Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Officials Discussed War Plans On Commercial App; White House Official: U.S.-Russia Talks Going "Extremely Well"; Families of Venezuelan Migrants Protest Deportations; Court Hears Arguments Over Alien Enemies Act Deportations; Lawyers Spar in Tense Opening of Gerard Depardieu Trial; Greenland Pm Slams Upcoming Visit by U.S. Officials; Big Egg Hunt on Display for Conservation Charity; Los Angeles-china Flight Turns Around After Pilot Forgets Passport. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired March 25, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:27]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, secret U.S. war plans revealed in a group chat, we'll look at the stunning breach of national security involving top officials of the Trump administration.

Plus, a showdown in court over Donald Trump's legal powers when it comes to deportations, one judge saying, "Nazis got better treatment."

And the sexual assault trial underway for acclaimed French actor Gerard Depardieu.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us, where the Trump administration is on the defensive after a shocking breach of protocol that could have threatened the lives of U.S. service members and a critical military operation.

Top U.S. officials mistakenly included a journalist in a group chat on the commercial app signal discussing plans for an attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Among those in the chat, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Signal is an encrypted messaging app available to anyone, used by many journalists and government officials, but a far cry from the secure systems required for top secret communications.

According to The Atlantic, the text messages revealed information on Houthi targets in Yemen, which U.S. weapons systems would be deployed, and the sequence of U.S. attacks. The U.S. National Security Council acknowledges the messages seem to be authentic, but Defense Secretary Hegseth was defiant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Nobody was texting war plans, and that's all I have to say about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: More now from CNN's --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY GOLDBERG, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE ATLANTIC: -- he was texting attack plans, when targets were going to be targeted, how they were going to be targeted, who was at the targets, when the next sequence of attacks were happening. I didn't publish this, and I continue not to publish it, because it felt like it was too confidential, too technical.

And I worry, honestly, that sharing that kind of information in public could endanger American military personnel.

But no, they were -- they were plans for the attack. It's a level of recklessness that I have not seen in many years of reporting on national security issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: More now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump saying he has the utmost confidence in his National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, after a day long series of recriminations and revelations about the national security advisers here at the White House having a discussion about military planning for the bombing of Yemen with a reporter from the Atlantic magazine who was invited into this group chat.

On Monday, the president said this:

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know anything about it. I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic. It's to me, it's a magazine that's going out of business. I think it's not much of a magazine, but I know nothing about it.

ZELENY: But whether the president knew it or not is not the central question here, because White House officials are reviewing the use of this encrypted app that these conversations were taking place.

Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill raising questions about how highly sensitive, perhaps even classified information could be discussed in this manner with so many administration officials, including the vice president who raised questions about the attack in Yemen, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the CIA director, the director of National Intelligence.

Tuesday on Capitol Hill, senators will be questioning the CIA director and the DNI Director, asking them about this and other worldwide threats.

Now, there is no question this is one of the biggest security breaches we have seen, at least in modern technological times here when the editor of The Atlantic was invited into this group chat, he removed himself from that and did not disclose the security information.

Now, the White House has launched some attacks against him. He's long been a top critic of this president, but there is no doubt this is just the beginning of this conversation. Certainly extraordinary day in Washington.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: John Miller is CNN's Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst. Appreciate you joining us.

[02:05:06]

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Thanks, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, in an extraordinary and perhaps unprecedented move, Trump officials accidentally include a journalist in an unclassified group chat about highly sensitive war plans. What are the national security implications of this and how damning is it for the Trump administration do you think?

MILLER: Well, in some ways they're lucky, because it was stupid, it was sloppy, it was unprofessional. Lucky for two reasons. Lucky because it happened early enough in the administration. So, this is probably a habit that they'll get out of very quickly.

And lucky that Jeffrey Goldberg, the journalist who was made privy to this entire, you know, text chat Signal app discussion reported it, which helped sound the alarm but also held back certain sensitive details. But no, it's kind of shocking.

CHURCH: It is, isn't it? National Security Advisor Mike Waltz apparently inadvertently added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to this signal group chat, but it was Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who posted the weapons and targets involved in the mission.

And at no time did any of the 18 Trump officials check to see who else might be included in this group chat, so that they might have seen that someone extra was there. So, what should the consequences be, and should heads roll? MILLER: You know, Rosemary, if this was, you know, a colonel and a couple of majors and somebody else who was -- who were behind this, they'd all be fired or court martialed or severely disciplined or demoted.

The problem here is, you have half of the national security cabinet of the administration there, so I doubt anything is going to happen to anybody, except there will be a review and they will say, don't do it again.

Signal is an encrypted app. It's a secure app, as far as we know. In fact, in the Biden administration in the waning days, a December 22nd memo from the homeland security infrastructure protection person warned government officials to get off your text messages and get onto apps like Signal.

But that was for government business that might be sensitive, not classified, not targeting, timing, sequencing, weapons, you know, for what is supposed to be a surprise attack against a designated foreign terrorist organization, that is the kind of thing that's supposed to happen on classified government systems through the National Security Council and the White House Signal Corps, which is very professional about how to do this and also how to record it.

CHURCH: Yes. I mean, it is a shocking mistake, isn't it, but President Trump says he was not aware of this story, but supports all those officials involved.

He also mocked the journalist and the magazine, as did Hegseth who also refused to take responsibility for the leaked war plans. The Democrats are calling for a full investigation into how this happened. How important is it that this investigation gets done, and how likely is it that it will be done?

MILLER: I am sure that this will be tied up in the -- in the -- in the smoke and thunder of politics for a number of days. And you know, there may be some congressional investigation.

But the point is, since we're pretty sure nobody is going to get fired on this level over this, that they need to clean up their act and get back to using the structure. And you know, Mike Waltz, the National Security Adviser, should know this. He's a former Special Forces operator. He's been involved in the National Security Council. He knows how these wheels are supposed to turn and get back to a discipline where you handle sensitive operations the way experienced people would, as opposed to a Secretary of Defense who, right before that was a T.V. host and a soldier in the field and a Director of National Intelligence, who was a member of Congress, who didn't work in this system, let the people who are the professionals in this system.

And I say this as a former Deputy Assistant Director of National Intelligence myself, you know, when you're new at the job, you rely on the pros, the career people who have been there to show you how it's done, because whatever the mistakes you're about to make, they've probably made them before, which is why they know what they're doing. CHURCH: And how does the Trump administration assure the American

public now that future classified discussions will not be made on a commercial messaging app when they have access to these secure U.S. intelligence systems that you talk of?

MILLER: Well, they're going to have to -- they're going to have to make a clear statement, and they're going to have to make a clear statement to people on that level, the National Security Advisor, the Director of National Intelligence, the director of the CIA, the Secretary of Defense, who managed to have these extraordinarily sensitive conversations, not knowing that J.G., the mysterious J.G. was at the bottom of it because he ended up in somebody's contact list.

[02:10:20]

If J.G. had been an official from a think tank who happened to be compromised by another foreign government, or somebody who wanted to do more damage. Or think about this, Rosemary, what if it wasn't a journalist and it was someone who said, OK, now I'm added to the chat group.

So, whenever these classified discussions come up again, I expect to be included, now he's got the best intelligence collection platform in the world.

These are the reasons that they have classified systems, because J.G. wouldn't have been in the contact list in a top secret system.

CHURCH: Indeed. John Miller, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

MILLER: Thanks, Rosemary.

CHURCH: A partial temporary cease fire between Russia and Ukraine appears to be inching closer after two days of talks in the Saudi capital Riyadh. U.S. and Russian officials met for more than 12 hours Monday.

A day earlier, the U.S. held separate talks with the Ukrainian delegation. The White House says progress is being made on a maritime truce in the Black Sea, and a positive announcement should be coming soon.

President Trump also says a deal over access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals is almost done, but any diplomatic progress seems to be overshadowed by a surge in military strikes. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is following developments from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Despite unrelenting fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces on various fronts, and Moscow saying its troops continue to make headway, President Trump's special negotiator saying he trusts Russian President Vladimir Putin has no further ambitions in Europe beyond Ukraine.

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: I just don't see that he wants to take all of Europe. This is a much different situation than it was in World War II. In World War II, there was no NATO. So, I just -- you have countries that are armed there. To me, it just -- it just -- I take him at his word in this sense.

PLEITGEN (voice over): But the Ukrainians say Russia is continuing an aerial blitz with drones and missiles a strike in the northern Sumy region, leading dozens injured, Kyiv says.

And Moscow accuses Ukraine of stepping up attacks on Russian energy installations, despite an agreement with the Trump administration not to do so, even though Kyiv denies the allegations.

The Kremlin seemingly pushing the brakes on talk of a possible imminent full cease fire.

Of course, there are still many different aspects related to the settlement that need to be worked out, the Kremlin spokesman said. As U.S. and Russian negotiators met in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh to try and hammer out some of those details, Steve Witkoff says the last time he met Putin, he saw a special relationship between the Russian leader and President Trump developing, Witkoff told Tucker Carlson.

WITKOFF: You know, it got personal. The president, President Putin had commissioned a beautiful portrait of the President Trump from the leading Russian artist, and actually gave it to me and asked me to take it home to President Trump, which I brought home and delivered to him.

It's been reported in the paper, but it was such a gracious moment, and told me a story, Tucker, about how when the president was shot, he went to his local church and met with his priest and prayed for the president, not because he was the president of the United -- he could be become the president of the United States, but because he had a friendship with him and he was praying for his friend.

PLEITGEN: Those words reverberating on the streets of Moscow, he said that President Putin had ordered a portrait of Donald Trump. What did you think about that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. It's maybe a symbol of growing relationships. I don't know how to think about this.

PLEITGEN: You think they're friends? Witkoff said that he was praying for a friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes. He said so. But I don't know. Maybe, maybe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe they have quite good relationship between them. So, I believe that everything will be fine.

PLEITGEN (voice over): The Trump administration also says they believe things will be worked out, even as the Kremlin cautions many tough issues still need to be solved to end the fighting in Ukraine.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Earlier, I spoke with CNN Political and National Security Analyst David Sanger about the talks between the U.S. and Russian delegations and what progress was likely made.

[02:15:04]

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, these are medium level talks. You notice that the U.S. didn't stand Steve Witkoff, the chief negotiator for the U.S., or Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, who had participated in the first round. So these are intended to see if they could extend beyond the ceasefire on energy targets, which has only been sort of observed episodically. and extend that to a ceasefire in the Black Sea, where of course, Ukrainian drones and other weaponry have managed to basically chase the Russian fleet out of the area.

And then, the idea would be to build on that to a broader ceasefire.

CHURCH: And David, I do want to get your reaction to U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff saying that he trusts Russia's President Putin and doesn't think he wants to invade Europe. This adding to critic's concerns that the Trump delegation may get fooled by Putin in these negotiations.

SANGER: Well, he said a couple of remarkable things, Rosemary, as you point out, most of them in a podcast interview with Tucker Carlson last week, he said that, Ukraine was going to have to get accustomed to the fact that Russia was going to get the land that they already occupy in the Donbas, he made only passing reference to NATO membership for Ukraine, which you'll remember, the west, the NATO countries have basically promised to Ukraine eventually and is now being taken off the table.

But most importantly, he was very dismissive of this European plan to put peacekeepers in place in Ukraine as sort of a trip wire in case the Russians violated a ceasefire and tried to come into the country. And he said they don't really want all of Ukraine.

Well, that kind of stretches credulity since Putin has said that Ukraine isn't a natural country, it belongs to be -- it should be rightly part of Russia as conceived as Peter the Great sold old Russia. And he is also at various points lied about this in the past.

You'll remember in the run up to the war against Ukraine in 2022, Putin denied he planned to invade, he then invaded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Our thanks to David Sanger there with his perspective on that issue.

So, Turkey is being rocked by massive protests as crowds fill the streets on Monday for a six night running. The latest on the ongoing confrontations after the break.

Plus, Israel is planning a massive new ground offensive in Gaza. Details of the potential scenarios being considered by the IDF when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:22:52]

CHURCH: More than a thousand protesters have been detained in Turkey following the jailing of Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Authorities say more than 120 police officers have been injured in the clashes, and the Turkish president is calling the protest evil and a movement of violence.

Critics say the mayor's arrest represents a dangerous turning point for Turkey, as Erdogan seeks to extend his rule, and the leader of the opposition Republican people's party says protesters only wish to, "Defend democracy and protect their rights."

Israel is making plans for a potential major ground offensive in Gaza, sources tell CNN. The operation could see the deployment of some 50,000 troops to clear and occupy large parts of the enclave. It's just one of several possible scenarios Israel is contemplating since the ceasefire in Gaza was shattered. The Israeli military is already ramping up attacks on Gaza.

On Monday, two journalists were killed in the strikes according to several Gaza journalist unions. On the left, Mohammed Mansour, a Palestine TV Today correspondent was killed in Southern Gaza. And on the right Al Jazeera's Hossam Shabat, who was found near his car, marked with the word T.V. on the front windscreen.

More than 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war on Hamas.

Still to come, a U.S. appeals court hears arguments over whether Venezuelan migrants should have been deported under an 18th century wartime law. We'll have the latest from Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:29:28]

CHURCH: In Venezuela, anger is growing at both the U.S. and El Salvador with protests by families who believe their loved ones were part of a mass deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members by the Trump administration earlier this month. Those protesting in Caracas on Monday say they only know their loved ones were among those deported after seeing reports in the news and from El Salvador's government. Neither El Salvador nor the U.S. have confirmed the names of any of the migrants in question.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has more on the court battle over the Trump administration's use of an old wartime law to make these deportations happen.

[02:30:00]

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department was in court for several hours and the ball really shifted during this hearing. It was before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals over this Venezuelan migrants' flight that the court had previously said, you can't use the law that Trump wants to use to take people out of the country and give them to El Salvadoran prison.

The Justice Department initially argued that the courts shouldn't have any role, that this was a national security concern, and so the courts really should step away and let Donald Trump use whatever means he needs to, to protect the United States and take Venezuelan migrants, put them on a plane, send them out of the country. But the courts are now looking at a different question, a question about whether the men who were rounded up and were initially put on a plane and the administration wanted to take out of the country, whether they had due process.

Should they have a hearing? What type of hearing should that be before a court system? Because they say they're not from the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. They say that they should be able to be heard on that before a judge, and there's quite a bit of arguments over that. It did get heated at times. Judge Patricia Millett especially, had very hard questions for the Justice Department, asking them over and over about the ability of a president just to take people out of the country or officials lower down the totem pole from the president himself. Here's a little bit more from Judge Millett, speaking to the Justice Department Attorney, Drew Ensign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICIA MILLETT, JUDGE, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE D.C. CIRCUIT: There were plane loads of people. I mean, it was also -- it's a class action. There were plane loads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify people. Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemy Act.

DREW ENSIGN, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ATTORNEY: Well, Your Honor, we certainly dispute the Nazi analogy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: So that was a really sharp questioning from Judge Millett. But she's only one person on this panel of three judges at the D.C. Circuit. She's going to be weighing in. She is an Obama appointee, someone with a lot of experience in international law, who asked a lot of the questions today at the hearing. Another judge asking questions, Judge Justin Walker, appointed by Trump.

And then the third judge on the panel, the person who would be the swing vote, conceivably here, that's Judge Karen Henderson. She's been on the D.C. Circuit from quite some time. She's a Republican appointee originally, but she asked nothing of substance today that would tip her hand to see which way this case goes, at least at this court. Of course, at the end of the day, it always could be landing though before the supreme court, as the Trump administration has made clear, they will appeal and appeal and appeal until they get a final answer. Back to you.

CHURCH: President Donald Trump is calling an upcoming Greenland visit by U.S. officials "Friendliness, not provocation." The island's prime minister is slamming the trip as highly aggressive after Mr. Trump expressed an interest in annexing the autonomous Danish territory. Second Lady Usha Vance will be part of the cultural visit and President Trump believes Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be traveling there too. A source earlier said that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz will also be visiting Greenland this week.

French actor Gerard Depardieu is on trial for sexual assault, when we come back, details on the opening day of his trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:38:10]

CHURCH: The sexual assault trial of French film legend Gerard Depardieu resumes in the hours ahead after a tense first day that saw lawyers sparring over legal procedures. Depardieu is accused of a number of sexual assaults on film sets. The 76-year-old has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMIE ASSOUS, LAWYER OF GERARD DEPARDIEU (through translator): If the accusations are founded, the plaintiffs will not be afraid to put their accusations face-to-face with a certain number of witnesses. With a layout evaluation, with medical expertise, they have rejected all of that. All objective, indisputable and impartial elements are systematically rejected by the plaintiffs. There is only one reason for this. It's that they fear the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The trial was postponed from October because of Depardieu's poor health and now takes place with France's Me Too Movement revitalized in the aftermath of the Pelicot mass rape trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANOUK GRINBER, FRENCH ACTRESS: It's really tiring. It's tiring for all women of the world to be raped, assaulted, denied, and shutting me up is nothing, but it's just the image of society indifferent to mistreatment of women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Depardieu faces up to five years in prison if found guilty.

Well, right now, more than 100 giant egg sculptures are hidden in plain sight around London. The Big Egg Hunt is an interactive art show where the public can use an app to find and collect the eggs and win rewards. The event was initiated by Elephant Family, a charity focused on wildlife conservation in Asia. The eggs were designed by big names in the art, design, fashion, and food worlds. They'll be on display until April 27th and then will be auctioned off to raise funds for Elephant Family.

[02:40:00]

Well, a good reminder for airline pilots flying overseas, don't forget your passport. A United Airlines pilot did just that, forcing a flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai to turn around over the weekend. The plane landed two hours after takeoff in San Francisco, according to the website, FlightAware. The airline says it arranged for a new crew and gave passengers meal vouchers and compensation. The flight made it to Shanghai six hours behind schedule.

I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN newsroom." Do stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)