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24,000 Articles on Chopping Block in Pentagon Website Purge; Voters Unleash Frustrations With Lawmakers at Town Halls; Fed Holds Rates Steady, Projects Slower Growth and Higher Inflation. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired March 20, 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, Pentagon purge, the Defense Department is targeting tens of thousands of websites. And among the topics Holocaust remembrance, sexual assault and suicide prevention.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And tempers flaring, coast-to-coast, voters confronting their lawmakers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are the most soulless piece of crap I've ever seen.

REP. SEAN CASTEN (D-IL): That's your opinion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Soulless, soulless.

CASTEN: Sir, get off -- sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

New this morning, purge at the Pentagon. CNN has obtained a database showing some 24,000 articles could be scrubbed under the defense secretary's order to remove diversity content from its platforms. Many are already gone, including websites on the military contributions made by people of color, women, and those in the LGBTQ community.

An article on baseball legend Jackie Robinson's military service was among those removed. It was later restored after a lot of backlash.

Listen to what Democratic Congressman James Clyburn told CNN.

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REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): What does DEI have to do with Jackie Robinson and Medgar Evers? This is the establishment of Jim Crow 2.0. I said that before we ever had the election, and it's coming true. And so I would hope that we would stop running around chasing these shiny objects and begin to focus the American people on exactly what this administration is doing.

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BLITZER: All right. Let's go live to CNN National Security Correspondent Natasha Bertrand. She's over at the Pentagon for us. Natasha, articles that have little or no connection to DEI programs are also on the chopping block right now. What else can you tell us?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we reviewed dozens of these articles out of this database of about 24,000 plus that are flagged for removal or have been removed by the Pentagon already as part of this massive purge, and none of them really had anything to do with diversity, equity, inclusion, or anything else related to gender, ideology, or anything that the Pentagon has said that they're trying to get rid of here.

Many of them were focused on Holocaust remembrance, including one article about Holocaust victim Kitty Saks, including others about Holocaust Remembrance Week, some including resources for veterans that are suffering from suicidal ideation and others still that are supposed to be resources for sexual assault response and prevention.

And so none of these, of course, have anything to do with the DEI mandate that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth put out last month, ordering that the department purge everything having to do with those topics. And we are told that what happened here is essentially that the department was trying to act so quickly to respond to Hegseth's directive that they had to automate a lot of the purge.

And so they did a script that would essentially go through all of the DOD websites and find particular terms, but, clearly, they have made a lot of errors here. Now, we are told that the Pentagon is having to go back by hand with human beings and actually look through all of the things that they removed. But, of course, that's going to take quite a long time, Wolf.

BLITZER: You know, the coming days, it's Holocaust Remembrance Day as well as around the world. The timing of this is totally, totally wrong.

Natasha Bertrand of the Pentagon, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And happening today, Wolf, President Trump will sign an executive order To start the process of dismantling the Education Department. With that, he will instruct education Secretary Linda McMahon to take, quote, all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the department.

So, let's go live now to CNN White House Reporter Alayna Treene. Alayna, what will this mean for school districts across the country?

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ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, a lot of them, Pamela, are going to, you know, have to face these guts and cuts to funding, particularly schools that serve more underprivileged children are ones that, you know, of course, relies so heavily on federal funding.

I do want to read for you a statement that we got from the National Education Association president, Becky Pringle. This is what she said regarding that question. She said, quote, if successful, Trump's continued actions will hurt all students by sending class sizes soaring, cutting job training programs, making higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle class families, taking away special education services for students with disabilities and gutting student civil rights protections.

Now, Pringle is just one of many different advocates from unions to the NAACP that have been making similar criticisms of this move. But, look, this is, of course, something we know the president has long promised. It's him trying to make good again on another campaign vow. But I would note as well that this is something that if he wanted to truly dismantle the Education Department, it would require an act of Congress.

Now, in my conversations with Trump White House officials and administration officials, they argue that they believe they can effectively dismantle it and put the authority back to the states by cutting federal funding and slashing staff. So, that's really the goal today with this executive order.

BROWN: All right. Alayna Treene, thanks so much from the White House.

BLITZER: All right. New this morning, the Trump administration confirming that the IRS is actively discussing turning over very sensitive taxpayer data to the Department of Homeland Security.

I want to bring in CNN Senior Reporter Marshall Cohen, who's with me here in The Situation Room. Who would the Department of Homeland Security be looking to target with this highly confidential information?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, this would be a very big deal. They would like to target undocumented immigrants, but it hasn't happened yet. We're not quite there yet. But there are ongoing discussions between the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS about possibly turning over this information. Remember, undocumented immigrants pay taxes to the tune of about $60 billion a year in federal tax in exchange for coming out and providing what they owe. The IRS is supposed to keep this information private just like they keep your and my tax returns confidential.

But last month the administration asked IRS to turn over this information, 700,000 home addresses of people they believed were here illegally. The IRS said no, but yesterday in court, an administration attorney said that there are still a lot of legal ongoing discussions to try to turn over this information. That lawyer promised to a judge that if anything is handed over, they will follow the law, follow the strict confidentiality rules.

Not everyone is so convinced, Wolf. Obviously Senate Democrats sent a letter to the treasury secretary, raising some concerns, and there is a lawsuit in court that is trying to stop this.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens on this. All right, Marshall Cohen, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: Well, Wolf, as you know, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are feeling the heat as fiery constituents derailed town halls nationwide. More than a dozen are scheduled for today from Hawaii to Massachusetts. The first in Baltimore is set to begin just minutes from now.

So, how have these events fared so far? Well, there's a Wyoming Republican who yesterday was repeatedly interrupted with booing and chants, including this outburst after suggesting protests needed to be peaceful.

And in Illinois, things got so heated that police asked Democratic Congressman Sean Casten to end his events.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many children were killed in Gaza alone yesterday?

CASTEN: That has nothing to do -- every single person here has something else to talk about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who bombed Gaza?

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BROWN: CNN Correspondent Arlette Saenz joins us now with the very latest. You know, Arlette, you have to wonder how productive these town halls are at this point when they devolve so quickly. At the same time, though, I mean, these lawmakers need to be talking to their constituents.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And Congressman Sean Casten was on our air in the last hour and actually said he thinks that these town halls need to continue. He said that they're vital for civil discourse and disagreement. But he did acknowledge that maybe they need to work with law enforcement to make sure that these town halls are safe if there are going to be disagreements, either with the lawmakers or constituents who have gathered there.

But right now in this moment, neither party is immune from hearing this frustration from voters. You heard the pro-Palestinian protesters there confronting Congressman Sean Casten. You've also heard Democrats who have heard from constituents that they're upset that they're not doing more to push back on Trump.

And on the Republican side, a lot of lawmakers who are holding town halls are hearing criticism about the DOGE cuts that Trump has been making. Here's one of those moments with Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hageman just last night.

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REP. HARRIET HAGEMAN (R-WY): What DOGE is doing is it's the closest thing to -- it is the closest thing to zero based budgeting. But we've seen -- why would you be opposed -- why would you be opposed to us looking on a line by line basis whenever you --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From an immigrant from South Africa who wasn't elected.

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SAENZ: So, that's just a sample of the voter frustration that these lawmakers are hearing. And, of course, town halls have been a staple of American politics, especially in that first year into a new administration. So, it's likely that there could be more of these moments coming up later today and in the weeks to come.

BROWN: Well, listen, and you do have to give credit to these lawmakers for continuing to go out in person and confront their constituents who are upset and have a lot of passion in this environment.

Arlette Saenz, thank you so much.

BLITZER: Very interesting, indeed.

All right, there's more breaking news we're following. The Israeli military now says that Hamas fired three projectiles from Gaza into Israel. It marks the first attacks from Hamas since the ceasefire with Israel collapsed this week. Hamas' military wing says it bombed Tel Aviv in response to Israel's attacks on Gaza.

We're also getting new video right now here into The Situation Room from overnight Israeli attacks into Gaza.

I want to go to CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson. He's reporting for us right now. He's in Sderot, Israel, not far from Gaza, right on the border over there.

Nic, what more are you hearing, first of all, about these latest attacks?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Wolf, the strikes overnight into Gaza, some of them were hitting Beit Hanoun, which is in the distance behind me. We've been zooming in on the camera lens to get a good look at it, a lot of very heavily damaged buildings in that area. They've been hit many times during the 15- month war.

But today seems to mark another step in the deterioration of the breakdown in the ceasefire. According to health officials inside Gaza, 85 people were killed overnight, 133 injured. Just yesterday, warning leaflets were dropped in this area, Beit Hanoun, warning residents that this was now a combat zone. It wasn't safe that they needed to leave. The defense minister, Israel Katz, was warning that the situation could get much worse for the people inside of Gaza.

And, of course, Hamas now responding today for the first time since the ceasefire broke down of firing three rockets they say targeting Tel Aviv. One was intercepted, two fell in open ground. And while we've been here in the past hour or so, we've seen at least one missile rocket likely from an aircraft hit impact, huge plume of smoke came up. We could hear the fighter jet pulling off moving back into the distance.

But it does appear now with the ground operations beginning limited initially that the potential for this situation, the war here again to escalate, Wolf.

BLITZER: I know that sirens went off in Tel Aviv when these Hamas rockets were coming towards Tel Aviv. Did you hear sirens overnight go off and Sderot, where you are?

ROBERTSON: We were -- no, we've not heard them here today so far. Overnight in Jerusalem, sirens went off as well as Tel Aviv. And, in fact, across the whole of the center of Israel, not because of Hamas rockets, but because the Houthis fired a ballistic missile, they said, targeting Ben Gurion. It was intercepted and taken down outside of Israeli territory, but, of course, again, putting the country on high alert in a way that hasn't happened in over two months, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. And the Houthis fired those missiles from Yemen, right?

ROBERTSON: Yes.

BLITZER: All right. Nic Robertson in Sderot, stay safe over there, Nic Robertson reporting for us. Pamela?

BROWN: And happening now, Wolf, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is in Oslo, Norway, taking questions after a meeting with the Norwegian prime minister to discuss assistance for Ukraine. Their meeting takes place as European leaders convene in Brussels for talks on funding increase for defense aid and just one day after Zelenskyy's call with President Trump.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I believe it was substantive. Over the recent period, this is probably the most substantive conversation. The mood was right, sufficiently detailed. We discussed our next steps, the demands for a partial ceasefire.

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BROWN: All right. Let's go live now to CNN Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen in Moscow.

So, Fred, the talks between Russia and the U.S. are set to continue in Saudi Arabia next week. What more can you tell us about that? FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Initially, we'd heard from the Trump administration that possibly these talks would start again on Friday -- on Sunday, I'm sorry, was what Steve Witkoff said, but the Russians now coming out today, and this in the form of Yuri Ushakov, who's a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and who has said that he spoke with the U.S. national security adviser, Mike Waltz. And he says the talks are now set to take place once again on a technical level, Pamela, the Russians are saying on Monday, the 24th.

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Now, the Russians, again, are saying that all these talks right now are going to be on a more technical level, trying to sort out some of the details to move from what is right now or from what could be right now essentially a moratorium on hitting energy infrastructure targets, both from the Ukrainian and from the Russian side to possibly a broader ceasefire.

And one of the things that the Russians have said that they want to discuss at that meeting is the so-called Black Sea initiative, which essentially should bring some sort of a ceasefire to the Black Sea area. Of course, that in many ways is very important. The Ukrainians want to use the Black Sea much more than they have before to export some of the grain, which has been very difficult for them.

But at the same time, also, the Russians, of course, have been using their Black Sea fleet to try and target the Ukrainians. And overnight, Pamela, once again, we have had some strikes that we see right there on your screen. Russians are saying that a town where a major Russian airbase is located was hit by several drones. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Fred Pleitgen in Moscow, thank you. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Happening now, the Dow is holding relatively steady right now after the Fed's announcement to keep rates unchanged. That comes as concerns are growing over the health of the U.S. economy and President Trump's trade wars.

Let's go live to CNN Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich. She's joining us with the latest.

Walk us through, Vanessa, the challenges and the uncertainty facing Americans right now. Stagflation, as it's called, seems to be the word of the moment.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. One of the biggest pieces of news to come out of the press conference with Jerome Powell yesterday was what we heard about the Fed's economic revisions, their outlook revisions. They talked about having to look at things differently, revising up and revising down.

And we've heard a word recently, stagflation. This is when there's high inflation, high unemployment and weak economic growth. And what the Fed put out in their revisions was that they expected unemployment to rise up to 4.4 percent, a revision from what they said in December when they were projecting 4.3 percent. And then they expect inflation to rise to 2.7 percent up from 2.5 percent and then slower GDP growth down, coming down a little bit, 1.7 percent compared to where they projected at 2.1 percent. Fed chair said a lot of this was because of tariffs and economic uncertainty.

Wolf, I'll just point out that the last time the U.S. experienced stagflation was in the 1970s, when oil prices were really high. There was double-digit inflation, double-digit unemployment. It took a recession and rate cuts to get us out of that. But, Wolf, we are nowhere near those numbers or that time right now. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich in New York for us watching the numbers as they go up and down a bit, all right, thanks very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. And still ahead with a lot of news scrubbing diversity from Defense Department websites, we're going to speak to the co-founder of the Black Veterans Project on the Pentagon's perch.

BLITZER: And differing accounts, Democratic leadership trying to show a united front, but close door conversations say otherwise. I'll discuss the state of the Democratic Party with former senior adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod. He's standing by live right here in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: We're turning now to the purge at the Pentagon, all in the name of President Trump's crackdown on diversity in the federal government. Our next guest says, quote, the full throttled attack on black leadership, dismantling of civil rights protections, imposition of unjust anti DEI regulations, and unprecedented historical erasure across the Department of Defense is a clear sign of a new Jim Crow being propagated by our commander in chief.

Joining us now is Richard Brookshire. He is the CEO and co-founder of the Black Veterans Project. That is a nonprofit working to eliminate racial inequities among uniformed service members. Richard, those were some strong words. And earlier, we heard Congressman James Clyburn also equate what the Trump administration is doing to a return to Jim Crow. What do you think the administration's goal is here with all of this purging?

RICHARD BROOKSHIRE, CO-CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, BLACK VETERANS PROJECT: Yes. I think what we're experiencing in real-time is a backlash to the fact that two black men were at the highest positions of leadership in the Department of Defense. During the Biden administration, there was strong pushback within the Department of Defense, so it's no surprise that now with the Trump administration. You are seeing a concerted effort to try to undermine black leadership.

I think it's important to note that last year was a 75th anniversary of the desegregation of the armed forces. But the in 2017, that was the only time that the DOD had released an internal survey on race relations, and it said that about one third of black troops were experiencing racial discrimination and harassment and service. In 2020, Military Times did a survey that said that half of minority troops were seeing ideological-driven racism in the ranks. And what we have now being done by this administration is a full throttle denial that any of that has taken place, that any of that is actually continuing to take place. And we know that not to be true.

BROWN: So, you have, you know, the removal of black leaders at the DOD that you were talking about and also the pulling down of pages honoring minorities, you know, who are war heroes. Frankly, now, DOD officials contend that this effort is about highlighting war heroes for their patriotism and their dedication to the war fighting mission rather than their diverse backgrounds. And they say that these DEI policies divide the force, erodes unit cohesion and interferes with the service's core warfighting mission.

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Are you willing to consider their point of view on this, or do you think they're just completely wrong?

BROOKSHIRE: I think they're completely wrong. I think history has shown an overreliance on black communities, minority communities when America is losing its wars. And so therefore -- and then there's also oftentimes efforts to try to marginalize black troops in the highest ranks of the military, to marginalize their existence at specialty training schools to deny them opportunity.

And when we talk about documenting the history and legacy of that, these folks are thriving in spite of the racism that has been propagated by our country and within the Department of Defense. And it is as important to our kind of national fabric, our national identity to understand the ways in which they had to overcome additional barriers to be able to contribute to the warfighting mission.

I think that that this misnomer that diversity, equity and inclusion is a divisive topic. No, what's divisive is the capitulation and maintenance of a white supremacist structure within the body of the military that our nation wanted to contend with in a real substantive way. And now we have a fascist leader coming in and completely dismantling all of the gains that have been made over decades to try to foster some level of equity within the system.

BROWN: Well, obviously, you have some very strong opinions there, right? You know, the administration would say that this is just leveling the playing field.

When you talk about the white supremacy structure there, tell us specifically what you mean by that.

BROOKSHIRE: I mean, like I said earlier, when you have internal data coming from the Department of Defense -- and they've never wanted to release the race based survey that they conduct every two years. They only released it one time in 2017. And it said that a full one third of black service members were experiencing discrimination in the ranks. They are now actively dismantling the only mechanism put in place under the EEO, the Equal Employment Opportunity provisions, where they might find a chance to be able to adjudicate those claims of racial discrimination. That is something that this administration is choosing to do.

BROWN: Before we let you go, is there anything else you want to add?

BROOKSHIRE: I think that we are at a nexus point, a critical point in this country. I think the military is often where we see just like the military was one of the first institutions to desegregate. I think that is also going to be the first place that -- there's a reason why black vets of black service members are on the frontlines of these attacks, is because the military has always been used as a mechanism for what will ultimately happen in our society. And if we don't take credence to what's happening now within the Department of Defense and the actions that they're taking at the inception of this administration, we are in for a serious amount of trouble and a new Jim Crow is certainly within the realm of possibility.

BROWN: Richard Brookshire, thank you for sharing your viewpoint on this story. We appreciate your time.

BROOKSHIRE: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela, up next, dismantling the education department with a sweep of a pen. President Trump's expected executive order will trickle down to states and to you. That's coming up next.

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