Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Former Special Counsel And FBI Director Robert Mueller Passes Away; Pentagon Deploying Thousands More U.S. Marines And Sailors To Middle East; Fighting Continues between Israeli Forces And Hezbollah In Southern Lebanon; Iranian Military Continues Missile And Drone Strikes Against Gulf States; Iran Launches Missile Strike Against Joint U.S.-U.K. Base In Indian Ocean; Long Lines Plague U.S. Airports As Department Of Homeland Security Funding Remains Stalled In Congress; Recently Published Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Labor Leader Cesar Chavez Damaging His Reputation. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired March 21, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:35]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we have this breaking news into CNN. We do want to inform you now that former FBI chief Robert Mueller, who also served as special counsel for the Russian interference investigation into the 2016 presidential election, has died at the age of 81. CNN's Wolf Blitzer looks back at Mueller's attempts to stay above the fray in Washington and how hard that became, especially at the end of his career.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ROBERT MUELLER, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: If you are not honest, your reputation will suffer. And once lost, a good reputation can never, ever be regained.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Attorney Robert Mueller's reputation in government was virtually unquestioned until he got the most controversial assignment of his career.

We have major breaking news right now. The U.S. Justice department has just named a special counsel in the Russia investigation.

The job -- investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race, the race Donald Trump won. Mueller was a Princeton grad, a decorated U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam. After law school, he became a litigator, a federal prosecutor who worked his way up the ranks. And in 2001, President George W. Bush tapped him to be the sixth director of the FBI.

MUELLER: To enforce our nation's laws fairly and with respect to the rights of all Americans. BLITZER: Mueller was confirmed unanimously by the Senate and sworn in

on September 4th, 2001, seven days before the event that defined much of his tenure. After the 9/11 attacks, Mueller led the Bureau into the war on terror.

MUELLER: We will leave no stone unturned.

BLITZER: Mueller was respected by both Republicans and Democrats and continued to serve through the first term of the Obama administration, turning over the reins of the FBI to James Comey in 2013.

MUELLER: I have found him to be a man of honesty, dedication, and integrity.

BLITZER: But President Trump fired Comey in 2017, and eight days later, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced that Mueller would investigate the Trump administration as special counsel. It set off a flurry of unprecedented criticism of Mueller, starting from the commander in chief.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: Mr. Mueller is highly conflicted. In fact, Comey is like his best friend.

BLITZER: A message driven home by rightwing media messages and the president's own tweets. All the while, Mueller kept quiet, letting a series of indictments do the talking instead. Two months later, Mueller completed his report. He finally broke two years of silence.

MUELLER: The Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.

BLITZER: The lack of a direct conclusion on obstruction frustrated Democrats. Mueller reluctantly appeared before a House committee and declined to go further than his report.

REP. JERRY NADLER, (D-NY): Did you actually totally exonerate the president?

MUELLER: No.

BLITZER: Without producing a smoking gun, Mueller retreated back to private life, a public servant who survived wounds in Vietnam but found the partisanship of the Trump era especially bruising.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Back with me now to talk more about Robert Mueller is Michael Zeldin. He's a former federal prosecutor and served as a special counsel to Robert Mueller in the Department of Justice. I'm also joined on the phone by CNN senior correspondent Josh Campbell. Both of you gentlemen had an opportunity to work with Robert Mueller, and, Josh, you were a former FBI special agent.

So, Michael, you know, to you first. Robert Mueller did a lot of things. I think people most notably know him as the special counsel in that 2016 presidential election. But he was a longtime attorney. He's a decorated military vet with U.S. Marines, even being a platoon leader during Vietnam. How would you best describe the Robert Mueller that you came to know and work with?

[14:05:00]

MICHAEL ZELDIN, SPECIAL COUNSEL TO ROBERT MUELLER IN DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: Well, he was a marine first and foremost for all of the positive qualities of the marines, which is honesty, integrity, dedication to the Constitution, an incredible work ethic. When Robert and I would travel -- Bob is what we all called him -- when he and I were traveling in Europe, we'd spend very long days at the Council of Europe or otherwise. We'd all come back at the end of the day exhausted, starving. We all wanted to go to dinner. Bob would send us off to dinner and he'd go back to the room and he's work. You know, he was just that sort of guy. He was so dedicated to the job that he held. When I was with him in the Justice Department, we were enforcing the criminal laws of the United States, and he did so with nonpartizan objectivity, with a dedication to the Constitution. And I have the greatest respect for this man.

WHITFIELD: Josh, you're on the phone with us now. You were a special agent in charge at the FBI. Give me an idea of what capacity you had interactions with Robert Mueller and what you most remember about working with him.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's good to be with you, Fred. Obviously a very, very somber day. The nation has lost a true statesman who dedicated his life to public service, from the military all the way through the Justice Department, and then came back time and again when the nation called.

I had the pleasure of working with him when I first started at the FBI as a very, very junior employee in the director's office. And that was interesting because it provided a vantage point where there wasn't the responsibility of being a senior leader, but getting to see one up close, how they operated, the qualities that made the man that was Robert Mueller.

And as Zeldin said there that, you know, he was certainly someone whose entire life was impacted by his Marine Corps service. And that was obvious to anyone who interacted with him. He had very, very high standards for his employees, so much so that sometimes he would come under criticism, even internally, for being a bit too rigid. But you have to understand what he was facing, particularly when he became the director of the FBI just days before 9/11, and then having to deal with the aftermath of that attack. There were concerns about follow-on attacks.

And so the FBI really moved into this this frenetic pace trying to protect the nation. And he expected that employees would come every single day ready to do just that, to serve and protect the American people.

As rigid as he was, being up close, being able to see him, there was a side of him that, you know, perhaps some in the Bureau and the Justice Department didn't see. And he did have a humorous side, somewhat, you know, dry humor. You know, he would kind of make fun of how certain people dressed at certain times. He was known to kind of be someone who wanted people in the typical FBI uniform, so to speak, the dark suit, the white shirt, the tie, really, you know, kind of exuding that FBI G-man of the past. And when he would encounter someone who maybe was dressed a little more modern, he would go out of his way to point that out, not in a cruel way, but that was kind of a moment of levity that he would have.

He also was married to the love of his life, Ann Mueller. And I could tell, you know, being around both of them at times, that his demeanor would change. And that was just, you know, based on obviously the love that they had.

And then the last thing I'll tell you is that I'm thinking about countless stories on this day as obviously we reflect on his life. But he was known, there was a phrase that he had when dealing with FBI employees, and that was, "What's the issue?" So people would come to brief them. They'd come to him with all kinds of problems. Obviously, the person who sits atop only deals with problems all day long. And if someone particularly got longwinded in their briefing, he would interrupt them and say, well, what's the issue? And you knew, all right, let's cut to brass tacks here. This guy is busy. Let's, you know, what's the decision point that you have for him?

And he told the story that one time he got home, and he had had a long day. He worked 12, 14 hours a day at the FBI. But Ann Mueller, who, the saintly Ann Mueller was talking to him about something, and he said that he interrupted her and said, well, what's the issue? And she looked at him and said, this is not FBI headquarters.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMPBELL: So, you know, again, as rigid as he was, he was he was a loving, he was a family man. My heart certainly goes out to the Mueller family today.

WHITFIELD: Wow, all of that seems to underscore those words you use, you know, humorous, cool, as well as rigid.

And so, Michael, to you, I mean, these are distinctive qualities, a lot of what made up this man, Robert Mueller. I wonder, you know, what, what set him apart from perhaps other FBI directors that you've seen over the years? What made him, I guess, so particularly memorable in your view?

[14:10:02]

ZELDIN: I think his dedication to the job. I think that he understood the responsibility when I was with him as assistant attorney general for the criminal division, and when Josh was with him as the FBI director, that these are serious jobs that implicate all sorts of issues for the American people. And he understood the responsibility, the heavy weight of that responsibility.

Josh made me smile when he said that Mueller would ask, you know, what's the issue? Get to the point. I remember distinctly a meeting. I'm sitting outside his office waiting to see him. I'm waiting and I'm waiting. And I said to Sandy, his secretary, I really only need five minutes. And Mueller screams out, come on in, Michael, I can give you three. So that's all he was willing to -- that's all he had time for was three. So I had to take my five-minute presentation and reduce it to three. And that was Bob. And he thanked me and sent me on my way.

So, you know, it was just it was a treat to work for him. As Josh said, you'll learn a lot about leadership when you work under the guidance of someone like Mueller.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it sounded like efficiency was really paramount, very important.

I mean, Michael, I already asked you this earlier, but Josh, I'm wondering your take, you know, because, you know, Robert Mueller, you know, led the Russia 2016 election interference probe. And perhaps that's what really made him a household name to a lot of people, you know, in current day. And I'm wondering, looking back, do you think that, you know Mueller was able to strike the right balance between transparency, the limits of a criminal investigation during that time, and at the same time, do you believe it would ultimately take a toll on him as well?

CAMPBELL: Well, I'm glad you brought that up because obviously we've talked about his past legacy in the military is, you know, a decorated veteran who was wounded in Vietnam, through his service, you know, in the Justice Department.

But particularly talking about that special counsel investigation, what happened there was you had, once again, as happened so many times in his career, the Department of Justice coming and saying, we need you. We need you to step up once again out of retirement to try to help us with this very serious issue.

And he had to have known how just, you know, politically polarizing that investigation would have been, how thorny that issue would have been. But I remember being in the FBI at the time, whenever he was appointed special counsel, and this was before this kind of campaign to try to destroy his credibility. But what he was seen as the possibly the only person, the last man with integrity in D.C. who can handle this investigation. You know, as lambasted as he was, Bob Mueller was a Republican, right. But yet he was respected on both sides of the aisle. And so, you know, he had to have known what toll that would have taken. But nevertheless, he did it.

And, you know, one thing looking back, you know, at his investigation and all of the, you know, the slings and arrows that he took you know, it's no secret that it was essentially a political type campaign that was launched against him personally. In a political campaign, you try to destroy, you know, your, your opponent in order to try to undermine their credibility with the public. And it just seems so often that was exactly what was happening to him, this campaign to try to undermine him in order to try to undermine whatever results that he might come up with in this investigation into these various Trump campaign people who had these various ties to Russia. And so again, yet he stepped up, you know, once again. And, you know,

people will have different opinions about him. You know, I look at that journalistically, you know, try to look at that unbiased. I mean, so many of those criticisms just completely fell flat. But nevertheless, you have people here today when you hear the name Robert Mueller in some circles, that is seen as a negative. I hope those people are kind of realizing today, maybe they'll take time to actually look at his bio, what he actually did, you know, in service of the nation, this man who graduated from an ivy league school, didn't have to go into the military. He was inspired by the death of a friend in combat in Vietnam. He himself signed up, went over, was wounded, and again, time and time again had worked throughout the Justice Department to try to protect people, to try to protect the innocent. And that's certainly how he will be remembered inside the FBI.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it is an incredible resume, an incredible legacy.

And, Michael, I wonder if, you know, you wanted to add to that and you know how you might, you know, characterize that crossroad, especially in the latter part of his life, that crossroad that he found himself in?

ZELDIN: Yes. And I think Josh hit the nail on the head, which is I don't think Robert Mueller wanted to be special counsel. It's not a position he, you know petitioned to get. He was called upon by the acting attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. And they said to him, we need you.

[14:15:01]

And he said, OK, not because he wanted to do it, not because he was looking for the glory or the publicity, but because he felt it was his responsibility to do it. And that's what I think one should take away from him, which is when the country called on him, whether it was in Vietnam or in the FBI or at the Justice Department or as special counsel, when the country needed him, he was always there to try to do his best with integrity in a nonpartisan way. Notwithstanding all the slings and arrows that were thrown at him, I think he put his head down, let his indictments do the talking, and did what one should do in these situations and not, you know, party with Super Bowl players.

WHITFIELD: Yes, you all both spelled it out. It's when duty calls. All right, Michael Zeldin, Josh Campbell, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. And of course, we'll have much more on the death of Robert Mueller, dead at the age of 81. That's coming up later on.

All right, today, also, more U.S. Troops are on their way to the Middle East as the war enters its fourth week. Two U.S. Officials tell CNN the Pentagon is deploying thousands more marines and sailors to the region. The USS Boxer, carrying at least 2,200 troops, has set off from San Diego as the war's reach seems to be expanding. According to one source, Iran fired missiles yesterday at a key U.S. and U.K. military base thousands of miles away in the Indian Ocean. That attack marking a significant escalation in this conflict. CNN has reporters spread out across the world covering every angle of

this conflict. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Beirut, Lebanon, and Matthew Chance is in Doha, Qatar, and Julia Benbrook is in Florida traveling with the president. So, Nick, to you first. What do you have?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, we have been hearing consistent suggestions of the back and forth between Hezbollah here in Lebanon and the Israeli military as well. Israel, on its part, has said its hit 200 targets over the weekend inside of Lebanon. We ourselves were down in southern Lebanon just hours ago. And it appears that the tempo of the violence may have ebbed slightly. We've just had the Eid religious holiday here and some pretty horrific weather. And so it does seem as there had been a slight drop in the tempo to some degree.

But at the same time the tempo of strikes that some have been reporting in the villages closer to northern Israel continuing. There has just recently been a strike inside of Israel, near Dimona, a key town that has a nuclear research facility inside of it as well. So a clear suggestion that the violence continues on both sides here, but also, too, from this perspective, I think we've been seeing a possibly less speedy progress in terms of penetrating into southern Lebanon than perhaps the Israeli forces may have hoped initially.

So a lot moving here, certainly, and overnight here in Beirut, there were two or three strikes in the southern suburb of Beirut here known as Dahieh. But I think the concerns are, as we move into this coming week here and the Eid holiday is behind, we may see a pickup in both Israeli maneuvers and also Hezbollah firing back, consistent bids by Hezbollah to penetrate Israels defenses. But a fast moving weekend, Fredricka. You mentioned the bid by, it seems, Iranian missiles to hit the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean. That is ultimately remarkable in that it shows the potential range of Iranian rockets of over 2,000 miles, although none hit that base. Indeed, that is a remarkable event and I think shows how this particular conflict appears to have different tentacles that continue to show new reach and unexpected consequences, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Paton Walsh, we'll check back with you there in Beirut. Thank you so much.

All right, now lets go to Doha, Qatar. I want to bring in Matthew Chance. Matthew, Iran does not appear to be showing any signs of letting up on attacking its neighbors. What's happening?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, that's right. And in fact, there have been continued interceptions of missiles and drones coming from Iran in both Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, overnight. And so that sort of barrage of hundreds of rockets and drones has been continuing.

There's also been that sort of intermediate range strike that Nick was just talking about on the island of Diego Garcia, which is nearly 2,500 miles away from Iran. So that, you know, sort of underlines just how capable the Iranian ballistic missile forces are of striking western targets that are extremely distant.

[14:20:05]

And of course, these Gulf states, and I'm in Qatar right now, in Doha, they're paying an extremely high price, financially, of course. Oil and gas production and exports are their main source of revenue. And because of the Persian Gulf being essentially in the grip, for the most part, or the Strait of Hormuz, which is the main sort of gateway, traffic point for energy exports, because that's in the grip of the Iranians, they're not letting anyone through. Basically, that oil and gas revenue has dropped off massively. So from billions of dollars a day to virtually nothing. And that obviously is having a massive impact on the local economies here, as well as the fact that people are bracing for more Iranian attacks.

But there's another consequence as well, which is that, you know, so many people have left these Gulf states. The hotels here in Doha are standing virtually empty. The decades that Qatar and Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and Abu Dhabi and Dubai spent sort of building this image of being peaceful havens, part of the Middle East, but also outside of the problems and the turmoil of the Middle East, well, that's been shown to be sort of fundamentally no longer the case. And that's the real problem and the real concern now facing these Gulf states, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes, indeed. All right, Matthew Chance in Doha, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

All right, coming up in this country, chaos at American airports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is insane. We didn't think it was going to be this bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, but it is. Travelers dealing with very long, unpredictable wait times as the partial U.S. Government shutdown drags on. Now, President Trump says ICE agents could get involved.

Plus, a major airline is cutting back flights as jet fuel prices surge and new warnings that higher oil and gas prices could stick around into the next year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:46]

WHITFIELD: All right, another weekend of airport chaos has President Trump saying he would deploy ICE agents if Congress doesn't end the partial U.S. Government shutdown. His post on social media reading in part, quote, "If the radical left Democrats don't immediately sign an agreement to let our country and in particular our airports be free and safe again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE agents to the airports where they will do security like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all illegal immigrants who have come into our country," end quote. CNN is keeping an eye on wait times, by the way, at major domestic airports, and you can follow along in the corner of your screen, somewhere along there. It's going to pop up for you.

Let's check in now with how passengers are faring. CNNs Rafael Romo is live at the world's busiest airport in Atlanta, and CNN's Gloria Pazmino is at Newark Liberty International in New Jersey. Rafael, you first. What are the wait lines looking like for folks going in and out of Atlanta?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Fred. Finally, finally, good news to report, because it's just incredible how much progress has been made at this airport over the last several hours. Just a few hours ago, earlier in the morning when we got here this hallway here, three lines, Fred, all the way back to the atrium. Then on the other side of the escalator, another three lines. Then we had a wheelchair line. Then precheck.

And take a look at the situation now. It is better than a normal day. I have a flight on Monday. If I see it this way, I'm going to be very, very happy. But the reality is that by the midmorning, the damage had already been done to many passengers. I spoke to a few of them. They were frustrated, as you can imagine angry. They didn't know if they were going to make their flights. I spoke with a couple of them, and this is what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: How are you?

LEE GEORGE BOND, TRAVELING TO A CRUISE: Frustrated? Really frustrated. It's pandemonium out there. Nobody seems to know where to go. There's no organization. There's no clear lines of where people should go to queue to get to the next space. And there's no information. When I asked the staff around here, I say, how long is it going to be? They don't know.

AVISHAI HARRIS, TRAVELING TO D.C.: Honestly, it's kind of expected. You know, this is the second time that we've had a government shutdown. I wouldn't expect them to come to work if they're not getting paid. So its kind of, what are we going to do?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Fred, here's the bottom line. The problem, the root cause of the problem hasn't changed. There's still no money flowing from Congress to TSA, DHS. As a matter of fact, the DHS says that in the last several days since the partial shutdown started, more than 360 screeners have quit. Not to mention that the absentee rate over the last several days hovers around 10 percent. So that's the situation we're facing. That's probably not going to change until we come to an agreement, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Rafael Romo in Atlanta, thank you so much.

Let's go to Newark, New Jersey, where we find Gloria Pazmino. How are the lines looking there?

[14:30:04]

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Fred, we're here at Terminal A here in Newark Airport, which is the largest of the terminals at this airport. And for most of the time that we have been here, things have been moving. Passengers are flowing through the checkpoints.

And I want to show you right now behind me, you can see that the wait time is hovering around greater than 30 minutes. And you can see the crowds beyond the checkpoint. People are lined up. This is probably the longest line I have seen in about the last two hours or so. And there's a section of the TSA checkpoints that are actually blocked off, because there's only a certain number of them that are operating. So you can see that the line starts to build as the time goes on.

Now, this is not bad, all things considered, when we compare it to many other airports across the nation, specifically Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. That has been seeing some of the longest wait times hovering over an hour. J.F. Kennedy airport in New York also seeing some long wait times. So passengers are very much aware of this coming into the airport today. Many of them told us that they came well ahead of time, while others had a little better luck. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNY HOUSTON, TRAVELING TO LOUISIANA: Rule of thumb like, an hour, hour-and-a-half. I'm going to be here like four hours early now. I don't want to. I don't want the delays.

SAGLIY SINGH, TRAVELING FROM ORLANDO: It was pretty good. They said they were going to be long lines, but I have the TSA precheck, so it was not that bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, TSA workers are, of course, also among the thousands of people that are caught in the middle of this. They have been going without a paycheck for a month now, and that has led some airports to request donations. The World International Kitchen has been distributing meals at several airports, including ones in the DMV area and as well as Texas. And overall, at least 61,000 employees impacted by this, hundreds of them at 366, as Rafael mentioned, already have submitted their resignations. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Yes. Oh, incredible. And the numbers keep going up or down, depending on which way you're looking at it. All right, Gloria Pazmino in Newark Airport. Thank you so much.

All right, and then there's this breaking news out of Hawaii. Catastrophic flooding -- isn't that incredible? -- forcing evacuations on the island of Oahu. Drivers getting stuck in the raging waters, as you see right there. On Oahu's north shore, there is concern that a major dam could collapse or breach at any time. Anyone in that area has been told to leave. Drone video showing the 120-year-old dam functioning properly, despite water pouring out of the reservoir. And the flooding has destroyed a lot of homes, damaged airports and hospitals, and actually cut off a lot of towns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a scary situation for us. Pretty much lost everything. I mean, you know, everything else gone. Yes, it's our home up there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Incredible losses. Crews have rescued more than 200 people from the treacherous conditions as well. Hawaii's governor says so far there have been no reports of deaths or anyone unaccounted for. Governor Josh Green will actually be joining us live at the in the next hour for an update.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:7]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Live pictures right now on Capitol Hill. The Senate is holding a rare session with lawmakers resuming debate on the so-called Save America Act. This comes after a bipartisan group of senators from the appropriations committee met with border czar Tom Homan on funding DHS.

CNN's Camila DeChalus is joining me now live from Capitol Hill. So what is the latest on passing a DHS funding bill?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Fred, it seems like a lot of progress has been made in these last few days when Democratic senators and Republican senators met with Trump's appointed border czar Tom Homan. And they're saying that through those conversations, they're really talking about reforms, Democrats really urging there to be reforms made around several federal agencies under the Department of Homeland Security. Mind you, that is the big point of contention here. Democrats want reforms around federal agencies like CBP, ICE. And they're saying that if these reforms happen, then they will support any bill that gets put on the Senate floor that supports funding the Department of Homeland Security.

Now, the big point of contention is just the fact that the White House and Republicans and Democrats, they just keep going back and forth trading proposals of what they're saying they're willing and not willing to do. But they're saying these meetings with Tom Homan is really sparking more steps in the right direction.

And even though some Democrats say that there's still a long way to go, Republicans say that they're a little optimistic, that at least they're making some progress, and they're continuing these talks behind closed doors without any cameras there to really kind of talk about what reforms that Republicans say they're willing to do.

Now, here's the thing. I've talked to several Democrats in the last few hours, and they've just told me, listen, if this partial government shutdown has now lasted for more than 30 days, this is affecting hundreds and thousands of federal employees under DHS. And so what they're proposing is just a piecemeal approach where they will fund federal agencies like TSA, Coast Guard, agencies that really have nothing to do with immigration related activities. And they're saying, hey, let's do this first, and then let's talk about funding for more controversial agencies that they see it, like CBP and ICE.

[14:40:02]

Now, Republicans I talked to said Camila, this is a nonstarter. We're not going to do this. If we're going to pass a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, it's going to be to fund all federal agencies, not just some.

And so that is just where it lies now. Republicans know, at least on the Senate side, that they need some Democrats to get on board with their plans. And so right now we're just hearing that it's really pivotal that they come up with striking a deal first before they schedule another vote to pass funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Camila DeChalus on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

All right, still to come, new developments in the war with Iran, the struggle to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. More than 20 countries joining together to help restore the flow of oil.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:23]

WHITFIELD: All right, we're continuing our breaking news coverage of the war with Iran. Two U.S. Officials say the Pentagon is sending thousands more sailors and marines to the Middle East. The USS Boxer, with at least 2,200 troops on board, has left from San Diego. And it comes as ballistic missiles were fired at a joint U.S. and U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean.

With us now is Jennifer Kavanagh. She is a senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, a foreign policy think tank. Great to see you. Do you believe that latest strike involving U.K. and U.S. military location has now escalated things?

JENNIFER KAVANAGH, SENIOR FELLOW AND DIRECTOR OF MILITARY ANALYSIS, DEFENSE PRIORITIES: I do think that were observing escalation here really on all sides. We saw the ballistic missile strike by Iran. We also had an apparent strike on the Nanz nuclear facility as well as Iran struck the city of Dimona in Israel, which is the location of Israel's nuclear capabilities. The president has indicated that he's sending more U.S. Forces to the region, which suggests some kind of plan for a ground operation. And we continue to see escalating strikes on oil infrastructure across the region. So things do seem to be getting increasingly dangerous, and the implications increasingly severe. WHITFIELD: The U.K. is among those countries that had said we don't

want to be involved in this, but now do you believe they are considering or looking at the options about changing its mind over time?

KAVANAGH: Well, I think an increasing number of countries are starting to see their own interests at stake here and are starting to think about what they can do to contribute to efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and to protect their own national interests.

However, they're limited, really, in the capabilities that they can offer. So we've already seen the U.K. and other countries expand access for the United States to use their bases in more ways. And there's some talk among states in the Gulf as well as the U.K. of potentially contributing to U.S. and Israeli offensive strikes on Iran. And so that's something that we could see in the next couple of days, which would be yet another escalatory step.

But as far as these countries contributing naval capabilities for some kind of effort to forcibly reopen the Strait of Hormuz, I see that as very unlikely, just given the constraints on their capabilities and their historic unwillingness to take on the types of risk that type of operation would involve.

WHITFIELD: Kharg Island, a lot has been discussed this week about whether the U.S. would take Kharg Island. The president of the United States has expressed an interest in doing so. What would happen if that were to take place? And what does that mean exactly?

KAVANAGH: Well, that does seem to be one possible option that the Pentagon and the White House are considering. And it's something that the marines that are on their way to the region could potentially participate in. It's something that they would be trained for, an amphibious type operation. However, it would be very high risk and would likely involve significant U.S. casualties for very low gains.

I think the strategy here is that if the United States were able to seize this island, which would significantly reduce Iran's ability to export oil, it would be an economic shock to Iran that would limit its ability to continue fighting. But there's a few problems with that logic. The first is that it assumes the U.S. operation will be successful, and there's definitely no guarantee of that. Amphibious operations are very difficult, and even if forces were able to come onto the island, they would be subject to drone attacks and artillery fire. So there's no assurance here that that would be a successful operation.

Even if they did that, it would do nothing to reopen the strait forcibly. It's not the right location for that. And right now, Iran's strategy is very low cost. It does not need a lot of revenue to fire a few dozen drones and missiles to keep the strait closed and to keep the pressure on the Gulf states and the United States. So I guess I see this as a very bad option. It has very high risk, high costs, and very little upside potential in my view.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jennifer Kavanagh, we really appreciate you being with us today. Thank you.

KAVANAGH: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, today funeral services are being held for two of the soldiers killed in a drone strike in Kuwait in the opening days of the war with Iran. This is video from the service honoring Major Jeffrey O'Brien. All the troops killed in the March 1st attack were Army reservists based in Des Moines, Iowa.

[14:50:01]

Today, there is also a service for one of the airmen who died when a U.S. refueling plane crashed in Iraq.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:00]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back.

The recent bombshell allegations of sexual abuse against the late labor rights leader Cesar Chavez has prompted many communities to rethink his legacy. In San Francisco, this new video shows a Chavez mural being painted over in the city's Mission district. The building's owner covered the mural after "The New York Times" published a story alleging Chavez sexually abused women and girls for decades.

[14:55:03]

WHITFIELD: Fresno State University was also among places taking action this week and covered up a Chavez statue on campus. Two Democrats say they will sponsor a bill in the California state house to change the name of the state's Cesar Chavez day.

And new dashcam video verified by CNN shows a terrifying near miss at Newark Airport, which federal authorities are now investigating. A vehicle driving along I-95 captured the footage of a FedEx plane, seen on the right side of your screen, coming in for a landing, while an Alaska Airlines flight was preparing to land on an intersecting runway. And you can see the lights of the Alaska Airlines flight on the upper left side as maneuver -- as it maneuvers to avoid the FedEx aircraft. Both airlines cited instructions from air traffic control in their responses.

All right, still to come, evacuations and high water rescues after catastrophic flooding on the island of Oahu. Hawaii Governor Josh Green joining us next about the emergency operations underway as heavy rains continue to threaten the community.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)