Right now, the system is making its way across toward the East Coast, and forecasters say the storm is expected to gather strength with a high risk for more tornadoes and severe storms stretching throughout the weekend. Look at that.

The magnitude of the damage so far is unclear, but dramatic video shows just how powerful the winds were as two men in Missouri found themselves forced to ride out a tornado in their truck parked at a gas station.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this coming?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it's here. It's here! Look at all that debris. Oh, my God!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in a tornado.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, the storm also brought hurricane force winds that helped fuel fast spreading fires in Oklahoma, also in the Texas Panhandle. At least 15 fires forced people to evacuate throughout Oklahoma.

And along I-27 in Kenya, Texas, 80 mile-per-hour winds. Look at this. It caused a major dust storm leading to a pileup that killed three people there. Officials there say that more than three dozen vehicles crashed. This system is far from over. We have active tornado watches right now.

CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking that for us. So, while we're watching the damage caused by what has already passed through, there are new storms developing now.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, in fact, literally 60 seconds ago, we got a brand-new tornado watch yet again. This one kind of impacting over portions of Arkansas and Louisiana, but this is going to be a pattern. We're going to keep seeing this as we go through the rest of the afternoon. So, let's get right to it.

You can see over the last 24 hours, all of these dots, I mean it looks like a hot mess here, but every single one of those is some type of storm report from the last 24 hours. That could be damaging winds, that could be large hail, baseball size, it could even be a tornado report. We've had 23 of those.

Here's a look at the active system. This thing is huge. Again, it stretches from Minnesota all the way back to Texas, and you can see a lot of lightning here. What you also see is a lot of strong to severe thunder storms. Every single one of these red boxes indicates a tornado watch including that new one down to the south. A yellow box indicating a severe thunderstorm watch. A lot of activity going on up and down this line of thunderstorms.

You've also got severe thunderstorm warnings. We've had tornado warnings off and on throughout the day across portions of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and then to Tennessee further to the north. This line has also produced several warnings as well. You still have some out there now. This line continuing to slide eastward as it makes its way towards Eastern Kentucky and portions of Ohio.

Overall, anywhere, on this highlighted map you see has the potential for strong to severe thunder storms, but the target point is really going to be down here where you see the red and pink color. The pink indicating a level five out of five, it does not get any higher than that in terms of risks for those strong winds and the potential for tornadoes.

The storm prediction center saying we could see violent, long track tornadoes. That means they are on the ground for sometimes 30, 40, 60 minutes even hours at a time. The violent, not a random adjective that specifically means or EF-4 or EF-5 tornadoes. Those account for less than one percent of tornadoes that we get in the county, but account for 66 percent of the fatalities. So, please take this seriously as we go through the afternoon.

We've already seen the second round begin to ramp back up already this morning. That line is going to continue to shift eastward as we go through the afternoon hours and the more of that heating of the day will help develop even more thunderstorms a little bit further to the east. So, states like Tennessee, you're seeing it now but you're going to get that second round later this afternoon.

[07:05:010]

Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, all of these areas expected to be impacted by that second round later today. Then, by tonight, you start to see it transition into East Tennessee, portions of Eastern Alabama and even into Georgia and then gradually continuing to make its way eastward. A lot of cities, Knoxville, including Atlanta, your peak time is overnight tonight when people are sleeping, so please, please, please make sure you have a way to get those emergency alerts on your phone to wake you up.

BLACKWELL: All right, Allison, we'll check back with you in a few minutes, thanks so much. With me now on the phone is the Emergency Management Director for Butler County, Missouri, Robby Myers. Mr. Myers, thank you for being with me. First, can you tell me about injuries? Can you talk to me, I understand there's a report of at least one death in your county. What's the latest on numbers there?

ROBBY MYERS, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR FOR BUTLER COUNTY, MISSOURI (through phone): Yes, we were at one fatality. The first call of the night was some people trapped in a house and that turned out to be our fatality. But after that, we had another tornado that hit a mobile home park. And we had lots of damage and people sent to the hospital and we're waiting to hear back on how they're doing. And some of them we had opened a shelter up for them, so we got that going as well.

We've had some different businesses and churches that were highly damaged. We're waiting to work with National Weather Service to see exactly how many tornadoes we did have go through our county. We wouldn't be surprised if the numbers four or higher because of just the time frame it took for them to come through. But most devastation we've seen in many, many years. BLACKWELL: And can you give us an idea of just how broad the devastation is? Of course, we've got to get the sunlight there to be able to determine exactly the strength of tornadoes if they are confirmed tornadoes, but how long and how broad is this stretch of damage?

MYERS: Yes, it was. It went all across our county. So, it hit a very long area. And then there was different areas of the county that were hit, because like I said, we believe it was multiple tornadoes. And so, we have devastation in very many different parts of our county.

BLACKWELL: I don't expect you to have an exact number, but can you give me an idea of how many rescue calls, just ballpark, across the county you received at the height?

MYERS: It was, so many was going out all the time. It was, we had our city fire and our county fire and some volunteers and some other communities that weren't being hit and helping. That number is going to be high, but we're going to have to go through all of the different coordinations to check everyone's 911s to figure out what it was, but it was several.

BLACKWELL: Which part of the county saw the worst of the damage?

MYERS: I was going to say probably right here in the central, right at the city proper or right on the outskirts of the city as well. It was just a big stretch where it hit and took a roof off the kindergarten center, did great damage to a grocery store, a church, and that mobile home park, and a library building were all in that same area.

So, that's probably going to be the biggest concentration of physical damage, even though there are other schools that also had rough damage and some other businesses were checking out. But right there, there's one just one particular swath there that is just heartbreaking to see and that was in the dark.

Once we're able to get a little more light on it, it's going to probably be break our hearts even a little bit more.

BLACKWELL: All right, Robby Myers, Butler County Emergency Management Director. As you said, waiting for the sun to come up and expecting more heartbreak after at least one person killed there. You said you have people in hospitals and shelters there. We will check back with you as you get more information about what's going on across Butler County. Storms have passed through, and as Allison Chinchar said just a few moments ago, it's going to be a very dangerous weekend as we're watching that line develop.

All right, let's go to Washington now, where Congress has avoided another government shutdown. The Senate passed the spending bill, 54 to 46 vote. The government will remain open through the end of September. CNN's Lauren Fox has the latest on how things went down and the fallout among Democratic lawmakers. Lauren.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LAUREN FOX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After a tumultuous week on Capitol

Hill, Victor, Democrats and Republicans were able to avert a government shutdown despite the fact that it has caused a lot of heartburn within the Democratic caucus. You had a large number of the democrats in the house, the majority of them, all but one voting against advancing this short-term spending bill to the end of September.

[07:10:10]

In the Senate, however, there were several democrats who were willing to vote to advance this bill. Now, on the final piece of legislation, many of those who were willing to advance it, voted against it, just to be on the record with their base that they did not believe that the House-passed bill was the appropriate step forward. But the big takeaway here is really twofold. One, a government shutdown was averted, and two, Democrats have a lot of soul-searching to do when it comes to how they handled this moment, their first big opportunity for leverage in the Trump administration.

And it's going to be really interesting to see what the impact is for the leadership in the Senate in the weeks and months ahead. Victor?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, Lauren Fox, for us, thanks so much. The British Prime Minister is urging European and NATO allies to ratchet up economic pressure on Russia to get a ceasefire deal done with Ukraine.

We'll go inside this morning's urgent meeting after the break. Plus, for the second time in six months, a nationwide power outage hits Cuba. Why officials are blaming the United States. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:16:05]

BLACKWELL: Dozens of European and NATO leaders are gathered today virtually in search of a lasting solution to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is hosting the meeting, and he's expected to call for more pressure on Putin to end the conflict. CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson is in London. So, Nic, this UK-led summit happening, as President Trump claims that he expects the U.S. will now soon know his words, a little bit more on Monday about the ceasefire. What can you tell us about what's happening today?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, President Trump's sounding sort of hopefully optimistic that Putin will come through and move more towards the ceasefire deal. I don't think that's the mood in the room, this virtual room, that the Prime Minister Keir Starmer is leading the discussion. As you said, more than 25 different leaders, the Coalition of the Willing, as the British Prime Minister calls it, and he had a meeting in the flesh two weeks ago.

And this is a continuation of that, and a continuation of a lot of other meetings, particularly military and financial meetings that are happening here in Europe at the moment. Also on this call, Canadian Prime Minister, Australian, New Zealand Prime Ministers, the Secretary General of NATO. So, it's a big lineup. And Starmer's big point here is, look, Putin is prevaricating. President Trump is sort of pausing until Monday, but Starmer is saying it is Putin that's delaying at the moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: Putin is the one trying to delay and in a sense, and you will know this, if Putin is serious about peace, it's very simple. He has to stop his barbaric attacks on Ukraine and agree to a ceasefire. And the world is watching. My feeling is that sooner or later he's going to have to come to the table and engage in serious discussion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So, he said, Stavros said there were three things that he wants to achieve here. One is to continue to strengthen Ukraine's hand. The other is to make sure that if there is a ceasefire deal, then all these nations, the coalition of the willing, are ready to help enforce that ceasefire deal. And of course, the third thing that he was really outlining there, which is continue to put pressure on President Putin.

Look, there is an opening sort of rift here, not only over the interpretation of what President Putin is doing at the moment, which is pervaricating in the views of Starmer and the others there. A gap between the U.S. position and the European position. But there also seems to be a very significant gap, particularly over where Putin sees this ceasefire deal going. He's already saying things like there shouldn't be a contribution of weapons and military training for the Ukrainians.

Ceasefire is going to be an absolute pause, that they can't re-equip and re-train, and extending that as a view going forward. And there's a very, very, very clear view from European leaders, and I was listening to one European diplomat yesterday talk about this, and on that specific question of what Putin is saying there about reeling back equipment and training for Europe, and also taking what we've heard from the British Prime Minister this morning, determined to continue support for the Ukraine.

Two weeks ago, at the same summit in London, the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said we need to turn Ukraine into a steel porcupine, something that Russia can't swallow. That's the determination we're hearing from European ambassadors and leaders, that they want to continue to strengthen Ukraine's military position on the battlefield today and going forward. And that's at a complete variance with where President Putin is positioning himself at the moment.

So, it's going to be very interesting to see when we get to Monday, which is where President Trump is hoping to see better clarity from the Russians. The gaps are big. It's very hard to see how Putin is going to move to close that gap to the acceptance if you will, of the European leaders. Perhaps President Trump will be happy with what is heard, but I don't think the European leaders will be happy unless Putin is really ending all his positions, his demands ahead of a ceasefire.

BLACKWELL: Which is highly, highly unlikely. Nic Robertson, thanks so much. Joining me now is New York Times White House Correspondent Tyler Pager. He's in West Palm Beach where President Trump is spending the weekend just across the intercoastal there at Mar-a-Lago. Tyler, good to see you. Also the author of the book, "How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America."

Let's start here with the conversation about this expectation of, I guess, what's coming on Monday. The president says they know a little bit more about Russia's willingness to move toward a ceasefire. Some of the preconditions that Putin has put on this ceasefire, these aren't going to be resolved by Monday. Ukraine's not going to back away from their ambition to join NATO. Europe obviously is not going to back away from supporting them.

So, does the White House optimism, or at least the lens they're putting on this, match the actual developments that are happening between the U.S. and Russia?

[07:21:26]

TYLER PAGER, NEW YORK TIMES WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Victor, good to be with you. Thanks for having me. And I think that's the big question, and it's a little bit unclear exactly what these conversations have looked like between the Trump administration and Putin and other Russian officials.

When the president was leaving Washington yesterday, he said that there was, you know, he was getting good reports about those conversations and continued this optimistic tone of a deal being in place, you know, each day sort of hinting that we are closer to one, but not providing a lot of details.

And it remains unclear if the president himself has spoken to Putin. He continued to say, we have spoken to Putin, but the White House has not clarified whether that means Trump himself has or that Steve Whitkoff, his Middle East envoy, who we know has been in Russia meeting with Russian counterparts.

And so, you know, we continue to pose questions to the White House about exactly where these talks stand and how close they are and who is going to make some concessions because it's clear that Putin has not gotten there just quite yet.

But you're right, the President of the United States continues to strike a very optimistic tone about securing this 30-day ceasefire deal.

BLACKWELL: The latest CNN poll shows that 55 percent of respondents disapprove of the President's handling of the situation in Ukraine. 59 percent believe it's either unlikely or highly unlikely that he will bring lasting peace there. What is the political urgency inside the White House to get to something?

PAGER: Yes. I mean, I think part of the urgency is Trump himself. He has said he wants to be a "peacemaker." He wants to be remembered as a president who ended wars and created global peace. And so they want to sort of take credit for that. One of the things that's driving this here is Trump has talked about a desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize and feels that this is sort of part of the effort to do so.

But he also wants to just sort of end these conflicts. And so, I think it's, it's largely driven by the narratives that Trump has set in terms of his role in mediating these conflicts. And as you know, Victor, as we've talked about, Trump has put the blame of this war almost clearly on his predecessor, Joe Biden, said if he was president at the time, Putin would have never invaded Ukraine.

And so, I think this is part of that effort to prove himself to be a world leader who can who can bring peace.

BLACKWELL: You share a byline on a story out just this morning. The president signed executive orders last night, gutting additional federal agencies, calling on those agencies to reduce their work, to reduce their staff. One of them, U.S. Agency for Global Media, includes Voice of America. Explain what's happening here.

PAGER: Yes, this is part of Trump's wide-ranging effort to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and drastically shrink its workforce by cutting people in programs. An executive order signed yesterday but released by the White House late last night extends that effort to seven federal agencies directing the heads of these agencies to basically shutdown any programs that are not statutorily required and to then shrink whatever is statutorily required to its smallest possible footprint.

The biggest agency there that most people will know is this agency that oversees Voice of America and other government-funded programs, government-funded media programs. These are broadcast around the world, part of an effort to try to deliver unbiased news to millions of listeners and consumers. Trump has long targeted this agency feeling that they are not sufficiently touting his accomplishments.

He's frustrated them, by them in the first term, he put Kari Lake, a fierce loyalist who unsuccessfully ran for governor and senator in Arizona as a senior advisor in the agency spooking fears that he would you know really dramatically upend the agency. Obviously this is even a step further really trying to hollow it out.

BLACKWELL: We talked this morning about the Congressional angle of the passage of the C.R. and What that means for Democrats, talk to me about I guess the victory lap that the president is taking, Republicans there are taking, and what this, how this informs the next step of passing the agenda as they look toward reconciliation.

[07:26:02]

PAGER: Yes. Look, I think there's a lot of celebration within the Republican Party, in particular the White House. This was an undisputed victory for them. You know, Democrats are -- a lot of infighting and at war with each other over their decisions to, you know, Chuck Schumer's decision to go forward and provide the votes necessary to pass this continuing resolution.

And I think, you know, there's great hope and excitement that Republicans now can move forward with their agenda using a maneuver that won't even require Democratic support in the Senate. So, they are looking forward to trying to implement that, but it is definitely something that the White House feels very good about, and their ability to take the win and to keep their party united in both the House and the Senate.

BLACKWELL: All right. Tyler Pager, The New York Times. Thanks so much. Pope Francis has been in the hospital for more than a month now, and now the Vatican says he will not be released any time soon. And Dolly Parton makes her first public appearance since the death of her husband of 60 years. Her message to fans coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:41]

BLACKWELL: President Trump has taken his battle to end birthright citizenship to the Supreme Court, after lower courts put a nationwide injunction on an executive order signed on inauguration day.

In it, Trump declared that citizenship should be denied to children who do not have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident. That move sparked, of course, a series of legal challenges, with every court ruling against the president so far. And for now, the Supreme Court seems in no hurry to take up Trump's appeal.

Eric Segall is a constitutional law professor at Georgia State University. Thank you for being here.

ERIC SEGALL, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSOR, GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: OK. So, first, let's talk about, we're talking a bit during the break about this is a preliminary step. Although, the Supreme Court is deciding on this request from the Justice Department, it is not immediately on the question of the 14th Amendment.

SEGALL: Most of what we're hearing in these Trump cases are preliminary, temporary type hearings.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SEGALL: And this one is no different than that.

The Supreme Court has given the other side three weeks to respond to Donald Trump's briefs suggesting that birthright citizenship should be limited. They're in no hurry to hear this case, and I think that tells us something about the reception the issue is going to get when it gets to the Supreme Court. BLACKWELL: But this is a question that has been asked and answered by the Supreme Court.

SEGALL: Yes, a long, long time ago.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Yes, 1898.

SEGALL: And not just the Supreme Court.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SEGALL: Virtually, every legal expert. There are a couple exceptions, has said this is an easy question, that what Donald Trump is trying to do is inconsistent with the clear text of the 14th Amendment, and inconsistent with what we all have understood birthright citizenship to be for a very long time.

BLACKWELL: OK. So, let's read just from the 14th Amendment, just so we understand what we're discussing here. It reads that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."

It's the jurisdiction or subject to the jurisdiction thereof, is that, that is the element in which they say, if you don't have one parent who's at least a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident, you're not subject to the jurisdiction thereof?

SEGALL: Well, first of all, I'm glad you went to the text, something the Supreme Court doesn't do as much as they should.

BLACKWELL: OK.

SEGALL: I'm glad you took it seriously.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SEGALL: Now, the key words are the jurisdiction words. And the idea there is you have to be subject to the laws of the United States. But a child born to parents, no matter what the legal status of those parents are, is subject to the laws of the United States. We have had these arguments now for over a century, and what that means, simply, is there are some subsets of people, children of diplomats, some Native American tribes, who are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. You can't arrest an ambassador. But everybody else is.

So, what Donald Trump is trying to do here is relitigate, a question that everybody thought was closed for a very long time.

BLACKWELL: Well, on the question of a question that a topic that everybody thought was closed and stare decisis -- stare decisis. I mean, look at the Dobbs decision. When people thought that these justices specifically, it said, well, that is settled law and it isn't anymore. Is there a scenario in which this is not as you expect it will be?

SEGALL: So, this is going to probably shock some of your viewers little bit. The Supreme Court doesn't care about prior cases never has.

Precedent is a myth when it comes to the Supreme Court.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: OK.

[07:35:02]

SEGALL: They will do what they want. But here is the bottom line. The Supreme Court is made up of six Republicans and three Democrats.

Those six Republicans, four of them are going to rule that birthright citizenship is what it always was, because they come from the 1990s Republican Party, and that Republican Party agreed with Democrats on this question.

What justices Alito and Thomas do, nobody knows.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SEGALL: But the other four conservatives I can predict, are going to decide that the same people who are covered by birthright citizenship, hundred years ago are covered today.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about the president's intention to invoke The Aliens Enemies Act. Now we're going to the 18th century, to 1798 to quicken deportations. Law designed to be invoked if the U.S. is at war with another country, or if a country has invaded the U.S. or threatened to invade. Is there a loophole where he could use that?

SEGALL: So, this is really serious. This law has only been used during declared wars, 1812 First World War, Second World War.

This law gives the president extraordinary powers for emergencies. We are not in an emergency. There has been no invasion of the kind that this statute contemplates. Now, we can add debates about what is happening at the border. What it is not is an organized invasion by another country.

This law doesn't apply. Will the courts rule that way? I don't know. I certainly hope so.

Here is the problem. When the president comes into a court and says there is an emergency, judges properly should take that very seriously, but they don't always.

And President Truman tried to seize the steel mills during the Korean War. It was a major act that he said was important, and the court said, we don't believe you. There is no emergency. I suspect that's going to be the reaction to Donald Trump's effort. This law gives the president enormous power, and no matter what political party you belong to, no matter what side you're on, we should not give the president this kind of power, unless we're actually invaded. Then, we can talk.

BLACKWELL: Eric Segall, thanks so much.

Millions of people in Cuba in the dark for a second time in six months. The reason for the latest blackout, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:54]

BLACKWELL: This morning, Cuba is scrambling to restore power after a nationwide blackout has left more than 10 million people in the dark.

The Cuban officials blame U.S. sanctions for crippling the energy sector. The critics say years of government neglect are the real issue. The Cuba had its worst blackout that was back in December. Most of the island was without power for almost a week.

This morning, an update from the Vatican. Pope Francis will not be getting out of the hospital anytime soon. The Vatican says Pope Francis' release from the hospital is, "not imminent," though he remains in stable condition.

He is been in the hospital since mid-February with pneumonia in both lungs. Now, the Vatican says he continues to alternate between high flow oxygen therapy during the day and non-invasive mechanical ventilation at night.

Country singer songwriter Dolly Parton returned to the spotlight on stage yesterday to celebrate Dollywood's 40th season. Marks her first public appearance since the passing of her husband, Carl Dean. She credits the park's success to the community and the people working behind the scenes.

And Dolly Parton also took a moment to thank her fans for their support during her time of grief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOLLY PARTON, AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER, AND ACTRESS: I had no idea that so many people were so in love with our love, with our love story, but it is a heartbreaker, no doubt. And you know, I get -- I'll always deal with waves coming in now. But at least, I've had my work and Carl would expect that, that's all I've ever done. You know. So, but yes, thanks to everybody for the concern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Dollywood has grown from a small regional amusement park into a global destination. Now, attracts more than 3 million visitors each year. All right. We're tracking a major storm system threatening millions of people this morning. The deadly storm system raked across the central U.S. yesterday, brought widespread hurricane force winds.

There were disastrous for fire crews battling brush fires in Oklahoma and Texas. In Oklahoma, at least 15 fires spurred evacuations. Let's bring back CNN's, Allison Chinchar for the latest on this.

What's the threat look like right now? It's like, every 30 minutes there's something new.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, yes. And those winds really aren't going away. That's the thing. Yes, they may have started Thursday, ramped up Friday, but they are still going to be a factor today.

So, not only are the ongoing fires still going to continue to spread, but you could see additional new fires pop up as we go through the day today, and those would also spread very quickly as we go through the day.

Here is a look at the two areas of concern. And you've got the southern area, that's very close to exactly where we saw the same concern yesterday.

But you also have this area farther north. This includes Oklahoma, Kansas, and spreading into portions of Nebraska. These winds likely up around 50 to 60 miles per hour, so they will take even the smallest ember and spread it ever so quickly.

Even outside of that, look at all of these areas. You're talking over a hundred million people under some type of high wind alert as we go through the day today.

Again, these winds are incredibly strong. They can bring trees down. They can bring power lines down, in addition to also triggering some spread of those fires.

[07:45:01]

Looking at some of these numbers, we start to see them really tick up late this morning. So, 30, 40 miles per hour, then getting up around that 50 to 60 mile per hour range as we go into the afternoon.

Again, this is certainly going to be something that spreads, and this is all part of that same system. So, we've talked about the severe aspect of it. That's on the eastern side of the front. But behind it, you still have those incredibly strong winds, but you don't have the moisture to go with it.

So, it's very dry. You've got incredibly low humidities, but also the very strong winds to go along with it.

The severe thunderstorms, we're starting to see the second round of that begin to ramp back up. We've got tornado watches in effect right now. More of those are likely going to continue throughout the day today.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I spoke with the emergency management operator after your last hit there in Butler County, Missouri, and he said they're expecting heartbreak once the sun comes up.

CHINCHAR: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Allison, thank you.

A new episode of "UNITED STATES, A SCANDAL WITH JAKE TAPPER", follows the story of Enron. It was considered to be one of the most successful Wall Street corporations in the 90s. It was led by charismatic leader Jeffrey Skilling. Enron was often referred to as the darling of Wall Street.

Well, that is until 2001 when large scale fraud was revealed. It shocked investors, it shocked the public. Here is a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Americans love a visionary, someone bold and maybe kind of quirky, unafraid to challenge the status quo and launch us into the future. But over the past few decades, we've learned that just because someone appears prescient, doesn't mean you should give them all your trust and all of your money. In the 90s, Enron brought us the ultimate visionary, Jeffrey Skilling.

Before 2001, the energy company stock seemed unstoppable until the company went bust, and the world learned that its top executives were as crooked as Enron's logo.

But when I was covering this story, what made my jaw drop was how hardly anyone understood how the company actually made money. Enron was only able to implode because so few people publicly questioned the sky-high financial returns, even when the math clearly didn't add up. At what point does our faith in a visionary devolve into group think and cost us everything?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Be sure to watch a new episode of "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL WITH JAKE TAPPER" air Sunday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on CNN.

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[07:51:48]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ignition and lift off. The SpaceX Go NASA Crew-10.

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BLACKWELL: SpaceX launched a new crew of astronauts yesterday to take over duties on the International Space Station. Now, this will allow NASA's Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to finally return home. They were supposed to be away for just a few days for a brief mission turned into a politically charged nine-month stay. They set to return to Earth on March 19th, putting an end to any talk of them being stranded in space, a narrative both Williams and Wilmore have denied.

WNBA star an Unrivaled basketball league co-founder, Napheesa Collier, balances a packed professional life full of victories, titles, Olympic gold medals with being a mom and a good neighbor.

Coy Wire caught up with the 28-year-old difference maker, hours ahead of tomorrow's inaugural unrivaled playoffs.

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NAPHEESA COLLIER, CO-FOUNDER, UNRIVALED: I think the reception has been so positive, and I really feel like we've said, like we've done what we set out to do so far. You know, we are able to pay the players, you know, the highest average salary women's sports, giving players equity in the league.

You know, it seems like the fans really enjoy it. The players seem like they've had a great experience here. And so, it's been really cool, especially in year one, to see such a positive response. And I think we're excited taking that feedback and make it even better for your two.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Looks good, feels good. And you have your own studio there at unrivaled. So, yes. It's looking like all things are pointing up.

Now, you displayed your absolute grit and greatness, winning the inaugural in season one on one tournament.

What did you learn from this experience? Did it help your game and your mentals? Tell us about it.

COLLIER: Honestly, it was a really cool experience. Like, I think you got to showcase players that you might not have otherwise known about as well. Like, another part of unrivaled is highlighting people, so you can see the great talent that we have in the league.

And, of course, it's nice to win the money, you know, winning my WNBA salary one night, that was really fun. But even more than that, we're trying to change the culture of women's basketball as well.

You know, you'll go to the park, you see, you know, a bunch of guys playing pickup or one on one. You don't see that on the women's side as much. And so, we're trying to change the culture around that and what it means to be women's athlete.

WIRE: After you won the one-on-one tournament, you gave away half of your winnings. It was half of the $200,000 to your training staff, your performance staff, assistant coaches for your lunar house. Why was that important to you?

COLLIER: They are working so many hours. We are startup at the end of the day, and you know, I feel like they had to make sacrifices for the players to make what they're making. And so, I just wanted to show thank you in that way where I see all the hard work they are doing. We wouldn't be on the court without our trained staff and coaches and all that stuff. And they're amazing. So again, it was just like a thank you to them.

WIRE: Now, when we think about charitable causes, any that inspire you, in particular. I know you revealed a passion in the past for Ocean Conservancy. How are you using your platform to give back?

COLLIER: Doing things like you said, that are authentic to me and what I care about. I am involved in a program called Eco Athletes, which is where athletes around the world use their platforms to create awareness about climate change. But another big organization. Foundation that I'm involved in is called Eagle's Wings in St Louis.

[07:55:03]

And basically, they provide a shopping experience with all brand-new clothes, like name brand clothes and shoes for underprivileged kids at schools. And they get to go in there and kind of choose their outfits.

And, you know, I love children, and like the environment. The health of the environment is obviously really important to me, and because I have a child as well, making sure that the Earth is a sustainable place for her. So, those are two causes that I'm pretty passionate about.

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BLACKWELL: All right. Coy, thanks for that.

"FIRST OF ALL," is coming up at the top of the hour. Congressman Jim Clyburn is here to react to new cuts by President Trump, hours after enough Democrats in the Senate voted with Republicans to keep the government open.

Congressman Clyburn voted no when the bill was in the House. I'll ask his thoughts on what happened over in the Senate. Plus, what does the government actually have on pro-Palestinian protester Mahmoud Khalil? He is still in ICE custody in Louisiana, allegedly for his role in protest last year at Columbia University. A leader of his legal team is with us.

Also, I'm going to speak with Pulitzer Prize winner Nicole Hannah Jones of the 1619 project about an African American read in she's organizing for her hometown today that she claims local media won't touch.

Those controversies and conversations you will only see here coming up on "FIRST OF ALL", after a quick break.

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