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Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) On Funding Talks Stalling As TSA Agents Brace For Second Missed Paycheck; Maduro Heads Back To Federal Court Months After Capture; New Police Bodycam Video Of Wife After Alleged Cliffside Attack. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 26, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:31:35]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, with no funding deal in sight on Capitol Hill airports are once again bracing for the rush of weekend travelers. President Trump posting just moments ago calling on Senate Republicans to "Terminate the filibuster and get our airports and everything else moving again."

At Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport TSA wait times again exceeding four hours before 6:00 a.m. local time. The airport seeing some of the longest lines in the country because at least half its security lanes are closed. On Tuesday nearly 40 percent of TSA employees at Houston's airport did not come in for work.

All of this, of course, as many TSA agents are really struggling to make ends meet. A reminder, they have not been paid. That means they can't pay for things like childcare or even gas to put in their cars.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is at the Houston Airport for us again this morning. So you're inside today, Ed. The question for you: Do the lines still go all the way outside?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You can see this is the main lobby area of Terminal E. The lines once again filling up, spilling outside and then going back downstairs as well. And people getting here very early to try to catch these early morning flights.

I want to talk to these ladies. Where are you headed and what time did you get here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Um, we're headed to the Dominican and we got here around 4:00, 4:30-ish.

LAVANDERA: So we're about two hours into your wait?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

LAVANDERA: And what time is your flight?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ten o'clock.

LAVANDERA: All right. So you should make it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hopefully.

LAVANDERA: You should make it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're almost at the finish line but it was a long, long walk.

LAVANDERA: And where did you start the line?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the bottom. Then we went outside. Then we came back in. We had to go back around, and it was long.

LAVANDERA: Do you wish you had, like, the Disney Fast Pass?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

(Laughter)

All right. So it's -- you know, Erica, we're hearing a lot of that. People showing up super early, especially for these early morning flights.

I just talked to one gentleman who got her at 2:00 in the morning to wait. He's got a 7:00 a.m. flight to Midland, Texas. He's not going to make it. He literally just passed me, and he's got about another hour or so wait before he gets through the TSA security line, so he's having to rebook his flight.

So again, that is the nightmare that is going to continue to unfold here through the morning because airport officials here at George Bush Intercontinental tell us that today will be a heavy travel day. They are expecting lines right now. The airport's website already posting flight wait times of about four hours, and that's going to continue so we will continue monitoring the lines.

And as we've talked about, these lines not only fill up the top level here, but they go down on the floor below and eventually they will make it into the subway area -- in the tram area that connects to various terminals. So it is going to be a difficult day for these travelers you see behind us.

HILL: Yeah, it certainly is.

Ed, appreciate it. Thank you -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you so much.

Joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. She serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committees.

Look, we were just listening to our colleague there in Houston. Ed was telling us these lines are four hours long. This has gone on for days now.

We also spoke to a TSA officer whose husband works for TSA. Both have gone without paychecks, like everyone else in the TSA, for 41 days. And one of them says look, I'm having to skip meals to be able to feed my children.

Are y'all in Congress really going to go on recess before you get funding passed for these workers?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): OK, Sara, good morning.

[07:35:00]

Let me first tell you I really understand. I work with my TSA workers in Michigan at the Detroit Airport all of the time. There are people that have not recovered from the last shutdown. You just talked about not -- they can't pay for daycare. They don't have gas to get in their car to get to work.

Now, our airport has done a number of things to try to mitigate it, but I'll tell you what, the administration and the TSA in even trying to help these workers makes it difficult.

Last time we wanted to -- I keep my hands off because a member of Congress is dangerous for any TSA agent to directly speak to if they know about it. But their workers and others wanted to do a food bank, and they were told they couldn't take food from the food bank because it was a gift. The same administration that can take a plane from a foreign country? So we've got to get them back to work.

I had -- you know, had an amendment at the Rules Committee to start funding TSA. I have standing legislation that says we've got to take them out of being a ping-pong ball. It -- it's just wrong.

But the Senate Republicans have voted down nine times, and it may have been a 10th yesterday, to fund them. We have got proposals on the table to do clean funding of TSA. My bill would just fund TSA and take them out of being a ping-pong ball. We have to stop doing this to these people. They keep us safe.

But if we fund TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard, then let's go have the discussion that we need to have on ICE and Customs and Border Patrol. It isn't right that we're here, but Republicans can vote for that any time, any minute.

SIDNER: Let me ask you about -- let's just push forward to what is happening with this war with Iran. The White House still will not commit to seeking congressional authorization before potentially deploying U.S. troops on the ground to Iran. They are preparing to send the 82nd Airborne paratroopers, according to our reporters, and have already sent Marines to the region.

I mean, this is technically a lame duck president. He's not coming to Congress, so far. So what's Congress going to do about it?

DINGELL: Well, first of all, I don't call somebody a lame duck president that has three more years of damage that he could cause.

And I do believe -- I mean, I hope the Republicans are going to start to do something to demand more accountability. You've heard them saying that. I think when they go home and their constituents are paying gasoline prices that are over the sky -- my prices have gone -- you know, are over $4.00 in Michigan now per gallon.

But you've heard a number of senators and Republican House members express concern when the $200 billion taxes -- costs associated with this and that they were going to come ask for that.

There were briefings yesterday. I was not part of them. Members walked out of that and were very disturbed about the -- Republican members were very disturbed about the lack of answers. We -- the president has to come to the Congress. And if we start to see boots on the ground, you're going to continue to see us raising resolutions on the floor demanding that the president bring this to the Congress. And we'll see how many Republicans are willing to continue to give the president a pass on this.

SIDNER: But we are seeing some Republicans, including Nancy Mace, who has said she just doesn't see the intelligence for the need for boots on the ground and wants the president to come to Congress for that.

She also talked about something else. We saw something happen in Florida that we haven't seen in quite some -- a while. A Democrat has flipped Florida's State Senate seat in Trump's backyard. Literally, it is part of Mar-a-Lago that she will represent.

I want to let you listen to what Nancy Mace said about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR, "LAURA COATES LIVE": Will this war cost Republicans electoral victories?

REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): If there are boots on the ground, I think there will be enormous costs associated with it. And I would never make any decision going into war or not into war based on politics, but this is a midterm year, and I think that there will be consequences to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So she's talking about the consequences of war there.

Do you feel at this point in time that you, as Democrats, are in a very, very good position for the midterms or are you concerned?

DINGELL: I am a person that takes nothing for granted and knows that we have to work every single day to show our constituents how they're going to -- how we're going to deliver for them.

But I'll tell you something. A lot of people voted for President Trump because they wanted to see the economy fixed and they were tired of forever wars. And what they have is another war now threatening to send their young sons and daughters into -- onto the ground, and that instead of prices going down they're all going up. The cost of oil has increased, the cost of groceries. All goods is being impacted by this war. And gasoline prices are something people see every single day.

[07:40:05]

This president is not delivering on what he promised to those that voted for him.

SIDNER: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. Thank you so much for coming in early this morning for us. I do appreciate your chat.

Erica.

HILL: This morning ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is heading back to court in New York. So this will be his first appearance in public since he and his wife were arraigned back in early January following their capture in the stunning U.S. military and law enforcement operation.

Maduro is being held at that notorious Brooklyn jail we've talked so much about. He's trying to get his drug trafficking indictment tossed out.

This morning's appearance is also going to address a dispute over paying his lawyer. The former president of Venezuela could actually end up with a court-appointed attorney. He and his wife have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

CNN's senior legal analyst Elie Honig is here. He's also a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District here in New York.

So Elie, first of all, walk us through the charges that Nicolas Maduro and his wife are facing.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Yeah, Erica, it's been a long time since he's been in court. So --

HILL: A lot has happened.

HONIG: -- as a refresher, Nicolas Maduro and his wife are facing federal charges. The crux of the indictment is that Maduro and his co- conspirators for decades partnered with some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narcoterrorists in the world and relied on corrupt officials throughout the region to distribute tons of cocaine in the United States.

Now specifically, Maduro is facing four charges.

First of all, narcoterrorism. That Maduro worked with foreign terrorist organizations, including the FARC, the Sinaloa, and others, to bring in tons of cocaine to the United States. Related to that he's charged with the actual cocaine importation. The indictment actually says Maduro was responsible for over 200 tons of cocaine per year throughout the '90s and into the 2000s. And then two counts of using machine guns and destructive devices like bombs and IEDs to further their operation. If he's convicted, Erica, Maduro will do anywhere from 30 years to

life in prison. He's sixty-some years old so that'll be essentially the rest of his life.

HILL: So those are the charges.

Walk us through who some of they key players are here.

HONIG: Yeah, here is who to watch today. The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York is Jay Clayton. Now, he will not be trying this case. There's a team of four prosecutors who you'll see in court today. Fun fact, two of those four were my former paralegals.

HILL: Oh!

HONIG: Time flies. I know. I can hardly believe it myself.

HILL: So how did you train them is the question now.

HONIG: We'll see. They better -- they better show up for me.

HILL: They better.

HONIG: The defendant, of course, is Nicolas Maduro. He will be in the court. As you said, he's being held in the famous or infamous MDC, the prison in Brooklyn.

Barry Pollack is the private criminal defense lawyer who Nicolas Maduro has for now. But as you've noted, there is some question about whether he'll stay on the case.

The judge, Alvin Hellerstein, is a very experienced judge. He's been on the bench since the 1990s. I tried a bunch of cases in front of him. He is 92 years old, however. There has been some noise out there that he might want to consider reassigning this case, but he has not done that so far.

HILL: Reassigning because it could take so long?

HONIG: Reassigning because he's a senior judge.

HILL: Right.

HONIG: You are allowed to reassign, yes, because it's going to be a huge lift.

HILL: Yeah.

HONIG: It's going to take a long time. He's not moving the case particularly quickly either.

HILL: Right, which leads to some other questions.

HONIG: Yeah.

HILL: OK, so what is going to happen today? So as we're looking at what happens in court today there's actually a couple of different things.

HONIG: Yeah. So really important issues that are pending.

First of all, payment of defense counsel. Now, Maduro wants the government of Venezuela to pay his private lawyer. This could be millions of dollars, by the way --

HILL: Um-hum.

HONIG: -- and the government of Venezuela is willing. But the U.S. government's position is that would violate sanctions that are in place against Venezuela and against Maduro himself. Really, a sort of unprecedented issue --

HILL: Yeah.

HONIG: -- that they're going to have to brief and argue today.

HILL: They're saying he can use his own money.

HONIG: Yes, he certainly can use his own money. I'm not sure he can afford it. He's actually said if Venezuela can't pay, he will have to have a court-appointed lawyer -- either a public defender or what we call a CJA-appointed attorney. So we don't know who is going to end up representing Nicolas Maduro. That's a really important issue.

HILL: Um-hum.

HONIG: Also, the judge should set a motion schedule. Maduro is going to ask to dismiss his indictment. He's going to claim he was illegally arrested. He's going to claim he has immunity. I think both of those are definitely uphill climbs for Nicolas Maduro. I don't think this is going to get the case dismissed.

And finally, what I'm really looking for, are we going to get a trial date? We're 2 1/2 months in and we don't even have a motions date yet. That is a slow track.

HILL: OK.

HONIG: The world is watching this. If I was the prosecutor I would be pushing hard for some trial date. You want some concrete date that you can look towards and count back from.

HILL: If you had a crystal ball, when do you think that date could potentially be?

HONIG: I would say the earliest that we could see a trial would be late this year, 2026 --

HILL: OK.

HONIG: -- and maybe into early 2027.

HILL: All right, Elie, appreciate it.

HONIG: Thanks.

HILL: Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you both.

This morning we're hearing more from Savannah Guthrie about her family's agonizing heartbreak as the search for her mother now enters week seven. She told her colleagues at NBC's "TODAY" show her family has been in agony since Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Arizona home.

CNN's Brian Stelter is joining us now. It is so, so difficult to see her go through this but she talked a lot about what was going on with her family and with -- and how she's dealing with this.

[07:45:00]

What did we learn from her conversation with Hota Kotb?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yeah. Number one, she is sharing that this apparent kidnapping, which has still not been solved, which has still not been resolved, is something that has brought her so much personal guilt and pain because of the notion that she might have been targeted, that her family might have been targeted, and that ultimately, her mom may have been targeted because of her fame and fortune.

Savannah saying that she says she's so sorry. "If it was me, I'm so sorry." She says she has expressed those apologies to her own brother and sister and relatives for possibly bringing this on to the family. Although, again, we don't know that for sure. There's so much we don't know and that's one of the key points Savannah has expressed in this interview today. She says, "We still don't know anything."

You know, the ransom notes that were alleged -- none of those panned out necessarily. She says there were many ransom notes received that were certainly not real.

Here is a clip from the interview -- Savannah talking about how she found out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC ANCHOR, "TODAY": I'm on the phone with the sheriff and trying to, you know, really make clear as -- I mean, from the very early moments, you know, Annie and Tommy were saying this isn't -- this isn't that case --

HOTA KOTB, NBC ANCHOR, "TODAY": Right.

GUTHRIE: -- that you are used to where someone wanders off. She can't wander off.

KOTB: Um-hum.

GUTHRIE: My mom -- her -- she was in tremendous pain. KOTB: Yeah.

GUTHRIE: Her back was very bad, you know. She was trying to -- on a good day she could walk down to the mailbox and get the mail, but most days not.

So there was no wander off. And the doors were propped open --

KOTB: Yeah.

GUTHRIE: -- and there was blood on the front doorstep. And the Ring camera had been yanked off.

KOTB: Yeah.

GUTHRIE: And so we were saying this is --

KOTB: Yeah, do something.

GUTHRIE: -- this is not OK.

KOTB: Yeah.

GUTHRIE: This isn't -- something is very wrong here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STELTER: Savannah talks about these last two months being surreal. She says the early days were a blur with so many tears, so many prayers. She said investigators are still working "tirelessly" -- that's her word -- but she said we need answers.

And her decision to speak out now, her decision to give this first interview, it comes as she prepares to return to work at the "TODAY" show.

But it really underscores the lack of answers in this case. That yes, this does seem to have been a kidnapping -- maybe a kidnapping gone wrong, but she doesn't know for sure. She doesn't know for sure if this was brought on somehow by the fact that she's a nationally known figure and is perceived to be rich.

You know, there's so many uncertainties, so many unknowns, and that seems to be what has caused so much agony for the Guthrie family -- not just in the last month when this captivated the country but still today and every day as there are so many unknowns still.

SIDNER: Yeah. I hate that she is feeling this deep pain and guilt. It is not her fault. Someone -- some terrible human being did this to her mom. And what's really wild is that there is some video of a potential suspect and yet we still and they still know nothing about where her mother is. It is truly a tragedy.

Brian Stelter, thank you so much for staying on this. I do appreciate it -- Erica.

HILL: Just ahead here, the landmark verdict and what it could mean for the future of social media.

Plus, the first lady hosting a surprising guest at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FIGURE 03 HUMANOID ROBOT: Thank you, first lady Melania Trump, for inviting me to the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[07:52:45]

SIDNER: This morning both Meta and YouTube say they plan to appeal after a Los Angeles jury found the companies liable for knowingly creating addictive platforms that harm children.

The plaintiff said she became addicted to social media as a child and that the addiction made her mental health struggles worse. The jury awarded her $6 million.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK LANIER, PLAINTIFF'S ATTORNEY: There are so many families who have been tragically hurt through the addiction of social media, and we've sent a message with this that you will be held accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: The decision came about 24 hours after a jury in New Mexico slapped Meta for liable of violating its Consumer Protection laws and endangering young users.

CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy joins me now. I mean, these are two huge cases partly because there is no regulation surrounding this. And these juries came back and they really came after Meta and said you are responsible for this.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: This really is a turning point for the entire social media industry because of that, Sara. Because this is proof that these companies are not immune from being responsible for the impact of their platforms on users.

And I really do think -- I mean, of course, this Los Angeles case was the first of hundreds of cases that have been filed. It was always set out to be sort of roadmap for those other cases from families, from school districts, from state attorneys general. So you have this real model for how those other cases can approach their trials, their lawsuits.

This also tested a new legal theory. For a long time the social media platforms have been shielded from accountability by this law called Section 230 that says that they can't be held responsible for the content that users post on their platforms. These lawsuits in Los Angeles and New Mexico said no, you should be

held accountable for the design choices that you have made. How you operate your platforms. And the juries agreed with that.

I want to just read to you a tick-through from this jury form in Los Angeles because I think it is so powerful to hear it.

Were these companies negligent? Yes.

Were these companies' negligence a substantial factor in causing harm to this plaintiff? Yes.

Did these companies know that their design was dangerous? Yes.

[07:55:00]

Did they know that users would not realize the danger? Yes.

Would a reasonable platform have warned users of those dangers? Yes.

I just think this sort of a referendum on how many Americans are feeling about these big tech companies.

Now, of course, this is going to take a long time to play out. Both of these companies say they will appeal and I'll read to you what they told me.

A Meta spokesperson said in a statement, "Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online."

A Google spokesperson told me, "This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly-built streaming platform, not a social media site."

But, of course, if these companies continue to lose these cases, we could see potentially billions of dollars in damages and also them forced to make changes to their platforms.

And, of course, parents and advocates are certainly hoping that U.S. lawmakers are watching this closely. Watching the evidence that has come out in this trial and that could motivate them to finally pass more comprehensive legislation.

SIDNER: Yeah. I think there's this situation here where in some cases in this country, we've seen this before where when Congress doesn't act it ends up that the courts act, and that is what effects change. It's kind of a circle that it goes back to Congress.

DUFFY: Exactly. So much what we saw with big tobacco --

SIDNER: That's right.

DUFFY: -- that changed the whole culture around that product. SIDNER: Yeah. We will see what happens here. But those are two big cases against Meta and YouTube and wow, the juries not happy with what they were seeing.

I really do appreciate it -- Erica.

HILL: So mailing a package -- you can add that to the list of things that's about to get more expensive. The U.S. Postal Service is announcing a fuel surcharge. This is directly tied to rising energy costs amid the war with Iran. The USPS says it's an eight percent package fee only for packages. It is temporary. It rolls out next month.

UPS and FedEx have automatic surcharges that kick in when fuel prices go above certain levels.

How about this? A woman found hanging from a steep cliff. This was overlooking San Francisco's Ocean Beach. So you can see the woman. She was hanging -- this is when she's being rescued. She was seen clinging some 70 feet down there in her bathing suit. Unclear how the woman ended up there.

The good news though, firefighters did manage to get her back up. They dropped a rescue cable and had her secure herself, and one of the firefighters rappelled down to help bring her to safety -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Erica.

Happening today, a Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill his wife on a birthday hike is back in court.

Yesterday jurors were shown graphic body camera footage -- that is this here -- of officers responding to Arlene (sic) Konig after -- sorry, Arielle Konig after the alleged attack on a steep cliff. She's being helped there by two women who heard her screaming for help.

CNN's Jean Casarez joins me now. I mean, to see that video that many of us have seen because it's been sort of in the media before -- but to see that video and the fact that she was screaming about her own husband is chilling.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is.

Now, Gerhardt is the defendant. He's an anesthesiologist on Maui. The couple lived on Maui. She was a project manager of a nuclear energy company.

At the -- at the end of 2024 they were having serious marital issues, and I'll go into that in a second. But they were getting professional counseling, and she testified that step-by-step it was getting better.

On her birthday, one year ago -- two days ago -- right now --

SIDNER: Oh my gosh.

CASAREZ: -- he said let's go to Maui. Let's go to Oahu for a trip. So they went and it was a couple's spa and then they did dinner and shopping. It was wonderful.

And then the next day was the hike. And this was Pali Puka Trail. She said when she got there it was very steep and she was a little scared. But as they were coming down her back is toward a cliff. He grabs her by her upper arms and pushes her a little bit toward the cliff and he says, "I am so sick of this." And I'll let you listen to her testimony of what happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIELLE KONIG, DEFENDANT'S WIFE: He was first trying to pull me, trying to get me closer to the cliff. And again, I could kind of hold onto the roots and stuff that were around us. And then he had a backpack that he was hiking with and he -- like I said, he's on top of me and he had a syringe in his hand. And he says, "Hold still." And I see the syringe and I just kind of like bat it away from us both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Wow.

CASAREZ: So then she said that he kept restraining her and had -- he had a vial in his hand. And he said look -- she said, "Look, this -- nobody's going to believe this was an accident." She says, "I'm going to die, you're going to be arrested. You're going to go to jail. Our kids will be orphans. You've got to stop this."

And then she said -- she testified he picked up a rock. Listen to what she testified about that rock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KONIG: So he takes a deep breath and then he just starts hitting my face and my head with a rock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see where the defendant got the rock from?

KONIG: I didn't see where he got it from but, like, spatially, he was like reaching up around this area of my head.

[08:00:00]