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Baseball Season Starts; Activist Detained by ICE Appears in Court; Utah Bans Fluoride in Drinking Water. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired March 28, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:33:45]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: There's more breaking news. Utah is now the first state to completely ban fluoride in drinking water.

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

Meg, the health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been pushing for this for quite a while. What more are you learning?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf.

So, of course, fluoride has been added to drinking water for decades across the United States because it helps lower the risk of tooth decay. So it's been considered by CDC to be one of the top 10 public health achievements of the last century.

But Utah here signing this bill last night, its Republican governor, which bans cities and communities from deciding whether to add fluoride to community water systems. It does allow for pharmacists to prescribe fluoride tablets, so essentially taking it out of the water, but making it something that people can get if they seek it out.

Now, as you mentioned, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has opposed fluoride in drinking water, posting on X November 2 that: "On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water." He goes on to claim that fluorides in industrial waste. We should note it can be derived from a byproduct of manufacturing, but it's also found naturally.

And noting some health concerns he has, the big ones really are around neurodevelopmental disorders and I.Q. loss, Wolf, but that's at levels that are much higher than what's recommended in the U.S. water systems. The recommended level is 0.7 milligrams per liter of water. The CDC notes that's about three drops per 55 gallon barrel of water.

[11:35:21]

And at those levels, we haven't seen evidence of these issues. Now, 63 percent of the U.S. population currently receives fluoridated water, but that's already much lower in Utah. About 44 percent of their population on community water systems gets fluoridated water. That makes them the 44th state in the nation. And according to the Department of Health and Human Services, in Utah,

they have a higher rate of cavities than other states in the country. And they attribute that to, in part, because of the lack of fluoridation in Utah community water systems.

They have, Wolf, over time been increasing the number of municipalities that fluoridate their water, but, of course, this will be stopped. This law takes effect May 7 -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Meg Tirrell reporting for us.

Meg, thank you very much.

Coming up: A federal judge is hearing arguments in the case against a pro-Palestinian activist detained by ICE. The latest in the legal battle -- there's news -- that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:55]

BLITZER: All right, we're following other developments as well.

Greenland's icy reception for Vice President J.D. Vance and the second lady who have arrived on the island, we're watching all of this unfold and we will get more on this development later.

But there's other important news we're following, including lawyers for Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil are back in court today, we're watching this very closely, in their legal battle to get him released from federal custody and prevent the Trump administration from expelling him from the United States.

He was arrested earlier this month for his role in pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Columbia University last year. He has not been accused of any crime.

Our legal and national security analyst, Carrie Cordero, is here with me in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Let's talk about the significance of the legal maneuvers right now. What do you see?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, well, so in this case, he is a permanent resident alien, which means that he is a U.S. person actually under -- in terms of constitutional protections, almost as much constitutional protections as somebody who is a U.S. citizen.

And what's unusual in this particular case is that the secretary of state has invoked a little or rarely used provision to be able to detain him in this case. So, his case is going to -- he's obviously appealing his detention.

And I think the administration is going to push the bounds of how they have the executive authority to be able -- under existing statutes, even if they haven't been used in a long time, to be able to deport individuals not based on any evidentiary standard that we would normally see in a criminal prosecution, but on a much lower standard of simply the government can do this based on information available to the executive branch.

BLITZER: So lots at stake right now legally as this hearing continues.

CORDERO: There is. We' re going to continue to see this administration push on what are the bounds of what the executive can do under all sorts of different provisions. So we're seeing it with respect to authorities exercised by the secretary of state under immigration laws.

We're seeing it with respect to the invocation of the Alien Enemies Act in the Venezuelan deportation cases. And so they're going to take these cases as far as they can, up to the Supreme Court if they can. And so, in this particular case, his lawyers have a long way to go in order to be able to have the government demonstrate why they are making this move.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: This Columbia University case involving Mahmoud Khalil is just one of several cases like this that we're following across the country right now.

I want to play some of what Secretary of State Marco Rubio said about revoking the visa of Rumeysa Ozturk. She's the Turkish national Ph.D. student at Tufts University who was detained this week as well. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa.

QUESTION: You're saying it could be more than 300 visas?

RUBIO: Sure. I hope. I mean, at some point I hope we run out because we have gotten rid of all of them. Why would any country in the world allow people to come and disrupt? We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses.

And if we have given you a visa, and then you decide to do that, we're going to take it away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, Carrie, what's your reaction when you hear the secretary of state say that?

CORDERO: So, this case is different because, in the example of the Tufts case, she is not a permanent resident alien. She's not what we call a green card holder. She is someone who is simply here on a student visa. And so...

BLITZER: She's legally here.

CORDERO: She is legally here, but she's on a student visa. But that does give the executive branch more latitude in being able to revoke that visa.

And what the secretary of state, the position that he's taking is he is using, again, an old provision of the law that really hasn't been used in a secretary of state's role that we have seen in modern history. But he is seizing on that authority to be able to revoke visas based on individuals that the administration deems in some way are inconsistent with foreign policy and national security.

On the First Amendment issue, because she is a visa holder, anybody who physically resides in the United States enjoys constitutional protections. But there is a difference between the constitutional and in this case First Amendment protections that a U.S. citizen or a resident alien have versus somebody who is only here on a visa.

[11:45:15]

And so this line of First Amendment and whether or not she, as a visa holder, a non-U.S. person here in the United States legally, has that same First Amendment protection is something that we're going to continue to see play out in this case.

BLITZER: We will see how the courts make a decision on this very sensitive issue indeed.

CORDERO: Right.

BLITZER: We're also learning, Carrie, that the president has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a judge's ruling blocking him from using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which he used to rapidly deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang.

How do you see this playing out before the Supreme Court?

CORDERO: Well, again, so this is -- I want to put this back into the context of what I think is the administration's overall strategy, which is in part to push on executive authority in all of these different contacts, to bring out these historic laws and push them as far as they can possibly take them.

In this case, it is part of the administration's broader policy that designates cartels, transnational criminal organizations engaged in drug trafficking as national security threats. Interestingly, throughout the Biden administration, the national security community was moving in this direction a little bit in terms of invoking, particularly when it came to fentanyl international drug trafficking, as something that is more in the realm of national security.

But this is, as you said, an 18th century law, hasn't been used in modern history in this way. And the administration is going to push it to the Supreme Court. And we will see where the Supreme Court comes out on it, because what they have to find is when they -- if they actually get to the merits of it, they're going to have to think about whether an invasion, a -- quote -- "invasion" fits the circumstances of what the government is alleging this Venezuelan criminal organization is

And that is, from a national security perspective, a real stretch, because, normally, we would think of an invasion in a military context.

BLITZER: Very quickly, before I let you go, two prominent law firms, as you know, targeted by President Trump's executive orders, including one which was the professional home of former us special counsel Robert Mueller, have filed lawsuits against the administration today as they grapple with truly unprecedented attacks from the White House.

This comes just a week after one prominent law firm cut a deal to avoid a similar executive order. What do you make of the way Trump is targeting major law firms in the United States?

CORDERO: It's fundamentally opposed to the effective functioning of the rule of law. There is no question about this.

These orders are unlawful. They put the law firms in an incredibly difficult position, because, on one hand, you have firms who have to have the independence as professional organizations who have a separate role, not just as a business, but they have a separate role in the administration of the justice system all across the country in different contexts on behalf of individuals, on behalf of corporations every single day.

And they have to be able to have the autonomy to select who their own clients are. At the same time, the administration is really putting the screws to them because it is putting potential their business that might involve the government or their clients' interests in jeopardy. And so each firm is really in an incredibly difficult position.

BLITZER: Carrie Cordero, excellent analysis. Thank you very, very much.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:53:29]

BLITZER: Baseball season is now officially under way. I was at the Washington Nationals game last night against the Philadelphia Phillies. It was a thriller that went into the 10th inning.

And while the Nationals didn't pull out a win, there are still 161 more games to go.

I want to go live right now to CNN sports correspondent Carolyn Manno.

Carolyn, it wasn't exactly the game I had hoped for, but it was exciting. CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

And it's music to our ears that baseball is back. If there is a silver lining, though, for you, Wolf, it might be Nats lefty MacKenzie Gore. He was stellar for Washington yesterday. He struck out a career high 13. That set a franchise record for opening day punch-outs.

He had 13 K's. That is only one more than Max Scherzer had back in 2019. But his intensity, unfortunately, was matched by the Phillies' Zack Wheeler. Fans were treated to this classic pitching duel early on in this game.

But leave it to Phillies sluggers Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, both ex-Nationals. The boos were there to rain on your parade. They both hit first-pitch home runs off relievers in the seventh to put the Phillies up by one. The Phillies ultimately ed the day with a 7-3 win in extras as they start their NL East defense.

And all eyes on college basketball this weekend. We know that, but there was some March Madness in the NBA between the Bulls and the Lakers. Chicago down by five in this game with just 12 seconds remaining, but a very quick three, followed by another steal and another three by Coby White, giving them a shocking lead in this game.

L.A. not done after this display. Austin Reaves would get the ball and end up slashing to the rim, scoring to put the Lakers back on top with just three seconds left in this game. So Chicago in a situation where they have no timeouts. And who else but Josh Giddey, the Aussie, getting the ball and heaving it from half-court, hitting the game winner.

[11:55:18]

Delirium ensuing, the Bulls scoring nine points in the last 12 seconds and giving him a game he will never forget.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH GIDDEY, CHICAGO BULLS: I never made a game-winner before. I made a couple layups to put us up with a couple seconds left. But a walk- off like that from half-court, I have never done before. So I don't know if I will ever do it again, but I will take this one tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

MANNO: What a time to have your first play like that, Wolf, very memorable indeed.

And it's just good to be a sports fan in March, no doubt about it.

BLITZER: It certainly is.

Carolyn Manno, thanks very much for that update. Loved it. And, to our viewers, thanks very much for joining me this morning. You

can keep up with me on social media @WolfBlitzer. We will see you back here tomorrow and every weekday morning for our expanded two-hour SITUATION ROOM 10:00 a.m. Eastern. We're talking about Monday, not necessarily tomorrow.

"INSIDE POLITICS," with Manu Raju filling in for Dana Bash, is coming up next right after a short break.

And as we go to break, here's a closer look at the cherry blossoms right here in Washington, D.C.