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Atlantic Editor Says More to Come on War Plan Group Chat; Pope was so Close to Death, Doctors Considered Ending Treatment; Florida May Lift Some Child Labor Laws Due to Lack of Migrant Workers. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired March 25, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We have some new details on our top story. The Atlantic reporter accidentally added to a chat in which top Trump administration and White House officials discussed an attack in Yemen, says more, more reporting is coming. This after several top officials in the chain denied that classified information was discussed.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: With us now we have senior justice correspondent Evan Perez. A lot of different attempts here that we're hearing from the president as well as his allies to kind of deflect criticism here. But let's just start with the first one, which is there seems to be this question of, is this classified information?

This kind of thing, like prospective information, targets, including people, weapons system, attacking sequences, times, and happening ahead of time, a couple hours ahead of time. Is that routinely classified information?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it seems it would certainly be very sensitive information that you would not want the enemy to know because it put the lives of some of the military people who are operating, for example, the fighter jets, or anybody, you know, if you're, for example, using drones, all of that would be put at risk and the attack would not be as successful if they had that information ahead of time.

And so what you heard today, though, during the hearing is an attempt by certainly by the CIA Director Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, to sort of put the emphasis and the sort of responsibility on Pete Hegseth.

He is obviously the Defense Secretary. He is the one that introduced all of this very, very sensitive information on the chat, according to Jeffrey Goldberg. And because he is what they call an original classification authority on this chat, basically, he has the power to declassify the information. So what it appears they're doing is they're making it clear that, you know, if Hegseth put it in there, then Hegseth must have declassified it, and therefore there is no legal violation, there's no crime, there is nothing to see here, move on.

And I think that's where they're going in the end with this. And I think it's also an explanation of why you don't see the FBI running in here to do an investigation. Look, we've been around, right? We've been here over the last few years with various versions of classified information scandals, including, of course, the Hillary e-mail scandals, where Mike Waltz and Pete Hegseth and everybody was saying that Hillary Clinton should go to prison, right, because of the way she mishandled classified information. From what I can tell, nothing as serious as this. And so the question is, why isn't the FBI investigating?

Today, Kash Patel, at the hearing, said that he only learned about this recently, last night or this morning, and so he can't provide any information as to whether they're going to investigate. But there is absolutely no reason why the FBI should not be investigating, or the Justice Department, you know, they should want to know the damage that was done here.

SANCHEZ: Evan Perez, thank you so much. I threw a TH in there at the end, even more authentic.

PEREZ: I mean, we're going to, I like the evolution of this.

SANCHEZ: This is good. Perez, Perez, Perez, Perez.

[15:35:00]

Thanks so much, Evan, appreciate you.

We got an update on the health of Pope Francis. Apparently, he came so close to death while at the hospital, his medical team considered stopping treatment to let him pass away peacefully. We have more details from his doctor right after a quick break.

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[15:40:00]

SANCHEZ: So today we're learning that Pope Francis was close enough to death at one point that his medical team considered stopping treatment to let the pontiff die peacefully. That stunning development comes from the doctor who led the team caring for the 88-year-old. Incredibly, Pope Francis was discharged from the hospital this past Sunday after spending 38 days there.

KEILAR: CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb is with us now. Christopher, the doctor says it was the Pope's nurse who pressed the team to continue treatment. Tell us what you've learned.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, that's right. The Pope is very close to his nurse, a male nurse who he delegated and delegates medical decisions to. And during this crisis, it was the nurse who told the leader of the medical team treating the Pope to continue with as much treatment as possible.

And this is really why the Pope's life was saved, because it was this difficult situation the Pope had due to breathing crises that he was really very close to death, not just on one occasion, but actually two occasions, according to doctors. And the decision was taken to basically throw all the treatment they could at the Pope's condition and to hope that he would come through. And there was, of course, a risk to the Pope's vital organs by pursuing this line of treatment.

But the Pope did respond well. And he's now back in the Casa Santa Marta, his residence in the Vatican where he convalescing. He is taking two months to rest on doctor's orders. He is not seeing anyone. He is a trip -- sorry, a meeting that was planned with King Charles in the Vatican has been postponed. So the Pope is taking this time to rest and recuperate.

Now, before his hospitalization, the Pope was really having a very hectic schedule of meetings and audiences. But he's now going to have to change how he approaches things. He's going to have to slow down and to recover.

But really, the Pope's life was saved by both the medical skill of the doctors treating him, but also the Pope's own inner resilience and determination to to come through this. And that, I think, is very much down to his own desire to keep going, to continue as Pope. And of course, he's felt supported by the many prayers and good wishes from Catholics and others from across the world.

KEILAR: All right, Christopher, thank you so much for that.

And when we come back, Florida lawmakers have a solution to a worker shortage created by an immigration crackdown. Hire children to fill positions.

[15:45:00]

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KEILAR: To report or not to report, Jeffrey Goldberg, the reporter who was accidentally added to that war plan group chat, says more is to come. And CNN's Brian Stelter spoke to him today.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Brian joins us now live. He has a monumental decision to make, right, Brian?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, the question here is whether he's going to share some of the details from the targeting, the attack targeting plans that Pete Hegseth apparently sent to this signal group chat. We know that Goldberg originally said he was not going to do that because the information was confidential and it could harm U.S. military personnel. He was thinking about the national security risks as well as the legal ramifications if he published those details.

But now that these U.S. officials keep insisting this information was not classified, Goldberg does have a big decision to make. Does he want to come forward and share more of this information so the public can decide if it was appropriate for these officials to be sharing it on Signal? That's the question.

Goldberg says to me, I'm just continuing my reporting, more to come. He certainly has to discuss this with lawyers, among others, because of the national security implications. The Espionage Act has come up in recent hours, the last 24 hours, because of the chat that has been disclosed. But it is notable, Goldberg says, he's still working on this.

Meanwhile, Trump is lying about The Atlantic. And when we consider what else Trump is saying about this matter, just consider that what he says about the magazine is patently false. He calls it a failing magazine. In fact, The Atlantic is profitable, successful and growing. And this publication yesterday, this story, it is now ranking, according to News Whip, as the number one viral story of 2025 across the entire Internet -- Brianna, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Not surprising at all. We'll be closely watching what Jeffrey Goldberg publishes next. Brian Stelter, thank you so much for the update.

STELTER: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: So this is an interesting story. Lawmakers in Florida are debating whether to allow kids, children, to solve a job shortage problem caused by a crackdown on undocumented migrant workers. The Republican-led legislature there is considering a bill that would lift some state child labor restrictions.

KEILAR: SB 918, if passed, would expand when and how long some teens as young as 14 could work. It would allow children who are as young as 14 to work overnight shifts. It would allow teenagers to work overnight jobs on school days and end guaranteed meal breaks for 16 and 17 year olds.

Ana Ceballos is the state government and politics reporter for the Miami Herald. Ana, tell us a little bit about where this bill stands and how it got to this point.

[15:50:00]

ANA CEBALLOS, STATE GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS REPORTER, MIAMI HERALD: Yes, the bill was considered actually this morning in the Florida Senate, and it did clear.

And there was some concern raised by some Republicans who said, you know, we need to, we ought to let kids be kids. But this is really a continuation of a debate that's been going on in the legislature for at least two years of whether or not, you know, 16 and 17 year olds or children as young as 14 should have more leeway on the amount of hours or how late they should be going on school days or if they have some activities the next day. And we are seeing the debate, you know, coming as DeSantis is talking more about, you know, having a younger workforce is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to jobs at resorts or food industry.

SANCHEZ: Yes, DeSantis reportedly said, quote, why do we need to import foreigners, even import them illegally when you know teenagers used to work at these resorts? College students should be able to do this stuff. How is the Republican led immigration crackdown putting Florida in this position?

CEBALLOS: So the governor's comments came in a discussion with actually Trump supporters are who was in Florida last week. And they were talking about just the -- the discussion about how going and cracking down on illegal immigration could lead to shortfalls in the workforce. And he was saying that in Florida, we have, you know, implemented laws like E-Verify that require employers to really verify the employment status of their new hires.

And he was saying that he had been hearing all these concerns from people in resorts, that they were concerned that they would not be able to hire people. And his comments were in relation to, you know, what's wrong with having a young workforce? You know, teenagers and college students should be able to have these jobs.

And so this is really coloring the debate here in Tallahassee, as we're trying to -- we're seeing whether lawmakers, specifically Republicans in leadership are going to be loosening some of these laws that would allow more teenagers to work longer hours if we do see a shortfall in these jobs, as, you know, Florida is pretty much leading the charge in a lot of ways in how they're trying to identify and deport individuals.

And a lot of these individuals do work in Florida. So whether or not there will be vacancies, who will fill them? DeSantis is saying that this could be a potential solution to having a younger workforce.

KEILAR: Ana, you know, kids as young as 14 working overnight shifts, teenagers working overnight jobs on school days, ending guaranteed meal breaks for 16 and 17 year olds. Are there concerns that this would give employers, you know, they could, as they set a schedule, put people of these age groups into shifts in these particular situations, which are quite arduous for those age groups. Are there concerns about what that might do to academic performance?

CEBALLOS: I think that's the main concern we've heard, not just from Democrats, but, or from even advocates, but even from Republicans, right? They're saying, you know, we ought to -- it's not that there are anyone -- no one's really against allowing teenagers to work part- time jobs, but they are very concerned about removing all these limitations that would allow, you know, kids to do really be tired when they have to go to school the next day, or not having really the energy to study or do homework. And so these are the main concerns that we're hearing in both sides of the political spectrum, as well as from advocates.

And we have seen a lot of pushback in past years, and that pushback did result in, you know, some limitations and kind of backing away from these proposals. So it really just, we kind of have to see what the environment is like this year as we see this renewed effort coming up again in the legislature.

KEILAR: All right, we'll keep an eye on it. Ana Ceballos, thank you so much.

Stay with us. We'll be right back with more news. [15:55:00]

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SANCHEZ: When I say emotional support animal, what pops into your head might be a dog, a cat, maybe even a rabbit. You probably wouldn't think of this furry creature, a skunk, an animal people typically try to avoid.

KEILAR: It's kind of cute though. He's not any old stinker though. That's Mr. Sushi. He's a fully domesticated, de-scented 10 month old registered emotional support animal. And his owner says she's been traveling around Eastern Iowa with him, spreading comfort and cheer for those willing to get close. She also says that she's working to get Mr. Sushi certified as a therapy animal.

SANCHEZ: De-scented is the key part of what you relayed there. Yes. I can't imagine that anybody would keep an emotional support skunk if it was not de-scented.

KEILAR: How do you think he feels about being de-scented is the question?

SANCHEZ: He seems pretty cool about it.

KEILAR: So I came up with some names in the commercial break for my pet skunk if I were to have one. And I think they're pretty good. So I'm going to try.

I got skunky Brewster.

SANCHEZ: It's pretty good.

KEILAR: Spray Z.

SANCHEZ: That's a good one.

KEILAR: That's a good -- Stinky. You got to go with Stinky. That's just a good one. And then Pew Jackman.

SANCHEZ: That's a pretty good one too.

KEILAR: Right, sort of unconventional.

[16:00:00]

SANCHEZ: What possesses somebody to own a skunk?

KEILAR: It's kind of cute. Actually, once you think about it, it's just that we're so afraid of it because it stinks so much.

SANCHEZ: Yes, but like there's so many animals. This takes a fun story and makes it serious. But there's so many animals out there that need love and care and shelters right now. And you're like, nah, I want to be cool. I want to get a skunk so people can see me with the skunk. All right. KEILAR: Well, here it is on TV. So something worked. All right.

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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