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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt

House GOP Rejects Senate DHS Bill, Extending Shutdown; Report: Tiger Woods Involved In Rollover Car Crash; Trump Speaks After Landing In Miami. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired March 27, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:05]

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: That's a long time, and I think that's why people care so much.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yeah, and pay so much attention, especially with this alarming news that Tiger Woods has been involved in a rollover crash in Florida. We are expecting at 5:00 p.m. to get more information from the Martin County sheriff.

THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT starts right now.

(MUSIC)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. Welcome to THE ARENA. Kasie Hunt is off. I'm Dana Bash.

Right now, on Capitol Hill, stalemate again on funding the Department of Homeland Security. This time, the stunning divide is between House and Senate Republicans. This afternoon, House Speaker Mike Johnson angrily rejected the Senate's bipartisan bill that would fund everything in the Department of Homeland Security except ICE and CBP.

House Republican leadership says that doesn't really work for them, that instead, they're going to try to send the Senate a bill to fund all of the Department of Homeland Security at the current levels, temporarily, at least until late May.

Speaker Johnson said that President Donald Trump is on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The Republicans are not going to be any part of any effort to reopen our borders or to stop immigration enforcement. This gambit that was done last night is a joke. I'm quite convinced that it can't be that every senate Republican read the language of this bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Any moment now, we're going to hear from the House Democratic leader with his reaction. We're going to bring that to you live. Let's get off the sidelines and head into THE ARENA. My panel is here along with our CNN team covering all of this in the

field. Congressional correspondent Lauren Fox, senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes and aviation correspondent Pete Muntean, who is at Baltimore's International Airport.

Lauren, I want to start with you. The speaker seemed upset, seemed frustrated. I'm sure that feeling is mutual, o the Senate side, particularly with the Senate majority leader, John Thune, who overnight worked to finally get something passed that they hoped the Senate, the House would take up and sort of be done with this for two weeks while they're gone.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, exactly, Dana. And instead, what Majority Leader John Thune is facing is really a strong rebuke from house Republicans, including the House speaker. I mean, it is really stark that you saw the House speaker standing before cameras holding up a copy of the Senate bill with a highlight of exactly what he didn't like about it, the fact that it did not ensure that ICE and CBP was paid for in the weeks and months ahead.

Now, I would point out that there was a lot of money for ICE and CBP that passed out of the president's Big, Beautiful Bill last summer. That money has allowed those agents to continue being paid during this DHS shutdown, but that wasn't good enough for the house speaker. And he also made clear that he had already spoken to President Trump, in fact, that he had just spoken to President Trump before he came out and made this announcement. So that gives you a sense of what the divide is between house Republicans and senate Republicans.

I think it's really important to point out the dynamics here for John Thune. He cannot just pass party line votes like the speaker can. He has to contend with the Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer. That is what he was trying to do last night when this deal was cut. It's also notable that this was an agreement that transpired in the middle of the night, but it also had the support of all of the Republicans in the Senate GOP conference.

That is notable because if there are House Republicans who are frustrated, it's not just John Thune who did this. It was the entire Republican conference who agreed to go along with it. But obviously, what this means ultimately is that the shutdown is likely to continue and that the only relief is going to be able to come from the executive branch. At this point, it doesn't look like there's any legislative solution in sight -- Dana.

BASH: Okay. Well, on that note, thank you, Lauren, for that reporting.

Let's talk about the executive branch and how much the president is going to get involved.

Kristen, you have been rightly saying all day that the speaker doesn't do anything, particularly on this level, without the blessing of the president. He did say that he spoke to the president as the speaker made the announcement that they are going to reject the Senate bill. It was also interesting that the language that the speaker used was very much leaning into immigration politics. That worked very well for President Trump for years, particularly going into the 2024 election, but has turned on him since Minneapolis, which is what Democrats have been trying to capitalize on, which is why were in this situation in the first place.

What are you hearing from the White House about how the president is or is not going to get involved?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now it feels like the president has been involved, and that's what the White House is saying, because he signed this executive order paying TSA agents.

[16:05:04]

And the White House just sent out this memo that outlined really why President Trump was doing this and gave some details as to what this would look like. We heard from the DHS now -- from DHS now saying that TSA agents should expect their paychecks on Monday. That's when they're going to start going out. And now this memo kind of outlines what authority president Trump said he had. Remember, we've been asking why or how legally he was going to do this. And he said that it's an emergency situation. So he has to use these funds.

And we have been reporting that this money was likely to come from the one big, beautiful bill. It sounds as though they're being kind of vague about that right now, but they are saying the office of management and budget is going to handle that. That has taken a lot of the stress off the political side of this for this administration. It's not as though they weren't watching TV. They weren't seeing how bad these lines were. They weren't understanding that the government was being blamed for this.

But if they feel at this point that they've taken that out of the equation now, because they have this funding for TSA agents. That's going to start as early as Monday, which should really get most of the chaos out of those airports if it goes according to plan.

Now, President Trump just did a brief interview with Fox News. We saw a little bit of a transcript there where he also used the exact same language that Johnson did. He talked about how the fact that they were rejecting this bill, that it was all about ICE not being funded, about CBP, is about Democrats not caring about immigration. Much of what you just heard Johnson saying.

I will note, Johnson was a little bit late to his press conference and then said he just got off the phone with President Trump. And as we've often reported, he runs, again, everything that he's going to say by the president. So likely they were lining up their talking points before Johnson stepped out there and said that the president understood why they were doing what they were doing.

Now, what's unclear right now is how the Save America Act falls into all of this, because no one's bringing that up. I believe Johnson didn't bring that up. I know President Trump didn't in this brief interview that he just did. He put this squarely on the shoulders of not funding ICE or CBP, which I'll remind you, ICE is still being paid from that one big, beautiful bill right now.

They actually have the funding, but they did not mention the Save America Act. But if you look at several of these conservatives that they were already saying they were not going to support this bill as soon as it was put out by Senate Republicans. They were linking this to the Save America Act and to voter ID, something President Trump cares deeply about. So, we'll see how that plays into all of this as we move forward.

BASH: Yeah, absolutely. And just to underscore the sort of the headline that you just said about the president saying that the executive order that he signed is going to go into effect to pay TSA agents, even though -- or even if the Department of Homeland Security isn't fully funded or funded enough for them by Monday.

Pete Muntean, you are at BWI in Baltimore. Lines are long, very long. You've been showing that to us all day.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: To put it mildly.

BASH: To put it mildly. What are people saying who are in line about what they're hearing from, you know, down the road, so to speak, in Congress? And also, I'm sure you're all getting it maybe in a more private way from the TSA agents who are showing up without pay?

MUNTEAN: The TSA agents simply can't wait to get that back pay as soon as Monday. And that's evidence in the numbers, 37 percent of TSA agents have called out here at BWI. That is a huge number on a day when they're expecting the most travelers here at BWI --

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: I'd jump in. I'm going to get back to you, Pete. I'm going to get back to you, Pete.

We're going to go back to the Hill. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, is speaking.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: Millions of Americans and create chaos at airports all across the country. This could end and should end today. There is a bipartisan bill that has been sent over from the Senate that would reopen the non-controversial parts of the Department of Homeland Security, make sure TSA agents are paid, and in the chaos at airports throughout the nation. The bipartisan bill sent over by the Senate has been supported by every single Democrat and every single Republican as it made its way over to the House of Representatives. House Democrats are prepared to support the bill to end the Trump Republican shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Make sure TSA agents are paid.

Stand up for FEMA and for the Coast Guard and for our cybersecurity professionals.

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And stop inconveniencing Americans, which is being intentionally done by Donald Trump and House Republican extremists.

Why is this happening? Many Americans are asking. Because House Republicans have decided that they would rather inconvenience you, create chaos for you and for your families so that they can continue to jam their extreme right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people, so they can continue to spend billions of dollars for ICE to brutalize and kill American citizens. As we've seen horrifically in the case of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. Our views on immigration enforcement are the views of the American people. Immigration enforcement should focus on violent felons who are in this country illegally, not target law abiding immigrant families, or brutalize, and in some cases, kill American citizens.

Your taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for you and for your family. And that's what Democrats are going to continue to fight to accomplish. The only thing standing right now, between the chaos that is taking place at airports all across the country and the American people and making sure you are no longer inconvenienced are House Republicans. That's the only thing standing.

Right now, as we approach Easter and Passover with chaos breaking out all over the country, TSA agents being forced to work without pay week after week after week. And now we have this bipartisan bill sent over by the Senate that House Democrats are prepared to support. If that bill is brought to the floor today, it will pass. And the Trump Republican DHS shutdown will be over.

But unfortunately, MAGA extremists in the House of Representatives continue to inflict pain on the American people. It's now my honor to yield to the House Democratic whip, my good friend and colleague from the great commonwealth of Massachusetts, Katherine Clark.

REP. KATHERINE CLARK (D-MA): Thank you so much, Mr. Leader. And good afternoon, everyone.

BASH: We're going to continue to monitor this press conference from House Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill. That was, of course, Hakeem Jeffries putting the blame squarely on Republicans, House Republican leaders, to be specific, for not just bringing up what the senate passed overnight, which would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security except for ICE and CBP.

I now want to bring in Republican Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska.

Thank you so much for being here, sir.

REP. DON BACON (R-NE): Thank you.

BASH: You just heard Hakeem Jeffries. If the speaker would allow a vote to pass that Senate bill --

BACON: Yes.

BASH: Yes? You would vote yes?

BACON: Okay. I'm sorry. Somebody was on the headset talking to me. I apologize.

BASH: That's okay. So, my question is, how would you -- how would you have -- how would you vote if House Speaker Mike Johnson would allow or would have allowed the Senate passed bill?

BACON: I'm inclined to vote to open up as much of the government that we can. So, it was a three quarters opening. I would have voted yes. There is a risk, though, that you never get, you know, Border Patrol or ICE funded, and that is a bad thing to happen. And we just had an older air force veteran murdered yesterday by an undocumented immigrant here. So, we got to have ICE, we got to have Border Patrol.

I think to the Leader Jeffrey's comments, I think the right way to handle this is to find some of the compromises that they want. Not all of them, like body cameras, like wearing their IDs. There's things that I think that we could agree on where we could fully fund ICE and Border Patrol, too.

But to answer your question, I would be inclined to vote for the most for the bill that opens up the most government that we that we can. So, if it's the bill that the speaker is doing, I'm going to vote yes, because it's a 60-day or a temporary full funding of all DHS. If it was a more limited bill like the Senate, I would have voted yes as well, because I really can't stand seeing TSA, FEMA, all these other people not getting paid.

[16:15:01]

But we got to have ICE. We got to have Border Patrol. I wish the Democrats would take some assurance that the secretary has been fired. And the person who ran the operations in Minneapolis is also being removed, that we have new leadership there. The tactics and the strategy has changed. And so, there's -- there's already been changes made. And I think that that should be acknowledged.

BASH: And I'm sure you have heard them also arguing that even if CPB and ICE are not funded now, they're already flush with money because of the Big, Beautiful Bill that you all passed last year.

BACON: It's a little murky to me what the impacts will be without having these portions of the Homeland Security appropriations bill funded. But I think I heard Mr. Jeffries pretty clear, he is very hostile to ICE, very hostile to Border Patrol.

In the end, I think we got a -- we got to get to a higher level here and figure out what compromises can we make so that we can move forward on both of these areas? Because we've got to have ICE. You got to have border patrol.

And there's things I think common sense Americans are willing to do to meet in the middle and get past this. But, Dana, I got to tell you, I my heart tugs voting. I feel like we're at a continued impasse in gridlock and the thought of not paying TSA for another day or even another week is a terrible answer.

And ultimately, it's not the right answer. And it's the sign of a dysfunctional government.

BASH: Yeah, I think this is just the latest sign of a dysfunctional government. I'm sure you would agree.

I want to play a little bit of what your leader, the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, said this afternoon as he announced he was going to reject what the Senate passed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: We have terrorists in our country. We have, obviously, murderers. They're putting it on display. And then these big blue cities that have sanctuary city policies, they're releasing these people onto the streets. They released them over the border when they came over under the Biden years. And that is the turmoil that we're facing right now, the very serious threats to the homeland and everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So that argument, that messaging, it came after he had a conversation with the president and made a decision that they were going to stand firm. That's the kind of messaging that the president has done very well on politically for years, but not so much since the horrible events of Minneapolis, which is why the Democrats, as you know, politically feel that they can keep pushing. What do you think about the idea of Republicans kind of digging in on immigration politics once again?

BACON: I think two things can be true. I think what the speaker said, there's a lot of truth to it. For example, as you know, I already mentioned it, a retired air force veteran was murdered yesterday in a train station by an illegal immigrant that had previously been, you know, caught and then released. That is wrong.

Also, I would say that there was overreach done by Border Patrol and ICE. I have a couple incidences in Omaha where people were in Omaha legally with legal work permits and were detained and were in the process of being deported until we intervened. And so, I do -- we do need to rein in ICE and border patrol. I think they -- we have new leadership. I got to keep stressing this. The secretary has been fired. The main proponents of the overreach have been removed.

I think Director Homan, for example, is doing a much more sound, balanced policy. So, I just -- I think this is doable for the greatest country in the world to realize, yes, there's been overreach, but we -- we got to know that there's bad people here, too, that we got to take care of. And I just think there's some common sense middle ground with our Democrat colleagues that should be able to open this up and get past this body cameras, wearing your IDs, not wearing masks, things like this. They make sense.

BASH: I think the words common sense that you used more than more than once are probably why you're leaving Congress, because you can't find it in those hallways where you are, which is really too bad.

Congressman, thank you so much for being here.

BACON: Thank you.

BASH: I really appreciate it.

BACON: Thank you.

BASH: And coming up in THE ARENA, we will talk with a Democratic congressman, James Walkinshaw of Virginia.

Plus, our panel is here to weigh in on what they will and won't see on Capitol Hill or at those airports that you're seeing right there. The patients not just wearing thin. It's pretty much gone.

Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As you guys are standing here in line for this deal to get the TSA agents paid is falling apart in Washington.

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What do you think about it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just think that Congress should be the one not getting paid. And the TSA agents should get paid while all this is being ironed out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we're seeing right now is the TSA staffing ability has been in the below 50 percent range. So, what we're dealing with is 100 percent spring break traffic, trying to squeeze through 50 percent or less of our TSA checkpoints. So that -- the math does not work

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The math doesn't work. The votes aren't there.

As Americans across the country wait in hours long airport security, long lines, House Republicans say they will not take up the bipartisan funding bill passed by the Senate early this morning.

[16:25:04]

That measure would fund most of DHS, including the TSA, but not ICE or CBP. Democrats are on capitol hill saying that they would support the Senate bill. That's what they're saying in the House, and that it would pass if only the House speaker would bring it up. My panel in THE ARENA is here. National political reporter for "Axios"

and CNN political analyst Alex Thompson; political reporter and author, Molly Ball; CNN global affairs commentator and former deputy press secretary at the Pentagon, Sabrina Singh; and Republican strategist, CNN commentator Shermichael Singleton.

Hello, everybody.

Just -- let's stay on the theme of common sense because, you know, why not live in an alternate universe where common sense reigns?

As a Republican strategist, Shermichael, what do you think of the decision by House Republicans to say, nope, were not going to do this.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think congressman bacon made a lot of great points. I think you probably would have had a divided conference. I think some Republicans would have voted against it. But I do think enough would have voted with Democrats to fund TSA. I think the ICE issue, you can compromise on as it pertains to them wearing badges, body cameras, I think actually protects the ICE agents as well as those that are encountering.

The mask issue, I think is slightly different. Some Republicans are more worried about doxing agents. I think that's a very fair and valid point. I think they got to figure that out.

The CBP part, though, I think you have to fund CBP. I think we talk about this and think about it only through the guise of immigration, customs, border patrol, but they also have the job of making sure terrorists don't cross our borders either. And that should be fundamentally were at risk --

BASH: So, you think the House speaker, the politics are right?

SINGLETON: I think they're right to a point, but I think you got to keep in mind, you have elections coming up soon. A summer is quickly approaching. Gas prices are high. Cost of living. Affordability is still a big issue for most people.

And if you look at the congressional map so far, you look at Democrats success with the various special elections. You look at their successes as it pertains to state legislative successes, we're behind the eight ball here, meaning my party. And so, I am structurally worried about the ramifications of this going into July and August, when we begin to see early voting and how that can negatively impact some Republicans in vulnerable districts.

So, I get the premise of the speaker's argument, again, explicitly as it pertains to CBP, but I'm just not sure electorally if this is what I would advise.

SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yeah, you know, I think I think Congressman Bacon made a ton of great points, and so does Shermichael. I think there's room for agreement and there are people that want to work towards common sense solutions. The problem is, is that there's been a bit of an abdication of leadership that we've seen time and time again. And I think Speaker Jeffries is right in that if they just brought the bill that passed in the Senate yesterday to the -- or this morning, let's say, to the floor, they would have had both Republican and Democratic votes to get it passed and TSA agents would be paid.

So, I think Americans all around the country are tired of just seeing congress just punt the ball and continue to miss opportunities to put Americans first. They just want to travel, get home, be with their families for the holidays. That's what they care about.

BASH: So, it's abdication of leadership to some. But to those who are thinking about the raw politics and about the elections particularly, just let's -- just talk about the Democrats for a second. The Democratic leaders think that they're doing exactly what their base wants, and that's not an abdication of leadership. It is a show of leadership.

MOLLY BALL, FORMER SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: That's right. I mean, the Democratic base has been putting pressure on their leaders to fight, to use every scrap of leverage that they have and to try to get something out of the administration that they are so angry at. And so, I think that we've seen that play out in this weeks-long stalemate. You have Democrats who really want to show that they are putting up a fight, that they are using their leverage.

Now, in the end, they didn't really get anything for that. In the compromise that passed the senate. And you do have, I think, a majority in both houses who would just like to see this over with.

But the other thing that that, you know, that Kristen brought up in the previous segment that I think is so important here is what President Trump is focused on, and that's his voting bill, right? And wanting to abolish the filibuster, that is what he is still posting about on social media.

And so, the pressure that this whole situation has created, he wants to use that to pass that bill and to abolish the filibuster, which even the Republicans in the Senate, for the most part, do not want to do. So that is really what's at the heart of a lot of this conflict, both between the House and the Senate and between the Democrats and the Republicans. And we're seeing that stalemate just going to continue.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And beyond doing what the Democratic base wants, which is resist Trump. That's why we had the longest shutdown just last fall, which led a lot of these same people to not be paid during that time. But you also see that Democrats feel on their front foot when it comes to immigration politics for the first time in a decade, they feel that they have the advantage on what was Donald Trump's biggest political advantage.

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And, you know, if you told Democrats a year ago when Donald Trump was inaugurated for the second time, that they would have the advantage on immigration because of administrative overreach, a year later, they would take that every single time, which is why they feel emboldened to continue this shutdown.

SINGH: And it is going to become a political issue in the midterms, for sure. I think Democrats will run on an idea of we want immigration reform. We are we want to pay customs and immigration and border patrol, but we have to do it in the right way.

BASH: All right. Everybody, stand by. Coming up in THE ARENA, Democrat James Walkinshaw, who represents tens of thousands of federal workers in his northern Virginia district, they live there. How he sees this DHS funding issue. We'll talk to him in a little bit.

Plus, what Secretary of State Marco Rubio now says the U.S. does not need in order to reach its goals in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We can achieve. We are achieving all those objectives. We are ahead of schedule on most of them, and we can achieve them without any ground troops, without any.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:35:32]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: This gambit that was done last night is a joke. I'm quite convinced that it can't be that every Senate Republican read the language of this bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: That was House Speaker Mike Johnson flatly rejecting a bipartisan senate passed bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. You just heard him call it a joke. He says House Republicans will advance their own version of a short term funding bill, something Democrats say is a nonstarter.

Joining me now is a Democratic member of Congress, James Walkinshaw of Virginia, a member of the Homeland Security Committee.

And, Congressman, thank you so much for being here.

You have a lot of DHS workers in your northern Virginia district. So, on that note, at some point in the next several hours, you will be voting on whether to fully fund the department of homeland security for just 60 days. How will you vote?

REP. JAMES WALKINSHAW (D-VA): Well, look, I've been supportive for weeks of our legislation to fund all of DHS except for ICE and CBP. And I've been crystal clear, I'll only support more funding for ICE and CBP if there are real reforms attached to it. And I've heard Speaker Johnson say falsely that the bill that came

over with unanimous support from the Senate defunds ICE, that is flat out false. ICE has more money than they know what to do with right now. They have wrapped custom vehicles sitting in garages and warehouses collecting dust because they can't use them. They got untrained, underqualified ICE agents getting huge signing bonuses.

They don't need more money to continue to do what they're doing. What they need are reforms to protect the American people from their brutality.

BASH: Well, on that note, when the Senate passed that bill, it included and includes funding for all DHS except for Border Patrol and ICE, as you mentioned, Democrats didn't get any reforms to ICE in that bill.

So, is it really something that is worth supporting for you, or do you think that your leadership in the house and the senate, but obviously, you're in the House should be more aggressive in getting those reforms in a bipartisan way?

WALKINSHAW: Well, I think we've been very aggressive in pushing for those reforms. Republicans and Stephen Miller at the White House were crystal clear. They want to continue the out-of-control mass deportation agenda. We're going to continue to fight for that. But I don't think we should hold our TSA workers, our FEMA workers, our cybersecurity workers hostage, because Republicans won't agree to these common sense reforms.

So, I want to do both, but I've said I'll support a bill that funds the non-ICE and CBP agencies of DHS, so we can continue to negotiate, argue and fight over that. And look, it might be like the affordable care act premium tax credits that we have to take it to the voters in November. And I'm confident the voters will be on our side

BASH: You think there's going to be a shutdown until November?

WALKINSHAW: No. I mean, if we don't get the reforms that we need for ICE and CBP between now and November --

BASH: Right.

WALKINSHAW: -- we'll take that issue to the -- to the voters.

BASH: I see.

WALKINSHAW: Yeah.

BASH: I see.

Just real quick, the White House released a memo this afternoon directing the Department of Homeland Security to pay TSA agents. This is part of the president's executive order. Are you -- are you on board with that? Do you think that's a good idea?

WALKINSHAW: Look, I want to see our TSA workers get paid, and, the administration has a $10 billion slush fund, basically from the so- called Big, Beautiful Bill. They've been using to pay other workers at DHS. So, if they can use that to pay other workers at DHS, I'm not going to stand in the way or object to their using it to fund TSA salaries.

But the solution to this is to pass the bipartisan bill that passed unanimously from the senate that, by the way, President Trump agreed to last night a handful of extremists here in the house are preventing that from moving forward, as we speak.

BASH: Congressman James Walkinshaw of Northern Virginia -- thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

WALKINSHAW: Thanks for having me.

BASH: And we have some breaking news. Golf legend Tiger Woods reportedly was involved in a rollover car crash in Florida.

I want to get straight to Isabel Rosales, who's following the breaking story.

Isabel, what are we learning?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Dana, deputies say in Martin County, Jupiter Island, where this happened, it is the same town where Tiger Woods lives that they are gathering more information.

[16:40:03]

They're currently investigating.

The sheriff is set to hold a press conference here in the next 20 minutes that hopefully will shed more light into the details of what happened here. We're especially asking how serious of a crash this is. It happened shortly after 2:00 p.m. rollover crash involving Tiger Woods. Now this is -- he's 50 years old. He's been on a golf comeback trail.

There's been speculation that Woods is -- this golf icon would be coming back for his 27th Masters next month. He's been dealing with physical ailments. You'll remember that just over a year ago, he ruptured his Achilles heel and he's gone now with his seventh back surgery since a critical accident that he had back in 2021.

We have a picture here from our CNN affiliate WPTV, that shows a Range Rover on its side. Of course, we're asking more questions about this. And, Dana, I pulled this up this area up on google maps and it appears to be a nice residential area. That's waterfront. That's about as much as we've got right now as were asking more questions from the deputies.

But when it comes to Tiger Woods and serious car crashes, we know that there's a history here of high profile crashes, moments that have shaken this icons career and has raised questions about what's happening behind closed doors. I mentioned the most serious of which happened in February of 2021. This was a severe, career threatening injuries that he got to his legs. A single car accident that happened back in 2021, where he was extricated from the car, he was hospitalized, had to go undergo emergency surgery.

Since that moment, woods has played in 11 tournaments in the last five seasons, but has only completed four of them and then back in 2017, in May, you'll remember that he was found asleep at the wheel. He was arrested then on suspicion of DUI in Jupiter, Florida. He had to be --

BASH: Isabel --

ROSALES: -- slurring his words.

BASH: I'm going to interrupt you. We're going to go straight to President Trump.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Criminals, murderers, every kind of criminal you can imagine. And the Republicans just don't want to have it happen.

We -- I have spent the better part of this year trying to get these criminals out. And the Democrats want to have them come in. And we can't let that happen. We just can't let that happen.

We've taken out hundreds of thousands, even millions of people out of this country that shouldn't be. I'm not talking about people that came in illegally and they're working and everything. I'm talking about murderers, 11,888 murderers.

And we can't let it happen. We can't. And that's what the Democrats want. They want people to come into this country. They don't care who they are. If they murder people, they're fine with that. They don't care who they are.

They want borders to be open. We have borders that are stone cold, closed ten months now in a row. Nobody came into the country. They want to do just the opposite.

And this would have ruined the country. If I wasn't elected, we wouldn't have a country right now. So, you can't do it.

So, I understand John Thune and I understand Mike Johnson. They want it -- they want to be sure that people aren't coming into our country like they have for the last four years.

I don't want to say they've ruined it. They made my job a lot harder. And now we have it good. We have crime down. We have everything down.

But these are people, some of the worst people -- look at Chicago two days ago, they shot this thug. This horrible human being came in through the Biden open border. They killed this beautiful young girl who was a friend of -- whose father was a good friend of Dan Scavino. And it just happening every single day.

These are the worst gang members, the worst killers, the worst. They allowed the worst people. And you know why? Because the country sent them out when they saw open borders. Every country throughout the world, they sent them into our country.

And we don't want that. And that's what it's all about.

Thank you.

REPORTER: Iran, sir. Iran. What's the latest with Iran, sir?

TRUMP: On Iran, they are being decimated. They are talking. We are talking now. They want to make a deal.

Very simply, our military is the greatest in the world by far. Iran is being decimated. Thank you.

REPORTER: Given the counter proposal --

BASH: Okay. We just heard President Trump, after landing in Miami, echoing what we heard from House Speaker Mike Johnson or maybe Mike Johnson was really echoing the conversation he had privately with President Trump about their rhetorical political strategy in saying that they are not going to, pass the Senate passed bill that funds most of DHS, trying to really push the immigration politics, which helped President Trump quite a bit over the years.

But Democrats, as we've been talking about here, think, have turned on them in the wake of everything that happened in Minneapolis.

At the end there, you heard President Trump asked about Iran and him saying once again that he thinks that the U.S. is doing well.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier today said the U.S. can achieve its goals in Iran without ground troops. He also said the U.S. could divert American weapons from Ukraine to the Middle East, but it hasn't happened yet.

Now, that comes as conservatives gather in Texas for CPAC, where a generational divide is emerging over the Iran war. One conference. Speaker, you might recognize former Congressman Matt Gaetz came with a warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT GATEZ, FORMER CONGRESSMAN: A ground invasion of Iran will make our country poorer and less safe. It will mean higher gas prices, higher food prices. And I'm not sure we would end up killing more terrorists than we would create.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, Matt Gaetz is not your rank-and-file Republican voter. But here's what some of what CPAC attendees said they think about the war in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CPAC ATTENDEE: We need to focus on America first. And now we're focusing on another country spending billions of dollars funding a war that I personally, you know, as a conservative young man, don't believe we should be doing.

CPAC ATTENDEE: If the president thinks this was a necessary step that we needed to make, then, you know, I support that. But I would like to see the war come to a come to an end soon.

CPAC ATTENDEE: Iran needs to be held accountable. And after that, he's going to put us Americans first again. And he hasn't ever left us.

CPAC ATTENDEE: By getting rid of the nuclear, that is putting America first.

CPAC ATTENDEE: I know why we did it. I don't fully agree with it, but I think it has divided the party absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And my panel is back now.

Alex, what do you make of kind of what's happening at CPAC vis a vis the war in Iran and what we just played, which I think is sort of bearing out way beyond CPAC, which is a bit of a generational divide of the party.

THOMPSON: Well beyond -- yes, exactly. Well beyond CPAC. I mean, you have voices, obviously, like Tucker Carlson, but even, you know, people like Megyn Kelly who's a little bit, you know, on the MAGA side, but a little bit more establishment friendly. They've been very outspoken on this.

They've also hosted, you know, the former national terrorism director who resigned. And you have a lot of consternation inside the administration, too. It's not just part of the base. You also have, you know, significant players within this administration that, if not, are completely opposed to this action, are very wary and worried about it escalating out of control.

SINGLETON: You do see the generational divide. You saw the two young men who clearly disagreed, and you saw the older individuals highlighting, I don't necessarily like it, but I understand the importance of the regime not having a nuclear weapon.

BASH: Is that what you're seeing in your work?

SINGLETON: Absolutely. And I have to tell you, I stand with some of the older individuals that we just played in that clip. I think a lot of the younger Republicans just do not understand, perhaps because of age and youthfulness. I was young before I get it, the importance of the United States not completely withdrawing from the international stage.

In the first iteration of his presidency, Donald Trump had that strong position. We cannot involve ourselves all over the place. We're going to retract, withdraw. I think this time around, criticize him or not, he's recognizing the United States, we have a role to play here.

You may not like it, but it's important to our standing. It's important for our economic standing. It's important for maintaining our currency internationally, which the Chinese are trying to devalue via their BRICS system.

So there's a lot of complexities to this that I don't think individuals who are opposing it don't necessarily give credence to, and they absolutely should.

BASH: I think you're still young, Shermichael.

SINGLETON: Well, 35. Yeah, I guess I am still young.

BASH: Oh, my God. Don't even.

Sabrina, listen to Steve Bannon is one of, I think the premier anti- interventionists and yet listen to what his message was at CPAC today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: We're in the middle of a war right now. Let me say probably the start of a war. The decision and going forward is obviously the commander in chief's, but he's got to have -- people have to have his back, particularly now that we're on the eve of potentially the insertion of American combat troops. Your sons, daughters, granddaughters, grandsons could be on Kharg Island.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: What do you make of that?

SINGH: Well, what you're seeing is a continued fracturing happening within the MAGA base. And you're seeing, I think, Steve Bannon trying to walk the line of saying, we need to rally around the president. But also, you know, this could be the start of the war.

I think going back to what Michael was saying earlier about the young people at CPAC, this is a generation that does not want to see endless wars. And the problem with this war, from the very beginning that the president set out is there was never a clear objective, which is very similar to what happened in Iraq.

[16:50:07]

And so, I think you see a lot of similarities. And so when, you know, you saw Secretary Rubio say, we can achieve our goals just by the air campaign, well, one of your goals from the outset was a regime change. You cannot achieve that goal unless you put ground troops on the ground to literally take the guns out of the IRGC and Basij. And so, what are the definitive end mission here for our military? I think you're going to see continued air campaign. I think you potentially see a seizure of Kharg Island. So that could be used at the negotiating table.

But how does this war end? What is the off ramp? What does success look like? I do not think that has been defined for the American people. And that's why you're seeing fractures within the Republican Party.

BASH: Fractures. And yet, Molly, look at the latest CBS/YouGov poll. This is among and about Republicans question about whether or not they approve of military action against Iran. All Republicans, 84 MAGA Republicans, 92 self-described non-MAGA Republicans, 70.

And then just following up on that, the question of whether or not the president is doing what he promised in the campaign, this is maybe a little bit more of a -- minor alarm bell, a soft alarm bell in the White House. Yes, 74 percent, but a quarter of these people say, no, he's not.

BALL: That's right. I mean, look, I've spent a lot of time at a lot of CPAC over the years.

BASH: Right.

BALL: And in the past decade or so, it has really been TPAC more than CPAC, right? It's the Trump political action conference.

And I think that what is interesting about those interviews is that you hear that these are people who very much want to be with President Trump. They want to support President Trump, but they don't know where he's taking them. And, you know, to Sabrina's point, I feel like the you know, the talking points haven't really gone out to the activist base.

They don't quite know where they stand. They don't know what they're supposed to be for or why. And so, it's that lack of understanding that seems to have a lot of these, you know, very plugged in, very activist Republicans, the kind of people who go to CPAC, they really want to support their party and to support their president, but they just aren't quite sure what this is all about and how it comports with the message that they thought was coming out of the White House as of, you know, the 2024 campaign.

BASH: Let's listen to a few more people who are at CPAC, younger people. This is our colleague Steve Contorno talking to attendees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CPAC ATTENDEE: I think a lot of people, conservatives, young conservatives right now kind of disillusioned with Trump. And I would consider myself one of those.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: So what could he do to win you back at this point?

CPAC ATTENDEE: Not much. Not much. I think they get destroyed in the midterms. I just -- I get the vibe. A lot of people I knew who just voted for Trump because they thought it was cool in like high school or just now just being like, I can't stand the guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I mean, you know, getting destroyed in the midterms. He's a young person who is -- you know, exercising some punditry. But the second part of what he said about young people thinking it was cool to like Donald Trump and maybe not feeling that way anymore is really interesting.

THOMPSON: When you've seen some of the young influencers, people like Nick Fuentes, for example, come out really hard against the Trump administration. I think it goes beyond sort of them being young. I mean, if you're a young person, you are more likely to be deployed if you are, if you are in the army. I mean, I think disproportionately it will affect younger people, which I think is part of the, you know, just the generational divide.

But I do think, you know, one of Trump's big advantages in 2024 was that young men swung to the Republican right. It's unclear if they can keep that advantage going into November.

BASH: Yeah.

SINGLETON: Yeah, I think we do have to make some key definitions or key messaging on what the objectives are here. I do take your point, Alex, that it will disproportionately impact younger people, specifically the economic toll over time.

But the question for me is, is an easy one. What does the world look like if the Iranian regime has nuclear missile capabilities? Do they share that technology with some of their rogue proxy groups to have a dirty bomb in a major western city?

What does it look like if the United States is not involved itself with Venezuela? Or maybe the Chinese to counteract their advancing military technology and some of their aggressions in the South China Sea against our own navy. What does that world look like?

And that to me, is not a world that I don't think many Americans recognize they do not want to live in. And that's very serious.

BASH: And let's just be really clear here, the Nick Fuentes of the world and people like him, they don't like this war because Israel is involved and they don't -- and they don't like Israel and they don't like Jews very much, very, very openly.

THOMPSON: Yeah. I mean, Nick Fuentes has said several antisemitic things and has admitted that he considers himself a racist.

[16:55:00]

But I will -- there's no but to what he said. But I will say he does have a constituency --

BASH: He does.

THOMPSON: -- on the right. And I can tell you, Republicans are very attuned to what he is saying.

SINGLETON: But that's a small constituency. There's no way in the world. Fuentes represents the vast majority of conservative minded people in this country. Not at all.

BASH: Okay. We're going to leave it there. Don't go anywhere, though. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Thank you so much to the panel today for a very lively conversation. You can now stream THE ARENA live or catch up whenever you want on the CNN app. Just scan the QR code below.

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Hi, Phil.