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Trump: U.S. Will "Hit & Obliterate" Iran's Power Plants; Lives Upended Across Asia As Strait Of Hormuz Remains Shut; Trump Threatens To Send ICE Agents Into U.S. Airports; Former FBI Director Who Led Trump-Russia Probe Dies At 81; Cuba Struggles Under Second Islandwide Blackout. Aired 12a-1a ET

Aired March 22, 2026 - 00:00   ET

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

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York, where it is midnight. It is early Sunday morning in the Middle East.

And we begin with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is threatening to attack Iran's energy infrastructure. That's if Tehran does not allow the free navigation of the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. President, posting a warning on his Truth Social account on Saturday evening. And he wrote, "If Iran doesn't fully open without threats, the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours from this exact point in time," which was Sunday evening -- Saturday evening, I should say, "the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various power plants starting with the biggest one first," wrote the president.

His comments come after Iran launched its most devastating attack on Israel since the start of the war. Dozens of people were injured, and some are still missing after an Iranian missile hit the city of Arad in southern Israel. Israel's emergency response service says that they have already declared this a mass casualty event, and the strike was just the second to hit southern Israel on Saturday.

This was the other. It was hours earlier when an Iranian ballistic missile slammed into a building in in Dimona, which is home to Israels nuclear program.

Iranian state media claiming that the strike targeted nuclear facilities and was in retaliation for Israel's earlier attack on one of Iran's uranium enrichment sites.

Let's go now to CNN's Mike Valerio, who's been following the situation in the Middle East.

Mike, updates on multiple fronts. Perhaps let's start with this warning that the White House issued on Saturday directed towards Iran.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. I mean, saying and its going to be the ultimatum Tuesday morning, our time on this side of the world in Asia, that if Iran doesn't somehow open up the Strait of Hormuz and cease any kind of threat of attack that the United States is going to go forward and attack the biggest power plant that Iran has to offer.

Our own reporter in Hong Kong, Laura Sherman, has an excellent post on CNN.com about the biggest Iranian power plants, natural gas facilities. Iran also says that it has one nuclear facility that's up and running, constructing another one. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency. So, some good reporting there as to what could potentially be targeted.

We also, Polo, let's talk about three things. We're going to go Israel strikes, the president's Truth posts and what he's told reporters at the beginning of the weekend as he was leaving for Palm Beach. And then we're going to do a hard pivot to Japan on this side of the world. So, a lot to talk about.

Israel strikes for both Lebanon and Iranian targets. And if you need sort of a light touch, let's say, catch up as to why Lebanon, which is what were going to start with, is involved in this war. Hezbollah fighters allied with Iran opened fire, sending weapons and missiles to hit Israeli targets in response to avenge the death of Ali Khamenei back on March 2nd, Israel retaliates, and now were still seeing that retaliation continue.

So, the latest information that we have more than 200 targets, Israel says its hit in Iran. The majority of those are compounds holding weapons, ballistic missiles. And in Lebanon, two waves of attacks that Israel has launched against Hezbollah, focusing mostly on Hezbollah command centers. And when you think about Lebanon and its involvement or its place, I should say, in this war, there have been more than 1,000 people killed. We should remember that this theater is not just in Iran. And more than a million people displaced in this country of five million people, which is totally extraordinary to think about.

So, then we move to the president's posts on Truth Social and also what he was talking about with reporters before boarding Marine One. He's been saying actually, over the course of a few days that the war could be winding down and that its one his words, not ours, and that there are fewer and fewer military targets. While our reporting, with more than 200 targets that Israel has locked on in on over the past couple hours in Iran.

[00:05:02]

Those are a lot of targets. That's between eight to 10 strikes every single hour. So, it's important to think when we're trying to see clearly about where this is going. The president saying this thing could be over soon, that a lot of the military targets, most of them have been destroyed. But, you know, these pictures certainly, and reporting from Israel seem to convey the opposite.

And then finally, Japan, as we were talking last hour, Polo, about the coalition of nations and the vague, sort of impressionistic view that's coming into focus as to what nation could do, what job, potentially to open up the Strait of Hormuz. There's new reporting from "Reuters", that's signaling Japan could consider minesweepers if -- big if -- a ceasefire is reached, and that is according to the foreign minister. So, our reporting targets for today and into Monday will be to see

what kind of clarity we can get on that front from Tokyo and to see what other nations follow suit in terms of specific responsibilities, Polo.

SANDOVAL: CNN's Mike Valerio, always grateful for your reporting. Thank you.

And despite President Trump's recent assertion that the U.S. has won its war with Iran, there are still thousands of marines and sailors that are en route to the Middle East. The White House is downplaying the likelihood of having to put U.S. Boots on the ground to end the conflict, but it's also not ruled that out as an option. And this comes as Israels defense minister says that the U.S. And Israeli strikes on Iran will increase significantly this week.

Joining me live to discuss all this and the ongoing situation in the Middle East is retired U.S. marine intelligence officer, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Kempfer. He's the CEO and founder of the global risk intelligence and planning firm, as well as the host of this podcast.

Lieutenant Colonel, great to have you join us again. Really appreciate it.

LT. COL. HAL KEMPFER (RET.), INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Thanks, Polo. Great to be here.

SANDOVAL: Let's -- let's assess or let's analyze what we just heard a little while ago, especially what's coming from the White House now with President Trump issuing a very direct threat on Iran's energy infrastructure, what are the risks for the United States and perhaps his partners in the Gulf in issuing this type of ultimatum for Iran? Could it perhaps -- could the regime perhaps feel cornered and increase some of its targeting?

KEMPFER: Well, Polo, I think they're already starting to feel cornered. One of the things is this kind of a response to what they've been doing. They've been targeting critical infrastructure in the Gulf states across the board. They've been hitting, obviously, energy infrastructure, tremendous damage in Qatar with liquefied natural gas capabilities there, which is really vital for the world.

So, this is basically, you know, kind of a response to that saying, we'll hit your power. And the thing with power is, and it is a kind of a -- it's a -- it's a sort of a dangerous thing, but its also kind of a logical thing.

The danger is, could it alienate the Iranian people away from the U.S.? And what's trying to be done there? Could it make them somehow adhere to the regime in a sort of nationalist way?

The other side is they're thinking, well, they might turn off the lights, literally. And if they turn off the lights, that does make it look like the regime can't do much. So, it sort of disempowers the regime's hold on the people. So, it is a kind of a logical step. But I think there's a big psychological element. And keep in mind, we've got a 48-hour deadline. It's not something immediate. It's something for them to ponder for the next two days.

SANDOVAL: Let's pivot to this failed attempt to strike Diego Garcia, that the joint U.S.-U.K. base. It's my understanding you know it well, served my -- my understanding is part of your service included being based out of that location.

What's your reaction to this report from yesterday at the U.S. -- I'm sorry that Iran launched a missile there or several. Should we be concerned that the regime set its sights on a target some 4,000 kilometers away?

KEMPFER: Well, that's a -- it's a bold statement, if nothing else. Yes. I was stationed at Diego Garcia, know that area well, and I will say that it was something that last June, during the 12 day war was kind of obsessed that they were in development or developing a missile with its capability. Now they have fired two missiles at Diego Garcia, 4,000 kilometers away, one of which was intercepted. The other one didn't cause any damage, but I haven't heard exactly what happened with that.

But the thing is, if you look at a 4,000 kilometer range span and you move it around all over, you realize that London, Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo, Warsaw, you know, Spain, Rome, Europe is very much within their realm of being attacked. And I think what they're trying to do is make more of a statement up to Europe and say, if you were to send ships in or do something to weigh in on this thing, maybe we will target you.

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So, it was a pretty bold statement.

I don't know if the Europeans are going to interpret the way the Iranians hope.

SANDOVAL: When you were there, lieutenant colonel, was a potential strike from Iran ever, ever. Something that was discussed. Was it ever a concern that kind of loomed over you all?

KEMPFER: I was there a long time ago. Trust me. Iran was not shooting missiles at anywhere in the Indian Ocean back then. They were very much, on our on our list of countries we weren't too thrilled with back then, but no. And that wasn't actually, we were concerned about a number of things and potential, you know, vectors of attack towards Diego Garcia, but that particular vector of attack, although a missile attack not from Iran at that time on Diego Garcia was certainly a, you know, a realistic proposition that could happen, but they have -- apparently, they have some measure of air defense, missile defense. And they were successful in taking out one.

I'm sure they're going to look at this more and looking at missiles. Hopefully, they're also going to look at the threat from long range drones or drones launched from ships at sea. That's something else they have to consider.

SANDOVAL: The Trump administration seems to be preparing for different contingencies, and one of them is the possibility of deploying U.S. troops. As we enter a new week of this conflict, do you think that that is becoming even more likely to happen?

KEMPFER: Well, we're putting the capability definitely on the board, so to speak. The 31st MEU, marine expeditionary unit, about 2,200 marines and sailors has been steaming across the Indian ocean. They should be within a day or two, maybe a couple, three days, they'll be on station where they could actually do something. The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit out of southern California has also been steaming that direction. I think it's somewhere in the middle of the Pacific going out there.

When it's all said and done, we will have close to about 4,500 to 5,000 total marines. They're not all ground troops marines, they're not all infantry. We have a variety of different things. We have a composite air squadrons. We have a large combat support element. We have, you know, tremendous command and control capabilities with that.

But we also have enough that if we wanted to start doing things like go after these smaller islands in the Strait of Hormuz, the Abu Musa, the Greater or Lesser Tunb, which are actually in the internationally recognized sea lanes themselves. That's a distinct possibility. That opens up the possibility we could do that.

And if we move beyond that, we could actually go up to Kharg Island, where 90 percent of our Iranian oil is shipped out of.

SANDOVAL: That's a really important point.

Hal Kempfer, thank you so much for your time, as always. Great having you on.

KEMPFER: Thank you, Polo.

SANDOVAL: It's our pleasure. After the break here on CNN NEWSROOM, more on the war with Iran and the economic fallout that's spreading as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to a majority of vital shipping traffic.

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SANDOVAL: The nation of Bahrain, it is one of the countries that has come forward saying that it's willing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to state media. Twenty-two countries, they have said that they want to ensure safe navigation through the shipping route, which is vital to the global economy. However, it's not clear what those efforts would actually look like. Will these countries send in potential naval assets? Maybe.

U.S. President Donald Trump, well, he has now threatened to destroy Iranian power plants. That's if the Strait of Hormuz is not fully reopened by Monday. And the war with Iran, it's now entering its fourth week with no clear end game and no break in sight from sky rocketing energy prices all around the world, well be looking into the political fallout for the White House in just a few moments.

Stay with us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York and these are today's top stories.

Israel's emergency response service declaring a mass casualty event after an Iranian missile hit the city, a city in southern Israel on Saturday. At least 74 people were injured there, including seven were in serious condition. Israeli officials say that there were still people missing at the scene. The strike appears to have resulted in the highest number of people injured in a single attack since the start of the war.

Iran says their Natanz uranium enrichment facility was targeted in a U.S. Israeli strike on Saturday. Iranian state media reported that the site was hit but say that there was no radioactive leaks and no danger to residents nearby. The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog says it's not looking into reports, but has detected no increase in radiation levels there. Israel's military said that its not familiar with any attack at the facility.

This weekend saw a wave of Israeli airstrikes on both Iran and Lebanon. The Israeli military says that it hit more than 200 targets so far. It claims to have further degraded Tehran's arsenal of weapons and struck, quote, "key" Hezbollah command centers during waves of strike in Lebanon.

Economists call it a black swan event, an economic shock that no one can see coming. But it's so destructive that it affects pretty much everyone. And that kind of calamity is playing out in countries around the world right now, mainly because of the spike in energy prices that have been caused by Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Some Asian countries, they are resorting to emergency measures just to try to save energy. For example, Pakistan, they've closed schools for two weeks. India, they're rationing gas supplies. South Korea, they've imposed their first fuel price cap in decades. And in the Philippines, they're mandating a four-day workweek.

As Ben Hunte reports, the energy crisis is upending lives across the continent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN HUNTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a shock to the system in Asia. The chokehold in the strait of blocking most fuel and energy imports from the Middle East to Asia, normally more than 80 percent of the tankers in the waterway carrying crude oil and liquefied natural gas would be bound for Asia. But barely anything is moving now.

Some countries like China, Japan and South Korea have sizable oil stockpiles to help offset shortages. But other Asian nations only have a month or two of fuel in reserve. And for them, it's crisis mode. There are long lines for gas, particularly across Southeast Asia,

where there has been panic buying and a surge in gas prices. The cost of petrol jumping more than 20 percent in Vietnam on Friday.

In Pakistan, a similar price hike at a time when many people were traveling for Eid al-Fitr. Some people say they can barely afford increasing bus fares.

JAHAN ZEB, PAKISTANI LABORER: Look, I'm a poor laborer. Apart from this expense, I have to go further. I have to buy clothes, et cetera, for the children. So much money has been spent on bus fare. I don't understand what to do next.

HUNTE (voice-over): High costs also forcing some migrant workers in India to head home. These workers in Gujarat, India's textile hub, say they don't know when they'll return because cooking gas isn't affordable, if it can even be found.

INDIAN MIGRANT WORKER: We are returning to our village. For five days, we didn't have gas. The company we work for is also about to be shut down. So what can we do? We are starving to death.

HUNTE (voice-over): Other countries are limiting some official operations to cut energy costs. Sri Lanka says it's closing its government institutions on Wednesdays, but says ports and hospitals will still function normally. The Philippines has switched many of its government offices to a four-day work week, and Bangladesh has closed universities to conserve electricity and fuel.

Airlines, too, are feeling the pinch. The price of jet fuel is skyrocketing, taking ticket prices with it and with fewer routes available as airlines avoid war zones, tourism could suffer.

[00:25:05]

Thailand's tourism ministry estimates it could lose over $1 billion if airspace closures last eight weeks.

As the war stretches on, economic hardship will expand because what happens in Asia will certainly impact the rest of the world.

Ben Hunte, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: All right. Let's stay on the conversation of these ever growing financial costs of the war. I want to now head over to Gene Sperling. He's the former White House American Rescue Plan coordinator and was also senior advisor to President Biden.

Gene, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

GENE SPERLING, FORMER WHITE HOUSE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN COORDINATOR: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: So as global oil prices rise, at what point do we see a possible recession on the horizon?

SPERLING: Well, I think it's too early to tell now. I think the three things that most people are looking at is, one, what is the duration of this conflict, this war. As your correspondent described so well, people only have a limited amount of supply reserves. The longer this goes on, the more painful it's going to be.

Two, how much destruction is there to both the infrastructure, which we've seen in the recent bombing by Israel and the counter bombing, but also just the degree that you have so many, so much oil production being halted and shut down because there's no tankers to take it through the straits.

And then I think third is if you can get the quick exit that many of us would like to see from the United States, can that exit happen with an agreement of some stability for the straits? Because if you just lowered the duration of the U.S. being in the war, but left that conflict and uncertainty, then you start looking at a situation that feels stagflationary. Well, it is stagflationary where both inflation will be rising as gas prices go up, as we've heard.

But not only that, as your correspondent also mentioned, those gas prices start to spread into all sorts of things, from bus prices to fuel prices to fertilizer prices. And that means people are spending so much money, more money that they can't afford other things and their spending goes down. That's a hard situation because when inflation is going up and consumer spending and growth is going down, it is not clear what even a smart monetary policy or fiscal policy can do.

SANDOVAL: And then there's also the issue of the recovery time. I mean, say we do experience that that potential quick exit or possible quick exit that you mentioned, maybe Iran responds to the president's deadline that he set to allow for complete unhampered navigation of the Strait of Hormuz. It's still not as easy as flipping a switch, I assume, before oil markets experienced some stability. Again, it takes time.

SPERLING: Yeah. No, exactly. And one of the things is, you know, often when we've had an oil crisis, people have been like, well, if only we could get OPEC or Saudi Arabia to pump more oil. But here they've had to shut down because their tankers are full.

Well, you know, the people who are experts say you don't just flip that switch that quickly. I don't know, you know, all the different things that can be happening with tankers. And then just the residual risk that will exist and remain. So, I still would love to see an earlier exit, but without at least a real guarantee or some kind of policy of security in the straits, I think there's going to be a lot of risk, and I think it could take a while.

And I think that will mean a lot of hardship. The hardship you've heard there, I mean, here in the United States, you know, people are seeing gas prices go up a dollar. That's 33 percent. You've got farmers saying they've already been hit by the tariffs so hard. And now fertilizer turns out some of the fertilizer or ingredients

goes through the gulf and the straits. And those prices are going up. Generic drug costs could go up. So, this is, you know, as much as people will go to the gas pump and talk to, you know, people who are angry that they're paying more for gas, the spread of the impact, or as the chairman of the Federal Reserve says, the ability for this to leak into higher prices overall means you could have sustained inflation, more people cutting back on spending, and that is a cycle nobody -- nobody wants to see.

SANDOVAL: I'm glad you mentioned farmers. Diesel prices, they have not been spared or not immune to these rises.

[00:30:01]

Now, if Iran -- or I should ask if you previously advised the previous White House administration, the current White House administration, they have been touting what they say has helped Americans deal with some of these energy costs, including releasing some 172 million barrels of oil from petroleum reserves. I mean, do you see any actions that the current White House has done that has done any noticeable impact?

SPERLING: Listen, I've been there. I was national economic council director for President Clinton and President Obama before I served with President Biden. Really in all three administrations, we had to at one point take a strategic petroleum reserve. And I think your view, when you're in the White House is you do everything you can, but you do it with that humility and knowledge that there's only so much you can do.

That release that you saw from the United States, 172 million and then 228 million from the rest of the IEA, 400 million, that's very large. But we know if 20 million or 15 million is not going through the straits when they're used to 20 million. You know, you can do the math. That's 25, 30 days.

And if people know it's going to run out, then what do you think future markets and people in the oil markets are going to do? They're going to start projecting higher and higher and gas prices, which will lead to more of inflationary expectations and a spiral.

So, this really is a very unfortunate situation. You know, you don't want to ever be facing recessionary pressures. But if you are you can just hope you can rescue it with a strong fiscal policy response or the Fed lowering rates.

But when you're seeing inflation rising, some people like talking about four or five percent inflation in the United States, when, you know, when just a month or two ago was at least closer to 3 percent, then it's pretty hard. It handcuffs fiscal policy and it handcuffs monetary policy. And that's why -- you know, I don't really believe this -- the economic ramifications of this military intervention were very well thought out at all.

SANDOVAL: It is a sobering assessment, but nonetheless, a very important one. As this conflict rages on.

Gene Sperling, thank you so much for your insight, for your perspective.

SPERLING: Thank you

SANDOVAL: The U.S. and Israel, they are sending a different message about potential timelines for ending the war. Israel says that it has thousands of targets in Iran left to strike, and that it plans for several more weeks of fighting. But President Trump said Friday that he's considering winding down operations because the U.S. is close to achieving its goals, according to the commander in chief.

Well, he spoke as he sent more troops to the region. While sources say that he may ask Congress for more war funding, and Iranian official says that Tehran is not buying Mr. Trump's claims.

For more, we're joined now from Los Angeles by CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. He's also an opinion columnist at Bloomberg.

Hey, Ron, it's always good to see you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening.

SANDOVAL: So, I'm just curious if you can dive deep into the current situation right now. I mean, you have President Trump saying repeatedly that this short term pain is worth the long-term gain. Weeks into this conflict, do you see, especially MAGA Republicans perhaps sympathizing with that or having a full understanding of that?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, I think the polling is pretty clear that the vast majority, certainly of MAGA Republicans, are sticking with him on the war. But for the rest of the country as Gene Sperling was talking about, you know, the real impact this is this is affecting them more directly, I think, than the administration could have predicted at the outset. Or did predict at the outset in their pocketbook.

And in that way, it is exacerbating what was Donald Trump's biggest political problem on the day before the first bombs dropped in Iran, which is that he was elected above all because Americans thought he could alleviate the strain on their cost of living. And most Americans felt he had failed to do that even before the risk to a broad range of prices, that gas prices being the most prominent among them. But ultimately, this could rebound into food prices and other areas, as Gene Sperling was saying.

So, you know, it is -- it is a war in which the U.S. has overwhelming military superiority, but certainly, Iran is pushing at a pressure point, both substantively for American families and politically for the Trump administration.

SANDOVAL: This threat that was issued by President Trump on Saturday night, Ron, as you saw, a very direct threat to the Iranians, saying if they do not reestablish free navigation or allow for free navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and completely reopen it, then the U.S. could will potentially strike some of their energy -- energy infrastructure.

[00:35:13]

Do you see this as perhaps the president really feeling that mounting political pressure that you and I have discussed for the last several weeks?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, it's also -- I mean, look, it is the president, either by design or impulse, just sort of careening in his messaging on the war. You know, I mean, literally just days ago, he said that he said incorrectly, as it turned out, but he did say that the U.S. was not informed of the Israeli attack on Iranian energy infrastructure. And then, of course, Iran responded by attacking other energy infrastructure in the region.

You know, Iran is not a democracy. I mean, they can -- the ruling regime can absorb a lot of pain on behalf of its public in a way that is just harder for our democracy to do. So, it's kind of hard to imagine that this threat is going to lead to Iran to say, okay, yes, you know, we cave and we are going to open the strait. More likely if the U.S. follows through on this, Iran will try to take out more infrastructure, energy, infrastructure in the region. And that could almost immediately be reflected in even higher gas prices.

I mean, the president has always behaved, I think, in almost every situation as though he is the one with escalation dominance -- what the military planners call escalation dominance. He decides how intense the conflict flares and when it ends. And that just does not seem to be the case right now.

SANDOVAL: If he does get free navigation in the Strait of Hormuz again, what happens then to this issue of NATO and how he's been obviously criticizing NATO allies while at the same time calling on their support? I mean, would he still need their support?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, again, if you think that Iran is going to completely back down and open the strait or that we can do it through unilateral military force in some way, then he doesn't need NATO. But I think, you know, the posture of this administration toward traditional allies has been kind of indifference at best, and diffidence and actually derision at worst.

And, you know, I mean, the response of the NATO allies to this, is what you might expect from those 15, 16 months of this kind of behavior. I mean, the president has, you know, really not shown a lot of interest either in making the case to this to our traditional allies, why this was necessary to do other than Israel, and certainly not to the public at home.

I mean, there's kind of been this sense that, you know, we have the force to do this, and therefore everybody else, including the Iranians, would fall in line. And, you know, in the end, we may get an awful lot of what we want out of this war, but we are certainly not getting it at as low a cost as he expects. And the biggest thing that we thought we might precipitate, which is the collapse of the regime, seems nowhere in sight. And again, president's response, when pressured, almost always his

first response is to escalate, to threaten. More like NATO isn't doing what he wants. We may reconsider our relations with NATO, and that is what the military planners call escalation dominance. But it does not seem to be completely in our hands at this moment.

SANDOVAL: I have just a couple of seconds with you. I'd be remiss if I didn't ask also.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

SANDOVAL: Just your assessment of the reaction among some Republicans to some of the insensitive comments that we heard from President Trump after the death of a former FBI director, Robert Mueller.

BROWNSTEIN: You know, look, I mean, J.D. Vance was going around the country saying people should be fired for saying something insensitive after the death of Charlie Kirk. And then the president comes out again, as he did with the death of Rob Reiner. And, you know, there is an audience for this kind of truly terrible behavior because it says to people that he will break the rules and therefore he will break the rules on my behalf. But there is also a reality that there are a lot of American parents in particular, who kind of look at this and, and are just kind of shocked that this is not the behavior they want the most visible person in the country, the most visible person in the world to model for their kids.

And that is a problem for Trump. Ultimately, it does kind of reduce, I think, the willingness to give him the benefit of the doubt, even as there is clearly, you know, a cohort in his coalition that thrills each time he breaks one of these windows.

SANDOVAL: Ron Brownstein, really appreciate your thoughts on that and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: Well, let's stay on that last story, the death of Robert Mueller. He served as the FBI director for 12 years under two presidents. He was also a marine and Vietnam veteran, but he is perhaps best known for leading the probe into the alleged Russian interference of the 2016 presidential election.

[00:40:05]

CNN's Wolf Blitzer has a look back at Mueller's life and his career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Attorney Robert Mueller's reputation in government was virtually unquestioned until he got the most controversial assignment of his career. BLITZER: We have major breaking news right now. The U.S. Justice

department has just named a special counsel in the Russia investigation.

BLITZER (voice-over): 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 nations laws fairly and with respect to the rights of all Americans.

BLITZER (voice-over): 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 (voice-over): 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 (voice-over): 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, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Mr. Mueller is highly conflicted. In fact, Comey is like his best friend.

BLITZER (voice-over): A message driven home by right wing 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 (voice-over): 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 (voice-over): 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 VIDEOTAPE)

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[00:46:11]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. President Trump is threatening to send ICE agents into some of the nations airports if a funding deal to end this partial government shutdown isn't reached anytime soon. The shutdown has already caused a TSA staffing shortage, as workers have gone over a month now without pay, and this has led to long, long lines at some of the nation's airports. It's still not clear what role these ICE agents may actually have, but the president says he plans to send them, possibly as early as Monday.

Democrats say they have condemned Trump's threat as negotiations with the White House and Senate Republicans continue. Meanwhile, passengers at airports, they are fed up with the delay in Washington.

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STEVE BARNES, TRAVELER: Our government, federal government not -- not getting good grades. You know, it's -- it's not good for any of us.

REPORTER: What would your message be to the federal government in this moment?

BARNES: Get it together. Make it -- make it better. We're paying for you to do the best for us.

CHRIS FLETCHER, TRAVLER: So, I'm not happy with the government we need. We need to give them the money and let them work. And I understand why they can't all work because they have no money to even get here. It's not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Then there are surging fuel prices from the war with Iran that are beginning to impact global air travel. On Friday, United Airlines said that it will have to cancel about 5 percent of planned flights, citing rising costs. In fact, you think your fuel prices and your fuel bills are high? Well, United's CEO Scott Kirby estimated the jet fuel could cost the company an additional $11 billion per year at this current rate.

And this comes as the conflict in the Middle East threatens to cause a spike in airfares for travelers around the world.

We're back with more of your headlines in a moment. Don't go anywhere.

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SANDOVAL: Emergency crews and Hawaii's national guard have been carrying out hundreds of rescues across the island of Oahu. This after a powerful storm dumped up to three months of rain in just 24 hours. Officials saying that the worst flooding. This is the worst flooding in over 20 years and as much as 12 inches or 30 centimeters of rain. They fell across the northern half of the island, which was already saturated from an earlier storm.

In fact, some stranded people had to be rescued off of rooftops using helicopters. And this is the flooding cut off roads and also destroyed homes. More than 70 people, including a number of children, had to be airlifted from a youth camp after they were trapped by rising water. We'll keep an eye on that.

In Cuba, it is on the verge of a severe humanitarian crisis, as the country faces yet another nationwide power outage, at least 10 million people have been left in the dark.

Here's CNN's Patrick Oppmann with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the second time in a week, all power in Cuba has gone completely out as the electrical grid has collapsed. This has happened previously in Cuba, blackouts are becoming more and more frequent event here because the power supply, the power stations is so old and simply can't be fixed. What has happened in recent months is the Trump administration has put a total, total oil blockade on this island. Oil that the electrical grid needs to run. And so that is what has caused this collapse of power right now, because these are solar powered lights. And I have solar powered internet.

And that is why I'm able to continue reporting. Most Cubans don't have that luxury. And so, they are in the dark right now. They don't know when the lights will be back on.

The concern is you can't go to school. You can't go to work. Your food could spoil. The government hasn't given the official causes for this. But certainly, the oil blockade plays a major part in everything that's happening on this island. The lack of transportation at the moment, the few cars you see on the road, the fact that I just can't go out right now and get gas, there's none to be found at the moment.

And so, the backdrop to this, of course, is the major political and economic changes the U.S. administration, the Trump administration wants Cuba to make, changes that Cuba is resisting at this point. But they may not have any choice. This feels like its checkmate for the power grid to keep going out twice in one week is really something that is unprecedented on this island, an island that has blackouts and power shortages all too well.

It's concerning people that a total collapse is coming or may have already happened. And so for the immediate future, Cubans will be in the dark and certainly for the government, the concern is that people will get frustrated. They'll go out and protest. This will just keep happening again and again. And that sooner rather than later, they need to strike a deal with Washington or potentially face a complete economic collapse.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Scores of checks turned out in Prague for one of the country's biggest anti-government protests since 2019.

[00:55:03]

Organizers say that about a quarter of a million people rallied on Saturday against their prime minister's policies and his administrations targeting of the media. They're speaking out against defense spending cuts and the erosion of press freedom. And they're also worried that their nation may become the next Slovakia or Hungary, with pro-Russia bent.

And in Poland this weekend, families cheering as they burnt an effigy of Marzanna, the Slavic goddess of winter. But it wasn't in protest. You see, it was a traditional celebration of the new season attendees. They chanted "bye, bye winter" and welcome spring as they set fire to a straw figure of the pagan deity. The event, dating back centuries and embodies the transition of the season and its new beginnings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIDIA BUDNER, POLISH PSYCHOTHERAPIST: I'm actually saying goodbye to winter with great gratitude because it was beautiful. Something we haven't seen in many years. But since it was already tiring towards the end, we gratefully let it fall asleep. However, when it comes to spring, it's time of new rebirth, new ideas, new enthusiasm, health and may all of this be given to people all over the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: We get it here in New York. We're gladly bidding farewell to a pretty nasty winter ourselves. I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. I'll be right back with you at the top of the hour with more of your headlines. Don't go anywhere.

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