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The Situation Room

D.C. Attorney Nominee Under Fire; President of El Salvador Meets With Trump; Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired April 14, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:34:21]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Welcome back.

President Bukele right here pulling up just moments ago to the White House, the president of El Salvador, to meet with President Trump. They are about 30 minutes behind schedule. We expect this to be a more friendly meeting than what we have seen before with President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.

These two men are considered allies, and El Salvador has played a central role in President Trump's immigration policy. So they're going to go in, go to the Oval Office for a meeting. And we do expect them to take questions, right, Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Interesting. I don't see him wearing a tie. I know that that's a sensitive issue with the president of the United States.

BROWN: Remember with Zelenskyy.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: Yes, they made a bit fuss of that.

BLITZER: So -- but he's wearing a shirt, a sweater or a turtleneck or something like that. They're now going inside. They're going to walk towards the Oval Office.

[11:35:06]

That's where they're going to have their formal bilateral meeting, to be followed by a luncheon that the president is hosting in his honor.

BROWN: That's right, so a very busy day here in Washington, and we hope that we will be able to get some of that footage of reporters asking the two leaders questions. No shortage of questions for them.

BLITZER: Yes, the White House press pool, a pool of journalists, television, print, magazine, will be going into the Oval Office and monitoring the top.

We expect both of these presidents -- President Bukele speaks English well -- to make opening statements. And then as usual, there will be an opportunity for reporters to shout a few questions, and we will have coverage of that, to be sure.

BROWN: Of course we will.

All right, also here in Washington, controversy is building over President Trump's pick to be the district's top prosecutor.

BLITZER: Senate Democrats have pledged to delay any confirmation vote on Ed Martin, and now the D.C. bar is being urged to investigate him.

BROWN: Five former January 6 prosecutors sent the bar's Office of Disciplinary Counsel a letter, claiming Martin has broken several rules since he assumed the post on an interim basis.

Some prominent conservative legal voices also signed the letter, including former acting Attorney General Stuart Gerson, who joins us now.

Stuart, thank you for coming on the show.

Tell us more about your decision to sign on to this letter, why you felt that was so important.

STUART GERSON, FORMER ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, I'm not just, a former acting attorney general of the United States. Back in the Dark Ages, at the time of Watergate. I was a prosecutor in that office.

So I was a line lawyer in that very office, know the tradition of that office to have people like Earl Silbert, the first Watergate prosecutor, Judge Tom Flannery, others who've come through that office who've been important lawyers. And that office is one of the two most important United States attorney's offices in the country.

I mean, they're all very important, but the Southern District of New York is at the financial center of the United States, maybe the world, and the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., is at the political center of the world.

And so what these offices do is extremely important. They have known -- they have been known for their integrity. Indeed, in my time, we prosecuted Nixon and the people who worked for him while we were in that administration.

The joke was, we would prosecute our mothers if the -- if the evidence called for it. But that's the -- that's the tradition, not prosecuting mothers, but following the law and doing what the law demanded, what the facts demanded.

And that's why those of us involved in public affairs to this day have spoken up about the nomination of a person who is manifestly unqualified to serve in that office or to carry on the noble tradition of that office.

BLITZER: I want to highlight, Stuart, part of this letter that you and these other prominent former officials wrote.

It says -- and I'm quoting now -- "Mr. Martin's client is not President Trump. It is the United States" -- close quote.

That's in reference to a previous statement from Martin describing him and his colleagues as -- quote -- "President Trump's lawyers." How concerning is this kind of characterization to you?

GERSON: That's the heart of the complaint.

The oath you take is not to protect the president or any individual. It's to protect the Constitution. And your client, accordingly, are the -- is the people of the United States.

Any responsible prosecutor knows that. The lore of decisions make that -- make that very clear. It's your responsibility not to an individual. It's a responsibility to the country and its Constitution and its people. And that's the primary motivation for everybody who's involved in this, 600 people who've written letters, who've signed on to letters, those who have brought in the bar complaint.

The bar complaint is particularly significant, because the evidence seems to show that Mr. Martin was on both sides of the same case, that he was representing individuals who were arrested demonstrators on 1/6 at the same time as he had prosecutorial responsibility. There are other matters involved, but at the heart of it was what -- where you started.

The prosecutor doesn't own -- owe fealty to an individual. It's to all the people.

BROWN: And we should note, Ed Martin was also a Stop the Steal organizer, that it was based on the lie that the election was stolen.

You know, the president promised retaliation and retribution many times during his campaign. Is this what you think we're seeing from acting U.S. attorney Ed Martin?

GERSON: Well, I think it's what you're seeing from the whole administration, from the top down. But Mr. Martin certainly fits into that category and is there for that reason.

He's a person with no prosecutorial background, no very noteworthy career as a lawyer. He seems to many that I have talked to be a failed politician from Missouri. There are a lot of those, but it's not somebody who whose credentials cry out for appointment to an office that will deal with some of the most important cases in the country.

[11:40:04]

BLITZER: All right, Stuart, I'm going to go right to the Oval Office right now. President Trump is speaking. We expect President Bukele to be speaking as well. I want to listen to him. (JOINED IN PROGRESS)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You're doing incredibly for your country. And we appreciate working with you, because you want to stop crime, and so do we.

And it's very, very effective. And I want to just say hello to the people of El Salvador and say they have one hell of a president, OK? And I mean that. And I know him well.

I know him as a very young man, Marco, even younger than you. He started pretty young.

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: He will always be younger.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Young at heart. But I want to thank you for the great job you're doing. I appreciate it. Thank you.

NAYIB BUKELE, PRESIDENT OF EL SALVADOR: Well, it's an honor to be here in the Oval Office with the president and leader of the free world.

We're very happy. And we're very eager to help. We know that you have a crime problem and a terrorism problem that you need help with. And we're a small country, but, if we can help, we will do it.

And we actually turned the murder capital of the world, that was the -- journalists call it.

TRUMP: Right.

BUKELE: Murder capital of the world into the safest country in the Western Hemisphere.

And they -- sometimes, they say that we imprisoned thousands. I like to say that we actually liberated millions. So, like, it...

TRUMP: That's very good.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Who gave him that line? Do you think I can use that?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BUKELE: And, in fact, Mr. President, you have 350 million people to liberate.

But to liberate 350 million people, you have to imprison some. That's the way it works, right? You cannot just free the criminals and think crime is going to go down magically. You have to imprison them, so you can liberate 350 million Americans that are asking for the end of crime and the end of terrorism.

And it can be done. I mean, it can -- you're doing it already. And I'm sure that people have seen the change in the streets.

TRUMP: They have.

BUKELE: A long way to go, because you're just initiating your second term. But it's clear that, with the numbers at the border, even in the Democrat-run cities, they get help them from the work you're doing.

So I'm really happy to be here, honored and eager to help.

TRUMP: Well, we had a terrible thing happen.

We had an administration that allowed people to come in freely into our country from not only South America, but from all over the world, many from the Congo in Africa, Asia, all over the world, Europe, rough parts of Europe. And they came from prisons, and they came from mental institutions, and they came from gangs, and the gangs of Venezuela and other places.

And hundreds of thousands, and even millions of them came, 21 million people altogether, but many of the people that came, just a tremendous percentage of them, were criminals, in some cases violent criminals. We had 11,088 known murderers. Half of them murdered more than one person.

This was allowed by a man who -- what he did to our country is just unbelievable. So we're straightening it out. We're getting them out. But what they did and what that party did to our country, open borders, anybody could come in. As soon as I heard that, I said, every prison is going to be emptied out into our country.

That's what happened. And we're straightening it out. And we just had numbers. We had the highest recruiting numbers in the history of our country going into police departments. And a year ago, we had the lowest numbers. You couldn't hire a police...

BUKELE: Biggest change, yes, the lowest to the highest.

TRUMP: Nobody's ever seen it. And the military now, Marines, the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, every slot is -- I mean, we have the best numbers we have ever had.

We call it recruitment, recruitment numbers. And we have never had anything like it. We had records on every single -- at every single level, but very important, the policemen. The policemen are joining forces now that we really -- we're having a hard time with policemen, because we weren't protecting our police.

BUKELE: Yes.

TRUMP: And we cherish our police. The police are great, and the firemen and everybody else.

But we have the highest numbers that we have ever had, the most enthusiasm. We -- great enthusiasm. And on trade and other things, we're doing great. We're taking in billions and billions of dollars.

We made two weeks ago -- I gave them a little bit of a pause, because you have to show a little flexibility. But we go back to what we have to do. The markets have been very strong once they got used to it. But we were losing $2 billion a day. There's company big like this.

[11:45:05]

BUKELE: No.

TRUMP: But this is the biggest deal ever made.

Now we're making $3 billion a day. We're a great country, but we had stupid people running this country. And I can say, what they have done to us at the border should never and can never be forgotten. It's a sin, what they did. And you are helping us out. And we appreciate it.

BUKELE: Thanks.

Actually, what you're doing with the border is remarkable. It has dropped, what, 95 percent? It's incredible.

TRUMP: OK. As of this morning, 99 percent, 99.1 percent, to be exact.

BUKELE: Why are those numbers not in the media?

TRUMP: Well, they get out, but the fake news like CNN...

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: CNN over here doesn't want to put them out, because they don't like -- they don't like putting out good numbers. They don't really like putting out -- because I think they hate our country, actually.

BUKELE: Yes, this is a very...

TRUMP: But it's a shame. You're right. Isn't that a great question? Why doesn't the media -- why don't they put out numbers?

BUKELE: Yes, 99 percent, I mean, it's a -- it's crazy, right?

TRUMP: We're doing...

BUKELE: It's a crazy turnaround.

TRUMP: Kristi, could you maybe say a couple of words about the border, how we do it?

KRISTI NOEM, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It's just been absolutely phenomenal what a great leader can do, clear direction. Our laws matter. We should only have people in our country that love us.

And the Border Patrol and our ICE officers and law enforcement officers have done fantastic work. So we're proud of them. Now we just need to get the criminals and murderers and rapists and dangerous gang members and terrorist organizations out of our country. So, Mr. President Bukele, we thank you very much for your partnership.

It has been wonderful for us to be able to have somewhere to send the worst of the worst and someone to partner with. And we'd like to continue that partnership, because it's been a powerful message of consequences.

Mr. President, you wanted people to know that there was consequences if you break our laws and harm our people and endanger families. And this is a clear consequence for the worst of the worst, that we have somewhere to put them.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

BUKELE: Yes, we even had this gang member from Venezuela, one of the ones you sent. And we interviewed him just to get some information, et cetera, from them.

And he said, oh, I got arrested six times, but they released me the six times, so I should be released again. And then we said, well, what's the last thing you do? And he said, well, I shot a cop in the leg, but I didn't kill him. I just shot him in the leg.

And we're like, this guy was arrested six times here in the United States, six times. He was released six times. And in the last -- oh, no, he was released five times. And the last time, he was sent to El Salvador, right? So he's not getting released.

But the last thing, he shot a cop, actually, and he shot him in the leg. So this are -- like you said...

(CROSSTALK)

BUKELE: Yes, it's -- I mean, yes, there's something broken.

TRUMP: It's the liberal establishment, but they're not running things anymore in this country, and we're run by -- and I don't say conservative. I don't say anything. We're run by people with great common sense.

BUKELE: Yes, common sense.

TRUMP: Because it's all common sense. It's not liberal, conservative. It's common sense.

BUKELE: Exactly, yes.

TRUMP: Like, do you allow men to play in women's sports? Do you allow men to box your women and box -- because I know you have a lot of...

(CROSSTALK)

BUKELE: That's violence.

TRUMP: That's abuse of a woman.

BUKELE: It's violence against women. TRUMP: It's abuse of a woman.

BUKELE: Totally.

TRUMP: But we have people that fight to the death because they think men should be able to play in women's sports.

And some of those sports, it wouldn't matter much, but it still matters. But some of them are very dangerous for women.

BUKELE: Some years ago, some, like you said, a decade ago or so, women's rights movements were pressuring, so that we enacted specific laws to avoid men abusing women.

And I think those laws were great, because there were a lot of men abusing women. But now some of the same people are trying to backtrack on that...

(LAUGHTER)

BUKELE: ... and actually trying to make new laws allowing men to abuse women in their sports.

So, actually, that doesn't make sense.

TRUMP: You do it in sports.

BUKELE: It doesn't make sense.

TRUMP: It's crazy.

You know, they have weight lifting records, right? A woman gets up, she's incredible. A guy gets up and beats her by 100 pounds. What are you going to do? A record that hadn't been broken in 18 years. They put on an ounce, and an ounce, quarter of an ounce, eighth of an ounce for 18 years.

Now they have a guy come up, ping. The whole thing is crazy.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: But they continue to fight. And I don't like talking about it, because I want to save it for just before the next election.

I say to my people, don't even talk about it, because they will change. And -- well, but I watched this morning. It was a congressman fighting to the death for men to play against women in sports.

And you say to yourself, why? What are they doing, right? What are they doing? But your country's not too big in that.

BUKELE: No, no, of course not.

(LAUGHTER)

[11:50:00] BUKELE: We're big in protecting women.

TRUMP: Good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: It's a very important form of protections, yes.

BUKELE: And, as you can see, most of my Cabinet are women.

So...

TRUMP: That's impressive.

BUKELE: Yes. Yes.

TRUMP: That's why you're...

(CROSSTALK)

BUKELE: And they're not DEI hires or anything.

(CROSSTALK)

BUKELE: They're just great at what they do.

TRUMP: That's right. This is very impressive. This is a first.

We have had women, but we have never had three of them right here. That's...

BUKELE: Four and three men.

TRUMP: And look at -- look at who we have.

You guys feel a little bit mistreated?

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: That's good. I like that. We have been advanced. I have been very advanced in that regard too.

We have Pam, and who has been so fantastic.

(CROSSTALK)

BUKELE: Yes, and Kristi.

TRUMP: Kristi.

And the most powerful woman, they say, anywhere in the world.

(CROSSTALK)

BUKELE: They're all afraid of her.

TRUMP: Susie Wiles, they say, oh, she's tough.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Most powerful woman in the world, according to magazines. What do I know?

BUKELE: Yes.

TRUMP: But I think she probably is.

BUKELE: Yes, she probably is.

TRUMP: Yes, she probably is.

BUKELE: Congratulations.

TRUMP: And Stephen, who has done such a great job.

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: Thank you, sir.

TRUMP: We have just -- we have great people.

(CROSSTALK)

BUKELE: He's very famous.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: But we love working with -- he is. He really lets them have it, right?

BUKELE: Yes, exactly.

TRUMP: There's no games.

BUKELE: No, no, no. Very good.

TRUMP: He knows.

Do you have any questions, please?

QUESTION: President Trump...

TRUMP: Let's not start with CNN, because they're so -- they're just so wrong.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President?

TRUMP: Yes, please.

QUESTION: Yes, thank you, Mr. President. You repeatedly mentioned last night that Russia's attack on Ukraine

was a mistake. What is the exact mistake? And have you given Putin a deadline to actually move toward a cease-fire?

TRUMP: The mistake was letting the war happen.

If Biden were competent, and if Zelenskyy were competent, and I don't know that he is -- we had a rough session with this guy over here.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: He just kept asking for more and more. That war should have never been allowed to happen.

That war -- I went four years, and Putin wouldn't even bring it up. And as soon as the election was rigged and I wasn't here, that war started. There was no way that war should have been allowed to happen. And Biden should have stopped it. And you take a look at Putin. I'm not saying anybody's an angel, but I will tell you, I went four years and it wasn't even a question.

He would never -- and I told him, don't do it. You're not going to do it. And it was the apple of his eye, but there was no way that he would have done it. All you had to do was lower oil prices. If you lowered oil prices -- Biden kept the prices so high because he made it impossible to get it. If you lowered oil prices, you would have never had the war.

But you wouldn't have had it with me anyway. That war would have never happened. And I think it's a great abuse. So now what do you do? You get a country where 25 percent of its land is gone and the best locations, where millions of people are killed.

You haven't reported accurately the death. And this was Biden's war, and I'm trying to stop it. And I think we're going to do a good job. I hope we're going to do it. They lose 2,500 young people a week, think -- on average. Now, they're Russians and they're Ukrainians, but it's 2,000.

We don't care. It's like whatever it is.

BUKELE: Intolerable.

TRUMP: They're not from your country. They're not from mine, but I want to stop it -- 2,500, it's a killing field. It's like the Civil War. You take a look.

I look at the satellite pictures. This should not be happening in our time. Of course, our time can be pretty violent, as we know. But that's a war that should have never been allowed to start. And Biden could have stopped it, and Zelenskyy could have stopped it, and Putin should have never started it.

Everybody's to blame.

QUESTION: Have you spoken to President Zelenskyy, sir, about his offer to purchase more Patriot missile battles?

TRUMP: Oh, I don't know. He's always looking to purchase missiles. He's against -- listen, when you start a war, you got to know that you can win the war. You don't start a war against somebody that's 20 times your size, and then hope that people give you some missiles.

If we didn't give them what we gave -- remember, I gave them Javelins. That's how they won their first big battle, with the tanks that got stuck in the mud, and they took them out with Javelins. They have an expression that Obama, at the time, Obama gave them sheets, and Trump gave them Javelins, but just something that should have never happened. It's a really shame.

The towns are destroyed. Towns and cities are largely destroyed. They have the spires, the beautiful spires that go up. They say they were the most beautiful in the world, in Ukraine, for whatever reason, but the most beautiful in the world. They're mostly laying on their side, shattered and broken.

And, most importantly, you have millions of people dead, millions of people dead because of three people. I would say three people. Let's say Putin, number one. But let's say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, number two, and Zelenskyy.

[11:55:00]

And all I can do is try and stop it. That's all I want to do. I want to stop the killing. And I think we're doing well in that regard. It should -- I think you will have some very good proposals very soon.

QUESTION: Last question, sir.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Have you attributed a motive through the FBI investigation behind the attack on Governor Josh Shapiro over the weekend?

TRUMP: No, I haven't.

But the attacker was not a fan of Trump, I understand, just from what I read and from what I have been told. The attacker basically wasn't a fan of anybody. It's probably just a whack job. And, certainly, a thing like that cannot be allowed to happen.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: President Bukele, the best guarantee that this time you won't terminate the temporary protective status...

TRUMP: I have a great relationship with this man. I have the best relationship with him. We have known each other. I have known him since he was a very young man, as I said, very, very young.

And I was impressed. I said, look at -- this guy is -- in fact, you sort of look like a teenager.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: You look like a teenager.

BUKELE: That's -- I don't if that's good bad, Mr. President.

TRUMP: I said, what kind of a country is this?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: He grew up -- he grew up well in the last five years.

QUESTION: Do you support extension for nationals of El Salvador under temporary protected status?

TRUMP: I support him.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Let's hear the question from this very low-rated anchor at CB -- at CNN.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Thank you, President Trump.

TRUMP: Low-rated.

COLLINS: Do you plan to ask President Bukele to help return the man who your administration says was mistakenly deported?

TRUMP: Which one is that?

COLLINS: The man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador?

TRUMP: Well, let me ask Pam. Would you ask -- answer that question?

PAM BONDI (R), U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Sure, President.

First and foremost, he was illegally in our country. He had been illegally in our country. And, in 2019, two courts, an immigration court and an appellate immigration court, ruled that he was a member of MS-13 and he was illegally in our country.

Right now, it was a paperwork -- it was additional paperwork had needed to be done. That's up to El Salvador if they want to return him,. That's not up to us. The Supreme Court ruled, President, that if El Salvador wants to return him -- this is international matters, foreign affairs.

If they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane.

COLLINS: So will you return him, President Bukele?

TRUMP: And you are doing a great job. Thank you.

BONDI: Thank you, President.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Wait a minute.

Can you just can also respond to that question? Because it's asked by CNN. And they always ask it with a slant, because they're totally slanting, because they don't know what's happening. That's why nobody's watching them.

But would you answer that question on El Salvador?

MILLER: Yes, gladly.

So, as Pam mentioned, there's an illegal alien from El Salvador. So, with respect to you, he's a citizen of El Salvador. So it's very arrogant even for American media to suggest that we would even tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens, as a starting point.

And two immigration courts found that he was a member of MS-13. When President Trump declared MS-13 to be a foreign terrorist organization, that meant that he was no longer eligible under federal law, which I'm sure you know, you're very familiar with the INA, that he was no longer eligible for any form of immigration relief in the United States.

So he had a deportation order that was valid, which meant that, under our law, he's not even allowed to be present in the United States and had to be returned because of the foreign terrorist designation. This issue was then, by a district court judge, completely inverted, and a district court judge tried to tell the administration that they had to kidnap a citizen of El Salvador and fly him back here.

That issue was raised with the Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court said the district court order was unlawful, and its main components were verse 9-0 unanimously, stating clearly that neither the secretary of state nor the president could be compelled by anybody to forcibly retrieve a citizen of El Salvador from El Salvador, who again is a member of MS-13, which, as I'm sure you understand, rapes little girls, murders women, murders children, is engaged in the most barbaric activities in the world.

And I can promise you, if he was your neighbor, you would move right away.

COLLINS: So you don't plan to ask for...

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: ... to get him back?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: And what was the ruling in the Supreme Court, Steve? Was it 9- 0?

MILLER: Yes, it was a 9-0...

TRUMP: In our favor?

MILLER: ... in our favor against the district court ruling, saying that no district court has the power to compel the foreign policy function of the United States.

As Pam said, the ruling solely stated that, if this individual, at El Salvador's sole discretion, was sent back to our country, that we could deport him a second time.

COLLINS: Well, I...

MILLER: No version of this legally ends up with him ever living here, because he is a citizen of El Salvador. That is the president of El Salvador.

Your questions about it, per the court, can only be directed to him.

COLLINS: I asked President Bukele...

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Can President Bukele weigh in on this?

Do you plan to return him?

BUKELE: Well, I guess -- I suppose you're not suggesting that I smuggle a terrorist into the United States, right?

TRUMP: It's always CNN.

BUKELE: How can I smuggle -- how can I return him to the United States?

[12:00:00]