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CNN This Morning

Israel Breaks Ceasefire with Hamas; Judge Scolds Justice Department for Seeming to Ignore His Orders; Trump Says He'll Release Unredacted JFK Files Today. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 18, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:06]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: It is Tuesday, March 18. Here's what's happening right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

Israel shatters the ceasefire with extensive strikes on Gaza. Hamas calls it a death sentence for hostages. Is there any hope for peace talks?

Plus, this --

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TOM HOMAN, ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. IMMIGRATIONS AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: We're not stopping. I don't care what the judges think.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The Trump administration versus the courts. What can judges do if the White House blatantly defies their orders?

Then this --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crew 9 (ph) is going home.

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CORNISH: Now, two astronauts are finally heading home. Their trip was supposed to last about a week. That turned into nine months.

And later --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all excited to put on a good show for the fans here in Tokyo.

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CORNISH: We're just minutes away from the first pitch of the MLB season. It's time to play ball. It is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at Southern

Gaza, outside a hospital following last night's strikes from Israel.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me.

We're going to begin with breaking news. A violent, bloody end to the ceasefire in Gaza.

So, Israel launched widespread strikes across Gaza, saying that it is targeting Hamas. More than 320 people have been killed, hundreds more wounded. That's according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The Israeli government blaming Hamas. They say the group would not agree to extend the ceasefire, and it wasn't releasing the remaining hostages.

Insisting there will be, quote, "no mercy," Hamas calls the resumption of fighting a death sentence for those remaining hostages.

We're going to get the latest from CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's joining us now from Tel Aviv.

And, Jeremy, I just want to start this morning by asking about this offensive. What are you hearing from the Israeli government?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Israeli military now says that it has launched a, quote, "massive offensive" in Gaza, one that is likely to continue to escalate in the hours and days ahead and certainly will not be limited to the massive aerial bombardment that we saw overnight.

More than 326 people have been killed, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health's latest death toll. More than 440 have been wounded.

And in the horrific images from the aftermath of these strikes, which hit not only buildings in Gaza but also the tents where displaced Palestinians were living, we can see a number of children being pulled from the rubble. We see children in the hospitals. We see children at the morgue.

As this war is very much back on, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire that largely held up in Gaza but now appears to have crumbled entirely.

The Israeli government says that it launched this offensive due to, quote, "Hamas's repeated refusal to release our hostages and its rejection of the latest proposal to extend the ceasefire that was made by the U.S. special envoy, Steve Witkoff, just last week in Doha, Qatar.

Witkoff had proposed that Hamas release five living hostages, a number of deceased hostages, as well. That was not an offer that Hamas was willing to accept, as Hamas instead insisted on returning to the ceasefire framework that it and Israel had agreed to, meaning engaging in negotiations to get to phases two and three, which would mean an end to the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops.

Instead, we now face the prospect of an increasingly large offensive being carried out by the Israeli military. An Israeli military spokesman now issuing evacuation orders for a number of population centers in Gaza closest to Israel's border, indicating the possibility of ground troops pushing back into Gaza -- Audie.

CORNISH: That's Jeremy Diamond reporting from Jerusalem. Thank you.

I want to turn now to the Trump administration, which is now in a standoff with federal judges here. The message from the White House: Bring it on.

[06:05:00]

On Monday, a federal judge grilled Justice Department lawyers, demanding to know why the White House seemed to ignore him when he ordered them to pause or turn around deportation flights to El Salvador.

And Judge James Boasberg said he expects an explanation by this afternoon. He summed up the government's arguments during the hearing, saying their reasoning seems to be, quote, "We don't care. We'll do what we want."

Now, outside of court, though, Trump officials actually shared a similar message.

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STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: The district court has no ability to, in any way, restrain the president's authorities under the Alien Enemies Act or his ability to conduct the foreign affairs of the United States.

This judge violated the law. He violated the Constitution. He defied the system of government that we have in this country.

HOMAN: We're not stopping. I don't care what the judges think. I don't care what the left thinks. We're coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now to talk about all of this: Jackie Kucinich, CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for "The Boston Globe"; Chuck Rocha, Democratic strategist; and Ashley Davis, former White House official during the George W. Bush administration.

OK, so there are actually a ton of questions when it comes to this Alien Enemies Act. There are going to be very serious legal questions down the line.

But before we get there, there has been this very basic question, which is, if a judge tells you something from a bench, what does that mean? What do you hear?

So, first, Ashley, I want to talk to you about messaging here, because what we heard, it sounds like, is "we don't care."

ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL DURING GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION: Right. Yes. And I really think we have 261 gang members that are in this country illegally, that committed horrible crimes here in the United States -- everything from human trafficking, to smuggling, to drug smuggling. And in this national security of our country, I feel that the president and his team decided, at any cost, to get these people out.

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I don't think this has anything to do with who you're deporting. When you're deporting, it's not listening to a judge.

I agree with Republicans. If you've done bad things and you've come here as an immigrant, you should be deported.

CORNISH: Right.

ROCHA: But there are systems to do that with. And I think this is just the beginning, with regular folks out there that are sitting on their couch this morning having some coffee, seeing that Donald Trump is not paying attention to what a federal judge just says.

In a month from now, there'll be something else, because the federal and the judge systems are the ones that are keeping him in check.

CORNISH: Yes.

ROCHA: Almost only.

CORNISH: Let me follow up on that. Which is so you're -- what I'm hearing you say is it starts with this, with people maybe -- sound villainous and that you don't care about. But ignoring a judge later down the line could have other implications.

DAVIS: But I think this is in -- when you're talking about this, this is the national security aspect of our country.

CORNISH: How come the Bush administration didn't do this?

DAVIS: Well, this is why the Patriot Act and other different acts were -- and are we sure they didn't?

CORNISH: OK.

DAVIS: I mean, so --

CORNISH: You tell me.

DAVIS: But I -- again, I was thinking about this from especially after 9/11, when everyone that was in our country came in the same way; was here illegally or on green cards.

Would George Bush have done this for the national security of our country? I think so. I think that --

CORNISH: Yes.

DAVIS: -- you would say, let's fight this in court.

I understand what you're talking about, that this is the rule of law. However, when you're dealing with people as these -- such as these human beings that have done horrible crimes.

ROCHA: Nobody's arguing that they've done bad things. I'm just saying that you can't ignore a federal judge. You can deport them (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

CORNISH: Yes. Let me bring in Jackie here. When you look at the politics of this, how the White House is talking about it, what -- what do you see?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I see a White House that is choosing their battles, and they're picking fights. They think they can win, both politically and down the line.

CORNISH: Right. No one's coming to the defense of Venezuelan gang members. Yes.

KUCINICH: Exactly. So --

CORNISH: Including Venezuela's government, which is also a legal problem.

KUCINICH: Precisely. And you heard Stephen Miller. I think Kasie asked this question, like it's something about the Supreme Court. Is this going to -- does the Supreme Court have the -- have -- have authority over the president?

And I'm paraphrasing here, but I think Stephen Miller said something to the effect of, you know, we'll see.

CORNISH: Yes.

KUCINICH: And I think that this -- this is something that they want to keep pushing. We've seen this in several areas, not just immigration.

CORNISH: Yes.

KUCINICH: Where they want to see how far they can push what the president -- what the president's power is.

CORNISH: Yes. Because even in the Stephen Miller comments we heard earlier, the first part of the comment is legally true. We don't know the answer to that.

As he got escalating in volume, that's just the message, right, of just saying, no, we don't care.

I want the group chat to stay with us. We've got a lot to get to this hour.

Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, mission return home. The two astronauts who have been on the ice for more than nine months are finally heading back to earth.

Plus, gold bars and luxury cars. The bribery trial for a former senator's wife is about to get underway.

And a billion dollars in funding cut. Now, some farmers are wondering, where do they go from here?

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unless we get those federal funds back or the community at large comes alongside of us and supports us, we will be laying people off and shutting down programs and -- and eventually going out of business.

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[06:14:25]

CORNISH: It's almost 15 minutes past the hour. I want to give you your morning roundup. Some of the stories you need to get your day going.

President Trump revoking Secret Service protection for Hunter Biden and his sister, Ashley. That's effective immediately.

Now, the president has done this several times before. A number of his own former officials lost their security details, too.

A woman in Texas arrested, accused of providing what the state attorney general calls illegal abortions. He says she runs several clinics in the Houston area.

"The Texas Tribune" reports that these are the first criminal charges related to the state's near-total abortion ban.

And today, jury selection begins in the federal bribery trial of Nadine Menendez. That's the wife of former New Jersey senator, Bob -- Bob Menendez.

So, you might remember, the Democrat was sentenced to 11 years on bribery and corruption charges. His wife's trial had been postponed after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Last night, he said it was cruel and inhumane to put her through a trial now.

The Major League Baseball season officially underway right now. The defending champs, the Los Angeles Dodgers, are playing the Chicago Cubs -- here's the thing -- in Tokyo.

These two teams have more players from Japan than any other. That includes both starting pitchers and, of course, the Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani.

And I want you to see this. Lightning strikes a highway and sends sparks flying onto a car in Atlanta. This was part of a major storm system that actually swept across the Midwest and the South over the weekend. It caused deadly tornadoes.

Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, the JFK assassination files are set to be released today. Will it be a bombshell or a bust?

Plus, two astronauts on a mission. They are finally heading home. That's after more than nine months in space.

And good morning, Houston. Those two astronauts will head back to Texas later today.

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[06:20:49]

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JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

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CORNISH: Happening today, tens of thousands of unredacted pages related to the assassination of president John F. Kennedy are set to be released.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We have a tremendous amount of paper. You've got a lot of reading. I don't believe we're going to redact anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: This fulfills one of Trump's campaign promises. Shortly after taking office, he signed an executive order directing those files be made public.

Right after that, the FBI discovered about 2,400 new records related to the Kennedy assassination.

Joining me now to discuss: host of the "Solving JFK" podcast, Matt Crumpton.

Matt, good morning. Welcome to the program.

Just to set things. Yes.

MATT CRUMPTON, HOST, "SOLVING JFK": Good morning.

CORNISH: Good morning to you. Obviously, the Warren Commission, the official government investigation into this, found that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. That has not stopped, obviously, decades since. What is it that is believed to be in this National Archive review of

classified documents? Right. Or could possibly be released at this point?

CRUMPTON: Well, we have 3,886 documents total. That's documents, not pages. Each document could be 100 pages.

And, you know, just the things we know about. There are 500 withheld IRS records. The records regarding JFK's plan to reorganize the CIA after the Bay of Pigs. Names of the CIA assassination team assembled to kill Fidel Castro.

So, there's -- there's a lot of specific things. Many of these things have been redacted, as opposed to being fully withheld. But there are, you know, longtime mysteries under these redactions that we hope to eventually get cleared up today.

CORNISH: I hear you naming a lot of mysteries that are not about the assassination itself. Can you talk about what you're going to be looking for?

CRUMPTON: Sure. Yes. I mean, ultimately, the -- the records that we're talking about being released here are records that were collected by the assassination records review board from 1994 to 1998.

So, this is the response to Oliver Stone's film "JFK." And the JFK Records Act was passed that put this board in place. They went around and collected these records from government agencies. And so now they're going to actually turn all them over, finally. That's -- that's what we understand is happening.

But it's important to know that these records that President Trump has said he's declassifying today are only ones that were actually turned over.

So, you know, recently it was in the news that the FBI found 2,400 documents. Well, those -- those were never turned over. So, but for their recent disclosure, those wouldn't be turned over.

We also know that the Secret Service destroyed a bunch of boxes of documents in the '90s during the ARRB. So, it's not going to be complete disclosure, but -- but it certainly will be better than nothing. And something that's been a long time coming.

CORNISH: The Kennedy family has split opinions.

CRUMPTON: If it happens, which we're hopeful for.

CORNISH: That's true. The Kennedy family has split opinions about the value of this.

But I also want to put this question to you. This is my last question, which is one thing I've learned from following conspiracy theorists and reporting on them is no answer satisfies them, right? You're either part of the conspiracy or helping cover it up. So, do you think actually getting these documents is going to make a

difference in this community, not just yours, but the broader people who have become interested?

CRUMPTON: Sure. Well, a conspiracy in the JFK assassination is one thing that, you know, a bipartisan majority of Americans have believed in for a long time.

And obviously, withholding these documents for this many years, when supposedly, the story is that it's a lone nut, does not necessarily inspire confidence.

You know, it's also true that there's a fair amount of evidence here to show that there was a conspiracy. So, this is -- I certainly would not label the JFK assassination as a run-of-the-mill conspiracy theory. It's one that, you know, a lot of respected people have -- have good points, points on as to why it couldn't have been Oswald alone.

[06:25:08]

But it's very, very deep and complex, no doubt about it.

CORNISH: But the question I -- before I let you go is, would this solve it? Does getting more information actually give anyone the answer they're looking for?

CRUMPTON: It may not. It may not solve it.

But what we can expect to see, specifically, is the routing of -- is more information about the CIA files and CIA documents.

For example, Lee Harvey Oswald's files in the CIA were routed to the Office of Security, which is sort of the top of the CIA that spies on spies. They should have gone to the Soviet Russia division when he was there. This is just one small example.

So, you know, we're not going to know eventually -- we're not going to know immediately. It's not going to be like a sticky note that says, you know, "Reminder: kill JFK on Friday," right?

It's going to -- it's going to be cloudy. It's going to stay cloudy. And there's a good chance that it will remain a Rorschach test. And people will see whatever they want to see.

But I do believe there was a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy.

CORNISH: Matt Crumpton, thank you so much for speaking with us.

CRUMPTON: Thank you.

CORNISH: Still coming up after the break, Israel carries out extensive strikes in Gaza, in turn shattering the fragile ceasefire with Hamas, who they accuse of rejecting a deal.

Plus, why some federal workers who were fired and are now getting paid not to work.

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