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CNN This Morning

One Crew Member Rescued After U.S. Fighter Jet Downed By Iran; Trump Downplays Iran's Anti-Aircraft Capabilities; Kid Goes Viral After Blunt Response To Question On Artemis II; Geno Auriemma, Dawn Staley Have Heated Exchange After Gamecocks Upset Huskies. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired April 04, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:35]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is Saturday, April 4th. Hello and welcome to CNN This Morning. "First of All" will be back next Saturday at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. I'm Danny Freeman in for Victor Blackwell.

Right now, the search is on for the missing crew members of a U.S. Air Force jet shot down over Iran. Some of the wreckage was found, including part of the wing of the jet and one of the ejection seats as well. Another person in the jet has already been found and rescued. New videos show low flying aircraft searching for the person and dozens of people searching a ridgeline. Iranian state media promised a reward Friday for anyone who captures this person alive.

Other video appeared to show a group of Iranian police officers shooting at low flying choppers that appear to be U.S. made Blackhawks. CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining me now from Abu Dhabi with the latest developments.

Paula, tell us what have you learned more about this evolving situation?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Danny, we know at this point that both Iran and the U.S. is working to try and find this missing crew member. We know from Iranian state media that they have actually been publicly announcing that there will be a financial reward, a valuable prize, it says, if anyone were to find one of the pilots alive. So obviously that is spurring on the efforts of the U.S. military to try and find one of its own. We did see much evidence of that on Friday.

Now we also heard from an Iranian senior military commander talking about the fact that they managed to down two jets in the space of one day, saying that they were using new methods and equipment and innovations in air defense systems. Now, they weren't any clearer than that, but they have acknowledged the fact that they were able to inflict this damage on the U.S. military.

Now also when it comes to the airstrikes that are continuing in Iran this Saturday, we did see from Iranian state media again saying that the perimeter of the Bushehr nuclear power plant has been hit. They say one person has been killed in that airstrike. We also know from the IAEA, the nuclear watchdog, there has been no rise in radiation, but they are calling on both sides to stop any military activity near any nuclear facility.

Now we also had a fairly ominous warning from the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, saying that any nuclear fallout or radioactive fallout would, quote, end in go -- end life in Gulf capitals, not Tehran. Now he's talking about the fact that Bushehr is just on the southwestern coast of Iran. It is much closer to the Gulf nations than it is to the capital itself. Now we have also seen some petrochemical companies that were targeted in Iran as well.

When it comes to the damage that Iran is doing the other way, we have seen continued strikes against Gulf nations. In fact, we saw here in the UAE in Dubai, debris from an intercepted projectile actually hit the facade of an Oracle building. This is the U.S. tech giant. There were no injuries, minor damage, but it is one of the many companies that Iran had actually named, saying that these U.S. tech companies would be targeted if there was an attempt to take out more of the Iranian leadership.

We've just heard from the Ministry of Defense here in the UAE as well, talking about how many projectiles have been fired in the last 24 hours, 23 missiles, 56 drones. That is higher than we have seen for some time during this war. So it is very clear Tehran is still very capable of terrorizing its neighbors. Danny.

FREEMAN: Very clear indeed. All right, Paul Hancocks, thank you so much for that update from Abu Dhabi. Appreciate it.

For more on this, let's discuss with Bryan Stern. He's a U.S. Army and Navy veteran and the chairman and founder of Grey Bull Rescue. It's a nonprofit that helps with rescue and evacuation efforts specifically in conflict zones.

Bryan, thank you so much for joining us this morning to talk through this ongoing search that has been occurring for this second crew member. Listen, you've been involved in high level evacuations Israel. You also helped Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado escape Venezuela. Just tell me what is the biggest challenge that you see right now in trying to rescue this missing crew member in Iran?

[08:05:20]

BRYAN STERN, CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER, GREY BULL RESCUE: The biggest issue right now is speed. This downed airmen, which, you know, male or female, has been on the run now for a day and a half. And that doesn't sound like a long time, but that is a very long time when being actively pursued behind enemy lines in the mountains, limited communications, and also possibly injured. So speed, speed is the big one. Because the Iranian forces are actively pursuing him or her, because the locals are actively pursuing him or her.

They have limited food, they have limited water. They -- it's very hard to sustain and hide indefinitely. So I would say that time is getting -- time is actually becoming the biggest problem.

FREEMAN: Well, can we talk a little bit more about those specifics? Because as we noted, you've experienced a bunch of different environments. Here, as you noted, intense terrain, you have Iranians, you have Iran itself looking for this crew member. It's also an active war zone. How does that impact, how the rescuers need to approach this mission?

STERN: Carefully. We great -- my team and I, we just completed our 810th mission. We do ops all over the world, operations exactly like this. Exactly like this. And they're all dangerous.

Rescues are not war-zone Uber. It's not as simple as fly a helicopter in, get on the radio, talk to the pilot, where are you? It's not like T.V. where they just, you know, throw a smoke grenade and the helicopter lands and that's the end of the show. It's much more complex. It's very dangerous.

The Iranians have demonstrated that they can project kinetic force thousands of miles away. Certainly they can project kinetic force inside their own borders to the extent that they're shooting airplanes down. So in this region, you have tribal issues, you have local people who are tribesmen who may or may not be aligned with the current Iranian regime. So when the Iranian regime says, we'll give you a reward, bring us the pilot alive, that sounds very ominous, but that's actually a very good thing. That means that the Iranian regime is trying to incentivize the people to not execute the American pilot on site.

So that's a good thing. The catch is, is that not everyone cares about money. The -- lots of people are just angry. Lots of people just hate America. Lots of people hate for the sake of hating.

We see this in conflict zones all the time where people just kill people. So from a tactical perspective, getting aircraft in is very dangerous. The Sikorsky UH-60 -- MH-60s that were flying around, they were taking gunfire just yet -- just we have it on video at least yesterday. I'm certain that there were many more of those occasions. So getting shot at while flying around doing a search, let alone -- let alone actions on the objective.

The good news is, is that we have from a special operations perspective and a combat search and rescue perspective, there is nothing like the United military out there. There's no one with more resources, no one with more training, and no one with more, you know, angry men with sleeve tattoos that are just dying to save Americans and do what they -- do what needs to be done to adversely impact the enemy. So I feel confident that if they can find the pilot, which I think that they will, and when they can get that pilot to a safe spot, which I think that they will, when that actually all goes down, the area will be relatively secure.

FREEMAN: One last thing, I only have about 20 seconds left, Bryan, is we spoke to a guest earlier this morning that said that nighttime is actually the best time to potentially make one of these rescues. Is that your similar thought as well, that that's maybe when this activity might pick up?

STERN: Absolutely. When you -- when you conduct these operations, there's ups -- there's pluses and minuses to everything. So we own the night. We see better in the dark than anyone out there. We can see golf balls from outer space in pitch black, right?

So our night -- our nighttime capability is unmatched by anyone else. Again, our technology is the best. The catch is, and with that, it's harder for the people -- for the Iranians regime, IRGC, tribesmen, whoever, to operate. The catch is that the pilot -- the pilot has to navigate at night also. That's not always the easiest.

The -- very often when these things go wrong, it's something stupid. So it's -- the pilots walking to the HLZ. We can see him or her. They can see --

FREEMAN: Right.

STERN: -- they can see us. Everything's going great and they step in a gopher hole and break ankle. It's that kind of stuff that messes up operations more often than not.

[08:10:02]

FREEMAN: Right. Well, Bryan Stern, thank you so much for breaking all of that down for us. It's scary work. I'm appreciative that there are folks like you and now, of course, our military doing it to try and bring this crew member home. Thank you for your time this morning.

STERN: Thank you.

FREEMAN: All right. More headlines this morning. President Donald Trump is ordering the Department of Homeland Security to pay all workers amid the ongoing partial government shutdown. As the stalemate on Capitol Hill stretches on, tens of thousands of DHS staffers have been reporting to work without pay. Now the move expands Trump's earlier directive for DHS to pay workers with the Transportation Security Administration. A Trump official says the money will come from last summer's so called Big Beautiful Bill.

The White House is also looking to massively increase defense spending as it wages its war with Iran. In its 2027 budget request, the White House asked for $1.5 trillion for defense that would boost military spending by more than 40 percent compared to last year. The funds would be used to bolster munitions, build out the naval fleet and begin construction on President Trump's Golden Dome missile defense system.

This morning, firefighters in Southern California are making progress in the fight against the spring's fire. Now it's burning in Riverside County, east of Moreno Valley, about an hour east of Los Angeles. Cal Fire says the fire has burned more than 4,000 acres and is now 25 percent contained. Video shows smoke rising behind homes yesterday in Riverside County. Evacuations remain in effect for some areas and officials say winds have eased a bit but the threat is not over yet. Meanwhile, storms are on the move this weekend across a large part of the country. Millions are in the path from the Great Lakes all the way down to Texas. And this is not just rain we're talking about. A few of these storms could turn severe with damaging winds and the threat of more tornadoes. So for more on all of this, let's get straight to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar.

Allison, great to see you this morning. Tell us, where is this risk greatest right now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. Yes. Good morning to you, too.

We take a look, it's a very large system. It stretches all the way from Canada back down to the Gulf Coast. Now on the northern side, this is where we have the cold air in place. So you actually have snow. A little bit of a wintry mix for areas of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the UP of Michigan.

Farther down to the south, this is where those strong to severe thunderstorms we've been having. Again, you can see some lightning stretching from St. Louis all the way back down to San Angelo, Texas. This strong line moving through Dallas right now. Wind gusts around 40-50 miles per hour with this particular line. It will continue to move off to the east as we go through the rest of the day.

So there's still some more potential, especially once the sun comes out for a lot of these areas stretching from upstate New York all the way back to Texas. You're talking places like Cleveland, Memphis, Cincinnati, back through Nashville, Little Rock, even down to Shreveport, Louisiana. Damaging winds will be the biggest threat, but we can't rule out the potential for an isolated tornado.

Here's a look as the storm continues to slide off to the east through the afternoon. So about 2:00, 3:00, 4:00. Now you're looking from Detroit back down through Indianapolis, Memphis and down into Shreveport by later tonight. Now you're talking Cleveland down through Lexington, Kentucky, back through Jackson, Mississippi.

Tomorrow morning it's going to be a very soggy start to Easter Sunday for places like Atlanta and into Knoxville. That rain will slide east into places like New York and Boston and Providence through the afternoon.

FREEMAN: You can still search for eggs in the rain. I think that's still fun. Allison Chinchar, thanks so much. Appreciate you.

All right. Coming up in just a moment, a historic moment for Pope Leo. He's the first pontiff in decades to carry the cross for the entire Good Friday service. Well, now we're looking ahead to Holy Saturday. The Easter vigil will take you live to Rome coming up next.

Plus, the Artemis crew has passed the halfway mark on their trip to the moon. We'll have an update on their mission. And March Madness made it to the sidelines in the final seconds of the women's basketball semifinal game. We'll tell you what we're learning about this confrontation right here between the head coaches.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:18:35]

FREEMAN: New this morning, Pope Leo will be leading an Easter vigil mass in just a few hours as Catholics across the globe observe Holy Saturday. The pontiff carried the cross for the entire Good Friday service at Rome's Colosseum. Now this is his first Easter as the head of the Catholic Church after being elected pope last May. CNN Vatican Correspondent Christopher Lamb joins us live from Rome.

Christopher, always good to see you. Tell us, what is next for Pope Leo on this very holy weekend?

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Danny, next up will be the Easter vigil service in St. Peter's Basilica, which is really the high point of Holy Week and the church's year. Pope Leo will preside over that service. And he's been leading a number of services throughout this week, starting with Palm Sunday and then Thursday and Good Friday. And yesterday we saw, as you mentioned, this way of the Cross service where Pope Leo carried the cross through the entirety of the procession, which is the first time in decades that a pope has done that. He wanted to show that he really wanted to communicate that this was a very important and reverent moment.

I think he feels that the suffering of the world needs to be united with, you know, the suffering that is recalled on that way of the cross. Of course, it is a commemoration of Jesus suffering and death. And Pope Leo has during these Holy Week services been quite outspoken about what is going on in the wars that are taking place in the world. On Tuesday, he told me that he hopes that President Trump can find an off ramp to end the war in Iran.

[08:20:25]

And on Easter Sunday, we are expecting to hear from Pope Leo from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica and that we are expecting for him to talk about what is going on around the world. And I expect that there will be another message of peace and some response to what is happening globally. Danny.

FREEMAN: Yes, all eyes are going to be on that address tomorrow morning. Christopher Lamb reporting from Rome. Thank you so much as always for your reporting. Appreciate it.

All right. Coming up, a surprising jobs report from the Labor Department. But experts say it doesn't paint quite the full picture. We'll dig into how the war in Iran could impact the economy. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:25:34]

FREEMAN: At this hour, the United States is on an urgent search to find a U.S. crew member missing after Iran downed an F-15 fighter jet. Video on social media shows a low flying aircraft searching an area in southwestern Iran yesterday. Sources say the U.S. was able to rescue one of the two crew members aboard the downed fighter jet. Iran's state media has since released various images of aircraft debris. This one appears to show a damaged ejection seat from an F-15 fighter jet.

But CNN cannot confirm the location of that image.

In the meantime, a U.S. official confirms that Iran also hit a second U.S. military plane yesterday. The plane was an A-10 Thunderbolt II like the two pictured here. According to the U.S. official, the pilot safely ejected from that aircraft and was rescued.

And this morning, Iranian state media says a site near its Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant has been attacked, killing one person.

Meanwhile, we are also following the impact of the war with Iran on the economy. The U.S. notched a surprising number of new jobs in March. The Labor Department says the U.S. added 178,000 jobs. That's nearly three times the number economists expected. But with surging gas prices, experts say the outlook hinges on the war in Iran.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich breaks down all the numbers.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a much stronger jobs report than expected, 178,000 jobs added in March. The expectation was 60,000 and the unemployment rate ticking down to 4.3 percent from 4.4 percent. That's also a product of fewer people in the Labor force.

Part of the increase in jobs because of better weather and two strikes ending, which I'll get to in just a minute. But we also got revisions for February. It was worse than expected, 133,000 jobs lost. That's more than the initial 90,000 that was reported. But if you look at the labor market over the last year, it's really a seesaw of messaging.

In some months, it looks like the labor market is in peril. And in other months like March, it looks like the labor market's on fire. Sectors in the month of March that saw the biggest gains were health care gaining 76,000 but that was because 32,000 health care workers that were on strike in February came back to work. And here's where the nice weather comes in. Nicer weather actually boosted construction jobs by 26,000 and leisure and hospitality by 44,000.

There were losses in places like government, federal government, of 18,000 jobs since October of 2024. Government employment is actually down by 355,000 thousand jobs, or 11.8 percent.

Now there were losses also in finance and information services, a sign that artificial intelligence could be impacting those sectors. But this was the best jobs report of President Donald Trump's second term. But we'll likely have to wait till next month for the impacts of the war with Iran to show up. Higher energy prices and higher gas prices are certainly putting pressure on businesses and they will likely have to make decisions about how that will impact their workforce going forward. Back to you. FREEMAN: All right, Vanessa, thank you for that. Meanwhile, here are some more of the headlines that we are following this morning. Sheriff's deputies say they shot and killed a gunman who fatally shot two people and wounded two others last night near Chubbuck, Idaho. The Idaho State Journal reports that virtually every law enforcement agency in the southeast part of the state responded to that scene. No identities or motives have been released yet. Authorities say there is no ongoing threat to the community.

And also a second suspect has been arrested in the drive by killing of a baby girl in her stroller on the streets of Brooklyn. The 18-year- old suspect was taken into custody in Pennsylvania. The suspected shooter was arrested shortly after a stray bullet struck and killed seven-month old Kaori Patterson-Moore on Wednesday.

And if you're getting a nice refund this tax season, you're not alone. The IRS says the average refund is up by more than 10 percent this year and the average amount is just under $3,600. More than 98 percent of filers have received their cash via direct deposit. The IRS says over 80 percent of refunds have been issued within 21 days. Listen, we all know it. Millions are eagerly watching the crew of the Artemis mission. But an 11-year-old from Arkansas may be their biggest fan. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going back to the freaking moon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:30:00]

FREEMAN: So I'm telling you, I'm going to speak with that young man, Hilt Boling, and his parents about the mission and this moment that's now gone super viral.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREEMAN: At this hour, our top story, the U.S. is on an urgent search to find a U.S. crew member missing after Iran downed an F-15 fighter jet. Video on social media shows a low flying aircraft searching an area in southwestern Iran yesterday. And sources say the U.S. was able to rescue one of the two crew members aboard the downed fighter jet.

Joining me now to talk about this and much more, retired Brigadier General Shawn Harris. He's also the Democratic candidate running to represent Georgia's 14th district in a special election coming up this Tuesday to fill the seat previously held by Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Shawn, thank you so much for waking up early and chatting with us this morning. I want to start with Iran because you have decades of military experience as a retired brigadier general. You also worked with NATO.

We're now facing this moment where we have a fighter jet crew member missing in Iran. And yet this, I want you to take a listen, has been the president's message before this.

[08:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We literally have planes flying over Tehran and other parts of their country. They can't do a thing about it. They have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100 percent annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force. We're flying wherever we want, Pete. We have nobody even shooting at us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: So, Shawn, what's your assessment of the state of the war with Iran today, especially considering those comments and this tragic story of this missing crew member currently?

BRIG. GEN. SHAWN HARRIS (RET.) (D) GEORGIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE TO REPLACE MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: Well, first of all, good morning, Danny. And as I believe somebody's probably been briefing the president and not telling him the full truth, what's going on out there on the battlefield, because it seems like it's clearly a disconnect between what's currently happening right now as we speak would have basically two planes have been shot down, one actually crashed inside of Iran.

And now we have one individual. Hopefully everything's going to be OK, but we have one individual out there fighting for his life. And I know we're going to talk a lot more about that particular situation.

FREEMAN: But you think that the president is not getting good information? You think the information is not getting to the White House?

HARRIS: Yes, I think somebody inside the Pentagon is not giving him the full briefing or they want to give him a rosy story. And the reality of it is war is never rosy. As you know, this is a war of choice we shouldn't have been in the first place. And Iran is not going to be an easy, easy target.

What I've said many times before, we can win this war militarily, but if we don't watch it, we could definitely lose it politically. And right now we're in a situation of losing this war politically as we speak.

FREEMAN: All right, let's get into politics a little bit more then the special election to represent Georgia's 14th congressional district that's happening this coming Tuesday. You're running as a Democrat, of course, very red district in Georgia formerly represented by Marjorie Taylor Greene.

It's interesting this is one area where you two have aligned. She also has been critical of President Trump since leaving office, also of this war effort. What's your message to the voters that once supported Marjorie Taylor Greene? HARRIS: Well, my message is very simple. As you know, I focus on

kitchen table issues and making sure that we're taking care of the people here in Northwest Georgia, period. And then in addition to like you talked about this war, like I said earlier, this is a war of choice. President Trump chose to get into it.

Now, as you see, if you go into a war and don't actually have a real strategy, it starts to fall apart. One of the things I've said in many times on other shows, you have to know why are we getting into this particular war? What is our exit strategy? And then when we get out of it, if you break it, you own it. What does the day after look like?

And right now, President Trump, he came up on the net almost two nights ago, said everything was great. And you see where we're at today, things are not great. And like I said earlier in your show, I want to make sure that we keep this one individual our prayers because this is not going to be easy. I think we probably going to have to put some level of boots on the ground in order to get this particular airman back.

Well, Shawn Harris, I apologize we have to cut our interview short just because we had some technical difficulties earlier. But thank you very much for sharing your perspective this morning. And also I do want to mention that we did reach out to Shawn Harris opponent Republican Clay Fuller to request an interview. We have not yet gotten a response.

All right, we're going to switch gears now. The Artemis II astronauts are officially more than halfway to the moon. In their latest update, the crew said they are dealing with another technical glitch though with their wastewater system.

Mission Control has instructed the now sleeping crew to use contingency collapsible urinals while engineers in Houston worked overnight to try and fix the venting issue. When they wake up, the crew of the Artemis mission will begin day four of their ten day mission to the moon. On their schedule today, they'll carry out a review of their photography plan for the lunar flyby.

They're expected to reach the moon and begin their lunar flyby on Monday. As they get closer, the astronauts say they are beginning to see the far side of the moon. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINA KOCH, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: We can see the moon out of the docking hatch right now. It is a beautiful sight. We are seeing more and more of the far side and it is just a thrill to be here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now of course, their mission is being watched by millions around the world of all ages. They are fascinated, including one young fan from who has been going viral after he did an interview in Florida with CNN's Ivan Rodriguez. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why do you want to be here? Why do you love space? Why do you love being a part of history?

HILT BOLING, SPACE ENTHUSIAST: We're going back to the freaking moon. That's why we're sending a woman, a person of color and a Canadian to the moon and we're sending a manned spacecraft the farthest we've ever sent a spacecraft before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:40:00]

FREEMAN: That young man right there, Hilt Bolling. NASA even got a kick out of his interview. Administrator Jared Isaacman responded to the clip on X saying he was definitely getting a bag of NASA gear. The White House, I'll note, also shared the clip as well, saying America's going to the moon.

So we have a special treat this morning. Hilt and his mom Rachel and his dad Kent are all here with me now, making a return victorious appearance on CNN. Thank you all for getting up this morning. You're coming to us from Arkansas.

Let's start here. Hilt, I'll give the man of the honor the question. What was going through your mind when you actually watched that launch?

KENT BOLING, HILT'S FATHER: Go ahead.

BOLING: Definitely, like, definitely it was just like I -- it was -- I witnessed a part of history after the launch, after like we didn't see it, I started crying tears of joy. It was so awesome. I witnessed a part of history and other things and yeah, that was really cool.

FREEMAN: You witnessed a part of history and as you noted, you are a part of the story now without a shred of a doubt. But tell me Hilt, how long have you been interested in space? What fascinates you about outer space?

BOLING: How did I get into space? I don't --

FREEMAN: Yes.

BOLING: About two years ago maybe we did like a project where we put like an Alka-Seltzer tablet in a water thingy and then were with another thing and it was like this cup thing with a cap. Like that.

FREEMAN: Yes.

BOLING: And then like you could put like fins and stuff on there. So like I was drawing rockets there. I was drawing like ideas and then when mine went, it didn't like go anywhere but it went like, and then it fell down.

FREEMAN: Listen, it happens. It happens to the best of us. I understand.

BOLING: And so I started drawing rockets after that and then that's how my space stuff started. And then I started playing Juno and Kerbal Space Program and Space flight simulator. I got into building rockets and engineering and testing and learning stuff to finally land on the moon or like launch a bunch of satellites into low earth orbit.

So yes, I've also read plenty of books about NASA and SpaceX and Blue Origin and I built Legos of both.

FREEMAN: I would believe that you were a Lego kid. Mom and dad, just quickly, what has your been reaction to your son's newfound fame in the space, space?

K. BOLING: We've really been, pardon the pun, but just blown away by just the industry's reaction just to see Hilt accept and just learn about space. He's done a lot of that the creative, the design, the building, the launching on his own self-learned. And so the passion is a true inspiration. It's really neat to see.

RACHEL BOLING, HILT'S MOM: And I would say it's just. It completely surprised us that he went viral. We've never experienced anything like that. We weren't quite sure how to deal with that as parents. But we decided we have a PR friend who just said lean in as much as you feel comfortable. And he feels comfortable. So we decided to do that and just trust that he would be protected in the process and that doors would open.

And so they have. And it was very generous of NASA to give us a VIP tour yesterday. We were able to go to Swamp Works and to see the Orion capsule to the VAB. It was incredible. And it was incredible to see the industry people just look at him with excitement that he's the next generation. That's inspiring them to keep doing their jobs. And then also they speak a language. They all kind of talk a common language that's not our language. And it's really fun.

H. BOLING: It's like a bunch of acronyms and stuff.

R. BOLING: Hilt gets it. They get it. And it's really fun to see your kid find their kind of tribe. And he's not a sports kid. He's a self- proclaimed rocket nerd. And so that's been really fun to see him connect with other people in rockets.

FREEMAN: Well, you're speaking for the rocket nerds of all of us out there, Hilt. Last thing. I only have about 10 seconds left, Hilt, but is there any message you'd like to send to the Artemis crew?

H. BOLING: Godspeed, Artemis.

[08:45:00]

I hope you all journey to the moon and beyond is successful and I look forward to watching the live crew and seeing you all past the moon.

FREEMAN: Fantastic. Well said. Well said, Hilt. Hilt, Rachel, Kent, thank you so much for making time this morning. Really appreciate it. And thank you for being a good symbol of kids getting excited about science and outer space. Really, really appreciate you all for doing that.

K. BOLING: Absolutely. Thank you for having us and Godspeed and safe return home to that or not for certain. We look forward to seeing them when they get home. Have a great day. Take care.

FREEMAN: We're real freaking excited for them to come home. That's what we are. All right. Take care of.

OK, sports time. Now the stage is set Indianapolis for college basketball's final four. Coming up next, our Coy Wire will talk to the four remaining men's coaches.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:35]

FREEMAN: Sports now tomorrow night's women's national title game is set. Top seed UCLA got past a fellow top seed Texas in a defensive slugfest highlighted by this late game block from Bruins center Lauren Betts that sealed the win.

Facing the Bruins will be South Carolina. The Gamecocks beat the undefeated and defending national champs UConn, ending the Huskies 54- game winning streak. But the big headline from the game came moments before the final buzzer. We saw UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley get into a heated exchange. Staley says she doesn't know what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAWN STALEY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH: I have no idea. But I'm going to let you know this. I'm of integrity. I'm of integrity. So if I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did. I guess he thought I didn't shake his hand at the beginning of the game. I didn't know I went down there pregame, shook everybody on his staff's hand. I don't know where he came with after the but, hey, sometimes things get heated. We move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: After the game. Auriemma did not elaborate on what he said to Staley, only saying, quote, I said what I had to say. I would not want to get on Philly legend Don Staley's bad side.

Meanwhile, tonight, the men's final four tips off Indianapolis. CNN's Coy Wire is Indy with a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Four teams, one stage Danny, and a spotlight so bright it turns college athletes into household names overnight. I caught up with each of the final four coaches and turns out we have all sorts of great storylines, family ties and a whole lot of personality. Nothing says tough like Red Dragon underpants. Are you still rocking

the lucky drawers, Coach?

DAN HURLEY, UCONN HEAD COACH: Yes, I do. And I got their cousins on right now because I've got the Blue Dragons for the day before the game. But then the Red Dragons will take the court tomorrow night. I think they're 18 and one in this tournament right now. So.

WIRE: How are they holding up? I've

HURLEY: got my wife Andrea takes great care of them between games with the travel washer and the travel dryer. And obviously, Illinois has to overcome that. This team, UConn team and the Dragon underwear if they want to advance.

WIRE: Now, here's a little story I got to tell about a Wildcat coach I know so well.

TOMMY LLOYD, ARIZONA HEAD COACH: Wow.

WIRE: (INAUDIBLE) Beastie Boys fan.

LLOYD: Oh, my God.

WIRE: What Playlist song of the Beastie Boys really gets you going?

LLOYD: You know, honestly, I have so much respect for the Beastie Boys. It's like just hearing anything they've done, whether it's an instrumental or going back to their old punk days. Like, I just -- they've been such an important part of my life, and I know that's kind of crazy to say for a grown man, but they've been there every step of the way with me.

WIRE: If your personality had a spirit animal, what would it be?

BRAD UNDERWOOD, ILLINOIS HEAD COACH: Oh, gosh. Now you're going to put me on this spot. I'm a lion. I'm a lion. I'm going to try to be the king of the jungle. That's what you do when you're here in the final four, right? You try to win them all and. And go for the jugular.

DUSTY MAY, MICHIGAN HEAD COACH: Wow. A spirit ammo. You got me. Let's go, Wolverine. Keep it simple.

WIRE: What are the qualities of that?

MAY: Small and terrorizing. Feisty.

WIRE: Yes. Now, you guys say dad's super nice. Teach you to be kind. But he said his spirit animal would be a wolverine. He's feisty, tenacious. Do you see that side of him?

ELI MAY, MICHIGAN STUDENT MANAGER: Yes, in a way, he's, like, kind of an aggressive nice. Like, he'll like I don't know how to explain.

CHARLIE MAY, MICHIGAN GUARD: Yes, definitely see it a little bit. A couple people asked me last week why he was so mad the refs won games. Said that was the most angry they've ever seen him.

WIRE: You know this guy? This is your son.

UNDERWOOD: I know this guy.

WIRE" I have a question for you. What does dad mean to you?

TYLER UNDERWOOD, ILLINOIS ASSISTANT COACH: He means the world. I mean, I think growing up, I was his biggest fan. And, you know, to be able to play for and be a part of this year. Now, as a staff member. Lifelong memories. I'm so proud of them. It's been a special journey.

WIRE: This is where March Madness becomes legendary, Danny. The title game will be decided following Saturday's matchups. And Monday night, a national champion will be crowned here Indy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: Does anyone have as much fun as Coy Wire does that assignment? Coy, thanks very much from Indianapolis. And you can watch the men's semifinal games UConn versus Illinois and Arizona versus Michigan today on TBS.

Now do to say college basketball sometimes also does have a dark side, though. In January, the Department of justice charged more than two dozen people, including 20 college athletes, for allegedly fixing NCAA Division 1 games.

[08:55:05]

But point shaving schemes in college basketball are not new. A new CNN flashdoc looks at how in the past these schemes were often tied to the mob.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really easy in basketball to fake a bad game because everybody has real bad games all the time.

JOON LEE, SPORTS JOURNALIST: The fixers were basically asking the players to hit the unders on their point totals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a lot of, I'm going to pull myself out. I'm not going to score as much as I should. And with that came payouts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. attorneys allege that these athletes took bribes between 10 and $30,000 across multiple games to shave points.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there was one game where a player didn't quite live up to what they were supposed to do, the player would say something like, sorry, this team was so bad, I couldn't help it. I was trying, but they were so bad. And then the response would be something like, it's all good. You did what you needed to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: "Money Madness: College Basketball at a Crossroads" airs tomorrow night at 8 on CNN or watch on the CNN app.

All right, thank you so much for joining us this morning. Smerconish is up next after a quick break. See you tomorrow.

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