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Lawmakers Across The Country Face Off With Frustrated Voters; Dominican Judge Grants Freedom To Man In Missing Student Case; Parents of Student Missing In Dominican Republic Think She Drowned; Astronauts Reacclimating In Houston After 9-Month Delay In Space. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired March 19, 2025 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: -- when it comes to massive cuts to the federal government.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is where we're at. When are you going to stand up? And we're also on the human rights watch list.
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you going to list? What are you going to stand up for?
REP. PAUL TONKO (R-NY): What people of America see, what people of eastern Washington see is President Trump delivering on his promises. And so --
(SHOUTING)
TONKO: Yes, democracy is, in fact, messy, right?
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: We're actually set to speak to that Congressman later on this afternoon, so stay tuned for that.
But right now, we're joined by CNN's Brian Todd.
Brian, you actually attended a Democratic town hall held by Congressman Glenn Ivey.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
SANCHEZ: And Democrats were angry over what they perceived to be inaction by the caucus. TODD: That's on the Democratic side, Boris. A lot of anger just
because of that factor. You're not fighting hard enough. You have no plan. Where is your messaging? Thats the complaint on the Democratic side.
You saw the complaints on the Republican side with Mike Flood there.
What's interesting in these -- these town halls is that event last night with Mike -- with Glenn Ivey was a very friendly event.
But even in these friendly events, one person stepping up and voicing some anger, it turns the dynamic like that. And then the anger roils up among other people, and it just kind of gets nasty.
This happened last night at the Ivey town hall, where a constituent named John from Prince Georges County, Maryland, decided to get animated and really challenge him over the idea that the Democrats were just not fighting hard enough.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not that you're in the minority. It's that you aren't even working together on a shared strategy.
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that is failure.
So to be clear, Congressman, we are -- the message you should clearly take to your colleagues from your constituents is this. We are not interested in hearing that you are in the minority. We know that.
We want you to show some of the backbone and strategic brilliance that Mitch McConnell would have in the minority.
(APPLAUSE)
REP. GLENN IVEY (D-MD): Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want you to show fight, and you are not fighting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Now, Congressman Ivey didn't take grief just over that. He took grief, Boris, over things like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his support for Israel.
It almost didn't matter what the subject matter was. Once these people got going, they really kind of gave it to him. And again, this was a friendly audience, mostly Democrats in that crowd.
SANCHEZ: Yes, fascinating to see those questions aimed at him.
Brian Todd, thank you so much for the reporting.
Brianna?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: With us now is Democratic Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina.
Sir, thanks for being with us.
You heard that voter at Congressman Ivey's town hall, a sentiment that is reflected by many Democrats across the country, saying it's not that Democrats are in the minority, it's that you all aren't even working together on a shared strategy.
What do you say to that?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, I'll say that message has been received. We do know how frustrated the American people are. I hear here in my congressional district.
I'm here to Saxon Democratic Party headquarters at the moment working on strategies for trying to respond to a lot of these aspirational views that people have and trying to get them connected to exactly what it is that we're doing.
And it's not helpful when people see the House voting in one direction and the Senate voting in another. And that is what has led to a lot of this discontent.
And so that message had been received. And I'm hopeful that we will begin to show the American people, not only that we are working together -- and we are. We are very united as a party. That doesn't mean we unanimous as a party.
We're not unanimous. The House voted in a very united way, but we were not unanimous. One House member voted the other way. The Senate, I thought, was a little less united. Ten people voting in the other direction. But that's the way democracy works.
But our job is to get the American people to understand that we are fighting and exactly how we need to fight in order to win this.
And so I know that the frustrations are there. I spent all day yesterday down in Charleston, South Carolina, and I heard these frustrations.
And they aren't just coming from Democrats.
KEILAR: Yes.
CLYBURN: People I was with yesterday were mostly Republicans.
KEILAR: But --
CLYBURN: They are frustrated as well.
KEILAR: Sir, let me ask you. CLYBURN: Because, they see --
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: If I can -- if I can interrupt you. Because we have only a short amount of time here.
But the difference in the House and the Senate is that Republicans didn't need your votes in the House in order to pass this stopgap funding bill. So it was much more consequential in the Senate.
[13:35:03]
And I know you don't need me to explain that to you. Voters know that. That's why they're so upset about this Senate vote.
So when you, for instance, hear Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who was asked about Schumer's vote to avert the shutdown yesterday, she said this: "I myself don't give away anything for nothing. And I think that's what happened the other day."
What should have happened, in your opinion?
CLYBURN: Well, the day after the vote, I spoke out myself and I said that I thought that the House was blindsided in this vote. We we're led to believe that the Senate -- House or Senate Democrats we're united in opposition. And that's what we heard.
Twenty-four hours later and we heard something different. So it's not the question of whether or not the vote was the right vote to take. The question was the process by which the Senate got to the vote. And the House felt that they were not being, well, listened to.
KEILAR: Sir, can I -- I don't know that voters are sending the message that they think it was the process. I think they really wanted a lot of Democrats to see the government shut down. And certainly Chuck Schumer did not think that was the right way to go here.
But I do want to ask you because of this discord in the party, in 2024, there was no open Democratic primary. We didn't really get to see a bench of Democratic voices. We could have seen that if Joe Biden had stepped down sooner.
But I wonder, if not being able to see that and have that sort of national stage for those folks, if you can draw a line from that to a lack of more practiced leadership in the Democratic Party, as we're seeing right now.
CLYBURN: Well, I don't know if you can draw a line or not, but I know I don't waste any time drawing lines. You know, I learned very early not to spend a whole lot of time crying over spilled milk.
The campaign is over. We've lost the election. What we've got to do now is develop a response to the American people on what we, as Democrats, are going to do going forward. And so whether or not Joe Biden should have dropped out earlier,
whether or not we should have had a primary, that is of no consequence at this particular juncture in our lives.
We have got to figure out how to best approach governance in such a way that everybody will feel a part of this process, showing that we are protecting peoples dreams and aspirations, not allowing this administration to continue to throw up these shiny objects while they implement what I call Jim crow 2.0.
What does DEI have to do with Jackie Robinson and Medgar Evers? And what does that have to do with saying it is no longer a persona non grata to have government-sponsored events in segregated establishments?
This is the establishment of Jim crow 2.0. I said that before we ever had the election, and it's coming true.
And so I would hope that we would stop running around chasing these shiny, shiny objects and begin to focus the American people on exactly what this administration is doing.
(CROSSTALK)
CLYBURN: And I think it's a shame.
KEILAR: Are you -- are -- are you all focused on what the American people are telling you that they want, though?
CLYBURN: I think we are. I do think we are.
And I think that Hakeem Jeffries did have a meeting over the weekend with Chuck Schumer. And I hope that the two of them will be working in concert.
Not always agreeing, but working in concert so that the American people can see that not only do we have a plan, but we are implementing that plan, and we're doing so in a united way.
And please don't expect us to always be unanimous. We can -- if the vote is 99 to one, that's pretty united.
KEILAR: Congressman Jim Clyburn, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate your time.
CLYBURN: Thank you very much for having me.
[13:39:52]
KEILAR: And coming up, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams spending their first full day back on earth, readjusting to life with gravity. The question now is, what's next for them and for NASA?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: The Iowa man who has been questioned in the case of a missing U.S. college student in the Dominican Republic has won his request for freedom.
A judge sided with Joshua Riibe, who accused officials of inappropriately detaining him without ever filing charges. His legal team, though, says that he's still unable to leave the Caribbean nation because officials have yet to return his passport.
Meantime, the parents of the missing 20-year-old, Sudiksha Konanki, are pleading with island officials to declare their daughter dead nearly two weeks after she vanished.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUBBARAYUDU KONANKI, FATHER OF SUDIKSHA KONANKI: It is with deep sadness, sadness and heavy --
(CRYING)
[13:45:06]
KONANKI: -- Nana --
(CRYING)
KONANKI: -- and heavy heart that we are coming to terms with the fact that our daughter has drowned.
This is incredibly difficult for us to process. We kindly ask you to keep our daughter in your prayers. We still have two young children to care for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: CNN's Jessica Hasbun is following the latest details from Santo Domingo.
Jessica, where is Riibe today and how soon can he return to the United States?
JESSICA HASBUN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me tell you, at this point, we know that Joshua Steven Riibe was moved from the Riu Republica Hotel where he had been staying since he arrived to the Dominican Republic and during all those interviews he had with the local prosecutor and the attorney general for the Dominican Republic.
We know, as of right now, his attorney, Beatrice Santana, has told us they are filing a formal request to authorities to get his passport back. And it's unclear when he will be leaving the Dominican Republic.
That comes when a judge here in the country granted Joshua that request for freedom. He's believed, of course, to be that last person to have seen the missing, the missing U.S. student, Sudiksha Konanki, who vanished on March 6th, nearly two weeks ago in Punta Cana.
Riibe argued he was detained and, like you mentioned, without charges. He appeared in court Tuesday to request his freedom. This came after Konanki's parents urged Dominican authorities to
officially declare their daughter dead just this Monday, as they believe she drowned, like you heard on that sound byte.
You could hear how heartbreaking this situation has been for her parents.
In that hearing, Riibe said Tuesday that he'd been trying to help with the investigation. But at this point, all he wants to do is get back to his life, to go home, back to Iowa.
SANCHEZ: Jessica Hasbun, thank you so much for the reporting from Santo Domingo.
Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:51:41]
SANCHEZ: Today, Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are spending their first full day on earth in Houston getting acquainted with gravity again after spending nine extra months that they had anticipated in space.
While the start of their mission had some issues, their splashdown in Florida was just about flawless.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Copy splashed down. We see main chutes cut.
Nick, Alex, Butch, Suni, on behalf of SpaceX, welcome home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: All right. That looked pretty good there.
Joining us now is former NASA biologist, Keith Cowing, who is now editor of "NASAWatch."
All right, Keith, tell us about what you saw there. It looked pretty picture perfect after what was a tough, long sort of deployment there in space for them.
KEITH COWING, EDITOR, NASAWATCH: It looked picture perfect. And they -- on top of that, they had two dolphins to greet them, which was kind of cool since the spacecraft they went up in was named Calypso and both Butch and -- and Suni are naval aviators. So it was kind of cool to see that, too.
KEILAR: Yes.
SANCHEZ: What do you think is the lesson from this space mission? Obviously, things didn't go as planned. They got hit with a major curveball. Fortunately, they're home safe, though. COWING: Yes. You know, I can look to personal experience. I've been on
three expeditions to near the North Pole, one to the Himalayas. Had a lot of gear, had a lot of things to do, a lot of science to do.
And there's logistics that go with this when it's a long trip to a remote place that's dangerous. And coming home is just as hard. You plan the logistics out.
What happened is the -- the plane or the ship that they went up in couldn't bring them home. They had planned for this. And they went and looked at the whole year ahead. saying, what's the best way to do this?
They had a ship that could have brought them home at any time, but they all said, hey, you know, we kind of thought this might be an issue. It works best if we stay up here. There's always too much to do.
And I know enough astronauts, especially with Suni, who I've known for a long time, if you said, hey, you got to spend more time in outer space, well, you've seen how she reacts to everything like that. She just. OK, great, let's do it.
KEILAR: So maybe some cheers, some jazz hands as we see her do.
So, Keith, we should note, I mean, it's -- its so exciting. We've been watching this since the moment they got up there. Just sort of as an anchor team here. And the nation is excited. They're celebrating this successful return.
But what are you seeing as the state of space travel and NASA just writ large? I know on a recent podcast you talked of a, quote, "fear on steroids." Can you explain that?
COWING: Yes. You know, it's kind of interesting. With these new spacecraft, you get in and the people who, quote, "are pilots" know what to do in case something goes wrong.
But this is a consumer product, the SpaceX Dragon. It literally, you just sit there and it's a ride up and back and down. And I've had mountaineering friends say that they were more worried about climbing a mountain than going into space because you're just like, you know, oh, we're here.
But in terms of the bigger picture, you know, we hear about Artemis going back to the moon. And we see that the NASA approach with the big rocket and the delays and all the money isn't kind of fitting in with things that are going on with DOGE and the government.
And yet, you look at the big starship that could do all this stuff, maybe simpler, and then you look at the Falcon 9 and the Dragon that do things. How do you mix and match that stuff better so that you can do these things?
[13:55:06] And, OK, by the way, there's a whole bunch of difficult decisions and contracts that need to be canceled, politicians to be placated and so forth.
You know, sometimes the rocket science is the easy part. It's the political science that you have to deal with.
KEILAR: Yes, that's a very good point. Political science is a tricky one.
Keith Cowing, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
COWING: My pleasure.
KEILAR: And minutes from now, we're going to bring you the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates. We'll break down how the markets are reacting, what that decision means for you. Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
