Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

TSA Lines Appear Shorter; Trump Vows to Iran; Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) is Interviewed about Iran; Weather Relief Coming to the West. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired March 30, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

EMILY GREGORY (D), FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT: How important my army of volunteers was. I'm one person. I can knock on some -- a few thousand doors. But we got to as many voters as we did through, you know, 200 volunteers, many of which were engaging on a campaign for the first time.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, Representative-elect Emily Gregory, I know you're headed to Tallahassee soon to get sworn in. We appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much for being with us.

A brand-new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, some TSA workers are finally getting paid after weeks without paychecks because the president ordered DHS to pay them. But a TSA union rep just told us that two government shutdowns in five months have left many workers financially devastated. And this won't pay back or fix what they've been going through.

Also breaking this morning, President Trump now threatening to completely obliterate Iran's energy sources, its electricity, as well as possibly taking out its desalination plants if a deal isn't reached and the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened. A briefing from the White House is expected this afternoon.

And March Madness, indeed. Probably the most stunning ending to a college basketball game ever. If you haven't seen it, you got to see this.

I'm Sara Sidner, with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, after more than a month of no paychecks, TSA workers are starting to see new money in their bank accounts for the first time today. Roughly 61,000 people working for TSA haven't been paid since the -- since DHS was partially shut down in February. That now comes out to more than $1 billion in back pay. That comes after now the president signed an executive order directing DHS to find the money to pay them when Congress failed to reach a deal and left town for two weeks.

I want to play for you what one TSA worker and union rep just told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY JONES, SECRETARY-TREASURER OF UNION REPRESENTING TSA WORKERS: I actually just looked before I got on here. I did receive my salary payment earlier this morning. So, the -- but that the workforce is still getting back to normal. It's going to take some days because they still have to reset up their childcare. They still need to -- there's going to be loan sharks knocking at the door looking for all their money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The result of all of this? Well, we will see. But lines at security at some of the hardest hit airports throughout this appears to be easing. In Houston, lines went from -- lines that went for more than four hours long last week are now at just over an hour long today. That's in Houston. In Atlanta, that three-hour long line that we were tracking so closely, they're now down to mere minutes our Ryan Young reports.

CNN's Pete Muntean is at BWI for us this morning.

Let's get to the aforementioned CNN's Ryan Young, though, in Atlanta.

Seems quite a difference this morning, Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, big smiles, especially from the airport staff who've been working overtime to deal with all the extra people.

What do you do when you have a bunch of friends show up and stand in line for a long time? Well, you try to do the best you can, do hospitality. And I have to show you the lines that are not here anymore. We can actually look through here and see the no waiting in the main checkpoint here at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Folks have been surprised. Even veteran business travelers say they've never seen it this dead on a Monday because, obviously, this is a packed day for business travel. But that's what we're starting to see.

And I can tell you the impact of this is going to be felt for quite some time because there were people who had medical emergencies while this was going on. There were people who were upset. There were people who missed their flights. There was an economic impact to all this.

So, now that we see that these lines are almost nothing, it's really amazing. And if you look here, you can still see ICE agents still working some of the lines here where TSA would normally be. Not all the agents have filled in so far. We've talked to some off camera who say they can't wait to get some money because obviously paying their bills has been tough.

But listen to someone we talked to talk about who they think they should blame in all this because they are tired of this mess.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a common -- a mutual feeling with everybody. I mean it's kind of common sense. You know, nobody's getting paid, but they are getting paid, you know? So, they're delaying it. You know, they don't have a rush on it because they're not missing bills.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think that they should be holding the American public hostage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They need to get off vacation and get back to work. They need to pass everything and get moving again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, that's really been the groundswell of emotion here. People just talking about the idea that folks are going on vacation while other folks are still dealing with the pain of not being paid. We've heard that over and over again.

[09:05:00]

But I'm still shocked by the fact that on a Monday like this, the wait seems to be under five minutes. So, if you show up, there have been plenty of people who have come here four hours early, and now they have plenty of time to do whatever they want to do next.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Well, one of -- one of the things is definitely make that flight, which is definitely what they want to do next.

YOUNG: Yes.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Ryan. Thank you so much for being there for us, as you have been so long.

Let's go to Pete Muntean. He's at BWI.

Pete, talk to me about, one, what you're seeing, but, two, what you're hearing from TSA -- how this is all unfolding, money finally getting back into their bank accounts, but what this really all is looking like now.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Of course there's going to be a bit of a lag. And the big thing is, this is primarily a back pay issue. A lot of folks still need to get back pay from the federal government here.

Night and day difference here, Kate, at BWI. This is the Security C checkpoint line here at BWI. This was the longest line when we were here on Friday. Three hour long waits. Now it looks like folks are getting through here maybe in minutes' time. The line here went from where I'm standing down to door eight over here. That's where people came in from outside. And then the line went down the hallway here, doubled back on itself, came back down here to another hallway by this Thurgood Marshall exhibit, went down there, made a 180 turn, and then ended up here. It took people two hours simply to get to this point. You might be thinking Monday, not as big of a day when it comes to air

travel. Not totally true. Southwest Airlines has 70 percent of the market share here. Just spoke to them. They're flying 4,200 planes today, primarily full. So, still a lot of people getting out for spring break travel.

I've asked the airport how long they anticipate it to be like this. They say it was like this yesterday. They think it will be like this going forward. The big change here is that these TSA workers are now getting paid and now incentivized to come in because the call-out rates here at BWI were some of the highest in the nation. And 33.8 percent of TSA workers here at BWI alone called out on the 28th. That is a huge number. And there were some estimates that the number could be even double that.

There was a rumor here at BWI that an afternoon shift for TSA did not show up. All four TSA checkpoints here now fully open. There were only two open on Friday, this one and another one for the D and E terminals, which is not near as populated because that's primarily international flights and airlines that don't have as many flights here at BWI, like Southwest Airlines.

So, a stark change here. We will see if it sticks.

The big question is, will TSA workers be in this position once again because that executive order from the White House, that only gets them pay up to this point. Seems like the pay is trickling in and workers are also trickling in as well.

BOLDUAN: Yes, how long -- how long this -- is this a reprieve or is this the beginning of a long term solution is now the critical question here.

Pete, thank you so much. Pete Muntean at BWI and Ryan Young for us at -- in Atlanta, of course.

John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking news, oil prices spiked again overnight. President Trump issued a new threat to Iran and said he wants that country's oil. This morning, the president says the U.S., though, is in serious discussion with Iran's, quote, "new and more reasonable regime" to end the war. But he added this, quote, "if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately open for business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, and possibly all desalinization plants, which would be an enormous escalation.

Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene live at the White House for the latest on this.

Good morning, Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yes, John, I mean, part of this, I will say, is we're seeing a lot

from both the United States and the president, but also from the Iranians. You know, this idea of what they want to project in public. And this is clearly threats from the president, as we know that the administration and several top Trump officials are trying to set up a meeting abroad with the Iranians, I should note also with some mediators, like the Pakistanis, the Egyptians and the Turkish, to try and have negotiations.

But this is a much more, you know, pointed and aggressive type of rhetoric from the president than what we heard just last night when the president was on Air Force One speaking to reporters and saying that he hopes and believes a deal with the Iranians is still potentially possible.

Listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've had very good negotiations today with Iran getting a lot of the things that they should have given us a long time ago.

[09:10:03]

I do see a deal in Iran, yes.

REPORTER: Mr. President --

TRUMP: Could be soon.

Well, they're agreeing with us on the plan. I mean we asked for 15 things, and for the most part, we're going to be asking for a couple of other things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: All right, well what you heard there from the president, I want to break it down a little bit. One is from my conversations, John, with the people in that building behind me. They tell me that the president is sincere about wanting diplomacy. A question, of course, is whether or not that's actually viable at this point.

You're hearing optimism from the president. You're hearing an entirely different type of message from the Iranians. We heard the Iranian foreign minister essentially saying that the 15-point plan, where the president is saying they've agreed to a lot of these items, he's completely -- the Iranians are completely rejecting that idea. The foreign minister said that the plan is largely excessive, unrealistic and unreasonable.

And so, again, a lot of this is how they're trying to talk about it publicly. There are different conversations happening private. But it is really going to be a question of whether this is actually a viable path forward for negotiations, because if it's not, what I have heard repeatedly in my conversations with people is that there are a number of different military plans that are circling, and really the only ones that could guarantee a quick and swift end to the war, as the Trump administration has promised, they would likely require ground troops. And that would also, of course, be a major escalation with a lot of risks involved.

John.

BERMAN: Again, we'll have to see over the course of the day, sometimes the president's rosiest assessments come just before the markets open or close, but we will see what transpires. I know the White House is going to brief today also.

Alayna Treene, thank you very much for that.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico. Thank you for being here.

Look, you just heard and probably saw what the president put out on social media, saying if Iran doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz, he will take out the electric generating plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly all desalinization plants. What do you think about that?

REP. GABE VASQUEZ (D-NM): Well, first, I think the president is trying to negotiate the United States out of war that he single-handedly started. Look, the attacks on the infrastructure on Iran and these empty threats, it seems like, I believe don't hold a lot of weight considering that the president is negotiating a major international conflict by social media. I think the United States needs to get serious about putting an end to this conflict and not being litigated by social media. And so, it's very hard for Americans to understand, one, the intent of the actual war itself. Second, how it winds down. And then third, and the most important, is what the role is going to be of American troops playing a potential role in a ground invasion, because that puts our military, our service men and women at risk, which I don't think anybody wants to see.

SIDNER: The president has also claimed that there is regime change there, that they are now talking with people who want to negotiate in Iran. What is your sense of the situation in Iran? Is there regime change in your mind?

VASQUEZ: Look, I really don't think so. I think the president has found himself in hot water, has found himself in a mess with honestly very predictable outcomes that were not thought through in a -- in a way that is deserving of the American power that we wield across the world. And what we're seeing now is, of course, we are sort of on an island. We're standing on a ledge by ourselves as the president is asking our allies to get involved, and they refuse to. This is a product of both failed international diplomacy, failed friendships with our allies. And now we are seeing that Iran is actually continuing to benefit from some of those sales of oil as those prices reach record levels, we're seeing that Iran is actually making more money at this point, and some of their vessels that are being allowed to transfer through the Strait of Hormuz is actually benefiting Iran, giving them more money. And I believe that as long as that continues to happen, there won't be a regime change until the people internally in Iran call for that. But I don't believe the conditions just yet are ripe for that, as we have seen before, despite the numerous killings of their top leaders.

SIDNER: Look, Iran itself has hit desalinization plants of its neighbors, and human rights officials say, look, these are violations of international humanitarian law and possibly war crimes. If President Trump does order troops to carry out blowing up electrical capabilities and desalination plants, is the U.S. going to be doing the same?

VASQUEZ: Well, look, first and foremost, I think we have to look out for the safety of our service men and women who are there. And the potential ramifications also to the domestic implications as it pertains to starting a prolonged war in which we've seen domestic incidents of terrorism in the past related to these conflicts that puts us domestically here at risk. We cannot escalate this war in a way in which all rules are put off the table.

[09:15:05]

In my opinion, look, there are millions of people that live in Tehran and Iran. These are families. These are folks with ambitions, with, you know, schools and dreams and, you know, the prospect of going through a change in regime that is positive for one of these -- the largest countries in the Middle East, to -- for that to be stymied by a last second decision by the president in which their infrastructure is completely destroyed, is going to lead to more catastrophic consequences. And what worries me right now as well is the potential use of nuclear weapons in this war as we continue to move forward. We have to get ourselves out of a posture of negotiating by bombs and go back to real diplomacy. And again, we haven't seen that the president has been able to have a serious leadership effort when he's tweeting out his negotiating plans and Iran is essentially saying that those aren't happening.

SIDNER: All right, let me ask you about what's happening back here in this country. We spoke with a member of TSA who is also a union rep, and here's what he has to say, even though they are now getting paid because the president has agreed to pay them for now because Congress couldn't figure out how to get a bill passed.

Listen to what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY JONES, SECRETARY-TREASURER OF UNION REPRESENTING TSA WORKERS: Now let's talk about the legislative branch of our government. Our legislative branch of our government has failed the American people across all spectrums. They are at home packing up their easter eggs for their family. And a lot of TSA officers won't have money, and a lot of other people that work for the Department of Homeland Security aren't going to have the money to buy candy for their kids. This has caused -- the last five months we have been shut down 50

percent of the time. TSA officer's finances, the vast majority of them paycheck to paycheck, the vast majority are devastated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: He says, this is a natural disaster caused by Congress. How can you all justify going on recess without funding the government?

VASQUEZ: Well, I completely agree with the gentleman. And I'm going to be meeting with TSA workers here in Albuquerque tomorrow to discuss those very issues and get to the bottom of who's getting paid and who's not.

Look, what we've seen is that even during the shutdown of DHS, the Trump administration has selectively paid other agencies within DHS but withheld payments to TSA agents. So, in addition to Congress failing, this is something the Trump administration could have done from the very beginning.

Now, last week before we left Washington, we saw a bipartisan agreement passed out of the Senate, unanimous support from Republicans and Democrats. That deal would have opened, reopened TSA. It got torpedoed in the House. We saw that vote last week that we took that did not honor the colleagues from the Senate, the Republican colleagues who made a deal. Instead, we saw Speaker Johnson torpedo this deal and refuse to give TSA their stability and their paychecks back, which I think, to me, is -- frankly, it's embarrassing. And I think that House Republicans who supported this move should be embarrassed.

But if we do get that vote up for the House, that that bill that passed from the Senate, I am convinced that there are enough Republicans out there with common sense that would vote for it, that should have been the bill that we voted on last week. Unfortunately, it wasn't. It seems like we are back to square one. And I don't think the ball is necessarily in the Senate's court. It is still in Speaker Johnson's court. He deserves the responsibility and the weight of being speaker to come to a solution, which the majority of Republicans unanimously have already supported.

SIDNER: Congressman Gabe Vasquez, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, after nearly a month long, record shattering heat wave, the West Coast set to get some much needed relief.

And arrested because of A.I. in a total mistake. A woman spent five months behind bars after A.I. falsely matched her or brought her in as a suspect for crimes in a state that she has never been to.

Plus, the diaper-wearing kangaroo who went missing makes his return home. How heat-seeking drones help find him. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:23:18]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, huge relief out west. Cooler temperatures and maybe even some snow. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is with us this morning.

Good morning, sir.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John.

And, you know what, a lot of my family and friends out west are just rejoicing at the fact of this weather pattern shift that will bring some much needed snow. But I was digging into the details and we would need nearly record-setting amounts of snowfall to bring us even close to back to average.

So, I want to put this into context of just how warm it's been. Every one of these red dots, nearly 400 of them, has experienced their warmest March on record. Now, granted, there's still some warmth out there to contend with. We do have warmth across the central plains, moving to the East Coast for the day tomorrow, but that is going to be replaced by cooler than average temperatures. We get these kind of collision of air mass this time of year, and that sets the stage for severe weather.

So, here's a look. Heads up to the sky. Madison to Des Moines, hail threat for you. Tomorrow, though, across the southern Great Lakes into my home state of Michigan, my hometown of Grand Rapids, the potential of an isolated tornado exists.

So, here's the pattern shift, right? The whole winter basically, certainly March, we've had a ridge of high pressure dominating the West Coast. Now we've got a trough. That means that dip in the jet stream, that's going to allow for multiple storm systems to move through, bring us our high elevation snowfall that we so desperately need.

Let me show you why. This is the snowfall going forward through the week. And you can see that lining the intermountain west. But in Colorado, we have taken a literal nosedive in the snow-water equivalent. That's the representation of the snowpack where we're equivalent to basically May 29th levels. That is incredibly important because, John, the Colorado River Basin supplies nearly 40 million people their water and irrigates about 5.5 million acres of farmland and supplies 30 tribal nations their water as well.

[09:25:10]

Look at the difference in snowpack across the Rockies.

John.

BERMAN: That is something. Derek Van Dam, thank you very much.

VAN DAM: Yes.

BERMAN: And just one final warning here, a Celsius warning here. In America we use Fahrenheit.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, we do. And I hate doing those calculations. It's ridiculous.

BERMAN: Yes, I can't get my math. It broke my head.

SIDNER: It's like 27 times three minus 14.

BERMAN: One hundred and thirty-six thousand degrees. All right.

SIDNER: Who knows.

All right, if you need a personalized shopper, there are A.I. tools now for that. The race among retailers to develop their own A.I. agents for customers, and how it is dramatically changing how we shop.

And breaking overnight, the price of oil climbing all the way to $116 a barrel after President Trump said he wants to, quote, "take the oil in Iran." Now that number has come down slightly this morning, but it -- what does it mean for what you're going to see when you go to fill up your car?

Those stories and more, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)