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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
DHS: Synagogue Attacker Was Naturalized Citizen From Lebanon; Trump Argues High Oil Prices Are Good: "We Make A Lot Of Money"; Dems & GOP Play Blame Game As DHS Shutdown Drags On. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired March 12, 2026 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: --well, join me in 15 minutes at CNN.com/AllThereIs, my new streaming show about loss. I hope it makes you feel a little less alone in your grief. That's 09:15 p.m. Eastern, only at CNN.com/AllThereIs.
That's it for us. The news continues. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: I'm Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.
As you're watching CNN's breaking news coverage of the war in Iran and the suspected terrorist attacks here at home. In the Middle East, the United States military says tonight that a rescue mission is underway, after a massive refueling plane went down in the skies over Iraq. The aircraft was a KC-135 Stratotanker. And a U.S. official is telling CNN that at least five crew members were on board. We don't know their conditions at this time.
What we do know is that the U.S. Central Command says another plane was also involved. That plane was able to land safely. CENTCOM says the planes did not come under hostile fire or friendly fire. But the military is not saying more about what happened to them at this time.
We'll continue to follow that story, and bring you any updates as we get them this hour.
The other breaking news that we are following here are those two suspected terrorist attacks on American soil.
In Michigan, authorities say a man rammed a car, packed with explosives, into a synagogue. More than a 100 kids were inside at the time. Multiple security guards opened fire, killing the driver.
And at the White House earlier today, after this happened, President Trump responded after being briefed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Before we begin, I want to send our love to the Michigan Jewish community and all of the people in Detroit, Detroit area, following the attack on the Jewish synagogue early today. And I've been briefed, fully briefed. And it's a terrible thing, but it goes on. We're going to be right down to the bottom of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: In the meanwhile, in Virginia, a man who was previously convicted of trying to help support ISIS, opened fire on the campus of Old Dominion University, killing one person and injuring others, before being tackled and killed by unnamed but heroic students. The FBI says that he yelled Allahu Akbar before he started shooting.
He was recently released from prison after serving about eight years. Back in 2016, he had tried to buy weapons for what he thought would be a terror attack. But instead, he was talking to an FBI source.
I want to start tonight, given the magnitude of these stories, with the former Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism of the New York Police Department. That's now CNN's Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, John Miller.
And also, the former FBI Deputy Director, CNN's Senior Law Enforcement Analyst, Andrew McCabe.
And John Miller. First off, can you tell us more what we're learning about this shooter at Old Dominion?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, we know he was the subject of a case where he was charged and convicted with being someone offering material support to ISIS, buying guns for what he believed was going to be an attack on U.S. soil, something he admitted to in his statement when he pled guilty.
He was sentenced to a 11 years, back in 2017, but got out in 2025. So, it's not clear as to whether that was for time served, good behavior, or some other reason. And then, is the kind of subject that the FBI probably would have kept on their radar, in terms of spot checks, social media and so on.
But when he turned up today and opened fire in that ROTC class. This is an individual who was a former member of the U.S. National Guard. So, he was clearly asking students, Is this the ROTC class? And when they said, Yes, he started shooting, clearly targeting the U.S. military. And I would suspect, likely stirred by the news of the war in Iran, and likely stirred on behalf of ISIS, even though ISIS and Iran are not friends.
COLLINS: I mean, Andrew McCabe, a lot of people are going to be listening to this and asking, How is someone who was already convicted of trying to help ISIS still in the country, still able to carry out an attack like this?
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Yes, it's a great question. How is he still in the country? Well, if he's an American, he goes to prison, gets out of prison, and goes home like any other American would. What strikes me about this case is the fact that he only served seven years. That's a very short sentence for a terrorism offense. Typically, the FBI actually doesn't have to worry about people getting out of prison--
MILLER: Yes.
MCCABE: --from serving time for terrorism offenses, because the sentences are so long, typically 15 years for material support cases, or longer for anything else. So, that's a good question.
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Another good question is, what was the FBI's awareness of Jalloh and his status, and particularly in the windup to hostilities with Iran. This is, you know, this is the Super Bowl moment for the Counterterrorism Division in the FBI. This is the time that they are looking back at every person, who could possibly be motivated by this conflict and inspired to strike out. Somebody who served time for a terrorism offense, material support to ISIS, who just got released within about a year or so? That guy would have been very high on the list.
COLLINS: Yes, we were just talking about this last night--
MILLER: I can say--
COLLINS: --in terms of what this would look like.
And John Miller, I know, I mean, we're following two stories tonight, so I just want to keep it clear for everyone.
In Michigan, in the synagogue attack there, the driver's body, we know, was very badly burned. You have new reporting on who the driver was. What are you learning tonight?
MILLER: Authorities believe that their suspect is Ayman Mohamad Ghazali (ph). This is an individual who was born in Lebanon, came to the United States, has entered as the spouse of somebody he was supposed to marry, was naturalized as a U.S. citizen, and is believed to be the person who was operating that vehicle that crashed into the school while firing shots and laden with explosives that caught fire.
What we are told from law enforcement sources as well as our own research into his world, is that on March 6th, or around that date, his two brothers and multiple nephews died in Israeli targeted bombing in Lebanon. These are bombings that targeted Hezbollah areas, which is not to suggest that we have any information that his relatives were with Hezbollah. It's just they were killed in those airstrikes.
And from March 6th to this date of March 12th, that's not a lot of turnaround time, but it seems that after that, if in fact, he is the person who was driving that vehicle, which is what authorities believe, he spent most of that time putting this plot together, gathering those explosives, weapons, the vehicle, the surveillance it took to figure out where to do this ramming attack, that the vehicle could probably get into the building, and cause probably much more lethality than the attack actually did. But that is because of their good security and a lot of luck.
COLLINS: So, just to be clear. The Michigan suspect, the driver of that car that was badly burned, had family that was in Lebanon that was killed as the result of an Israeli strike about a week ago.
MILLER: That's right, and that is who they believe the dead person that they have in that vehicle is.
COLLINS: Andrew McCabe. When you hear that, and what they found out, the authorities so far, in terms of, obviously, this was an attack on a synagogue. What's your initial reaction?
MCCABE: I think that this attack, and the other one, we were just discussing, at ODU, really shows the breadth of the threat picture that we're facing right now. You have such a broad spectrum of extremist people who are motivated by grievance or theology or politics that could be drawn to act out violently, for any number of reasons that are in some way connected to this conflict.
Whether it's striking out against perceived overreach by Israel, whether it's striking out against the U.S. presence in bombing Iran, whether it's even groups that are not Shiite groups, which would -- you would normally think of are aligned with Iran and Hezbollah. But you have the ODU shooter who is inspired by ISIS, a Sunni group, typically not drawn to Iranian causes. But in this case, conflict in the Middle East drives this sort of activity.
COLLINS: Yes, I mean, we were just talking about this last night, and what this is looking like inside the FBI right now, as they're on high alert for this.
MCCABE: No question. Look, we know, in the FBI, we have found Hezbollah operatives in this country before. We have found Iranians--
COLLINS: Well, the President said, We know where they are, when he was asked about Iranian sleeper cells. We have our eyes on them.
MCCABE: Yes.
COLLINS: Which I think raised some questions as well.
MCCABE: It certainly does. When you look at the history, several of the operatives we have found and prosecuted and put in jail were people who had been here for 20 years before we found them.
We know that they've done this all across the globe. They train operatives, and they put them in places to conduct surveillance, to collect explosive material, to engage in pre-operational planning. And that goes on -- can go on for decades. That has happened before. There's no reason to think it's not happening right now.
The FBI has a plan that we started years ago, specifically for the conditions we're seeing today. It is, What to do when the United States finds itself in a conflict with Iran. COLLINS: Yes.
MCCABE: That plan has to get updated and practiced every year. And now, it needs to get put to use.
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COLLINS: Yes.
Andrew McCabe, thank you for that update.
John Miller as well, for your reporting on this. Bring us any updates you have this hour, because obviously we're paying close attention to this.
And I'm also joined now by another expert. The former Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, is here.
And Mr. Secretary, when you hear what John Miller is reporting there, that the driver in Michigan, that attacked that synagogue today, is someone who had family in Lebanon that was killed as the result of an Israeli airstrike on March 6th. You see what's happening today. As someone who was the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, what's your initial reaction to that?
JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY UNDER PRES. OBAMA: Well, first, my hats off to John Miller for his rapid response investigative reporting.
My initial response is, we are in a heightened threat environment. I think that that's very obvious right now.
Unfortunately, if you go to the website, DHS' National Terrorism Advisory System, you see this big red banner that says, Due to lack of funding, we are not actively managing this site. So, if you're an American and you want to know what the threat environment is right now, you can't look to the Department of Homeland Security to tell you.
When I was in office, Kaitlan, in a situation like this, I believed in communicating to the public without unnecessarily scaring people, sending them under their mattresses, telling them what their government is doing about it and what they can do.
We are in a heightened threat environment right now. We've gone to war with a state sponsor of terrorism. And that's what it is, a war. This is not a one-and-done airstrike. Our government should owe the American public an explanation of all that they are doing right now.
I would not advise Americans to forego going to places of worship, going to public events. But be vigilant in this current environment. And the public itself has a role in a situation like this.
If you see something, say something. Can make a difference. It has made a difference in the past. But we are very definitely in a heightened threat environment because we have gone to war against Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism, and there are several terrorist organizations that I expect, and know the FBI is being very vigilant, investigating right now.
Andrew McCabe laid out what -- the kind of thing we've done in the past, and I hope and expect that the FBI is doing some of the very same things right now.
COLLINS: What was -- can you give us a sense of what -- if you're running DHS right now, what that would look like inside the department tonight, given, obviously what you just said, a heightened threat environment here in the United States.
JOHNSON: Well, our Intelligence and Analysis Directorate at DHS should be very busy right now. Homeland Security Investigations should be very busy right now. Customs and Border Protection at the ports of entry should be very busy right now.
But as Andrew points out, a number of potential terrorists may already be here, and maybe have -- may have been here for years. There are terrorist-directed attacks like 9/11, or other large-scale attacks, the potential Underwear Bomber, the potential shoe bombing some years ago. There are terrorist-inspired attacks, where a terrorist organization will inspire someone in this country. And then there are the so-called lone wolfs.
So, there're all different forms of potential acts of terrorism, and we've got to be vigilant in investigating and looking for all of it.
COLLINS: You know--
JOHNSON: And again, the public does have a role in this.
COLLINS: To hear you say -- yes, the public does have a role. But to hear you say, when it comes to the Department of Homeland Security, what you want to see happening there.
I mean, people who have been watching our coverage might say, OK, well, they're in the middle of a huge leadership change there with obviously, Kristi Noem is still there till the end of the month, but Markwayne Mullin is the next pick who has not been confirmed yet.
JOHNSON: Yes.
COLLINS: And also, there's a partial government shutdown with a huge fight playing out--
JOHNSON: Yes.
COLLINS: --between Democrats and Republicans here, with both of them accusing the other side of not being willing to move to get the DHS funded.
JOHNSON: Yes.
COLLINS: I mean, how big of a concern is that for you tonight? JOHNSON: It's very big. Homeland Security is not just immigration enforcement. It's not just ICE and Border Patrol that you saw on the streets of Minneapolis in January. It's border security. It's port security. It's aviation security. It's cyber security. It's maritime security. It's the Secret Service. And they're not being paid right now.
Your average TSO lives from paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet, and is now being forced to go to work without being paid. Morale is traditionally lower in that agency. And these are the people that we hire to look for bombs on airplanes that we're about to get on.
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And so, my larger concern is we have to get out of the business of coupling policy disagreements in Congress with funding agencies like Homeland Security that are there to keep Americans safe.
COLLINS: Secretary, just when you look at this. Can I ask you.
Because people might look at the two attacks that happened tonight, and then also since the beginning of the war with Iran. The Austin bar shooting, which is under investigation for an Iran-related motive. The ISIS-inspired bomb plot in New York. The Old Dominion shooting, obviously, as we just mentioned, someone previously convicted of supporting ISIS.
What would you say to Americans who are worried tonight?
JOHNSON: I would say, Do not refrain from going to your house of worship. Do not refrain from going to public events. Do not refrain from your daily lives. But all of us need to be vigilant in the current environment. I would not -- I would be careful not to overly alarm people about the current environment. But we do have to be vigilant. We have gone to war against a state sponsor of terrorism.
COLLINS: Secretary Jeh Johnson, thank you for your expertise. You. Andrew McCabe. John Miller. Couldn't think of three better people to start the show.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
COLLINS: And up next. We are going to continue to follow the breaking news that we brought to you at the top of the hour. We're getting new details right now about the Air Force refueling jet that just crashed over Iraq.
Plus, the first message tonight that is purportedly from the new Supreme Leader of Iran, and his warning to the United States.
This also comes tonight, as the New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is responding to what a Republican senator's shocking anti-Muslim post said about him.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Back to our breaking news in the Middle East tonight. As a rescue operation is underway, right now, after the U.S. military says one of the refueling aircraft that it has went down in western Iraq earlier. One U.S. official is telling us tonight that at least five crew members were aboard.
And according to U.S. Central Command, the incident was not due to hostile or friendly fire, and that it actually involved two Stratotankers, with the other aircraft landing safely.
I'm joined tonight by retired Air Force Colonel, Cedric Leighton.
And obviously, Colonel, there's a big question over what happened here? What's your understanding based on the limited details we do know so far?
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): Yes. So, it's very interesting, Kaitlan. You mentioned two Stratotankers. So, these are two tanker aircraft flying together, in one possibly refueling, the other for further missions.
So, this is basically a gas tank, a flying gas tank, that is used to refuel all the aircraft that are engaged in the operations in Iran, all the aircraft that are basically flying throughout the Middle East. So, it could not only be U.S. aircraft that they are helping to refuel, but also allied aircraft.
So, these are very highly-trained crews, that basically what they do is they have a boom, the top aircraft has a boom, that extends down to the bottom aircraft, and that bottom aircraft is the one that then receives the jet fuel, and then they have to maintain air speed, the same air speed when they do it.
So, it's a very intricate maneuver. And when that maneuver, for whatever reason, cannot be completed, they have certain procedures where they basically break away from the boom, and they basically have to then fly in opposite directions.
So, that's the kind of thing that may not have happened in this case. And it kind of begs the question as to why one aircraft would crash and the other one land. At first, when I heard this story, I thought there would be a tanker and a fighter aircraft involved, but it may be a different scenario in this case.
COLLINS: Well, and obviously, we're very concerned about the crew on board. We know it's about five people. Does this kind of aircraft have the ejection seats, does it have parachutes, anything like that, that we know of?
LEIGHTON: So, the crews often do have parachutes in some of these aircraft, but it's very hard to get out of an aircraft like that. They don't have ejection seats like a fighter jet might have.
COLLINS: Right. LEIGHTON: So, it's basically impossible. They, in essence, have to fly the airplane as best as they can. If there's a mechanical malfunction or something, some other in-flight emergency, they have to fly it in a way that is, you know, provides as much safety as possible. But it's very difficult thing to do, especially if there is a weather issue, or if there was some kind of other issue with the opposite aircraft. So, it's a very difficult situation.
And it requires a great deal of training to become an operator in that aircraft, especially the boom operator, who's usually a very junior enlisted person, or can be a junior enlisted person. And that would mean that these people have worked hard to do this.
COLLINS: Yes.
LEIGHTON: But they may not have all the experience that a more seasoned person would have. But we don't know yet who the members of the crew were and what the exact circumstances were.
COLLINS: Yes. And obviously, we'll wait to learn more. We'll bring you back when we do. Just thinking about everybody involved. Thank you so much, Colonel.
LEIGHTON: And thank you.
COLLINS: To have you tonight.
LEIGHTON: Thank you.
COLLINS: And I should note that as we're continuing to follow that, and we'll keep you updated on where that stands this evening as we learn more, there's also other breaking news, as it comes tonight, to the war with Iran. Because, sources are telling us that the administration actually underestimated Iran's willingness to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, that crucial shipping route connecting the oil- rich Persian Gulf to the rest of the world.
[21:25:00]
This comes as Iran's new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, purportedly issued his first statement today. It was read on Iranian state TV, not by him. And he has obviously still not been seen since assuming this role, but he allegedly wrote that the Strait of Hormuz is going to remain closed as a quote, "Tool of pressure," against the United States.
Now, roughly 20 percent of the global oil supply is caught on the wrong side of that crucial checkpoint that you can see here, on the coast of Iran. The ship is stuck -- the ships that are stuck here in the Gulf, they're still in danger of Iranian strikes. We've seen how this has been playing out. 14 have been attacked near the Strait of Hormuz just since this war began.
The consequences of the waterway's closure are being felt here at home. Obviously, anyone who is filling up their tank can see this. Gas prices in the U.S. rose, again today, with the average price for a gallon of gas now going from $2.98 before the war started, to now $3.60, according to AAA. That's a roughly 21 percent increase, in just the last 12 days alone.
President Trump seems to be suggesting it could be a good thing. He wrote on Truth Social, earlier, The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.
Of course, maybe what the oil investors will.
This comes, as we heard from the Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, who argued, the pain that people are feeling at the pump will be worth it in the future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: We are defanging Iran's abilities to threaten American troops in the areas, its allies, its neighbors, and global energy markets. So yes, you've got to go through short-term pain to solve a long-term problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: I'm joined tonight by CNN's Political Analyst and The New York Times White House correspondent, Maggie Haberman.
Maggie, what's your sense of whether the White House was aware of how bad this could get with the Strait of Hormuz, with gas prices here at home, with the ramifications of this war with Iran.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES, AUTHOR, "CONFIDENCE MAN": It's an excellent question, Kaitlan, and I think there's a difference between there's -- not a broad -- broad question of the White House and every senior adviser in it, but exactly what was in the President's ear and what he was thinking about.
The President does know that there is a correlation between gas prices and oil. It's been very clear in everything the President has said, and he said this publicly, he thought this was going to be over by now. I don't know why he thought that, and I don't know why there wasn't some kind of a contingency for what we're seeing now. But there clearly is not a plan to deal with this, beyond talking about how the tankers should be tough and keep going through. And that's -- it's not -- it's not working.
So, this seems to be something that is going to go on for another couple of weeks. And the President has indicated various timelines of what he wants to A, when he wants to leave, and B, what he was hoping to accomplish. This might not be up to him, at this point. And so, we will see.
But yes, this is going to be one of many lingering questions about what exactly happened here.
COLLINS: Yes, I think that's a good point that, because everyone's kind of waiting to hear from him. I mean, I've talked to other officials--
HABERMAN: Right.
COLLINS: --and different countries who have said, they're really waiting for the end point of this war to come, when the President decides.
But even if he decides that tomorrow, it doesn't mean the ramifications of this will stop tomorrow.
HABERMAN: No, that's right. And look, Kaitlan, there are a couple of different ramifications of this. There is, on the one hand, there is oil prices. Number two is regional instability. Number three is whether there are attacks on the United States that could happen directly by lone wolfs and everything that Jeh Johnson, the former Secretary of Homeland Security, was saying to you, earlier in this hour.
For those of us who not just lived through 9/11 but covered it. There were a lot of aftershocks, and it had a -- it had a -- we're still in sort of the long shadow of 9/11 and the wars that took place because of it, almost 25 years on.
President Trump may have an idea of what he wants to do, and he may have had a thought of what he wanted to do. But it is not something that he has communicated in any kind of a long-form speech, or any kind of a long-form press conference beyond what we saw a bit of the other day. But that was, I think, whatever it was, nine days into this now.
COLLINS: Yes, he addressed the synagogue attack earlier, speaking of, as we're watching what's happening here.
HABERMAN: Right.
COLLINS: And obviously, still waiting to learn more about that and the conditions.
HABERMAN: Right.
COLLINS: But just on the gas prices. It was just a month ago, in his State of the Union, where he was talking about they were 200 or -- $2.30 a gallon. That number has jumped now.
And I got a lot of texts today from people -- I don't know if you -- I'm sure you did as well -- about his post suggesting that higher oil prices are a good thing.
HABERMAN: Yes.
COLLINS: I mean, I think a lot of his own political advisers who typically talk about how savvy he is, would say, That's a tough message to sell.
HABERMAN: This is not something that most of the people in his orbit right now are having an easy time messaging or solving, and you can see that every day. But also, you and I both know it from our own reporting.
[21:30:00]
And it's very -- look, they are trying to push the White House a message in various news outlets that members of -- aspects of the MAGA base, aspects of the Republican base, the President's base, are not as upset about an incursion against Iran as people who are opposed to this might say.
There is some validity to that. If you talk to voters at individual events or in states, it is true that there are a lot of Republicans who have long-believed that Iran is a threat to U.S. interests. And it is because Iran has been threatening the U.S. for a very long time.
That's different than whether voters are going to tolerate $4 gas over many weeks, especially when there's ample video of the President criticizing President Biden for gas prices, and that will be shown in various states.
COLLINS: Yes, I think that's a good point.
And is the military -- is this argument overall over what this operation is going to look like, how long this lasts?
HABERMAN: Right.
COLLINS: Just before we came on air, the President posted a picture. He captioned it, At military academy with my parents, Fred and Mary. Obviously, reminiscing to a photo from when he was much younger.
I mean, I just wonder, overall, Maggie, how you make of how the President is viewing, how this has gone so far with his projections about, as he said yesterday, he said that they had won, that they had already won. It wasn't too soon to say that.
HABERMAN: Right.
COLLINS: With the very real, still big question marks about how this ends.
HABERMAN: Right. I go back to what I said earlier, Kaitlan. I mean, I think that the President has made quite plain that he was expecting this was going to have ended sooner. Again, I don't know why he thought. There may have been a reason. But in order for people to understand that, it would have required articulating a clear goal at the outset.
I understand that he does not like leaks, and he likes to preserve optionality, and he has talked about that, not just in the context of being President, but for decades as a real estate developer, that he liked keeping people guessing. That was always something that he did.
The problem is, is that this is not just something about him. This is something about the United States and about many, many different aspects of the economy and U.S. safety. And this is typically why presidents try to brief the public, before they take an action like this, one that Republicans broadly have tried saying -- elected officials, Isn't a war, and have tried to avoid using the war, and the President then says, Have to go watch the war.
So, it is understandable that the public would want to hear more. It is understandable that the public is getting scared because they don't understand what they're seeing in images on television. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the media covering what is happening, despite some complaints from the White House briefing room. And this is what happens, and it is no different than what happened after 9/11, except that there is much less information being offered.
COLLINS: Yes.
Maggie Haberman, thank you for joining us with your reporting. Great to have you tonight.
HABERMAN: Thanks, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Up next here. We have more on what's underway in Iran. An Army veteran and also the Democratic Governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, is going to join me ahead, with what his state makes of what's happening.
[21:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The situation with Iran is moving along very rapidly. It's doing very well. Our military is unsurpassed. There's never been anything like it. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. And we're doing what has to be done, should have been done, during a 47 year period. Could have been done by a lot of different people. They chose not to do it. But they really are a nation of terror and hate, and they're paying a big price right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: I was in the room, earlier, as President Trump was providing that update on the war with Iran today, at an event for Women's History Month. His assessment left out the surge in gas prices that Americans have been dealing with here at home, something the administration has been arguing will be worth it in the long run.
In Michigan, drivers are now paying $0.61 a gallon more than they were at the beginning of the war. In Florida, gas is up $0.82 a gallon. In Maryland, the price of gas has risen $0.58 a gallon in just the last 12 days.
Joining me tonight is Maryland's Democratic governor, Wes Moore.
And Governor, how do people in your state feel about what they're paying at the pump? Do they think it will be worth it in the long- term, as the administration suggests? GOV. WES MOORE (D-MD): Well, I think this administration, when they were campaigning for the presidency, Donald Trump said that he was going to lower prices for everyday Americans. He said he was going to release the Epstein files. And he said he was not going to get us involved in foreign wars.
And I think people are now seeing that each and every one of those things was a lie. That everything now is more expensive, from the food that we are eating to the clothes that we are wearing. To energy prices are up over 20 percent since he's become the president. And as you said, gas price is now nearly $0.60 higher than it was 12 days ago. That the Epstein files are still not released. And we now find ourselves in one of these new regime-change forever wars, that I fought in.
And now we are seeing how the President of the United States, in just his first year, has decided that this now is a good idea for this country.
COLLINS: Pete Hegseth and JD Vance are also veterans. They have said, this won't be like those wars. Do you not believe them when they say it'll be different?
MOORE: I don't, because I don't know what evidence they have to show that.
[21:40:00]
When we went into Afghanistan, we went into Afghanistan with an idea of saying that we were going to make sure that we did not have to deal with the Taliban anymore, after what happened on 9/11.
And 20 years after we first began combat operations in Afghanistan, over $2 trillion later, and after losing over 2,400 soldiers during that war, do you know who is in charge of Afghanistan right now? The Taliban.
And so, no, I do not trust the judgment of JD Vance to say that this is going to be any different, when everything that we have seen, when they have not even fully articulated to the American people what we are doing and what the mission is, that somehow he knows that the conclusion will be any different.
COLLINS: Democrats here in Washington have been pushing War Powers Resolutions, efforts to try to rein in the President's powers. None of them have been successful so far.
But the other concern that we're seeing here today, also in light of the attack -- the terrorist suspected attacks that we saw today, is this concern over the DHS shutdown that's underway. Democrats are saying, Republicans aren't willing to move. Republicans say, Democrats are the reason people are waiting in long lines at the airport. And now concerns about who's getting paid and what that looks like inside DHS.
Do you think Democrats need to find a way to come to an agreement with Republicans on that, so it can be fully funded?
MOORE: I think we've been spending around a billion dollars a day on a war of choice, while we don't have DHS, the primary agency that's focused on Homeland Security funded. This is not how government is supposed to work.
How government is supposed to work is that people's taxpayer dollars should be going towards making sure that they are safe, that their prices are coming down, that opportunities for them in this country are being protected and supported. And that's not what is happening.
And so, when we are watching the Trump-Vance administration deciding that a priority is actually funding ICE, that the priority is taking ICE, to now making ICE the largest law enforcement agency in this country, larger than the FBI, larger than the DEA, larger than the ATF, so they're arresting 5-year-olds? I think people should, and all of us do, have a real issue with how this agency is operating.
COLLINS: Yes. And I think that's why Democrats are saying that they are holding their position. But people say -- might look at that and say, The TSA and Coast Guard should be getting paid and should have all of their funding in the meantime.
I mean, do you want to see Democrats who are in the minority here, try to do something on that?
MOORE: I mean, what I want to see--
COLLINS: It's your party. That's why I'm asking what you'll say.
MOORE: Yes, I mean, what I want to see is a functioning government. I don't know why we have to choose between saying, Should our homeland be protected, or should we have an agency like ICE that is not sending people to our communities that are untrained, unaccountable and moving and doing things like making sure that they're arresting mothers in pickup lines at their children's school.
Like, a functioning government shouldn't have to choose between those basic ideas and saying, Should we also make sure that our TSA is funded? Should we also make sure that our border -- that Border Patrol is receiving the funding that they support.
Right now, we are seeing how the Trump-Vance administration has made a choice. They have made a choice that they are going to prioritize ICE, an agency that's gone from $10 billion in funding to $75 billion in funding, because that somehow is our priority when it comes to homeland security, and that is an issue.
COLLINS: This has resulted in something that you do appreciate, I believe, which is as this has been going on, a federal judge in Maryland has basically halted construction of an ICE detention center in your state. There's a lawsuit that is going on over that.
What is the latest on that? Are you worried it's only a temporary victory for you? MOORE: Well, I think it is an important victory, because what the federal government tried to do was spend a $100 million to buy a facility, to house people, when we are seeing how they did not have any form of public input, they did not go through any type of environmental permitting.
And so, essentially, what they did was illegal, and they did something that would provide no benefit to the local community. In fact, if they received public input, they would have heard that, from the local community, and they did not do that.
So, I think the temporary -- the temporary restraining order is actually a real victory, because this also sends a message to the Trump-Vance administration that you cannot illegally decide to start trying to make these purchases, particularly when they are things that are not done within permitting regulation, and when they are not done in things that actually correlate to what people in our communities want.
COLLINS: Have you heard from the White House lately? I mean, I know the President posts about you regularly.
MOORE: Yes.
COLLINS: But have you heard from the President or anyone in the White House?
MOORE: No, I mean -- we've actually had communication with different people in the White House. We work very closely with them on transportation issues. I was just speaking with Secretary Duffy about the fact that the Key Bridge is--
COLLINS: Yes.
MOORE: --now the fastest-moving large project inside the entire country, and the work we'll do in the American Legion Bridge. So, we do work with members of the administration. But I'm just very clear I will bow down to none of them.
COLLINS: Governor, thank you for joining us tonight.
MOORE: Thank you so much.
COLLINS: Appreciate your time. Wes Moore.
Up next here for us on THE SOURCE. There have been a string of anti- Muslim posts coming from some Republicans in Congress. The New York City Mayor just responded to one of them.
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COLLINS: Tonight, New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is responding to what Republican senator Tommy Tuberville said tonight, after he posted a side-by-side photo, one, of the World Trade Center burning on 9/11 as you can see here. That's on the left. On the right is a picture of Mayor Mamdani at City Hall, after hosting iftar, an evening meal that Muslims share to break their daily fast during Ramadan. The Alabama Senator shared that and wrote at the top, quote, "The enemy is inside the gates."
Mayor Mamdani responded tonight and said, Let there be as much outrage from politicians in Washington when kids go hungry as there is when I break bread with New Yorkers.
[21:50:00]
Senator Tuberville's post is not the only anti-Muslim one we've seen from a Republican here in Washington. Also, Congressman of Tennessee, Andy Ogles, wrote, earlier this week, Muslims don't belong in American society. Texas Congressman Brandon Gill said that Mamdani should Go back to the Third World.
For more on what we're seeing play out as we're monitoring all of this breaking news tonight, I'm joined by:
Ameshia Cross, who is a former Obama campaign adviser.
And Shermichael Singleton, a Republican strategist.
And Ameshia, obviously, when you saw this. Tuberville was also responding to a post from Chuck Schumer, because he said that this was mindless hate, as the Senator from New York put it. Tuberville said, Calling Radical Islam out for being a CULT doesn't make you an "Islamophobe."
AMESHIA CROSS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, FORMER OBAMA CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Radical Islam is one thing. What we saw was someone who is a Muslim celebrating Ramadan. That is not radical Islam. I think that there is a separation that needs to be done here. And Tuberville knows exactly what he's trying to enrage when he has the conversation and leads it in the way that he does. It is an attack on every practicing Muslim in America.
It does not make you any less American to be a Muslim, and it is not a religion that is automatically something that is radicalized. And I think that in any conversation about Islam or any other religion aside from Christianity, we cannot continue to push something that seems extremely detrimental and violent towards the American people, just because someone practices a different religion.
America does not have a nationalized religion. America is a melting pot of multiple cultures. And with those cultures comes different beliefs, different backgrounds, different systems of faith. And it is absolutely fine to celebrate and honor the faith-based system that you have, even if it's outside of Christianity.
COLLINS: I mean, Shermichael, what did you make of that post from Senator Tuberville?
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look, I don't -- if one wants to make a debate and have a point of contention about idealism. I mean, the great conservative philosopher Roger Scruton said that America is a credo nation, meaning we have a creed, to some of the points that Ameshia was kind of talking about.
If one wants to have an esoteric debate about whether or not certain tenets of one's cultural inheritance is in sync or unison with that idealism? Sure, I'm willing to have that intellectual debate about compatibility and cultural inheritance.
But there are a lot of good Muslims who live in America. Many of them serve in our military. Many of them are law enforcement. And so, I'm not of the mindset of casting wide aspersions against an entire group of people, any more than I would want someone doing that against black people, for example, just to use a real example.
That said, if you want to talk about extremism within a group, and compare it to other groups, then I think there is a place for that. But I'm not of the mindset that we should cast wide aspersions against people. Because, there are many people who love our country, who share the ideals and values of America beyond just the abstract. And those are the types of people that I think even the Senator would acknowledge we want in this country.
COLLINS: Yes, I mean, and this also comes in the day -- there's so much to keep up with tonight, but also comes, as we're seeing this other breaking story that we've been following, with John Miller just naming the suspect earlier of an attack on a synagogue in Michigan, a car ramming it, there's children inside.
And we've seen a rise in antisemitism in the last year alone. I mean, we've seen the attacks. The ADL says, it surged almost 900 percent just in 10 years. In 2024, it was the highest it's been ever, I believe, or in half a century, at least, as they have been tracking this.
CROSS: Exactly. And we keep talking about toning down the temperature when situations like this happen. But at the end of the day, elected officials, like Tommy Tuberville, are not helping in that.
I think that it's extremely disheartening to see more and more attacks on people of the Jewish faith. In addition to that, the notion that it can somehow be substantiated, because people are upset about some of the moves of Netanyahu, people are still upset about some of the things we saw over the course of the past year and a half as it relates to the war in Gaza.
I too am upset about the lives that have been lost in the war in Gaza. But what we cannot do is make it OK to disparage people of the Jewish faith. We cannot make it OK to watch and continue to see antisemitism grow, across multiple platforms, basically taking over our digital media spaces right now. That's something we all need to work against.
SINGLETON: Yes, look, you cannot allow hate to survive. It's like a cancer. It eats the thing that contains it, and we're seeing a whole lot of that in our country right now. Any more than one could cascade aspersions against the Muslim community or the Christian faith or the Jewish faith. We shouldn't prohibit that type of behavior in our country. And we are indeed seeing a lot of it.
And there are some political leaders who may be liberal in their viewpoints, or conservative in their viewpoints, who certainly have, I would argue, played into some of those tropes for their own political reasons. And I think people like us, Kaitlan, have to continue to call that out. This is dangerous stuff that we're playing around with.
And to your point. You're talking about children. Who would want to see innocent children lose their lives? Republicans and Democrats alike, I think we'd all say, None of us.
COLLINS: Yes.
Shermichael Singleton. Ameshia Cross. Thank you both for being here tonight.
Up next. A band of top UFC fighters are going to Quantico to train FBI agents this weekend. Yes, you heard that right.
[21:55:00]
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COLLINS: Talk about unprecedented. A training session is set to take place this weekend, at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, where current and former UFC fighters are going to train FBI agents, in a session that the FBI Director Kash Patel says is going to help the agents, in his words, be better prepared to protect the American people by demonstrating mixed martial arts tactics.
The UFC says this is part of an initiative by the FBI to provide its agents with, quote, "Exciting, innovative training options and to constantly look for opportunities to revamp and improve their preparation."
[22:00:00]
President Trump of course comes -- this comes, as the longstanding ties that he has with the Ultimate Fighting Championship company and its CEO, Dana White. And the training is happening, I should note now, ahead of in a few months when we're going to see a planned UFC Fight Night, to celebrate the country's 250th anniversary on the South Lawn of the White House, something that will coincide with the President's own 80th birthday.
We'll keep you updated on what we learn about what happens in Quantico this weekend.
Thanks for joining us tonight.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP" starts now.
