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Most of Alabama Impacted by Severe Weather; Vatican Released Photo of Pope Francis for the First Time Since Hospitalization; New CNN Poll Reveals Democrat's Party Favorability on a Record Low; Butch and Suni to Return to Earth This Week. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired March 17, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is CNN Breaking News.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Rosemary Church in Atlanta.

Let's get straight to our breaking news. U.S. President Donald Trump speaking to reporters on board Air Force One just a short time ago on his way to Washington. He talked about some of the recent U.S. deportations, his crackdown on the federal workforce and tariffs.

But one of the big takeaways, he confirmed he will be speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, as he works to negotiate a deal to end the war in Ukraine. And here's what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Are we 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: That expected call with Vladimir Putin comes after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met with the Russian president last week. Witkoff says a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine could be reached within weeks.

We get more on all of this from CNN's Kevin Liptak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: 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 he 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 that's the case.

LIPTAK: So the timeline there that Witkoff 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 ceasefire arrangement.

Certainly that is something that Putin says is required if he's going to enter into 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 this ceasefire 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 ceasefire, or whether this is just a delay tactic.

Kevin Liptak, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Before President Trump confirmed he'd be speaking with Vladimir Putin, I spoke with CNN's European Affairs commentator Dominic Thomas. As EU foreign ministers gather in Brussels to discuss peace in Ukraine, I asked him what Ukraine's allies hope to achieve during the meeting, despite the absence of the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I think that this particular meeting is important because it comes just ahead of what we believe is going to be a scheduled telephone conversation between President Trump and President Putin later this week.

[03:04:54]

And I think it's one of the last opportunities to make their voice loud and clear to President Trump, particularly, that they are committed to a longstanding peaceful solution for Ukraine and to supporting Ukraine moving forward. And also that they see Russia as the detractor in this particular equation.

And the big question is, they of course know that President Trump wants a win here. He wants to strike some kind of a peace agreement. The ball ultimately is in President Putin's court and whether or not he will make the kinds of concessions and compromises that are going to be necessary to strike a deal and bring an end to this conflict.

CHURCH: And Dominic, you mentioned that added complication for Europe. News that President Trump and Putin will likely speak this week, that according to the U.S. envoy, Steve Witkoff. What might come of those talks, do you think, given what we know about Russia's expectations and how worried might Europe be about how much Trump may bend to Putin's wishes, given what we've seen so far?

THOMAS: I think there's extraordinary concern, which is why European leaders, and this is not just E.U. leaders, but European leaders in a broader context, have been trying to maintain a united front and to emphasize their willingness to go it alone if they have to. The big concern ultimately moving forward here is which President Trump shows up for that conversation with President Putin and which President Trump exits that particular conversation.

Is it President Trump that continues to be weak on multilateral organizations, on NATO, on Europe, who ultimately is there to undermine Europe, which is, of course, President Putin's major objective? Or does he come out of there with some kind of compromise that moves the path forward on peace and provides some kind of protection and territorial integrity for Ukraine moving forward?

I think ultimately for European leaders, what they're going to have to look at there is the fine print is what a U.S. involvement is going to look like in terms of the reliability of that deal and in terms of what will be expected of them in exchange for U.S. support moving forward, which ultimately they would rather have than not. But I think that the situation has evolved in the past three weeks towards a situation where Europe would rather not have that support if it means pursuing a situation in which sustainable peace is not something they see as lasting and as a perpetual threat for them in Europe. CHURCH: And so far we have learned that Russia wants all of the Kursk

region returned, sanctioned relief and for Ukraine to never be part of NATO and a whole lot more too. What will Russia likely give up to ensure peace, do you think?

THOMAS: Well, this is the thing, just to quickly go back on that question with Europe when it comes to this, you know, Europe has talked about implementing sort of outgrowths of NATO like policies in which they will provide support through sort of tripwire protection of one protection of all measures that may involve Ukraine becoming a member of the European Union that would provide them with that kind of support.

So I think that's a really important thing to look at in terms of where President Putin positions himself in that. Is that an absolute red line, NATO membership versus E.U. membership, where does that come? What about the sort of different territorial spaces? Is he willing to give up certain regions and one hold on to others? And is President Zelenskyy in a position where he can make that kind of decision for his people?

And I think also for President Putin, the question is going to be, what is protection on the ground going to look like in Ukraine moving forward? Are we talking about permanent peacekeepers? Where do they come from? And what is the ultimate goal of that so that he's able to walk away from this conflict feeling like he has been victorious in whatever way, shape or form that may mean looking forward?

CHURCH: And so given all of those points that you raise, how long might it take to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine and how achievable is it at this juncture, do you think?

THOMAS: Well, at this moment, President Zelenskyy has expressed a strong desire for this to happen. So have European leaders. And President Trump is growing increasingly impatient with this peace deal, which is something that he promised to achieve in a much shorter period than he has been able to at this particular juncture.

So as with all of these negotiations, it's completely unpredictable because it relies on the simple way in which a conversation, which won't be a person to person conversation, but a telephone, a telephone conversation, as we've seen with discussions since President Trump returned to the White House, whether it's at the White House, at the Munich conference or elsewhere, there was tremendous unpredictability and tremendous volatility. And so we simply cannot predict where this will go moving forward.

[03:10:09]

CHURCH: Dominic Thomas, many thanks for joining us. I appreciate your analysis.

THOMAS: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: President Trump is defending his decision to deport hundreds of migrants allegedly affiliated with a Venezuelan gang using a centuries-old wartime law. Speaking on Air Force One earlier, he railed against a judge's order pausing those deportations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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 criminals, murderers, drug dealers at the highest level, drug lords, people from mental institutions. That's an invasion. They invaded our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Late Saturday, a judge put a temporary hold on the deportation flights and ordered any planes already in the air to turn around. But that did not happen.

The White House press secretary argued they did not violate the order because it was issued after the migrants had already left the United States. President Trump thanked El Salvador's president for offering to imprison the deported migrants.

Well President Donald Trump is dismissing the idea of Houthi rebels in Yemen retaliating against the U.S. for recent strikes. President Trump is vowing to keep up those attacks, signaling the start of a major operation that could last for weeks. But the Houthi leadership says they're ready to escalate the situation.

(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 and 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)

CHURCH: CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us now live from London. Good morning to you, Salma. So, what is the latest on U.S. strikes on Yemeni Houthis and of course, their retaliation?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Of course, Rosemary. And as you mentioned there, this is the beginning of what is a major operation by the United States. President Donald Trump had been looking at doing this for weeks.

But the order, of course, only coming through this weekend once the U.S. had the intelligence that it needs to carry out these strikes. I want you to hear directly from the country's national security advisor about these strikes. Go ahead. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The Houthis 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 with overwhelming force. We will hold not only the Houthis accountable, but we're going to hold Iran, their backers accountable as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: So, if you're asking why is the U.S. carrying out airstrikes against Houthi rebels, there is your answer right there, Rosemary.

This is an Iranian-backed group based in northern Yemen. It has, since 2023, attacked nearly 100 ships and vessels using drones and missiles. It's made that portion of the Red Sea that very crucial, rather, shipping route -- shipping lane, extremely dangerous.

And that's why President Trump says that he is attacking the Houthis. He says his interest is to protect American interests. He says his interests are naval freedom on the high seas.

He's also criticized President Biden, because you have to remember, this is a continuation in some ways of a policy. President Biden had also carried out strikes against the Houthis. But President Trump has described President Biden's responses as weak, indicating that we're looking at a much larger operation in scope and scale in these coming weeks.

And we've already seen the results of that, the consequences of that, Rosemary. Dozens of people killed, including women and children, 100 wounded. That's according to health ministries on the ground in Yemen.

And again, this is just the beginning. So, the concern is that the humanitarian consequences in one of the poorest countries in the world could be absolutely major.

CHURCH: And Salma, I did want to ask you about that. I mean, you know, given the U.S. is vowing to keep up strikes on Houthi rebels and the Houthi leadership says it will continue to retaliate and escalate this situation and then the consequences, I mean, where is this going?

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ABDELAZIZ: Well, you have to remember, of course, when you're talking about the Houthi rebels, you are talking about a group that, yes, has Iranian backing, which has provided them with more sophisticated drones, more sophisticated missiles, the ability to fire farther and deeper into places like Saudi Arabia to present a possible threat, a potential threat, of course, to Israel.

Now, Houthi rebels say that they're carrying out these attacks in retaliation to Israel's war on Gaza. But President Trump simply does not accept this. So, you're going to see that lethal force that he's promised absolutely strike in these targets in northern Yemen.

And again, you're talking about an area that's been essentially ravaged by civil war for years now. There has been issues with starvation, hunger, the continuing violence on the ground.

So, for civilians who are absolutely caught in the crossfires of this conflict, this absolutely spells more disaster, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Our thanks to Salma Abdelaziz bringing us that live report from London. I appreciate it.

Well, 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 that 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 the negotiations with Hamas.

A violent weather system has left a trail of death and destruction across the Midwest and southeastern United States. At least 39 people were killed in seven states over the weekend.

Our Rafael Romo is in the hard-hit state of Alabama, where the governor says most of the state was impacted by this severe weather event.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've seen dozens of volunteers here clearing the debris left after a tornado ripped through this community. Utility workers with heavy machinery have replaced multiple power poles in the last few hours and should be close to restoring electricity to the entire neighborhood.

But it's going to take a little longer for this community to go back to normal, especially considering the extensive damage sustained by many buildings like this high school behind me.

Dozens of volunteers from a church in Talladega came down earlier today to help this community remove the debris. This is how a couple of those volunteers described what they saw. Let's take a listen.

JAMES STEWART, VOLUNTEER: I've seen nothing like this since I was a kid. I've seen a few tornadoes in my lifetime, a couple of hurricanes. Other than that, this is pretty bad.

ROMO: What do you think of the destruction that you've seen so far?

UNKNOWN: It's massive. I'm talking about buses upside down, all split in half, trees scattered. It's rough. ROMO: Unfortunately, several people have been confirmed dead as a result of the severe weather here over the weekend in Alabama. One of the people who died was a gentleman who lived in a mobile home in Winterboro, not too far from here.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said earlier in a statement that damage has been reported in 52 of the state's 67 counties, noting officials are still assessing the damage.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Alpine, Alabama.

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CHURCH: The Vatican has shared a photo of Pope Francis, the first since he entered hospital, the latest on the pontiff's condition after a short break. Stay with us.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

The Vatican has released the first photo of Pope Francis since he was hospitalized on February 14th. Here we see the Pope attending mass on Sunday morning at a chapel in Rome's Gemelli Hospital where he's being treated for pneumonia.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is following developments and joins us now live from Rome. Good morning to you, Ben. So what more can you tell us about this photo of the Pope released by the Vatican and, of course, the latest on his health?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary, that is the first and only photograph of the Pope published 30 days after he was admitted to hospital here at Gemelli. Now, it's not obvious from the photo you can see it's not of his face.

It's his right profile. So we don't really see whether, you know, his eyes in this picture, but we do see, for instance, his right hand, which appears to be somewhat swollen. He does not appear to have the nasal cannula through which he receives supplemental oxygen during the day.

So this is not sort of a conclusive photograph in terms of being able to see how he actually looks. But he is co-celebrating, that's the Vatican's word for it, which means he is presiding with other priests over Mass. So this is the first time since he was admitted to hospital that he's actually presiding over Mass as opposed to just participating in it.

Now, we're told that in addition to attending Mass yesterday at the chapel inside his suite on the 10th floor of the hospital here, that he also continues to receive medical therapy, physical therapy, and he also did some work, although he did not receive any visitors in the hospital.

So this is day 31 of his stay at the hospital. He continues to suffer from double pneumonia. But what we've seen over the last week is that daily the Vatican has said he is slightly improving on a daily basis.

But at this point, Rosemary, it is not at all clear when he will actually leave the hospital and return to his suite at the Casa Santa Marta in Vatican City. Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Ben Wedeman bringing us the very latest there from Rome. I appreciate it.

An explosion at a thermal power station caused a nationwide blackout in Panama. The electrical system was fully restored on Sunday morning, more than six hours after much of the country was plunged into darkness.

[03:25:07]

It's believed the massive outage was caused by damage to a private power generator that triggered the system's protection. The blackout also affected water treatment plants, forcing officials to suspend access to drinking water.

We're turning now to Cuba, where power has returned to about two thirds of Havana after Cuba's national electrical grid collapsed on Friday, 10 million people were left without power after a substation transmission line in the island's capital shorted.

Cuba has suffered four nationwide blackouts since October, with the country blaming U.S. trade restrictions for its mounting energy crisis.

Still to come, U.S. Democrats are a house divided after a fight over the Republican funding bill. But can they come together to stand against President Trump's agenda? We'll take a look.

A new development in the case of an American college student missing in the Dominican Republic. Ahead, what the last person to see her before she disappeared told U.S. police.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

Houthi rebels say they launched 18 missiles and drones at a U.S. aircraft carrier Sunday. U.S. officials say there was no damage and it's unclear if the carrier had to intercept any launches. The militant group has been threatening retaliation after U.S. strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen left a reported 53 people dead and dozens injured.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he'll be speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday about a potential ceasefire in Ukraine. Mr. Trump told reporters earlier he may have something to announce after those talks, adding that there's a very good chance these discussions could help bring an end to the war.

At least 39 people are dead across seven U.S. states after violent storm system tore through the Midwest and southeastern U.S. over the weekend. The outbreak began on Friday, prompting nearly a thousand storm reports with dozens of tornadoes confirmed.

A new CNN poll shows the Democratic Party's favorability rating has hit a record low. It's now just 29 percent, the lowest in more than 30 years of CNN polling. That figure is among the American public overall, but it's being fueled in part by frustration from Democratic supporters.

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 low, 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.

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 names: 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)

CHURCH: Michael Genovese is a political analyst, author and the president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University. And he joins me now from Los Angeles. Good to have you with us.

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST, AND PRESIDENT, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT INSTITUTE-GLOBAL POLICY INSTITUTE: Thank you so much.

CHURCH: So a U.S. government shutdown was averted as the country headed into the weekend, but that has caused significant divisions within the Democratic Party, with some critics saying the Democrats should have blocked the Republican spending bill.

They call this a missed opportunity, while others, well, they were just fearful what damage President Trump might do if they didn't block this. So what was your reaction to what played out? And was this the right course of action?

GENOVESE: Well, it was the perfect example of rock and hard place. The Democrats were caught in between. And it was really a question for Schumer and the Democrats is what's the worst possible outcome? Can we avoid it?

And it was unclear which was the worst outcome. Would it be a shutdown? Would it be some kind of a deal that no one seemed to want to make with the Democrats? Would it be to simply cave in and vote in favor of continuing the government's running?

And in a lot of respects, the Democrats were arguing that Schumer probably misread the situation, did not get any concessions from the Republicans for the 10 votes that helped pass the resolution. So, you know, it's understandable that the Democrats are upset. It's understandable why they are.

[03:35:08]

The question is, what are the consequences? And it looks like there may be some political consequences for the leadership of the Democratic Party.

CHURCH: Right. And nearly two months into this second Trump administration, many American voters say they're not getting what they expected, that is according to Axios reporting on new focus groups of Michigan swing voters.

Many of them used words like frightening, disruptive, erratic, dictatorial to describe how they're feeling right now about this new administration. But they don't like what the Democrats are doing either. So what are the Democrats need to be doing right now to offer some alternative for these disappointed swing voters and show some sort of pushback? GENOVESE: Well, that's right. The voters are not pleased with what's

going on in the Trump White House. But they're even less pleased, it seems, with what the Democratic Party has been up to.

The Democratic Party is in kind of a revolt. Now, part of it is the normal functioning of after you lose an election, you have to recalibrate, you have to reexamine, some heads will roll. That's pretty normal.

But in this case, the Democrats seem to have no voice, no face, no message. They seem to be almost leaderless.

And so it wouldn't surprise me if there was a mini revolt and that sort of out with the old, in with the new moment where Schumer is in trouble. Jeffries may be in trouble in the House of Representatives because the Democrats need to sort of reinvent themselves to respond to some of the excesses of the Trump presidency.

But they have not been able to do that. So they're right now out of power and they seem to be out of ideas. They have a little time to recover, but not a lot of time.

CHURCH: Well on the international stage, the White House is warning Iran to end its support of Yemen's Houthis. The U.S. says its weekend strike on Houthis killed multiple leaders and was a message to Iran. But then the Houthis retaliated, hitting a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Red Sea.

The White House is warning Iran that it could be next. So where do you see all of this going?

GENOVESE: You know, we've had a long term problem with the Houthis and the Biden administration had a few air assault attacks against them to try to keep them in line. It didn't really work.

Trump started it again, it's not going to be a one off. The Houthis retaliated today. We know that there is -- we think there are no injuries against the United States citizens or military.

But the bigger threat, as you mentioned, is Iran. You don't want Iran to get involved in it. You don't want a direct confrontation with Iran, as long as we have proxies, things can be worked out, and the Houthis are a proxy for Iran.

But they're also an entry point. If Iran really gets rattled, if Trump really goes overboard, gets the Iranians involved in this, that could lead to a direct confrontation.

Now, the United States did not have any ally support when they did their strike this time. When Biden was in power, they had allied support. We would have a hard time facing Iran in that region alone if we don't have allies.

CHURCH: Michael Genovese, appreciate you joining us and sharing your analysis. Thank you.

GENOVESE: Thank you so much.

CHURCH: And we mentioned that President Trump spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One late Sunday night. He answered questions on several topics, including forthcoming tariff plans. He was asked whether he would make any exceptions on announced tariff impositions and went on to share his view of their benefits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: No, I have no intention of it. No.

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 2nd, I would have made it April 1st, but you know what April 1st is, April Fool's Day, I figured. You know, I don't like doing it, but I made it April 2nd.

But it's a liberation day for our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Trump also explained why he thinks tariffs are fair and suggested they could even be expanded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They charge us and we charge them. And in addition to that, on autos, on steel, we're going to have some additional tariffs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: President Trump's trade war has sent jitters through U.S. markets. Here's how U.S. market futures are looking right now ahead of Monday's opening.

The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all in negative territory. The Dow down more than half a percentage point there. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says he's not worried about the markets over the long term.

More U.S. courts are pushing back on the White House's attempt to slash the federal workforce.

[03:40:02]

On Thursday, a second federal judge ruled that thousands of probationary employees who were laid off by the Trump administration must get their jobs back temporarily. The president reacted to the ruling aboard Air Force One earlier, suggesting the issue may be escalated to the highest court in the land.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think it's, 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, you're having more and more of that. It'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.

You have to speak to the lawyers about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: We are learning more about the disappearance of a University of Pittsburgh student in the Dominican Republic. Sudiksha Konanki was last seen more than a week ago on a beach in Punta Cana.

Newly released pictures show flip-flops and a sarong left on a lounge chair. Authorities from Konanki's home in Virginia have just returned from the Dominican Republic. They have questioned Joshua Stephen Riab, the man believed to be the last person to have seen the student.

And here's what the sheriff is saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF MICHAEL CHAPMAN, LOUDOUN COUNTY, VIRGINIA: He seemed to be very forthright with our detectives. He seemed to be doing, you know, pretty honest and forthright here.

And so I think our detectives were pretty satisfied with the way the interview was conducted. I know they've done an exhaustive search, you know, around the beach, the water, and even on land. So they're doing everything that they possibly can.

We're still working very closely with them and certainly working with the family here. I mean, it's just such a tragic situation for the family.

Last night we had our victim assistance unit go out and meet with the family as well to make sure that they're getting all the resources and the counseling that they need, that they could use to try to help get through this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The man has also been questioned by local authorities, who stress that he's not considered a suspect at this time.

Next on CNN, new evidence sheds light on the scale of a massacre targeting a minority community in a Syrian coastal town. You're in the "CNN Newsroom." (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:45:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

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 Sanabar, or Pine Village, a town of several thousand members of Syria's minority Alawite community.

A warning though, some of the video you're about to see is graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAMARA QIBLAWI, CNN SR. INVESTIGATIONS WRITER (voice-over): It's a sunny day in this Syrian coastal village named after its pine groves. A fighter sings, and it seems to be a cheerful tune.

UNKNOWN (translated): With the taste of death we've come to you.

QIBLAWI (voice-over): 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 Sanabar, 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.

UNKNOWN (translated): The shia dogs, the Alawites, the pigs of the regime.

QIBLAWI (voice-over): Survivors spoke to us about their still fresh memories.

UNKNOWN (translated): 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 shot my father in the head. They shot my brother in the heart. And my second brother (the bullet) hit his right side.

QIBLAWI (voice-over): Our visual investigation reveals the scale of the horror. We counted over 80 bodies in 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 fighters' feet.

We trace 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.

But across coastal Syria, people say they can't feel safe until justice is served.

UNKNOWN (translated): I swear I never fired a bullet. Our men have died. They killed them all.

QIBLAWI (voice-over): Tamara Qiblawi, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: 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.

[03:50:03]

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.

And we'll be right back.

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CHURCH: Racing has started in South Africa in the 2025 Cape Epic. The eight-day, 603-kilometer mountain bike race began with teams tackling a short but intense prologue time trial through a wine estate which included 750 meters of climbing. The grand finale is set for next Sunday. All right, time to start filling out those brackets as the seeds are set for college basketball's March Madness. Selection Sunday saw Auburn, Duke, Houston and Florida picked as the four number one seeds for the men's tournament. Auburn was named the top seed overall despite dropping three of their last four games, it capped a big night for the Southeastern Conference which will send a record-setting 14 teams to the big dance.

After docking at the International Space Station, a relief crew of four astronauts were welcomed with hugs and cheers from Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.

[03:55:08]

The two NASA astronauts have been in orbit for nine months now after spacecraft problems caused multiple delays to what was supposed to be an eight-day mission for them. Now they finally have a ride home and are set to return aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule. If all goes as planned, Williams and Wilmore could be back on Earth as soon as Wednesday.

Our Aerospace analyst Miles O'Brien has more on what the handover will look like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AEROSPACE ANALYST: Right now they're in what's called a crew handover. These are a lot of veterans who've spent a lot of time on the International Space Station collectively.

But the space station is an ever-changing craft and as the crew comes up, they need to be shown the ropes, where are things stored, where is the food, where is the clothes, where is the equipment, what kinds of new scientific apparatus is up there in the laboratory that they might need to become familiar with. It's just an orderly handover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: A Peruvian fisherman has been found alive after more than three months at sea. Peru's state news agency says Maximo Napocastro set out in his fishing boat on December 7 before getting lost due to bad weather.

He was found by an Ecuadorian vessel on March 11th, heavily dehydrated and in critical condition. According to Reuters, Napocastro spent the last 15 days without eating at all before he was finally rescued.

I want to thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day.

For our viewers here in North America, "State of the Union" is next. And for our international viewers, it's "The Amanpour Hour."

Then stay tuned for "Early Start" with Rahel Solomon starting at 5 a.m. in New York, 9 a.m. in London.

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