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Measles Surpasses 400 Measles Cases In 2025; Trump Comments On Report That Cabinet Members Accidentally Texted "The Atlantic" Editor- In-Chief Specific Military Plans; Alleged MS-13 Gang Leader Deported, U.S. Charges Dropped; Rep. Gerry Connoly (D-VA) Discusses Trump Admin Accidentally Texts Reporter War Plans & Schumer Defending Shutdown Vote, Says He's "Not Stepping Down". Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired March 24, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:33:08]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Today, there is renewed alarm as the measles outbreak surpasses 400 cases in the United States just this year. So far, 19 states are reporting at least one infection. That's of the beginning of 2025.

It's Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, though, where nearly 90 percent of cases have been confirmed. More than half of all U.S. cases are in one Texas county alone, Gaines County.

With global cases surging, one U.S. pediatrician says, quote, "Measles is only a plane flight away."

Let's discuss with Dr. Jerome Adams, the former U.S. surgeon general under President Donald Trump. He's now the director of Health Equity at Purdue University.

Doctor, thank you so much for being with us.

Herd immunity, obviously, is a concept that many of us learned about during the Covid 19 pandemic. I wonder how you think it factors into this measles outbreak.

DR. JEROME ADAMS, DIRECTOR OF HEALTH EQUITY, PURDUE UNIVERSITY & FORMER U.S. SURGEON GENERAL UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, it absolutely factors into this measles outbreak because we know, as I highlight in my recent CNN op-ed, that the ability of some to go unvaccinated has always depended on the ability of the vast majority to get vaccinated.

Whether you're a young child who is unable to get vaccinated because you're not old enough, or whether you're someone with a medical contraindication, or even folks with philosophical or religious reasons not to get vaccinated, you're able not to get vaccinated against a highly contagious disease like measles, because so many other people around you provide this herd or community immunity.

And that's why I wanted to highlight in my op-ed that vaccination is a community responsibility. It's not just about individual choice. It's about protecting our communities and those around us.

And as we see that community immunity erodes, we're seeing an increase in outbreaks. As you highlighted.

[14:34:59]

SANCHEZ: You point out in the op-ed, the role that vaccine skeptics, specifically HHS Secretary R.F. Kennedy Jr., have played in diminishing numbers when it comes to folks actually getting vaccinated.

How would you assess his handling of this measles outbreak?

ADAMS: Well, I think it's important to -- to acknowledge the things that he said in the past that may be contributing to vaccine skepticism.

As former Surgeon General Dr. Murthy highlighted, misinformation is a public health crisis and it is fueling outbreaks.

However, I try to take a positive approach to this. No matter whether -- what he said in the past, he is our HHS secretary. He's committed to making America healthy again, or so he says.

And so I'm trying to highlight to him and to his followers that we cannot make America healthy again if we let measles become great again.

And so I'm hoping that, as he highlighted in his own FOX News op-ed after the outbreak occurred, that people are realizing we need to all come together and that he will become a vaccine champion.

Because if not, it doesn't matter what he does on chronic disease, it doesn't matter what he does with nutrition, he simply will not be able to make America healthy again, if we see measles, polio and other vaccine-preventable outbreaks become more and more common.

SANCHEZ: You were obviously surgeon general during Operation Warp Speed. I wonder if you draw a connection between some of the messaging around the Covid 19 vaccine and this new wave of vaccine skepticism? A lot of it seems to be rooted to the Covid vaccine.

ADAMS: Well, important to understand that we have been seeing vaccine skepticism rise for about the past two decades. In 2019, before Covid, we actually almost lost our measles eradication status because of large outbreaks in New York and Oregon and the state of Washington.

As you highlight, Covid really was an opportunity for many purveyors of vaccine misinformation to -- to -- to really increase their profiles and to increase distrust in government.

And we also have to acknowledge that there were mistakes made during the pandemic with messaging. I hated when we called it a pandemic of the unvaccinated because it was blaming and shaming, and we pushed people into the arms of those purveyors of misinformation. What we have to do now is say, look, Covid has been -- the pandemic is

over. That was five years ago that vaccine mandates happened. And we need to look forward and not backwards.

And looking forward, we're seeing 300-plus cases of measles. We're seeing one in 10 reported cases hospitalized. And we're seeing this occur because of decreased vaccination rates.

And so I hope Robert F. Kennedy Jr, I hope the new administration, I hope America at large will realize that we need to come together, particularly around childhood vaccinations.

Because our children deserve better. Every child deserves to grow up in a world free from preventable diseases like measles.

SANCHEZ: Dr. Jerome Adams, very much appreciate your time and the op- ed as well. Thanks for joining us.

ADAMS: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: You can now read it for yourself at CNN.com, by the way.

Up next, questions over the quietly dropped charges against an accused M.S.-13 gang leader. Why an ex-federal agent says that handing him over to El Salvador has been a huge loss for U.S. investigators. We have details next.

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[14:42:37]

SANCHEZ: We have breaking news to CNN. President Donald Trump is responding directly to reporting by Jeffrey Goldberg in "The Atlantic."

That he was inadvertently looped into this group chat, along with high-ranking administration officials, describing explicit detailed war plans on behalf of the United States to attack the Houthis in Yemen.

Here's President Trump just moments ago from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, your reaction to the -- the story in "The Atlantic" that said that some of your top cabinet officials and aides had been discussing very sensitive material through Signal and included an "Atlantic" reporter for that. What is your response to that? And are you --

(CROSSTALK)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know anything about it.

I'm not a big fan of "The Atlantic." It's -- to me, it's a magazine that's going out of business. I think it's not much of a magazine, but I know nothing about it. You're saying that they had, what?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They we're using Signal to coordinate on sensitive materials, and --

TRUMP: Having to do with what? Having to do with what? What were they talking about?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: With the Houthis?

TRUMP: The Houthis? You mean the attack on the Houthis? Well, it couldn't have been very effective because the attack was very effective. I can tell you that.

I don't know anything about it. You're -- you're telling me about it for the first time.

Anybody else?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Trump saying he doesn't know anything about it. He's certain to know something about it very soon. This is a big deal.

SANCHEZ: Yes. No question. He very quickly pivoted to another question from a reporter.

Important to point out that the author of this piece, Jeffrey Goldberg, and Trump, have a history. Goldberg reported extensively on comments that Trump reportedly made when he was president about U.S. servicemembers, calling them suckers and losers.

Trump clearly has that at top of mind when discussing "The Atlantic" and Jeffrey Goldberg generally.

Of course, we're going to keep an eye on what else comes out of the White House given this really stunning news and bring it to you as we get it.

Meantime, CNN has learned the U.S. has deported an alleged leader of the infamous Salvadoran gang, M.S.-13, and quietly dropped all the charges against him.

KEILAR: The expulsion of Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios means he avoids trial on his purported gang activity here in the U.S. It also means critical intel he allegedly has that could implicate top Salvadoran government officials went with him.

CNN's senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez, is here with this reporting.

All right. This is a really interesting one. This deportation has been called a historical loss for investigators. What happened?

[14:45:00] EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. This guy's a big deal. His name is Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios. And he is one of the so-called 12 Apostles of the Devil. This is the leadership of M.S.-13, according to -- to the U.S. government.

And he was set to go on trial in Brooklyn until this deal was made with El Salvador. Now, the Salvadorans agreed to take a number of alleged Venezuelan gang members. But what they wanted in this deal was some of these M.S.-13 leaders, including this one.

And according to people we've talked to, current and former law enforcement officials, this guy in particular possesses a lot of information about, not only about the -- this organizations, this gang organizations operations in El Salvador and Mexico and the United States.

But more importantly, he also has information on deals that M.S.-13 has -- has struck with Nayib Bukele's government. This is the government of El Salvador. He's, of course, the Salvadoran president, who has become somewhat -- somewhat of a star in conservative circles here in the United States.

And if you talk to law enforcement officials, they're very upset because they believe -- obviously, they spent years tracking this man and bringing him here, bringing him here to justice in the United States.

But they believe it's meant to shut him up, essentially take that intelligence that they could have gotten from him once he was convicted, and making sure that that never reaches the ears of the FBI.

I read you just a part of what the government says. "The M.S.-13 leaders, the deals that they've made with the with the Bukele government."

They say, "In exchange, M.S.-13 leaders agreed to reduce the number of public murders in El Salvador, which politically benefited the government of El Salvador.

By creating the perception that the government was reducing the murder rate, when, in fact, M.S.-13 leaders continued to authorize murders where the victims' bodies we're buried or otherwise hidden."

Now, if you look at the treasury sanctions against a couple members of Bukele's government, they describe how this deal was made, was worked out essentially to help him win reelection.

And one of the things that they did was, you know, they exchanged, they provided prostitutes and cell phones to some of these gang members behind prison that allows them to help keep operating or leading their organization, running their operation from behind prison doors.

So these men are now in this infamous prison called CECOT. And I should note, we reached out to the Salvadoran government, didn't get a comment from them. And also the Justice Department declined to comment for this story.

SANCHEZ: Fascinating, in part, because of what you pointed out, Bukele has become this sort of star for his tough-on-crime approach and the fact that the U.S. is now paying him to hold on to folks that the United States has deported.

So this deal that he apparently -- or maybe not he but that members of his government allegedly struck with M.S.-13, that upends that image of him.

PEREZ: Right, exactly. And look, the president of the United States on Friday, he says, Bukele is a friend of his. He -- we know he has struck very good friendships with -- with Erik Prince, with Marco Rubio.

And look, this is -- it's clear that that there was a -- there was a last minute snag where this deal was about to fall apart. And Marco Rubio had to get on the phone -- Priscilla Alvarez got that information from sources.

You know, and that really tells you a lot about how important the Salvadoran government viewed the return of these M.S.-13 members. And really raises the question of why it was that the United States wanted to make this deal in the first place.

SANCHEZ: Really significant allegations.

Evan Perez, thank you so much for the reporting. Perez, I'll remember next time.

PEREZ: That's right.

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Still to come this afternoon, there's trouble at the top of the Democratic Party. That and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[14:52:56]

KEILAR: Congress is back today after a week-long break that -- where we saw some Democratic lawmakers who got an earful from constituents demanding that they get tougher with President Trump.

Some of the frustration within the party is aimed at Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer. He's facing growing calls to step aside after his decision to support the Republican-backed stopgap spending bill to fund the government.

With us now is Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia. He is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.

And, sir, I do want to talk to you a little bit about the direction of the party. First, though, as you are likely aware, I do want to talk to you about

this breaking story that we're just getting word in from "The Atlantic"," where top Trump administration officials, included Peter Goldberg of "The Atlantic"," in a sensitive text chain for days leading up to and throughout U.S. strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

We are now hearing criticism from at least one Republican House member, a lot of Democrats as well. Do you think that the House will investigate this?

REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D-VA): No. I believe the Republicans don't want to investigate anything when it comes to Trump.

But of course, the other question is, should we? And the answer is yes. I mean, this is a -- you should forgive the expression -- Signal failure of U.S. intelligence and national security. And it's on Donald Trump's watch.

The fact that a interloper, in this case, the editor of "The Atlantic"," would be privy to detailed, granular planning for a major military operation in Yemen is really disturbing.

What else is compromised? Nuclear security codes? You know, war planning? You know, policies toward China and the and Russia on Ukraine? I mean, this is a big deal.

KEILAR: And it certainly is a big deal. We'll see what happens as we've just gotten news of it.

[14:55:05]

I do want to turn back to your party. You see it everywhere right now. Your party is in disarray. Criticism it's ineffectual --

CONNOLLY: Well --

KEILAR: -- as a --

CONNOLLY: No, no, no, no.

KEILAR: OK, then -- well, then let me say this. You are hearing from voters concerned, as they see it, that your party is ineffectual as a minority. That is a fact. They are at town halls. They are making their voices very clear on this.

So I want to know how you see it.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: What is the issue right now? What is the challenge for the Democratic Party right now? And how did the party get here?

CONNOLLY: I certainly do not see a party in disarray. I disagree with you fundamentally.

I helped build the party here in northern Virginia. We're in great shape. We're going to win the governor's race this November, one of only two in the country. And there's a lot of enthusiasm.

Now, is there -- is there frustration and anger with what's happening with Elon Musk and Donald Trump? Absolutely. And when that happens, people look for who to blame. Sometimes that's going to be, more often, I hope, Republicans.

But once in a while it's also going to be Democrats. Because the faithful don't feel enough is being done. Better communication and more action is called for.

But that's not disarray. That's a rambunctious party that is still trying to recover from what happened in November. I believe we will. We always have.

And I believe this kind of conversation will be, you know, anachronistic, if you will, come November.

KEILAR: OK. So you saw your House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, not long ago asked if he had confidence in Chuck Schumer and he wouldn't answer the question. Full view of the cameras. If that's not disarray, then what is that?

CONNOLLY: I think that's a New York snub. I don't call that disarray. That's New York politics. They both come from the same place. They -- they have lots in common, and they also have, I'm sure, some tensions, as most politicians do, even in the same party.

But that's not disarray. Disarray is a really big word, Brianna.

KEILAR: OK, well, I mean, we could quibble. I mean, we could have an interview where we quibble over disarray.

But I think -- let's say that there's room for improvement. I'm sure we could agree on that.

CONNOLLY: Yes, yes.

KEILAR: So you wrote over the weekend you're seeing people like Khanna, AOC, Bernie Sanders, they're out there. They're having prescriptions for how they think things could improve.

Ro Khanna said, of the party this weekend, our messaging is too fragmented. The old guard isn't cutting it. Who do you think he's talking about? And what do you -- what do you think needs to be done?

CONNOLLY: I don't know who he's talking about. I assume he's talking about our current leadership. And I'd love to have a chat with him about how fragmented does he think it is?

You know, I think we have to pick our battles. We've got to be strategic and we've got to be strategic in messaging. And we've got to make sure the messaging is not overly complicated. Right?

It's got to be something that people at their kitchen table can relate to. So, for example, you know, with Elon Musk and this DOGE effort, show people the consequences for them, for their lives and Social Security and Veterans Administration and IRS and national parks.

When you can take it home to people and they can see the actual consequences, then the messaging resonates and it's effective. We need to do a better job of that, no question about that, Brianna.

KEILAR: Congressman Gerry Connolly, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

CONNOLLY: My pleasure.

KEILAR: And the next hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts after a quick break.

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