Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
President Trump Speaks To Reporters Aboard Air Force One; Trump And Putin Expected To Speak This Week As U.S. Pushes For Russia- Ukraine Ceasefire; Houthi Rebels Claim Retaliatory Attack On U.S. Aircraft Carrier; Israeli Delegation In Cairo For Talks On Hostage Release Deal; White House Defends Deportation In Face Of Judge Order; Evidence of Massacre of Minority Community in Syria; First Photo of Pope Francis Since His Hospitalization; Protesters Rally Outside Tesla Showrooms Across U.S.; SpaceX Aims for Human Landings on Mars in 2029; Indonesian Clerics Preach About Inflation. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired March 17, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:26]
BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. Let's start this hour with breaking news. U.S. President Donald Trump speaking to reporters on board Air Force One just moments ago on his way back to Washington. And one of the big takeaways, he confirmed he will be speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon as he works to negotiate a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
The president also talked about some of the recent U.S. deportations as well as tariffs. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We learned a lot. We're doing pretty well, I think, with Russia. We'll see if we have something to announce maybe by Tuesday. I'll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday. A lot of work's been done over the weekend. We want to see if we can bring that war to an end. Maybe we can, maybe we can't. But I think we have a very good chance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What sort of concessions will you be seeking to have Putin make to get a deal done?
TRUMP: Well, I think we'll be talking about land. It's a lot of land. It's a lot different than it was before the wars, you know, and we'll be talking about land. We'll be talking about power plants. That's a big question. But I think we have a lot of it already discussed very much by both sides. Ukraine and Russia. We're already talking about that. Dividing up certain assets. Yes. And they've been working on that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, are you concerned all about any retaliatory cause from the strikes in? TRUMP: About what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the air strikes in Yemen? Are you concerned about any retaliatory measures taken at all?
TRUMP: No, I'm not. Really, I'm not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, do you plan to comply with the judge's order regarding rehiring the federal workers?
TRUMP: Which -- what are you talking about?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Clinton appointy judge that ruled that the federal government has to rehire the fired federal workers? Do you plan to comply?
TRUMP: Well, I think it's absolutely -- I have nothing to do with that other than I heard about the decision. I think it's absolutely ridiculous. Absolutely. It's a judge that's putting himself in the position of the president of the United States who was elected by close to 80 million votes.
And you have that. Having more and more of that's a very dangerous thing for our country. And I would suspect that we're going to have to get a decision from the Supreme Court. That's a very dangerous decision for our country. These are people, in many cases, they don't show up for work. Nobody even knows if they exist. And a judge wants us to pay them even if they don't know they exist, if they exist. And I don't think that's going to be happening, but we'll have to see. I don't know. You have to speak to the lawyers about that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, did the administration actually, speaking of orders, violate Judge Boseberg's order in sending back the Venezuelan gang members and not --
TRUMP: I don't know. You have to speak to the lawyers about that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you planning to do more --
TRUMP: I can tell you this. These were bad people. That was a bad group of, as I say, hombres. That was a bad group. When you look at them and you look at the crimes that they've committed, you take a look, you don't get any tougher. You don't get worse than that. You understand that? But you'd have to ask the lawyers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, there's been some criticism that the Alien Enemies Act has only been invoked three other times. They were all during times of war. Do you feel that you're using it appropriately right now?
TRUMP: Well, this is a time of war because Biden allowed millions of people, many of them criminals, many of them at the highest level, they emptied jails out. Other nations emptied their jails into the United States. That's an invasion. And these are criminals, many, many criminals. Murderers, drug dealers at the highest level, drug lords, people from mental institutions. That's an invasion. They invaded our country.
So this isn't in that sense -- this is -- in many respects, it's more dangerous than war because, you know, in war, they have uniforms. You know who you're shooting at, you know who you're going after. These are people that came out. They're walking our streets. We have thousands of murderers. And Biden and his incompetence. First of all, he's grossly incompetent.
But that Biden and his people and his probably autopen looked like we had an autopen for a president, and we would have been better off if we had, probably.
[01:05:06]
But it looks to me like, you know, that's a big subject. I'm sure you won't ask about that. But the whole subject of autopen, did he know what he was doing? Did he authorize it? Or is this somebody in an office, maybe a radical left lunatic, just signing whatever that person was? That's not what it's all about.
I never use it. I mean, we may use it as it example to send some young person a letter. It's nice. You know, we get thousands and thousands of letters and letters of support for young people, for people that aren't feeling well, et cetera. But to sign pardons and all of the things that he signed with an Autopen is disgraceful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, as markets and consumers continue reacting to tariffs. Sorry. As markets and consumers react to tariffs, do you have any inclination to create exceptions or to ease up on any of them?
TRUMP: About what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To create exceptions to the steel and aluminum tariffs?
TRUMP: No, I have no intention of it, no.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this a recovery?
TRUMP: April 2nd is a liberating day for our country. We're going to be getting back some of the wealth that very, very foolish presidents gave away because they had no clue what they were doing. And April 2, I would have made it April 1, but you know what? April 1 is April Fool's Day. I figured, you know, I don't like doing it, but I made it April 2.
But it's a liberation day for our country because we're going to be getting back a lot of the wealth that we so foolish gave up to other countries, including friend and foe. Yes, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've talked about the hangover from the Biden economy. Is this your economy now?
TRUMP: Certain things are. Certainly tariffs are. We've already taken in billions of dollars. You know, we've taken in already billions of dollars and we haven't even really started the program other than certain areas, certain pinpointed areas, as you know.
And many billions of dollars have already come into our country. Now the big money is coming in on April 2nd, from April 2nd. But I will tell you what is more. When I took it over, eggs were through the roof. And now eggs are down 35 percent over a short period of time. And other things, fuel, gasoline, energy is down, way down. Oil is down to $65 a barrel. It was $82 a barrel. Then when energy comes down, pricing is going to come down. Prices for groceries, et cetera, are going to come down. So, yes, I think we're setting a game.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On April 2nd tariffs, are you planning to do sectoral and reciprocal tariffs? Will you do sectoral tariffs?
TRUMP: We're going to do in certain cases. Well, it's going to be reciprocal. In other words, whatever they're charging, we're charging. Very simple. If they're charging us, we're charging them. It's no longer they charge us, but we don't charge them. It's foolish precedents and Biden. But others also, in all fairness, look, Biden is the worst president we've ever had. He made Jimmy Carter look like a good president.
But on this, a lot of other presidents were guilty also. Some very good presidents were guilty. They charge us and we charge them. Then in addition to that on autos, on steel, on aluminum, we're going to have some additional terms.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President.
TRUMP: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So to follow up on the Biden autopen, are those executive orders or those war ins from the former president now null and void?
TRUMP: Well, I think so. It's not my decision that'll be up to a court. But I would say that they're null and void because I'm sure Biden didn't have any idea that it was taking place and somebody was using an autopen to sign off and to give pardons to, as an example, just one example. But the J6 unselect committee, they gave, think of it, they gave pardons for the autopen.
I don't think Biden knew anything about it. And what they did is they deleted and destroyed all of the information that took them over a year to get. And the reason they did that is because the information was very incriminating about them. Like Nancy Pelosi was determined conclusively that she knew about 10,000 soldiers and turned it down. And if we used 500 soldiers, you would have had no problem, let alone 10,000.
The young lady that said that I grabbed these powerful young Secret Service agents by the neck. OK. You know, that was a big hoax. It was a lie and she admitted it. And they deleted everything. So you know what they did is criminal.
I think we're about to land everybody. OK, have a good time. We'll see you very soon. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to the Kennedy Center?
TRUMP: I am. I'll see you at the Kennedy Center. You know, we have to straighten it out. It's not a good sit like everything else in this country because Vice President. He's doing a great job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)
TRUMP: No. But he's doing a great job. Thank you, everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: OK, so you heard President Trump there saying he'll be speaking with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. This comes after U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff met with the Russian president last week. He says a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine could be reached within weeks. We get more now on all of this from CNN's Kevin Liptak.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: This phone call between President Putin and President Trump, which Steve Witkoff says could occur this week, will be the second phone conversation between the two men since President Trump returned to office in January.
And what Witkoff said is that he expected what he called a good and productive conversation, in part because the two men have a relationship dating back from when President Trump was president first time around.
Now, Witkoff has been down here in Florida debriefing the President on those late night meetings that held with Putin in Moscow last week. He said that these were productive talks. He even alluded to the body language by the Russians as evidence that things are moving in the right direction. And he did say that the gaps were narrowing between the Ukrainian position on a potential ceasefire and what Russia wants out of this deal. Listen to what he said.
STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: The two sides have. We've narrowed the differences between them and now we're sitting at the table. I was with the President all day yesterday. I'll be with him today. We're sitting with him discussing how to narrow it even further.
As the President said, he really expects there to be some sort of deal in the coming weeks, maybe, and I believe that's the case.
LIPTAK: So the timeline there that Wyckoff is referencing is quite condensed. President Trump wants to see this ceasefire arranged within weeks. But it was clear from his interviews on Sunday that Witkoff still sees a number of sticky, outstanding issues that the two sides will have to resolve.
The most critical, I think, being the status of the Russian occupied territories in Ukraine. You know, American officials, including as recently as Sunday morning, were saying that Ukraine would have to cede some territory as part of a cease fire arrangement, certainly that is something that Putin says is required if he's going to enter in to this kind of a deal.
But the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that this is a nonstarter. And there are European officials who worry that this could potentially reward Putin for his illegal invasion. So that will be an important topic potentially for President Trump and President Putin to discuss in their call this week.
There are other issues as well, including some of the access to ports in Ukraine, the status of the Kursk region that has been the site of so much intensive fighting over the last several months. Those are issues that Witkoff referenced specifically as items that will still need to be resolved before the cease fire can take effect.
But certainly this phone call between the two presidents will be an important moment, I think, for President Trump to really get a gut check from Putin on whether he is indeed interested in arranging this kind of cease fire or whether this is just a delay tactic. Kevin Liptak, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Still ahead, the U.S. is planning to ramp up pressure on Houthi rebels to, quote, protect American shipping, air and naval assets. How the militant group is responding, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:18:06]
HUNTE: U.S. President Donald Trump is vowing to keep up strikes on Houthi rebels, signaling the start of a major operation that could last weeks. Houthi leadership claims to have retaliated by firing missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Red Sea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDUL-MALIK AL-HOUTHI, HOUTHI LEADER (through translator): Now we will meet escalation with escalation. We will respond to the American enemy and its raids in its attacks with missile strikes by targeting its aircraft carriers, its warships, its ships. If it continues its aggression, we will move to additional escalatory options.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: The Trump administration says the U.S. airstrikes are aimed at preventing the Houthis from targeting international shipping vessels in the Red Sea and warns Houthi ally Iran it could be next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE WALTZ, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: All options are always on the table with the president, but Iran needs to hear him loud and clear. It is completely unacceptable and it will be stopped. The level of support that they've been providing the Houthis. President Trump is coming in overwhelming force. We will take, we will hold not only the Houthis accountable, but we're going to hold Iran, their backers, accountable as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: According to the Associated Press, Houthi officials say the U.S. strikes in Yemen killed at least 53 people and injured nearly 100 others, mostly women and children. CNN's Paula Hancocks has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Houthi rebels claim this Sunday that they have already responded to U.S. attacks against it over the weekend, saying that some 18 missiles and drones were launched at the American aircraft carrier, the USS Harry Truman.
Now to U.S. officials tell CNN that there have been no injuries. There's been no damage, although it's not clear whether they had to try and intercept any of these launches.
[01:20:04]
It's not the first time that Houthi rebels have claimed this kind of attack. It's also not the first time that the U.S. military has been launching attacks against it. Back in late 2023 is when the Houthis started attacking shipping in the Red Sea in the waters nearby. The previous Biden administration also carried out launches against it.
But what we're hearing from the Trump administration is that this time it will be more sustained. We're hearing from the U.S. President Donald Trump that we will use overwhelming lethal force. The National Security Adviser, Michael Waltz also said that multiple Houthi leaders have been killed in these attacks. Now, we did hear from the Houthi led Health ministry, more than 30 were killed, more than 100 were injured.
They claim that women and children were within that tally. We've also heard from the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said that this mission is a favor to the world.
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The problem here is that this is a very important shipping lane. And in the last year and a half, last 18 months, the Houthis have struck or attacked 174 naval vessels of the United States, attacking the U.S. Navy directly 174 times and 145 times they've attacked commercial shipping.
So we basically have a band of pirates, you know, with guided precision anti-ship weaponry and exacting a toll system in one of the most important shipping lanes in the world. That's just not sustainable. We are not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot.
HANCOCKS: More strikes against the Houthis are expected over the coming days and weeks once a damage assessment has been done to see exactly what this series of strikes achieved. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: An Israeli negotiating team is in Egypt to discuss a potential release of more hostages held in Gaza, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office. The meeting comes as the U.S. proposes a new deal would secure the release of several hostages in exchange for extending the ceasefire in Gaza past Ramadan and Passover. Last week, Israel sent a delegation to Qatar in an effort to advance negotiations with Hamas.
The White House is defending its decision to deport hundreds of migrants allegedly affiliated with a Venezuelan gang using a centuries old law invoked by President Trump. Late on Saturday, a judge put a temporary hold on the deportation flights and ordered any planes already in the air to turn around. But that didn't happen.
The White House press secretary argued they didn't violate the order because it was issued after the migrants had already left the U.S.
President Trump thanked El Salvador's president for offering to imprison the deported migrants. The judge's restraining order will stay in effect until another hearing set for later this month.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filing in part by the American Civil Liberties Union. The lead attorney is slamming President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act, calling it lawless.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEE GELERNT, LAWYER, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: I think we are on very dangerous ground here. This is as lawless an action as the administration has taken. If the administration is allowed to use wartime authorities any time it wants to remove people, I think we are going to see more and more people being subjected to this type of Alien Enemies Act and a blurring of wartime authority with domestic authority. I cannot stress how important it is that the federal courts prevent this from happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: The ACLU has asked the Trump administration to ensure it has not deported any migrants in violation of the order.
Democrats in the U.S. are not happy with their political party right now. A new CNN poll shows the party's favorability rating has hit a record just 29 percent, the lowest in more than 30 years of CNN polling. Julia Benbrook breaks down why the party is in such disorder.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After the November election when Republicans won control of the White House, the Senate and the House, a lot of Democrats were asking where do we go from here? As they struggle to find a unified and compelling message against Trump. A new CNN polling shows that they are still looking for that effective
messaging with a favorability rating at an all-time, with just 29 percent of those surveyed viewing the party favorably right now and 54 percent viewing it unfavorably.
When asked if Democratic leadership is taking the country in the right direction, 48 percent said yes, compared to 52 percent back in 2017. And perhaps even the more telling data point is that while 52 percent said that the party leadership is taking things in the wrong direction, just 36 percent said that in 2017.
[01:25:00]
When asked what Democrats should try and do, more people said that they should focus on stopping the GOP agenda than working with the GOP. And it's important to note that this polling took place before that budget battle on Capitol Hill when the Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, and several other members of the party joined Republican members to pass the House GOP plan.
Schumer said he did not like what was in the plan, but felt obligated when the alternative would be a government shutdown. But he has received a lot of criticism from members of his own party about that decision.
Now, when it comes to who Democrats are looking to lead them in the future, they were asked about the person in the party that really reflects the core values right now. And there wasn't a big standout here.
But here were some of the top New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former vice president and former Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
More than 30 percent of those surveyed though, did not write in a name. And one person just simply said no one. That's the problem. Reporting in Washington, I'm Julia Benbrook.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Next on CNN, new evidence sheds light on the scale of a massacre targeting a minority community in a Syrian coastal town. All that and more just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:13]
BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: In Syria, a recent wave of attacks marked the worst outbreak of violence since the ouster of longtime president Bashar al-Assad.
A CNN investigation zeroes in on the events at Sanobar or Pine Village, a town of several thousand members of Syria's minority Alawite community. Just a quick warning. Some of the video you're about to see is
graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TAMARA QIBLAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a sunny day in the Syrian coastal village named after its pine groves. A fighter sings, and it seems to be a cheerful tune.
But this is a song that celebrates death. Behind him, dead people are strewn along the sides of the street.
Hundreds of people were killed in scenes like this in coastal Syria this month. Loyalists of the recently-deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad had ambushed the country's new security forces in what appeared to be a coordinated attack.
This triggered a killing spree against the Alawites, Assad's minority sect. Syria's new Sunni Islamist government blamed the mass killings on rogue elements, calling the incidents "violations".
According to rights groups, the carnage played out across 25 Alawite areas and in the village of Sanobar or the Pine Village.
CNN found evidence of a massacre.
Here, factions loyal to Syria's new government went house to house, dragging men out to be executed.
Homes were torched, fighters screamed sectarian slurs. Survivors spoke to us about their still fresh memories.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They entered the house and demanded that all the men step outside. My father and my two brothers. They made them stand outside and they executed them.
They show my father in the head. They shot my brother in the heart. And my second brother, the bullet hit his right side.
QIBLAWI: Our visual investigation reveals the scale of the horror. We counted over 80 bodies and verified videos strewn along the main street, lying in shallow graves wrapped in shrouds.
Satellite images showed mounds of dirt and soil disturbances consistent with mass graves in the area. Locals say they counted over 200 bodies. And armed men published evidence of the atrocities.
Like this video, filmed at the entrance of the Pine Village. "Ethnic cleansing. Ethnic cleansing." He cheers.
We see him in the ransacked home of the Khalil family. The corpse of an elderly relative splayed out on the sofa, father and son dead at the fighter's feet.
We traced the video back to this Facebook page. In this photograph, the apparent owner of the profile is wearing what appears to be the insignia of HTS. That's the newly-dissolved Islamist militant group led until recently by Syria's interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa.
Whether individuals involved in the massacre have been held to account is unclear. The government has set up a committee to investigate the killings.
[01:34:45]
QIBLAWI: But across coastal Syria, people say they can't feel safe until justice is served.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I swear we never fired a bullet. Our men have died. They killed them all.
QIBLAWI: Tamara Qiblawi, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Meanwhile in northeast Syria, hundreds of protesters, many from Kurdish and Assyrian communities, protested the signing of a temporary constitution. Critics are calling it, quote, "one sided", arguing it fails to protect the rights of minorities.
Last week, Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa signed the constitution that leaves the country under Islamist rule for five years during a transitional phase.
The Vatican has just released the first photo of Pope Francis since he was hospitalized on February 14th.
CNN Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb has the latest on the Pope's recuperation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: After more than 30 days in hospital, the Vatican has released the first image of Pope Francis since his hospitalization.
Of course, Francis has been in the Gemelli since the 14th of February, battling pneumonia in both of his lungs.
The image released by the Vatican on Sunday shows the Pope, after his concelebrated mass, which means he celebrated mass with other priests.
And in the image we see the Pope wearing a stole, which is a vestment worn by priests when they celebrate mass. So in the Vatican, this is being seen as an encouraging sign for Francis as he continues to recover from this pneumonia, which has been in both of his lungs and in which he has been in the hospital now for several weeks.
Now Francis on Sunday said that this time in the hospital had been a period of trial for him. It's obviously been a really difficult period for the Pope. He is saying he's uniting himself with other people who are sick.
He thanked children who gathered at the Gemelli Hospital on Sunday to show their support for Francis. He thanked them for being there to show him -- their solidarity with him.
And of course, it's been an anxious time in the Vatican. People have been gathering each evening behind me in saint Peters Square to pray for the health of the Pope and for his recovery.
We have in recent days been told by the Vatican that Francis is making slow improvements. However, his clinical condition is complex. He still needs to be in the hospital to receive treatment.
We don't know how much longer he's going to be there, but we are expecting a further update from the Vatican on the Pope's condition on Monday.
Christopher Lamb, CNN -- Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: As Elon Musk advocates for more federal job cuts, protesters are gathering outside Tesla showrooms across the U.S. to voice their growing frustration with the company's CEO.
Plus, Musk says SpaceX will take the first humans to Mars as soon as 2029. Still ahead, well hear what an expert has to say about the mission's timeline.
[01:38:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNTE: Welcome back.
Protests have been growing outside Tesla showrooms across the U.S. The nationwide demonstrations began last month amid Musk's growing involvement in slashing thousands of government jobs.
CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At Tesla dealerships from coast to coast, growing signs of discontent.
PROTESTERS: Elon Musk has got to go.
JONES: The target? The world's richest man and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy.
JONES: Outraged by Musk's dismantling of the federal government, protesters are taking it out on his business.
PROTESTERS: Hey, ho, ho. Elon Musk has got to go.
JONES: What's your sign say?
PROTESTER: It says two things. It says honk if you hate fascists and boycott Tesla swasticars.
JONES: Why should people boycott Tesla?
PROTESTER: Because Elon Musk is destroying our government. Nobody elected him.
TAMMY SILVER, PROTEST CO-ORGANIZER: Elon Musk's wealth is based on the value of Tesla stock. Well, the value of Tesla stock is based on air and dreams.
SHARON DELUGACH, PROTESTING TELSA: So we're sort of hitting him in the wallet, getting him where it hurts even though, you know, he's richer than God. So it's hurting his reputation. I really believe it's hurting his reputation worldwide.
JONES: Anti-Elon bumper stickers popping up, including these sold on Amazon marketed specifically to Tesla owners. And since December, Tesla stock has lost nearly half its value.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They have one which is $35,000, which is pretty low.
JONES: President Trump using the White House as a Tesla showroom in an attempt to reverse that trend.
And on Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi issuing a clear warning on Fox Business.
PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: If you're going to touch a Tesla, go to a dealership, do anything. You better watch out because we're coming after you.
[01:44:43]
JONES: In recent weeks, Teslas were engulfed by a fire in Seattle. A charging station torched in Massachusetts, and a Molotov cocktail was thrown to a dealership in Oregon after shots were fired at cars there.
Not the scene at this southern California protest, part of dozens nationwide.
SILVER: This is a joyous, festive protest and nonviolent, and I urge people, like-minded people, to do this at every Tesla dealership in the country.
JONES: And that organizer, by the way, owns a Tesla herself. She said, she doesn't really know what to do with it at this point. But she does have pretty serious buyer's remorse at this point.
Although at this protest, we did see another gentleman come in here, cross the picket line saying that he was repairing his Tesla in order to sell it because he just could not bear the shame of driving it around. That's how deeply he disagrees with the policies of Elon Musk.
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN -- Burbank, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: While Musk is spearheading DOGE and balancing the backlash on Tesla, he's also pushing for a human landing on Mars at the end of the decade if all goes well with a SpaceX mission to Mars next year.
But first, the company is working to resolve a series of setbacks. A Starship spacecraft exploded during its eighth test flight less than two weeks ago, marking the second consecutive failure for the vehicle this year.
Joining me now from Orlando, Florida, is former NASA scientist Philip Metzger. He's also a research professor and director of the Stephen W. Hawkins Center at the University of Central Florida. Thank you so much for being with me. How are you doing?
PHILIP METZGER, STEPHEN W. HAWKINS CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA: I'm doing well. My pleasure.
HUNTE: Glad to hear it.
So Elon Musk says human landings may start as soon as 2029 or 2031 latest. What do you think about that? Is it going to happen?
METZGER: Well, the fact that we would even be talking about it is remarkable. But most people that work in the industry think that that's quite a bit optimistic.
Elon has a habit of setting very aggressive, very aspirational deadlines for his company, and people have actually collected statistics on this. And typically it takes about two to three times longer than what he predicts.
So we're thinking it'll be a little bit longer than those two dates you stated. There is just so much to be done to prepare a human class spacecraft to do a Mars mission.
HUNTE: Well, that was actually going to be my next question. So what sort of issues have stopped us from getting humans to Mars before, and how have those limitations apparently changed now?
METZGER: Yes, well, it's primarily been an economic problem. I mean, we know, how to send spacecraft to Mars. We've done a lot of robotic spacecraft to the Red Planet. We know how to do humans in space. We know how to do radiation protection.
The big problem is that it's expensive. And the way NASA has been doing business, it's really been out of the -- out of consideration for NASA to actually get started on missions.
SpaceX has really changed the game. They have a lean development process. You know, Elon does set these very aggressive, aspirational deadlines. But he eventually does accomplish what he says.
You know, SpaceX has captured 90 percent of the global launch market, which is remarkable.
The second place is China at only 5 percent and then everybody else in the world combined including the United States, is only 5 percent.
So what they have accomplished is mind blowing. So they look like they're on the right path to do it. But they've got to solve a lot of technological problems.
Entry in Mars atmosphere with such a large vehicle has never been considered before. The physics of that, the process of going through entry, needs to be proven.
They need to be able to, every time they send one starship to Mars, they have to put about 16 in orbit around the earth to refuel it for that.
And so there's going to have to be a lot of Starship launches in a row, successful with docking in orbit and fuel transfer in orbit.
The Starship isn't yet outfitted for human life support, so there's just really a lot of work to be done.
HUNTE: I mean, this sounds pretty complicated to get done in the next couple of years, gosh. In fact, there were plans to have humans back on the moon this year, right? But even that was pushed back.
Why is it that these big space date announcements are made when they can change so often?
METZGER: Well, that's a great question. I think. typically in this -- in NASA there would always be a very optimistic statement going to Congress but then reality would sink in later along the way.
[01:49:51]
METZGER: What we're seeing happen with SpaceX is a different dynamic, though. I think he's setting these very aspirational dates because he's trying to keep his workforce working hard, keep them motivated, to keep the vision going.
And he has been accomplishing what he says. It's just that it does take longer than he usually says.
HUNTE: And of course, this is all being talked about while NASA is being hit with massive cuts to its budget. Are you worried about the impact of those cuts?
METZGER: Yes, I am. I worked for NASA for almost 30 years, and, you know, so a good chunk of my life was in the space agency, and a lot of my friends are still there.
So it's sad to see people I know being let go from their jobs. I do think that we need to have some change up in the space program. If we want to get to Mars, we're going to have to solve the economic problem. It is fundamentally about economics in order to do these big missions far beyond planet earth.
So it's going to be painful. But I do hope we come out of this actually extending human civilization to the moon, to Mars, and beyond.
HUNTE: Love that.
And final question from me. If you were offered a seat on the first flight to Mars, would you take it?
METZGER: Maybe I would.
You know, when I was younger and I was still -- my children were in younger grades in school, I probably would not have. But at this stage of my life, I think it would be awesome.
HUNTE: Love it. Well, for now, Philip, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it.
METZGER: My pleasure.
HUNTE: As Muslims around the world observe Ramadan, some Indonesian clerics are preaching about an unusual topic -- inflation. We'll explain why, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNTE: Muslims around the world are currently observing the holy month of Ramadan. It's a time of fasting and prayer, and for some clerics in Indonesia, a time to preach about the dangers of inflation.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: During Ramadan, these Muslim clerics in Indonesia are listening to a sermon. But very unusually, this is one delivered by a bank official.
It's an effort from Bank Indonesia to encourage. clerics to preach about how critical it is not to overconsume during the holy month.
ASEP ZAINAL ARIFIN, HEAD OF AN ISLAMIC SCHOOL (through translator): The outcome from the forum with the Bank of Indonesia is that we can give understanding to our students about inflation. And inflation is like blood pressure, not too high and not too low, and we should be in the middle.
ABDELAZIZ: Eid al-Fitr festival, which celebrates the end of Ramadan, usually leads to high demand for special foods and gifts in Muslim countries like Indonesia.
Bank Indonesia's hope is to enlist clerics to help avoid triggering price pressures in the country, which has a history of runaway inflation.
ASEP ZAKI MULYANTO, SANTI ASTROMO ISLAMIC SCHOOL (through translator): According to our guidance in Islam, overconsumption is forbidden whether in buying clothes or food. And with this forum we will provide literacy and education on giving a
better understanding of spending money wisely to help stabilize prices.
[01:54:49]
ABDELAZIZ: Inflation had once ran rampant in Indonesia, with the last big spike in the late 1990s.
But it has stayed under 5 percent in recent years, and economists predict that in 2025, it will stay around half of that.
MULYANTO: Maybe we haven't felt the impact yet. But we start with ourselves being self-sufficient and hopefully it can be useful to help the national economy in fighting inflation.
The hope for these clerics and bankers this Ramadan is to not just bring peace to the heart, but peace to the economy.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Pope Francis and the tango are both from Argentina, so it seemed natural to a group of devoted dancers that they should get together to perform a tango tribute for the pontiff. Ok.
On Sunday, they gathered outside Rome's Gemelli Hospital, where the Pope continues treatment for pneumonia. And they offered what one dancer called a prayer in motion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAIANA GUSPERO, TANGO DANCER (through translator): I care about him very much. I'm very religious. I had the fortune of dancing for him, and I know that tango is very important in his life. He loves it deeply.
So I thought, why not gather all the tango dancers who are here in Rome and come to dance, a prayer in motion for him to send him our energy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: It's the ultimate list for foodies. New Orleans topped a global survey from media group Time Out to find the city with the best food. People love the blend of French, Spanish, Vietnamese and African influences in New Orleans cuisine.
More than 18,000 people were surveyed, and the top five cities cover five different continents. The second spot went to Bangkok, Thailand which includes Michelin-starred fine dining and street food markets. Medellin in Colombia came third for its affordable prices and cheap coffee. Surprisingly, given its reputation for fine dining, Paris is ninth on the list. Boo.
Well, that's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with Rosemary Church next.
See you next weekend for more. See you later.
[01:57:06]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
