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Trump Says He Didn't Sign Proclamation Invoking Alien Enemies Act; Flights Resume At London Heathrow After A Daylong Closure Sparked Travel Chaos; Trump Says Musk Wasn't Briefed On China War Plan In Pentagon Meeting; Houston's George Foreman Has Died At 76. FBI Issues Public Alert Following Attacks at Tesla Facilities; Protests Erupt in Turkey Over Detention of Istanbul Mayor; U.S. Lawmakers Face Angry Voters at Town Halls. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired March 22, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

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[06:00:29]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Saturday, March 22nd. I'm Victor Blackwell. Glad to be with you. Here's what's happening today. President Trump is now downplaying his involvement invoking the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport migrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't know when it was signed because I didn't sign it. Other people handled it. But Marco Rubio has done a great job and he wanted him out. We go along with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: No, he signed it. And the comments came after a judge blasted the Justice Department's use of the law and vowed to find out whether the Trump administration ignored his order to stop deportation flights.

The lights are on. The planes are moving again at Heathrow Airport after that massive power outage Friday. But officials warn that it will take days to recover from those disruptions.

And boxing great George Foreman has died. We'll take a look at his life, the man known as one of the most powerful punchers in boxing history.

Also, more than 350 cases of the measles now have been linked to that outbreak in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. That number is expected to rise, and officials say the virus could continue to spread for months.

President Trump tried to minimize his involvement invoking the Alien enemies Act of 1798. As you heard, this was to deport Venezuelan migrants. In comments to reporters on Friday, Trump said that he did not sign the proclamation, but he stands by his administration's actions.

The proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act in the Federal Register has his signature on it. It's there on the screen. Trump's comments were in response to concerns made by Judge James Boasberg during a court hearing Friday. Boasberg said that he was concerned the order was signed in the dark of night and the migrants were rushed onto planes.

The federal judge vowed during Friday's hearing that he would get to the bottom of whether his order was violated and who violated the order to turn those planes around.

But much of that hearing focused on arguments from the Justice Department on why they believe Boasberg had exceeded his authority and their belief that the order should be lifted. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is at the White House with more force. Jeff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Victor, President Trump is standing by his administration's decision to invoke the Alien enemies Act of 1798, that obscure wartime act that's only been used three times in American history to deport some Venezuelan migrants. But for the first time on Friday evening, as he left the White House here, he said that he didn't sign it.

TRUMP: Because we want to get criminals out of our country, number one. And I don't know when it was signed because I didn't sign it. Other people handled it, but Marco Rubio has done a great job and he wanted them out, and we go along with that. We want to get criminals out of our country.

ZELENY: Now, the president was responding to criticism from Judge Boasberg about why, in his words, the administration signed that proclamation last weekend in the middle of the night. The president said he actually didn't. He raised Secretary of State Marco Rubio's name.

So they're certainly standing behind the decision to deport migrants. It is one of the central premises, really, the priorities of this administration to crack down on immigration. But certainly under tough questioning from the judge, the president trying to distance himself from it, naming a secretary of state. The question is how the judge will rule on this likely next week. Victor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Jeff, thank you very much. With me now is former Manhattan prosecutor Jeremy Saland. Jeremy, good morning to you. Let's start here with this morning this denial. The president says wasn't me. I didn't sign it. But of course we saw a signature. Is there any legal context where that denial is relevant?

JEREMY SALAND, FORMER MAHATTAN PROSECUTOR: It's really not relevant. I mean, it sounds like someone's using the autopen. Maybe that was the big deal with Biden only days ago. And it sounds a little bit Alfred E. Newmanish. You know what me worry here, and let's blame someone else unequivocally. If he signed it and we just showed it, this is from the president's mouth to his hands, from his heart to his soul to that piece of paper.

So this is the president's actions. This is moving forward and has moved forward because of him. Now, whether or not this was the dark of night as the judge referenced, I don't know. But it moved forward, and it had to come from his mouth.

BLACKWELL: OK, so let's pull that thread here the dark of night, because I read that you sent a note to my producers that the rest of that inquiry from the judge, Judge Boasberg, about it being signed in the dark of night and why it might have happened that way.

[06:05:09]

You see a focus and maybe an accusation against DOJ. What did you hear?

SALAND: Well, you know, the argument that they've made or seem to make is, well, listen, you may have officiated this, you may have a judge had said it has to halt and stop. But were waiting for or believe there needed to be that officially signed document or that actual physical order had to be issued. That's really a hogwash argument.

I mean, think about this rationally. Think about it the other way. Would the DOJ say that if a judge said to a defendant, whether civilly or criminally, you can't do something, you can't spend these dollars, you can't leave this country, you have to comply with my order. And the defendant or an accused or another litigant did not do so, they would be up in arms. That holds no water. It holds no credibility.

And the judge said, one of the only things that you have in this world is your credibility. Use it wisely. That's shot -- they shot that credibility with that response, in my opinion.

BLACKWELL: Let's listen to the president yesterday in the Oval.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, do you think you have the authority, the power to round up people, deport them, and then you're under no obligation to a court to show the evidence against them?

TRUMP: Well, that's what the law says and that's what our country needs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Is that what the law says? I mean, the suggestion that there is no judicial oversight on this.

SALAND: These are co-equal branches. They have different roles. But the executive branch is not the dictatorship branch. That's not how it works. And you still have to produce that evidence. And the way you challenge that, if a judge says you have to do something is an appeal. It's certainly not an impeachment.

So no, Trump is wrong and all those who are doing his bidding are wrong. They have a right to pursue creativity, even arguably certain ways. And we can all agree that getting bad actors out of this country is a good thing, meaning drug dealers and gang members, but that's the end is there? But the means have to be proper. And the Aliens Act -- the Enemy Aliens Act allows the government in the time of war, when there's an incursion to say timeout and pause and get rid of due process, and you end up having people as possibly here has been alleged, like a soccer player who had a soccer tattoo or mistaken to be shipped off to a third party country. Sitting in a prison without that due process. So there is a right, but now is not that time for that right. And this law is not right law to do so.

BLACKWELL: So let's take this a few steps down the road. Judge Boasberg says that he's going to get to the bottom of whether his order was violated and who violated it. If there is a contempt order, who enforces that? Is that DOJ, those U.S. Marshals?

SALAND: You know, this is the real interesting question, Victor. When you hear people say there's this constitutional crisis, well, what do you do when the highest law in the land, again, they're still co- equals, but the highest law in the land coming from the president himself or Mark Rubio, because the president didn't know, that's another story again. What do you do? Who do you hold in contempt? How do you sanction that person? Who do you sanction? What is the process?

It's a difficult one to figure out how you do that. So that's why in part, I think there's been pushing off saying, I'm going to give you another chance. Give you another chance. But, you know, the response very well may be to stop and continue to halt these deportations. But what that punishment is, we haven't dealt with it before.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And these are could be at least Department of Justice lawyers. And let's listen to the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and how she is characterizing what the judge has done thus far.

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PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: You know, and this has been a pattern with these liberal judges. This judge had no right to do that. They're meddling in foreign affairs. They're meddling in our government. And the question should be, why is a judge trying to protect terrorists who have invaded our country over American citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Up to her department to enforce whatever the judge determines is the consequence for violation of the order. It doesn't sound like she's going to go for it.

SALAND: No, no, Victor. And she and Donald Trump are really teaching a masterclass on how to move the ball that is really terrifying. It's not about a judge saying, you know, I'm putting terrorists before Americans. No, no. What the judge is doing is I'm putting America first, meaning I'm ensuring or doing what I can to make sure that the rules, laws upheld. I'm not protecting terrorists or bad actors or drug dealers or people in gangs. I'm upholding rule of law.

There's one other thing that she said. She made a comment about, I believe it was her, not the president, about having 200 some odd reasons be safer because of these people. Out of the country. But there's one reason we're not safer is because this is an abuse of the law on its face.

And she is attacking the judge for doing his or his job to make sure that law is followed, the constitution is followed. That is number one.

BLACKWELL: All right. They'll be back in court on Tuesday. Jeremy Saland, thanks so much.

[06:10:03]

This morning, London's Heathrow Airport is back up and running. Several flights resumed service there last night after fire knocked out the power to one of the world's busiest airports. And this temporary closure led to global cancellations, disrupted travel plans for tens of thousands of passengers. The CEO of British Airways says it will take time to get things back on track.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DOYLE, BRITISH AIRWAYS, CEO: This is an unprecedented situation and we have not seen a closure of Heathrow on the scale for many years. Unfortunately, it will have a huge impact on all of our customers flying with us over the coming days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN is Larry Madowo joins me live from London's Heathrow Airport now. London -- Larry, I just saw you look over your shoulder to check if any planes were taken off. What do you see this morning?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, we've seen hundreds of flights take off this morning or land. This is Europe's busiest airport. There are on average 74 flights taking off a landing every hour. That's why that shutdown yesterday was so catastrophic. About 1,300 flights affected, more than 200,000 people around the world. And

You see planes now coming in and going all over the day. That's Brussels Airlines is coming in on my right shoulder. I can see five different aircraft just United alone. There's Air Canada, Turkish Airlines, United again, Ethiopian Airlines, American Airlines. There's lots of planes that come in here every day to bring in people. In fact, the busiest route for this airport is London, JFK. So there were so many people who were affected.

But I've just been speaking to a gentleman who's from Austin who was flying from South Africa to Austin and was diverted and he's going on a free vacation. He's here for three days before he can get back home. And that's what the British Airways CEO was just explaining. Even though the airport is back fully operational, it'll take a few days to get everybody back home because the pilots, the planes and the crew are not where they should be after those diversions.

So they have to get them back here, kind of like herding cats until they're ready to fly to where they need to be. And even after that, some people may not be getting compensation because this was out of the control of the airlines. Victor?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Our own Richard Quest was in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and was supposed to be heading to London, his flight delayed. Talk to me about this police investigation they've launched into the fire that caused the shutdown.

MADOWO: So London's counterterrorism police are leading this investigation into the fire at this substation that supplies the airport because it affected a critical national infrastructure leading to this unprecedented 18-hour shutdown. They say they're not treating it as suspicious right now. They don't suspect foul play, but it's early in the investigation, so they're keeping an open mind.

And the reason why they're involved is how is it possible that this airport, Europe's busiest, can be shut down for so many hours inconveniencing so many people, and yet there should be contingency plans. And that did not appear to work effectively because there should have been a shorter delay. But the Heathrow CEO has said it works as well as it should have.

But when you have a system where they lose one substation, they had two others that are capable of running the airport, but they had to shut down all systems, test them and then put them back on. So thousands of fueling systems, jet bridges, computers, elevators. It just took so much time, Victor, to get everything back up.

BLACKWELL: All right, Larry Madowo for us there at London's Heathrow Airport, thanks so much. Still to come, the Pentagon is considering making significant cuts to the top of the U.S. military. But that plan is facing some pushback from Republicans.

Also, boxing heavyweight great George Foreman has died. How he's being remembered by those this morning who knew him.

And a measles outbreak centered in the Southwest. It is growing. Coming up, why officials believe the virus could continue to spread for months.

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[06:18:38]

BLACKWELL: President Trump says that Elon Musk was not briefed on U.S. military plans for potential war with China. Musk met with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for a little more than an hour on Friday.

That happened as the Pentagon is considering making significant cuts to the top of the U.S. military and as CNN is learning in new details about the rushed purge of Pentagon websites. Several defense officials tell CNN that Secretary Hegseth February memo ordering all diversity, equity and inclusion related content to be removed was so vague that the military units were instructed to just use keywords racism, ethnicity, history first.

When they were searching for the articles, they just look for the words, found them, connected the photos, pulled them down. With me now is CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, good morning to you.

I want to start with the cuts and the proposals. According to a document obtained by CNN, merging European Command with AFRICOM into a single command based in Germany.

How does that consideration, how would that correspond with the threats and the uniqueness of the threats out of these theaters?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. Good morning, Victor. So in some ways, emerging AFRICOM back into EUCOM or European Command would be going back to the past.

[06:20:03]

That's exactly how things were. Those functions were actually under European Command a long time ago. But what the reason those commands were split is because Africa is a very different threat area and a very different military landscape than Europe. And we're seeing that when you look at all the different things that are related to Ukraine, for example, and then you compare that with conflicts in, let's say, sub-Saharan Africa.

So as far as the threat picture is concerned, it's a very different threat and it really requires a different combatant command to be in charge of that area to run the military operations that would be necessary should conflict occur or should there be a need to provide military assistance.

It's better to have a command that understands the area than one that is spread too thin. And that would be one example of spreading things too thin if they went with that.

BLACKWELL: Another consideration here, stop the expansion plan for Japan. Save more than $1 billion. The Biden administration initiated the expansion to deepen ties with Tokyo, respond to regional threats from China. Those threats from China are not dissipating. Is the expansion necessary to prepare to offset that expansion from China?

LEIGHTON: Yes, I would say it is. And the reason I say that is because first of all, Japan is a major ally in the Pacific. And putting U.S. troops there and then increasing their presence there means that we're sending a message to not only China, but also to North Korea. And when you look at all of the different aspects of this, on the one hand you have major weapons systems being created, such as the F-47 jet that President Trump announced yesterday, which are designed, by the way, to go against a Chinese threat. And then on the other hand, you are saying that you might use a

reduction in force type mechanism for Japan that sends mixed messages and it would not help our power projection capabilities to eliminate or to minimize the force level in Japan. That, you know, that basically shows that the strategy is not coherent and it's not really well thought out at this point.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about Musk. This meeting at the Pentagon. The New York Times reported that their Thursday reporting was that it was going to, among other things, be briefed on U.S.-China war plans. The administration said that is not. That was not the plan. It did not happen. And let's listen to the president here about his thoughts about such a briefing for Elon Musk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't want to show that to anybody, but certainly you wouldn't show it to a businessman who is helping us so much. He's a great patriot. He's taken -- it's paying a big price for helping us cut costs and he's doing a great job. He's finding tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. But I certainly wouldn't want, you know, Elon has businesses in China and he would be susceptible perhaps to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: OK, so let's take the U.S.-China war plans off the table. If he's going to the Pentagon to propose cuts, he would have to be looped in on strategies and threats and expectations of what will be needed priorities, would he not?

LEIGHTON: Yes, he would. Now there are several ways to do that. They don't necessarily involve showing him the actual war plan but certainly aspects of it would be something that he would have to see if that's his function. But of course that would, as President Trump said in that clip, present a potential conflict of interest because not only does he have businesses in China but he's also a defense contractor.

So in his multi role world, Elon Musk basically is walking area of contradictions because he's got these business interests, he has the defense contracting interests and then of course he is supposed to help with government efficiency.

So all of those things, you know, create in essence a problem that would be very difficult to unravel and could potentially pose legal problems not only for the U.S. government but for Musk himself.

BLACKWELL: Yes, eliminating the war plans does not eliminate the conflict of interest as it relates to contractor Musk and DOGE administrator or DOGE official. They're cloudy around what his title is. Musk as well. Colonel Cedric Leighton, always good to have you on a Saturday. Thank you.

Still to come, lawmakers are facing the fury of constituents at town halls across the country. We'll talk to you about why voters are upset set with their representatives. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want you to show fight and you are not fighting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[06:29:23]

BLACKWELL: He was a legend in the boxing ring and on that grill. George Foreman. He died Friday night. He was 76 years old.

Two time world heavyweight boxing champion, Olympic gold medalist, is remembered for his rivalry with Muhammad Ali and his world famous George Foreman Grill. In a post on his verified Instagram account, he was remembered as a devout preacher, a devoted husband, loving father, and proud grand and great grandfather. He lived, as they say, a life marked by unwavering faith, humility and purpose.

The FBI is asking people to be on the lookout for planned attacks on Tesla vehicles and facilities.

[06:30:02]

Several Tesla facilities have been targeted in recent months by people setting the vehicles on fire, vandalizing showrooms. On Friday, President Trump compared the attacks on Tesla to the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

He called the perpetrators of the car attacks terrorists. And right now, we're following massive protests in several cities in Turkey.

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(CROWD CHANTING)

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BLACKWELL: The protests are in response to the government's detention of Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. For several days now, thousands of people have crowded the streets and clashed with police. Turkish media reports say that the mayor was detained on Wednesday as part of an investigation into corruption and terrorism, but he also happens to be a key political rival to the President, President Erdogan there.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle faced angry voters this week, House GOP leaders are even advising their members not to hold public town halls. Here's what happened when Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley did, and he faced questions about DOGE cuts to Social Security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go to a local office, try to get an appointment --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At a local office. Right now, you're waiting a month and we're going to cut more staff? This is not right, if any -- and we do not want to see Social Security privatized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And although, he wasn't even holding a town hall, protesters showed up to call out North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis at a fundraiser. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have been trying to get Thom Tillis, Ted Budd and the rest of the North Carolina congressional delegations' attention for weeks. They won't answer calls. They won't answer e- mails. They're not returning letters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Democrats are facing similar backlash as the party's favorability stands at a record-low among Americans right now, 29 percent, that's according to a CNN poll released earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want you to show some of the backbone and strategic brilliance that Mitch McConnell would have in the minority.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want you to show fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: But Democrats later took Republicans retreat as a way to meet with voters further and speak against President Donald Trump's policies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): We're not going to allow you and your friend, Mr. Musk and the other billionaires to wreak havoc on the working families of this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: With me now is White House correspondent for "Bloomberg News", Skylar Woodhouse. Skylar, good morning to you. You know, at the start of the month, this was really a narrative, a story about Republicans facing the backlash at these town halls. And recently, certainly since the passage of the funding bill, this has now started, the same dog that bit Republicans is now barking at Democrats. How are Democrats responding?

SKYLAR WOODHOUSE, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Good morning, Victor. And this is only a matter of time. I mean, constituents across the country are really upset with what they're seeing out of Washington. You know, we're seeing people get laid off. Departments are being shuttered.

So, it's only been a matter of time that, you know, party leaders are going to have to address these concerns. Now, what we're dealing with right now are obviously very unprecedented times with what we're seeing at the White House. And people across the country, they want answers. They want to understand why this is happening, why things are moving at such a rapid pace.

And it's now only time that, you know, leaders on both sides, and particularly for the Democrats, start to step up and try and address those concerns.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we heard from some of the constituents at the Democratic town halls asking Democrats to get into the mud to get dirtier. We'll see how the Democrats interpret that. You mentioned shuttered departments. The President signed an executive order to dismantle it -- we can't close it without Congress, but dismantle the Department of Education overnight announced that the small business administration would now administer student loans and grants.

At the same time, the administrator says that 43 percent of the workforce at small business administration will be cut. What more do you know about how this dismantling of DOE will be navigated?

WOODHOUSE: This is something that we knew would be coming, and now we're here and we're watching it happen in real time. You know, what we're hearing is that they are shrinking the department. President Trump has said the goal is for it to be completely closed down. But like you said on the student loans, look, we're seeing departments across the -- across the federal government, they're firing workforce.

[06:35:00]

And so, as departments that aren't affiliated with the D.O.E. start to take on more responsibilities, it's going to raise questions on, well, if we don't have the staff, how are we expected to move forward with, you know, new programs that we're -- that we're taking on. And even, you know, the President the other day said that Health and Human Services would also take on some of the responsibilities from the D.O.E.

So, there -- it looks like they're trying to, you know, even out some -- what the department did, and send those to other areas across the federal government. But given that there's some staffing problems going on right now, it will be interesting to watch, to see, how it all actually plays out.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Secretary Kennedy tweeted that his department would be working with students with disabilities, and the responsibilities that were under the portfolio, part of the portfolio of the Department of Education. President rescinded the security clearances for his 2016 and 2024 opponents. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former VP Kamala Harris,

also Antony Blinken; Biden's Secretary of State, National Security adviser Jake Sullivan, two attorneys who prosecuted cases against him, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger. Are these just grudges, or is there anything more here?

WOODHOUSE: I would say it's no surprise that this is what we're seeing from the President. He has revoked security clearances for, you know, those in his own party and who used to work for him, you know, from some of his old advisors. So, the fact that he's moving forward with you know, rescinding these clearances is really no surprise.

And then it also ties into his whole DOGE effort, you know, trying to reduce government efficiency, and we've seen Secret Service details be pulled from people. So, this really is no surprise. And you know, we all know, you know, President Trump is -- he is -- he does things out of the norm -- out of the norm.

And so, this is -- this is no surprise. And I think it will be interesting to see how this goes forward. And you know, how else he decides to sort of shake up who gets Secret Service details and who has their security clearances revoked.

BLACKWELL: All right, Skylar Woodhouse of "Bloomberg News", thanks so much for being with me this morning. Columbia University has announced a sweeping series of policy changes after last year's campus protests. These changes were made after the Trump administration threatened to revoke nearly $400 million of federal funding to the school. CNN's Polo Sandoval has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, it was just last week that the Trump administration addressed a letter to Columbia University's interim president laying out a list of demands. Just over a week later, Columbia University rolling out this long list of changes in policy. That includes banning masks during protests, tightening rules over where some of those protests on campus can occur.

Also giving campus police added arresting powers as well as more authority for the university provost to determine disciplinary actions against any student involved in some of these demonstrations. After investigations, the university also expected to appoint a university official who they will be tasked with conducting a thorough review of curriculum, starting according to this list, with curriculum about the Middle East, at least Middle-Eastern courses.

That same review will also eventually include the institute for -- the Institute for Israel as well as Jewish studies as well. This will likely be seen by many on campus as essentially concessions, or at least caving to Donald Trump's demands, while at the same time, I recall being on campus during these demonstrations and hearing from many Jewish students saying that they felt that the university was not doing enough to guarantee their safety. So, this long list of policy changes at Columbia University likely

going to be met with mixed reaction when students and staff return from Spring break. Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Polo. As a warning here from health officials, the number of measles cases is growing and the virus could spread for months. We've got details for you just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: Officials say that west Texas-centered outbreak has now reached 355 cases of the measles spreading to New Mexico and Oklahoma. Local authorities say they believe that number is going to -- is really undercounted. CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell has more on the concerns over how long this outbreak will last.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, the outbreak centered in west Texas continues to grow fairly quickly. We get updates from the Texas Health Department every Tuesday and Friday. And in that three-day period over the last few weeks, we've seen cases grow anywhere from 20 to 40 every three days.

So, we're still in this period where this outbreak is growing fairly sizably. And we heard from Texas health officials earlier last week that they expect this to be quite a large outbreak, and to last potentially a year to get through. So, with the latest update from Texas, we're now at 309 cases there. That's up 30 from Tuesday with 40 hospitalizations and one death in a school-aged child.

[06:45:00]

Cases have also spread to neighboring New Mexico, which is now reporting 42 cases, two hospitalizations and a death that's under investigation there, as well as to Oklahoma, which is now reporting four cases. But those are three states, of course, where the largest outbreak is happening. But there are 18 states in the United States right now that are reporting measles cases.

Most of these are travel-related. So, typically, somebody who is not vaccinated against measles travels somewhere else where measles is circulating. And there are a lot of other countries where there's a lot of measles, and they come back to the U.S. and they're infected. Now, whether that spreads to other people beyond that case really depends on how vaccinated the people around that person are.

Typically, if there are high vaccination rates, you won't see more than a handful of cases. And that typically has been what we've been seeing in these other situations. But when you see a community that has very low vaccination rates, as we're seeing in west Texas, that is when you can start to see measles spread very quickly. Now, of course, measles was eliminated from the United states in the

year 2000, which means that we went at least a year without sustained transmission of measles. That's been threatened a few times in that 25-year period. Back in 2019, when we had a big outbreak in New York, and there was a smaller outbreak, but still a sizable one in 2014, that was associated with Disneyland.

Now, in those cases, we saw in 2014 almost 700 cases, in 2019, almost 1,300 cases. To put in perspective, where we stand right now with this west Texas outbreak, we've exceeded 300 cases with that outbreak, and of course, all in the United States, more than 400 cases in 2025 so far. Really, just in the first three months of this year. So we'll be watching this very closely, if this did last a year, it would put the U.S.' measles elimination status into jeopardy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Meg Tirrell, thank you. Still to come, a volcano in Hawaii. Hawaii is spewing fountains of lava and fire. We have more on its latest eruption after a break. Also, a new episode of the CNN original series "TWITTER: BREAKING THE BIRD" focuses on Twitter's presence at the forefront of political and social movements in the mid 2010s, from the Arab Spring to hashtag Me Too, Black Lives Matter.

Twitter became an epicenter for communication surrounding these movements, all while the company's leadership was navigating the difficulties of monitoring and mitigating hate and harassment on the platform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every single company carries the DNA of its founders, and its founders were a bunch of dysfunctional friends.

BIZ STONE, CO-FOUNDER, TWITTER: Both Jack and Ev fired, and then we had this whole thing with Dick taking over. And so now the CEO is a guy that we hired from outside of Twitter. So, I am like the only founder who's left. I was like, what am I doing? What should I do? You know.

EVAN WILLIAMS, CO-FOUNDER, TWITTER: I think it's a rational decision to replace me as CEO. But it was very messy. It's my company. And somehow I had lost enough control to be fired without notice. It was crazy. I failed at the biggest thing I've ever done. I was just mortified for a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: A new episode of "TWITTER: BREAKING THE BIRD" airs Sunday, March 23rd at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

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[06:50:00] BLACKWELL: Well, this weekend, parts of the southeast could see

another severe weather outbreak. And a lot of these communities are still recovering from last week's storms that spawned more than 100 tornadoes, killed dozens of people. This threat is not packed, and it's big of a punch, though you still need to be careful. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here with the forecast. So, where are we talking?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, METEOROLOGIST: Right, when we say it's not packing, it's big of a punch, what we just mean is it's not going to be as widespread --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

CHINCHAR: For the communities that are impacted. You could still see tornadoes, you could still see damaging winds of 60 to 70 miles per hour, there's just not going to be as many communities that feel this particular impact. So, let's take a look. The overall forecast for today, we do have the concern for some fire risk, especially across portions of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, even an additional fire threat here across portions of the Carolinas and into Virginia.

But it's this next system that's going to develop across the central portion of the country. That's what's going to give us the potential for severe weather very late in the day today. In fact, most of this really doesn't develop until the evening and the overnight hours. This is mainly going to be focused across portions of Missouri where you could see some of those damaging winds and even some hail.

Then by tomorrow, we start to see it shift a little bit farther south and east, and it also starts to intensify a little bit more. So, now you've got the potential here for the added threats of tornadoes, even larger hail could be golf balls or even larger. And those incredibly strong winds 60, 70 miles per hour, this includes Memphis, Little Rock, down through portions of Shreveport, Louisiana, as that line continues to slide east.

But here's the thing. This is a look at all the warnings that we had last weekend. The orange one, severe thunderstorm warnings, the pink ones, pinkish purple color are the tornado warnings. Now, look at where that threat is expected for tomorrow. And again, you can see it's over some of the same areas that were hit just last weekend with that last severe weather outbreak.

So, this is going to be concerning. You have people with tarps on their homes, people who still have not fully cleaned up yet that are going to be dealing with this next round. So, here's a look, you can see overnight tonight, around midnight, 1:00 a.m., that's when we really start to see this line get going through the morning hours, it will spread into portions of Missouri and Illinois.

[06:55:00]

Then as we get into the afternoon and evening, you start to see that new line develop farther south across Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas. BLACKWELL: All right, Allison, thank you. Before we go to the next

hour, I want to show everybody this video. This is a volcano erupting in Hawaii. Look at this tower, U.S. geological survey says that's 700 feet of lava between Wednesday and Thursday this was happening. This is the 14th time that the Kilauea of volcano has erupted since late December last year. Right now, the eruption is confined to the Volcano's national park.

CHINCHAR: So, you see those people in the frontline there?

BLACKWELL: Yes, those are the people I'm watching here --

CHINCHAR: I mean, maybe it's just me, I feel like that's a little too close for comfort.

BLACKWELL: Still too close. You know where the great distance to watch it? On television.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: That's the safe place you want to watch a volcano erupt, but with the 14th time now that this has erupted?

CHINCHAR: It's a very active volcano, so, it's not surprising that it would. I'm just saying -- and again, I'm sure that's a line that officials have drawn --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

CHINCHAR: I'm just not saying I would want to be behind that line --

BLACKWELL: Back up you all. Back up! All right, next hour of CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND starts in just a moment. President Donald Trump is revoking more security clearances for his perceived political enemies, this time, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton. Got details for you after the break.

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