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American Student Missing; Interview With Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA); Kremlin Casts Doubt on Ukraine Cease-Fire Plan; Trump Treasury Secretary Downplays Economic Concerns; Trump Withdraws CDC Director Nominee. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired March 13, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:02]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Sources are telling CNN that both President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had concerns about Weldon's questioning of vaccines.

Let's go live right now to CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell.

Meg, you have some new reporting about the pressure Weldon was facing. Tell us about that.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Dave Weldon, of course, is a physician. He served in Congress for 14 years, leaving Congress in 2009 and was practicing as a physician down in Florida.

And while he was in Congress, he made comments and he pressed for safety investigations into vaccines that scientists say were unfounded. And those claims were surfacing even in the weeks leading up to this confirmation hearing scheduled today.

We heard from Senator Patty Murray, who is on the Senate Health Committee, which was the one that was holding that hearing this morning, that in her meeting last month with Dr. Weldon, that he, she says, made debunked claims about vaccines.

She said -- quote -- "It's dangerous to put someone in charge at CDC who believes the lie that our rigorously tested childhood vaccine schedule is somehow exposing kids to toxic levels of mercury or causing autism."

We reached out to Weldon and heard back from him late last night. This is about the ingredient that had been in vaccines called thimerosal.

He said -- quote -- "I never said thimerosal was the cause of the rising levels of autism, but at the time," he says, "I was concerned that it could be." He says: "After the thimerosal was removed, autism rates did not come down, but continued to rise, convincing me that it was not the cause."

However, clearly the comments that he's made are catching up to him and caused the pulling of this nomination at a time when we have a measles outbreak growing in Texas and the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who are colleague Alayna Treene has reported even had doubts himself about this nomination, he has been putting mixed messages out there about vaccinations, Wolf.

BLITZER: If that hearing would have taken place, it would have been very lively indeed.

Meg, stand by.

I want to bring in our White House reporter Alayna Treene over at the White House for us.

Alayna, what more are you learning about what went into President Trump's decision to pull this nomination?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, in my conversations with Trump administration officials, they told me essentially that they recognize that Weldon was likely not going to get the votes for all the reasons that Meg just laid out, particularly, though, their concerns with some of his public comments on vaccines.

And as Meg mentioned, even RFK Jr., Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the director of Health and Human Services, had concerns about his chances in his confirmation. So, look, we knew that, today, he was expected to appear before the Senate committee. And then this nomination was withdrawn before he could do that. They moved on with other nominations.

But a big question now is who would replace him to lead the CDC? Obviously, a very important role, particularly when you think back to when Trump was first in office and all of the major role that played in helping steer away the coronavirus -- the coronavirus pandemic. Excuse me.

But one thing too, Wolfe, to keep in mind is that something that I heard when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was going through his own confirmation hearing was that many Republicans, skeptical Republicans, people who have raised concerns about his chances of getting confirmed, said that, if he was confirmed, they wanted to make sure people enrolled around him were -- had a better answer for some of the vaccines.

And that was a big concern when he was going through his confirmation process and clearly something that played a role this time around with Weldon's.

BLITZER: Yes, good point. Alayna Treene at the White House, Meg Tirrell, thanks to both of you very much.

Joining us now, Dr. Paul Offit. He heads the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He's also on the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee.

Dr. Offit, thanks so much for joining us.

What's your reaction to the White House decision to pull Dr. Weldon's nomination?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: I'm having trouble understanding the reason why.

I mean, here you have Dave Weldon and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. both believe that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine causes autism. They both believe that thimerosal, this ethylmercury-containing preservative in vaccines, causes autism. They're both anti-vaccine activists. They're both science denialists.

And look what happens when you have an anti-vaccine activist as head of Health and Human Services. You have an outbreak now in West Texas. It spilled over to New Mexico. It spilled over to Oklahoma. And what does RFK Jr. do? He talks about how measles vaccine virus -- measles vaccine kills children every year.

This is what he said just in the last couple of days. He says that measles vaccine causes brain swelling associated with deafness and blindness and that immunity fades with the measles vaccine, so that adults are now susceptible. He just says one falsehood after the next.

The outbreak continues to grow. What is the difference between RFK Jr. and Dave Weldon? They both seem to be of the same ilk. Why is one OK and the other not?

[11:05:02]

BLITZER: You know, Dr. Offit, back in 2016, Weldon appeared in an anti-vaccine movie, and we have got a clip of that. I want to play a portion of that. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DAVID WELDON, WITHDRAWN CDC DIRECTOR NOMINEE: It was a rush to judgment to shut the door permanently and completely on the MMR-autism link. It's absolutely appalling that much of what I said turned out exactly to be true. They were trying to short-circuit the research.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That's a false claim that vaccines cause autism, and it's certainly been widely debunked by scientists and doctors across the country.

You work extensively with vaccines and children. What goes through your mind when you hear something like that?

OFFIT: No, it's so hard to watch.

I mean, the notion that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine causes autism was born in 1998. And, reasonably, the academic and medical community responded by doing the kinds of studies to answer the question. Were you at greater risk of getting autism if you have gotten the vaccine or not? That study has been done over and over again in seven countries on three continents.

There's been at least 15 studies that have shown the same thing. You're not at greater risk. Why in 2016, after many of those studies have been completed, Dave Weldon didn't believe it is something I don't understand and why Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues not to believe it, as he said during his confirmation hearings.

He refused to say that vaccines don't cause autism and now wants to do yet another study looking at whether or not they do, which is just a waste of money in an administration presumably that's trying to save money.

BLITZER: Who do you think President Trump might pick now, Dr. Offit?

OFFIT: Wouldn't it be nice if he picked somebody who actually could run a public health agency?

I mean, there's a lot of great people out there who could do such a thing, who have a medical or scientific background, who could run that agency well.Instead, we get these people who, for the most part, have disdain for the agencies they're running, whether it's the FDA or NIH or CDC or HHS. '

BLITZER: It would be good if he picked somebody who had some experience in the CDC and NIH and these other critically important agencies?

Dr. Paul Offit, as usual, thank you very much for joining us.

OFFIT: Thank you.

BLITZER: And there's more breaking news we're following right now, the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, downplaying concerns about the U.S. economy as a key inflation report signals some welcome relief.

But with the president's trade war in full effect, could this be the calm before the storm?

Let's go live to see an in business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich. She's watching all of this unfold in New York for us.

Vanessa, what did Secretary Bessent actually say?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, Wolf, there's been so much uncertainty around President Trump's trade policy, rattling Main Street and markets, the president himself said that he's not paying attention to what's happening on Wall Street.

And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the same thing just moments ago. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: What we're focused on is the real -- we're focused on the real economy. Can we create an environment where there are long-term gains in the market and long term-gains for the American people? I'm not concerned about the -- a little bit of volatility over three weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: Now, there is some good news for consumers and businesses here in the U.S.

Just this morning, we got the Producer Price Index, which revealed that price hikes were slowing. Good news for February, unchanged from the month before, and price hikes rising 3.2 percent. But that is a stark difference from what we saw in January, where prices for producers, that's what businesses pay for products and services, rose by 3.7 percent.

And that is coming on the heels of a good report from yesterday, consumer prices also falling. But, Wolf, in the background, there is a global trade war playing out right now. Just earlier this morning, President Trump threatened to put a 200 percent tariff on French wine and French champagne, the E.U. saying that they are going to retaliate against those tariffs if they do go into effect.

So, while consumer and producer prices have fallen in the month of February, a global trade war could certainly change that. It could increase prices across the board on everything from food to steel, aluminum and products that Americans use every single day, so much uncertainty still, even though we have some pieces of good news on prices here for U.S. consumers, Wolf.

BLITZER: Despite that, the markets, the Dow Jones, for example, the numbers continue to go down and down. Take a look right now. I think the Dow Jones, you see right there, it's already down 246 points just in the -- 247, now 248, in the first couple hours of the markets being open today. 248 points down.

Once again, three days in a row, the markets have been going down.

All right, Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you very, very much.

And still ahead: the widespread federal job cuts now hitting an entire office at the Department of Veterans Affairs. We're going to take a closer look at the impact on U.S. veterans.

[11:10:07]

And Vladimir Putin makes a surprise visit to front-line troops, but he has not responded, at least not yet, to the U.S. proposal for a cease- fire in Ukraine. We're going to go live to Moscow.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:15:04]

BLITZER: The U.S. special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has just arrived in Moscow to brief Kremlin officials on a cease-fire proposal for peace with Ukraine.

But CNN is learning one Russian presidential aide is already casting doubt on the plan, suggesting it would give a break to the Ukrainian army. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YURIY USHAKOV, ADVISER TO VLADIMIR PUTIN (through translator): This is nothing more than a temporary respite for the Ukrainian military, and nothing more. We believe that our goal is a long-term peaceful settlement. That is what we are striving for, a peaceful settlement that takes into account the legitimate interests of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's go live right now to see the senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen, who's joining us from Moscow.

Fred, what are the Russians saying about the cease-fire proposal beyond what we just heard?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Russians are saying they believe that it's something that would benefit the Ukrainians more than it would the Russians.

The Russians are also saying, Wolf, that they want a broader peace plan to be negotiated before some sort of cease-fire takes hold. Now, the Russians are also saying that does not necessarily mean that they're completely rejecting the idea of a cease-fire, but that they certainly have some other ideas as well.

I do also have some other breaking news for you by the way, Wolf. I just got word from the Kremlin saying that tonight there would not be a phone call between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. I just asked the Kremlin spokesman about that, and he said, no, not today.

Now, of course, all of this, Wolf, comes as the Russians continue to make major gains, especially in that Kursk region in the southwest of Russia, where they're trying to oust Ukrainian troops. They do believe that they're on the verge of doing that, and they say to them it is an absolutely key thing. Here's what's going on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): A brazen attack, Russian troops sneaking through a gas pipeline to target Ukrainian positions.

"The assault is starting," the soldier says, the Russians saying, thanks to this assault, they've all but taken the town Sudzha, one of Ukraine's last footholds on Russian territory. Kremlin-controlled TV in breaking news mode, hailing the gains.

"This is what the most important victory of the Russian spirit and weapons looks like," the host says.

The Russians have been taking territory in multiple areas along the front line in recent days, leaving some in Moscow wondering why they should even bother with a Trump administration cease-fire deal.

"Now, Trump, like an ultimatum, says you stop the war because Ukraine is ready for a cease-fire, this man says. But what's the point? What ultimatum? We're dominating on the battlefield."

After the Ukrainians agreed to a 30-day cease-fire in meetings with the Trump administrations negotiators, the U.S. says now it's time for Moscow to do the same.

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: They're probably processing the news the same as the rest of the world is. So we hope to have a positive answer from them. The ball is truly in their court.

PLEITGEN: But, so far, the Kremlin hasn't even picked the ball up yet, Russian President Vladimir Putin silent on the issue and his spokesman saying they're waiting to hear from the U.S., while the foreign minister, in an interview with U.S. bloggers, merely stated what Russia isn't willing to allow, like tolerating NATO peacekeepers in Ukraine.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Under any conditions, well, nobody is talking to us. They keep saying nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine, but they do everything about Russia without Russia.

PLEITGEN: This as the Trump administration is saying it's eagerly waiting to hear from the Russians, whose forces continue to grind down Ukraine's defenses.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And, Wolf, we are expecting to hear from Vladimir Putin in the next couple of minutes as to how he feels about this proposed cease-fire agreement.

He is about to start a press conference with Russia -- with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, where the Kremlin has already said they expect Putin to also speak about that possible cease-fire agreement as well, Wolf.

BLITZER: We will stay in close touch with you, Fred.

Thank you very much, Fred Pleitgen, reporting from Moscow.

Also happening now, the desperate search for Sudiksha Konanki -- Konanki, I should say, intensifying right now across the Dominican Republic. CNN was part of a flyover of the area. Only yesterday hundreds of agents from the Dominican Republic and the United States and India, for that matter, are searching for her.

Let's go live to CNN as Jessica Hasbun. She's in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic for us.

Jessica, I know you have some new reporting on what happened the night that she disappeared.

JESSICA HASBUN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

New information has revealed that other people were on the beach when U.S. college student Sudiksha Konanki went missing here in the Dominican Republic on March 6, law enforcement officials assisting the investigation told CNN, as the search goes into its seventh day.

The 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student vanished at the beach of the Riu Republica hotel here in Punta Cana early morning last Thursday, sparking that intense search by land, air and sea, like these drones you see behind me.

[11:20:07]

Dominican officials had previously said they were investigating Konanki's disappearance as a drowning, but the general prosecutor's office said Wednesday, officials are also investigating whether Konanki's disappearance could extend beyond a possible accidental event.

But the general prosecutor's office said Wednesday officials are also investigating whether Konanki's disappearance could extend beyond a possible accidental event. General prosecutor Yeni Berenice said they are examining all variables.

Konanki's family and their hometown Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman have urged authorities to consider other avenues because other people were around the beach early on that March 6 without discovering a body. This must allow for other possibilities, that Konanki may have encountered other people on the beach that day, the sheriff said.

Konanki's parents returned to Virginia just yesterday after flying to Punta Cana with other family members. Konanki's father has asked authorities here in the Dominican Republic to widen that investigation -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And, like all of us, we hope they find her alive and well.

Jessica Hasbun in the Dominican Republic for us, thank you very much.

Up next: Senate Republicans need at least eight Democrats to prevent a federal government shutdown. But my next guest is urging her Senate counterparts to vote against the current funding bill.

Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal is standing by live. She will join us right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:26:13]

BLITZER: Happening now up on Capitol Hill, Democrats have to decide if they will allow the federal government to shut down tomorrow at midnight. Republicans hold 53 seats in the U.S. Senate, meaning the Republicans need seven votes from across the aisle to support the bill for passage. You need 60 votes in order to defeat a filibuster.

The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, says there won't be enough defections from his party.

Meanwhile, Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington state is here with me in THE SITUATION ROOM. Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us.

You're urging your House -- your colleagues in the Senate, the Democrats, to vote against this legislation that would allow the government to remain open. Tell us why.

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): Yes, exactly, Wolf, because, at the end of the day, Democrats don't have the power to shut down the government. The party that controls the House, the Senate, and the White House is responsible for governing.

What we do have is the power to stop a bad bill that will strip programs away from Americans that they care about, from veterans' safety, to air safety, to food safety, but also to not give a slush fund to Elon Musk and Donald Trump to do the things that they are doing, including, by the way, stripping Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security by cutting those agencies and decimating programs and services that Americans rely on.

So we have the power to stand up for people. That is what the House did under the leadership of Hakeem Jeffries. We gave an almost unanimous vote against this legislation. That is what the Senate needs to do, and they need to do it right now on this motion to proceed, or the cloture vote, because that's the vote that requires 60 votes.

That's the place that Democrats have leverage to say, no, we're not going to hand the tools over with a slush fund to Elon Musk and Donald Trump to do what they're doing.

BLITZER: Well, in the House of Representatives, you're a member of the House, you only need a simple majority...

JAYAPAL: Right.

BLITZER: ... to pass what's called a C.R., a continuing resolution.

JAYAPAL: Yes.

BLITZER: The Senate has different rules, including a rule that allows a filibuster, which would delay any consideration of what the House of Representatives already passed, and you need 60 votes.

JAYAPAL: Exactly.

BLITZER: There are 53 Republicans in the Senate, 47 Democrats. They don't have 60. They need at least seven Democrats, and you're telling seven Democrats vote against this, even though the consequences of a government shutdown would be a disaster for the American people.

JAYAPAL: Well, that's exactly why it is exceedingly rare -- I think there's only been one or two times in history -- where the party in control, the Republicans, have actually allowed a shutdown on their watch, because they know they own it.

And, in fact, Vance was in the House Republican Caucus saying that, if there's a shutdown, the American people will blame Republicans, which is exactly right, and they should.

The whole theory of negotiation and two parties is that, if you need Democratic votes, which you do in the Senate, you do for this motion to proceed, this cloture motion, as you said, you need at least seven Democratic votes there, then it is up to Democrats to use the leverage to negotiate for the American people.

Look, the Republicans, Musk and Trump are going to continue to do these horrible things that they are doing. The question is, are Democrats going to give them the tools to do it? And that's why almost every House Democrat said, no, we're not going to do that. And that's why almost every Senate Democrat should do it.

And Senate Democrats do have the power. We don't have the power to shut down the government. That's on Republicans. But we have the power to stand up for the American people and not be complicit in doing the things that Republicans are doing.

BLITZER: But I want you to listen to only a few moments ago, where Republican Senator John Cornyn said this about a possible looming government shutdown. Listen to this and I will get your reaction.