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Courts Face Off With White House Over Immigration Crackdown; Communities Pick Up Pieces After Storms Kill At Least 39 People; Houthi Rebels Vow Escalation Over U.S. Strikes. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired March 17, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Pamela Brown. Happening now, communities devastated deadly twister striking the south. A wave of tornadoes from the Midwest to the Deep South, leaving towns unrecognizable this morning. people cleaning up what's left of their lives.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And White House denial, the Trump administration saying it did not violate a judge's order to stop deportations of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. Just ahead, of the potential legal showdown.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

Happening now, a faceoff between the courts and the Trump administration over a centuries-old wartime law being used to speed up the president's immigration crackdown. The White House saying hundreds of alleged gang members, mostly from Venezuela, were sent to El Salvador over the weekend. That despite a court order stopping deportations.

But last night, President Trump defended the move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: That was a bad group of, as I say, hombres.

They invaded our country. So, this isn't -- in that sense, this is war. In many respects, it's more dangerous than war because, you know, in war they have uniforms. You know who you're shooting at. You know who you're going after. These are people that came out, they're walking on the streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go live right now to our White House correspondent, CNN's Alayna Treene. She's standing by. Alayna, what are you hearing from the Trump administration this morning? ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, this was something the White House always knew was going to spark legal backlash, even when we reported last week when we broke the news that they were planning on doing this, I was already picking up in my conversations that they expected the courts to get involved. And part of that is I think they want this fight. This is something that the president had long vowed to do on the campaign trail. It's something he personally believes in doing, I'm told, behind the scenes, and they want to draw attention to this issue.

Now, just to give you some context around this law, I mean, this is an 18th century law designed to be invoked when the United States is at war with another country. Clearly, the United States is not at war with Venezuela, but as you heard the president say last night, and you played that clip, he does believe this could be worse than war. And also, to be clear, the last time this was actually invoked was when during World War II, when FDR was president to use this for Japanese Americans, the internment of Japanese Americans.

But all to say, the White House is being very clear that they do not believe that they are violating any sort of law. They believe that since these migrants were sent out of U.S. territory by the time this written order, I think they're being very clear with the language here very careful, I should say, with the language. They're arguing that they did not violate the law. All to say this is not the end of this fight. This is going to be an ongoing court battle, and it could potentially be the most significant of the battles they face so far if the judge does deem that he violated -- that they violated this order, Wolf.

BLITZER: Alayna, there was an interesting moment in the White House briefing room just a moment or so ago controversial Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor was with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. So tell our viewers what happened.

TREENE: That's right, it was pretty interesting. And it was a bit of a surprise to us here at the White House. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt brought him out into the briefing room, said that he's planning to meet with the president today, and McGregor took a couple questions. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONOR MCGREGOR, PROFESSIONAL MIXED MARTIAL ARTIST: I'm here to raise the issues the people of Ireland face. You know, and it'll be music to the people of Ireland's ears. Because never on the main stage has the issues the people of Ireland face been spoke. You know, our government has long since abandoned the voices of the people of Ireland. And it's high time that America is made aware of what is going on in Ireland. What is going on in Ireland is a travesty. Our government is the government of zero action with zero accountability.

You know, our money is being spent on overseas issues that has nothing to do with the Irish people. The illegal immigration racket is running ravage on the country. There are rural towns in Ireland that have been overrun in one swoop, that have become a minority in one swoop. So, issues need to be addressed.

And the 40 million Irish Americans, as I said, need to hear this. Because, if not, there will be no place to come home and visit. You know, Ireland is at the cusp of, you know, potentially losing its Irishness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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TREENE: So, there you hear him clearly using that podium there to criticize his home country of Ireland, saying he wants to bring these issues, including this argument and claim that Ireland is losing its Irishness to the present.

We have to note, though, of course, that Conor McGregor himself is a very controversial figure. He's had several allegations against him over the years, including over his behavior and allegations of sexual harassment and assault. So, all of that kind of adding the context to him being here today.

And, of course, part of the reason they brought him here is it is St. Patty's Day. Another interesting involvement and layer to all of this, given his heavy criticism of Ireland and what he plans to discuss with the president.

BLITZER: Alayna Treene at the White House for us for the update, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. This morning, recovery efforts are underway and at least 39 people are dead after severe storms have ripped across the country over the weekend, leaving this trail of destruction stretching from Oklahoma to Georgia.

Look at this video, just incredible looking at this. Wow. Dijon Lane (ph) took this from his home in Tyler Town, Mississippi. Lane and his mother tells CNN they are just thankful to be alive. At least 80 tornadoes were reported leaving some communities completely leveled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANITA OWENS, LOST HOME IN STORM: All she could say was, mama, her house is gone. It's leveled. And it's leveled. I mean, that's all I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So let's go live now to CNN correspondent Rafael Romo in Alpine, Alabama. Rafael, what are you seeing this morning?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Pamela, one of those hit tornadoes, reported tornadoes that you were talking about hit this community here in Alpine. We're in Talladega County.

Look at the pile of debris right behind me. You see bricks, two by fours, pieces of insulation. This used to be a gymnasium. This is Winterboro High School here in Alpine, and this is what is left of it. And then take a look at what happened here on this other side. We see what appears to be an air unit by the side of the road. We don't know if it came from the school. We don't know if it came from somewhere else.

And I was talking to a crew right behind us. You can hear the chainsaws going on right now. They're trying to knock down those trees because they were badly damaged, Pam. Take a look at the church. This is Winterboro Community Church. Miraculously, the church's pastor says the church was spared. We had a chance to talk to him and this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PASTOR CHARLES KELLY, WINTERBORO COMMUNITY CHURCH, ALABAMA: It's really amazing that what we're looking at right here across the road and what we're looking at behind us is so drastically different. It's amazing. As far as this community goes, what we're going to see is we're going to see people rallying around each other. You're going to see people at their best in the days ahead.

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ROMO: And just to give you an idea, Pam, out of 67 counties here in Alabama, 52 reported some kind of damage. Now back to you.

BROWN: All right. Rafael Romo, thank you. Wolf?

BLITZER: It's interesting, Wall Street bracing right now for another very volatile week. The Dow is ticking a little bit higher, up more than 120 points so far, the index coming off its worst week since 2023. Investors still on edge over the uncertainty of President Trump's tariff policies.

However, the U.S. treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, is downplaying the concern about the markets in the long-term, adding that things would have been much worse if government spending continued at previous levels. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: If we'd kept on this track, what I could guarantee is we would have had a financial crisis. I've studied it, I've taught it, and if we had kept up at these spending levels, that everything was unsustainable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's go live to CNN Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich. She's joining us right now.

Vanessa, we also just got a new snapshot of how much people are buying in stores.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. Well, markets are up this morning coming off of a really terrible week on Wall Street. All three indexes are on pace to have their worst month since 2022. So, investors this morning trying to claw back some of those losses.

But we also got retail sales this morning. They were worse than expected. So, retail sales, how much consumers are spending, that makes up about one third of all consumer spending, the projection was 0.7 percent. It came in at 0.2 percent, so less than expected, but also worth noting that January's numbers were revised down even further to a decline of 1.2 percent.

So, what this shows is essentially weakening consumer spending.

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And that is the warning that we've heard from major retailers, like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, who have been really revising their outlooks for 2025, indicating that they expect their consumers to be pulling back.

We also got a new report this morning from the OECD. This is a global policy forum. And they are saying that because of Trump's tariffs, inflation and GDP are expected to both decline and rise. GDP is expected to grow to 2.2 percent this year, down from 2.8 percent last year. And they're expecting inflation, Wolf, to pick up to 2.8 percent, coming higher than what we saw last year at 2.5 percent.

So, a murky picture evolving this morning as we're getting these economic reports that are painting a more bleak picture than we are used to. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, good point. Vanessa Yurkevich reporting for us, Vanessa, thanks very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. New this morning, the Kremlin is confirming that President Trump will speak with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin some time tomorrow. President Trump said yesterday that he hoped the two leaders would have something to announce on that 30-day ceasefire proposed by the U.S. Ukraine has already agreed to this plan.

So, let's go live now to CNN Senior International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen in Moscow. Fred, this will be the second known call, we should say, between the two since Trump came into office. What do we know about this phone call?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the second phone call and also, of course, a continuing effort as President Trump tries to end the war in Ukraine, whereas the Russians still say that they have major reservations about some of the things that are at hand, the Kremlin indeed confirming that this phone call is going to take place tomorrow on Tuesday.

And certainly from what we're hearing from the Russians is they are praising President Trump's efforts to try and end the war. But, of course, Vladimir Putin does say that he still has major reservations. Nevertheless, the White House says that President Trump hunkered down with his national security team, including, of course, his negotiator, Steve Witkoff, over the weekend at that progress there was made. Let's listen into what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday.

I think we'll, you know, be talking about land. It's a lot of land. It's a lot different than it was before the wars, you know. And we'll be talking about land. We'll be talking about power plants. That's a -- you know, that's a big question.

But I think we have a lot of it already discussed very much by both sides, Ukraine and Russia. We're already talking about that, dividing up certain assets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Dividing up certain assets, the president saying, also saying it's about power plant and about land as well. Of course, one of the main sticking points, as one would imagine, is that the Russians want to hold on to all of the territory that they've taken from the Ukrainians, of course, the Ukrainians obviously very difficult to swallow for them.

So, a lot of things still issues that are at hand, unclear how much progress is actually going to be possible. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which President Trump has designated as a foreign terrorist organization, are warning they will respond to U.S. weekend airstrikes with escalation, their word, with escalation. The U.S. says it took out several Houthi rebels with its strikes. The Trump administration also telling Iran to end its support for the militant group and wouldn't rule out direct military intervention over it.

CNN National Security Correspondent Natasha Bertrand is here with me in The Situation Room. Natasha, the Houthis say they've already launched missiles at the USS Truman, a very impressive aircraft carrier, in the nearby Red Sea.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: There's no evidence that those attacks were actually successful. They say they launched about 18 missiles and drones at those ships. But, of course, the ships are very adept at shooting those missiles and drones down and often the Houthis don't even target them correctly. And so there's no evidence that that caused any damage at this point.

But I think you know the bigger question about all of this is just how impactful these U.S. strikes on the Houthis over the weekend are going to be in the long run, because, of course, the Biden administration spent well over a year trying to degrade the Houthis capabilities, their large missiles and weapons cache that they have buried deep underground inside Yemen. The Biden administration -- the Trump administration says that this is going to be different that the strikes over the weekend were really just an opening salvo and what is going to be a massive campaign against the Houthis. But as you heard, the Houthis are really doubling down here, and they say that they're going to continue their escalation against shipping in the Red Sea.

And it's worth noting here that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, he said that multiple Houthi leaders were killed. That would be an escalation by the U.S. that the Biden administration did not previously take, remains to be seen, of course, just which leaders were killed, if any. Wolf?

BLITZER: It's interesting, because even though the U.S. was attacking Houthi targets in Yemen, clearly, the Trump administration was trying to send a message to Iran, which backs the Houthis.

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BERTRAND: That's exactly right. The Iranians, of course, have been providing the Houthis with weaponry. The Houthis have been smuggling that into Yemen over the last several years. And so this is definitely a message to the Iranians, which the Iranians have also responded to saying, don't meddle in our foreign policy. But, obviously, they're a huge backer of the Houthis that have enabled them in a significant way.

BLITZER: Yes, it's very, very major development. Natasha Bertrand, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: A lot going on here in the home front as well. As you well know, Wolf a moments from now, a critical hearing is set to take place in federal court. Labor unions are suing. They say that DOGE is improperly getting access to private personal data.

With us here is CNN's Katelyn Polantz. So, Katelyn, help us better understand the exact arguments being made today. We've heard these arguments in previous filings as well.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, this is a case before Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland, and this is a judge -- the reason we're watching this case is partly because of who this judge is. She previously was one of the few judges that locked down access to data by DOGE, people who were implementing the DOGE agenda within two different departments, the Office of Personnel Management and the Treasury Department.

So, this case today, this hearing is a question of whether Judge Boardman is willing to extend that lockdown on the data and give these people from unions primarily, but it's a lot of different people suing here. It's not just the unions. It is military members from the Coast Guard, the Army, the Navy who have their disability benefits in the systems. There are people that at one point were receiving federal student aid dollars. So, that's why this is about Office of Personnel Management, people working for the government, as well as Department of Education, other sensitive data held by them around student aid. So, in this case, these are tough cases for anyone to clear the bar to get a judge to step in and lock down the data related to DOGE. But this case is interesting too because, over the weekend, there was a bit of a bobble by the Justice Department, the Trump administration, putting in a little bit of new information saying, oh, we told you that the DOGE people, there was a very small handful of them. Actually, there were a couple more.

And so those were the last filings in this case. We'll see what happens. The hearing starts at 10:30.

BROWN: I know you'll be tracking it. Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Thank you. Still ahead, we'll speak with Republican Congressman Mike Turner and ask him if the timing was right for President Trump to strike the Houthis in Yemen.

And later, after nine months on the International Space Station, there's a light at the end of the tunnel for two astronauts. How NASA is working overtime to bring them home as early as tomorrow.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: More now on the deadly U.S. military action against Houthis in Yemen, as President Trump vows to unleash overwhelming lethal force, his words, against the Iran-backed terrorist organization.

Let's discuss with Republican Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio. He's the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, currently sits on the Armed Services Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

The Middle East has been relatively quiet since the Gaza ceasefire took effect back in January. Do you think now is the right time for these very aggressive U.S. military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen?

REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): Well, this certainly is a continuation of the administration's campaign to put pressure on Iran, as they've seen with the attacks and the diminishing of the ability for Hamas, of Hezbollah to be, you know, the proxies of Iran, now with the Houthis continuing to impact commercial shipping, the outside of Yemen, 75 percent of commercial traffic of the U.S. and U.K. has been impacted in the area as a result of the terrorist attacks that have occurred there. This is a time in which the United States can very, you know, decidedly come in and make it have an impact, continue to put pressure on Iran, and restore commercial traffic to the area.

So, taking decisive military action can change the dynamics here. It's something that has not been done previously, and certainly here could restore commercial traffic to the area. BLITZER: The Houthis are vowing to escalate if the U.S. keeps up these attacks, Congressman. And the White House, by the way, isn't necessarily ruling out direct military action against various targets inside Iran. Do you worry this could spiral into a much larger regional conflict?

TURNER: Well, the Houthis themselves do not have significant military assets. So, their claim that they will escalate really is a desperate statement. They're used to dealing with an administration that would not escalate themselves. So, it really would be a futile act on their part and really result in a continued degradation of their own capabilities.

And Iran is at risk, and they have continued to through the malign influence their proxies and then their direct attacks on Israel itself continue to be a threat in the region. The administration has specifically indicated that they want to put pressure on Iran to bring them back to the table to you know, negotiate their nuclear weapons program, even though Iran is rebuffing that. There is opportunity, I believe, to bring them back to the table through increased pressure from this administration.

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And these are part of those acts to do so. Iran needs to come to the table. They need to walk away from their nuclear weapons program. They should not be permitted to have a nuclear weapon.

BLITZER: Well, would you support U.S. military operations targeting various military targets inside Iran, including its nuclear program?

TURNER: Well, there's never been a statement by the United States that we would not pursue military action against their nuclear weapons sites. Every administration, Democrat, Republican, have said that all options are available if Iran should take the step to complete its nuclear weapons program. The last administration, however, allowed and even publicly stated that they were weeks away from doing so. So, they're on this precarious point at which really the Middle East and even the United States, Europe are at this threatened risk from Iran completing its nuclear weapons program.

So, on a bipartisan basis, everyone has supported that Iran, even if it takes military action, should not be permitted to have a nuclear weapons program, and certainly I support that also.

BLITZER: So, would you support military operations to destroy Iran's nuclear program?

TURNER: If it's necessary to prevent them from having one, yes.

BLITZER: You would, all right. President Trump says, on another sensitive issue, he plans to speak with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, tomorrow. He says they'll talk about dividing up certain assets in Ukraine. Should the president be granting Putin potentially territorial concessions even before they speak? TURNER: No. I think what really needs to occur in this conversation, and I think the president's prepared to do so, and he certainly has made statements of this, is he needs to make it clear to Putin that Putin does not have many options left, that President Trump is willing to put additional pressure on Putin, his economy, both pressure militarily and economic sanctions, including working with Europe to do so, so that Russia does not have the options to walk away from a ceasefire, does not have an option to walk away from peace.

He has done so in putting pressure upon Zelenskyy. To all of our surprise, Zelenskyy was clearly not ready to go to the peace table. Putin needs to be brought to the peace table also and be willing to pursue peace. This war does need to end. President Trump is right in that this senseless killing needs to stop. But now it needs to make clear as he's been making statements to, you know, this point, Putin needs to understand he does not have any options either, that he needs to come to the table.

BLITZER: President Trump has applied most of his public pressure on Ukraine. Now that the Ukrainians have accepted his ceasefire proposal, would you like to see him apply that same very significant pressure on Russia?

TURNER: Absolutely. He has made -- he's started making those statements, and I think he needs to make it clear to Putin that he is prepared, and he's made it absolutely clear that he is prepared. He's made those statements. He needs to make it clear to Putin that he has no choice, that he is willing to make those tough choices so that Russia and Putin will, you know, have, you know, pain and difficult times if they don't come to the table and end this war, a war that needs to end.

BLITZER: Congressman Mike Turner thanks so much for joining us.

TURNER: Thank you. I appreciate it, Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela?

BROWN: Up next, Wolf, new CNN reporting, the top two Democrats in Congress speaking to one another after a contentious week. What we're learning about the meeting between Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer after this short break.

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