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DHS: TSA Agents Could Get Paychecks As Soon As Tomorrow; 3,500 U.S. Sailors And Marines Arrive In The Middle East; Top Mideast Diplomats Meet To Talk Deescalation Of War; This Week: Artemis II Set To Launch On Historic Moon Mission; Concerns Grow Over How Iran Could Respond To U.S. Invasion; Back-To-Back Rulings Find Social Media Platforms Liable; Illinois Returns To The Final Four For First Time Since 2005. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired March 29, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:34]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: A top Iranian official now warning it's ready for any U.S. ground invasion as thousands of American troops pour in to the Middle East. That comes as a high stakes meeting with regional leaders wraps up earlier than expected. We'll tell you why.

And the Trump administration says TSA workers could see paychecks as early as tomorrow, even as a partial U.S. government shutdown drags on. What they can expect as the congressional funding standoff enters its seventh week.

Plus T-minus three days until the launch window opens for NASA's Artemis mission, which is set to circle the moon. The crew is preparing to go further than any astronauts in more than 50 years.

Hello, everyone. And thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin with the contentious DHS funding fight that shows no signs of movement as Congress begins a two-week break. The partial U.S. government shutdown is causing another day of long lines and frustration at some airports across the country. It's also creating uncertainty for the millions of traveling Americans who are stuck in those lines and the understaffed TSA agents who are not being paid.

The Trump administration says TSA workers could get paychecks as early as tomorrow under the president's plan to fund the employees through an executive order. But there are questions about how that will work and how soon it could make a difference for fliers.

For the past week, ICE agents have been deployed to some airports to help ease the gridlock. But with hundreds of TSA agents having already quit and thousands more regularly calling out sick, it's unclear how airport wait times will be impacted in the coming days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Once TSA agents start getting paid, will ICE agents leave the airports?

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: We'll see. You know, it depends how many TSA agents come back to work, how many TSA agents have actually quit and have no plan coming back to work?

I'm working very closely with TSA administrator and the (INAUDIBLE) director to decide what airport needs what.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We've got a team of correspondents covering these developments. Rafael Romo is at the world's busiest airport in Atlanta. But let's begin with Camila DeChalus at Reagan National Airport in Washington, Arlington, Virginia.

Camila, what's the situation there this -- on this day and what do we know about this plan to pay TSA agents?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN REPORTER: Well, that's right, Fred.

I'm here at DCA and lines are moving relatively quickly. Now, I spent the last few hours talking to TSA workers here about what their reaction is to this news that the Trump administration is going to pay TSA workers in the upcoming days.

And I'm hearing mixed reactions. Some feel very frustrated that this partial government shutdown has just lasted for this long for more than 40 days. And others say that they're relieved just to know that in the upcoming days, they're going to be getting their paychecks because they've been showing up day in and day out and not receiving anything.

But it was really notable in all the interviews I've done is that one TSA worker said that even though he does agree that he feels that the federal agency -- what this whole partial government shutdown is about, and that is Congress funding DHS, specifically funding for the immigration enforcement. Even though he feels that the federal agency ICE, he feels like they're out of control, he still believes that there should be no federal employees that go without pay. And despite whatever agency you work for, he doesn't believe it's right that federal employees have been going weeks without pay.

Now, where things currently stand in Congress is both on the Senate side and on the House, they're out for two weeks. Back just in a few days ago, the House passed their own version of a funding bill for DHS that would only fund the Department for eight weeks, but it included money for immigration enforcement and border patrol.

Now, that was a stark difference from the bill that was passed on the Senate side, where senators passed a bipartisan bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security in its entirety. But it did exclude money for border patrol and immigration enforcement. But it did include funding for a full fiscal year.

[14:04:42] DECHALUS: Now, what we're really hearing is both sides say that they're not willing to take up the other bill. And so at this point in time, there really is this difference where both sides are not really willing to come to the middle, and there's really no end in sight on when this partial government shutdown is going to end. And that's caused a lot of frustration for federal employees under the Department of Homeland Security.

Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Camila DeChalus at Reagan National Airport, thanks so much.

Let's go now to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, where we find Rafael Romo, where for the past few weeks the lines have been really, really long except yesterday, there was a break.

Now, how about today? How does it look?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Another break for the most part today, Fred. And the day started with very long lines here at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, especially in the pre-check area. But those lines were gone before 8:00 in the morning. And by 10:00, the main checkpoint area here behind me was virtually empty. And you can see it is still very much empty.

There have been several developments in the last week that may have contributed to easing the lines, Fred. DHS confirmed Wednesday that some ICE agents deployed to airports have gone through what they call standard TSA training and have been taking ids, guarding entrances and exits, and helping with logistics and crowd control. Although it's unclear whether ICE agents presence has impacted wait times.

Also, some TSA agents have been flown from airports with low traffic to major hubs. We ran into a screener here at the airport who told us he had been deployed from Saint Louis to help fellow agents in Atlanta.

The other development, Fred, is that TSA screeners are supposed to start getting paid on Monday as you mentioned before. They got a text message from their employer Friday night saying that, quote, "At the direction of President Trump, TSA is paying all employees what they're owed," adding that employees should expect most of their back pay in their direct deposit starting on Monday, March 30th.

Many passengers remain angry at Congress for not coming to an agreement to fund DHS, including one traveler who used a colorful phrase to describe the situation at airports. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE GREEN, TRAVELER: What I would suggest is that congressional staffers and aides don't get paid until the federal government is fully funded. because we keep going through this dog-and-pony show shutdowns. But if the staffers didn't get paid -- BRIGITTA MEYER-GREEN, TRAVELER: There's nothing that we can do. And

the people that are working here are working hard. Ok, it's Congress needs to get their act together. And if they would just do it instead of playing games on both sides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Fred, according to DHS, more than 3,560 TSA screeners did not show up for work on Friday. That's more than 12 percent of the total number of agents and the highest number since the partial government shutdown began last month.

Everett Kelly, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees that represents TSA screeners, said in a statement that he has never been more disgusted by the failure of elected leadership in his life.

Fred, now back to you.

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

All right. Joining me right now to discuss these developments is John Pistole. He is a former TSA administrator. John, great to see you.

So the president says these --

JOHN PISTOLE, FORMER TSA ADMINISTRATOR: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: -- TSA agents will get paid as early as tomorrow. Do you think it will happen?

PISTOLE: Well, I sure hope so. You've got to manage expectations in this business. And if you say they're going to get paid and they don't, after five weeks of not getting paid, then that would be a serious blow to the already low morale by the TSO, the transportation security officers who are doing their job that they've been hired to do and to uphold their oath of office and all those things.

So they better get paid. Otherwise, there will be serious higher call outs, I believe, which means fewer and fewer TSOs -- transportation security officers -- showing up for work, which will create the longer lines. So that's not a good -- good news for anybody.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And you heard Rafael saying some, you know, more than 3,500 screeners, you know, were not at the job on Friday.

And so is it your feeling that a good number of them want to come back to work but first, they need to see those paychecks deposited into their accounts so that they can pay the gas to get to work, et cetera some point this week.

PISTOLE: Well, I think that's probably right. What's that phrase, you know, show me the money. And my concern is that out of those 3,500 who have called out over the weekend that some of those are simply holding out and because they may have another job lined up, because the job security they thought they were getting to go to work for TSA, the federal government, has not materialized.

You know, the third time there's been a shutdown this year, in the past year. And so that sense of security and stability may not be there for many people. And some of them are already doing other jobs just waiting to collect their paycheck before they inform TSA.

[14:09:45]

PISTOLE: My hope is, as you know, former administrator for four and a half plus years is that most will come back. Look, they're professionals, they're well trained. And they want to do their job but by the way, they want to get paid for doing it.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And for those TSA workers who are on the job right now, even though they too are, you know, waiting for a paycheck, what do you suppose they are feeling like when there are, you know, ICE agents who have been brought in, some of whom had the training to go ahead and check IDs and let people through. You know, the magnetometers.

I mean, how are some of these TSA workers feeling that they are getting their paychecks? They are working, but the TSA screeners that have showed up are not.

PISTOLE: Well, the one word is underappreciated. You know, here they are doing the job, like you say, with the ICE agents right next to them getting paid. And yet the ICE agents are doing some help and probably the best thing is as a visible deterrent to a putative terrorist who wants to do something bad in a -- in a checkpoint, not trying to even go through security.

But just underappreciated because they're doing their job that they are hired for. They're trained, they're skilled professionals. And yet here they are expected to show up and they're not getting that pay.

And so one of the things that's encouraging to see is shorter wait times in some of the airports that you are showing in previous pieces, but the challenge with that is its unpredictable.

And we like predictability. We like to know it's going to be ok. If it's 30 minutes, it's 60 minutes. And even if it's two or three hours, just let me know that so I can plan accordingly.

But if I plan on based on what I just saw, it's only going to be 30 minutes or less than an hour and I get to the airport and it's a two hour wait. I miss my flight. That's deeply frustrating to everybody.

And so it's time for Congress to get its act together and get the appropriations to the hard, hardworking men and women of TSA. And that's the bottom line.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right. John Pistole, thank you so much. Again, still so much in the air, but not in the way that, you know --

PISTOLE: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: -- it should be right now. All right. Thank you.

Still to come, more American forces have arrived in the Middle East as the war with Iran hits day 30 now. What are the options for the Pentagon if the conflict escalates?

And later, hear from the Artemis astronauts who are about to embark on a historic mission around the moon.

[14:12:09]

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WHITFIELD: All right. New today during Palm Sunday mass at the Vatican, Pope Leo delivering a plea for peace to those he sees as using God to justify war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): Brothers and sisters, this is our God. Jesus, Prince of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war.

He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying, even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: His comments contrast those of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has quoted scripture from the Bible to justify the war with Iran. This is Leo's first Holy Week since being elected pope.

Also new today, top diplomats from Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia meeting in Pakistan. They're trying to find a way to deescalate the war with Iran. Those talks come at the same time 3,500 U.S. troops arrived in the region on the USS Tripoli. The Pentagon is not saying exactly what their role could be. Iran's parliamentary leader is accusing the U.S. of secretly planning a ground invasion.

All right. Let's talk further about all this.

With me now is Michael O'Hanlon. He's a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution and the author of the new book, "To Dare Mighty Things", about the history of U.S. defense strategy.

All right. Great to see you, Michael. So, thousands more U.S. troops arrived in the Middle East this weekend. Would the U.S. bringing troops to the region simply as leverage as a form of intimidation? Or do you believe they are there ahead of and indeed, a ground military operation?

MICHAEL O'HANLON, SENIOR FELLOW IN FOREIGN POLICY, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Greetings. Well, we don't know. I would guess the former. It certainly is not nearly enough troops to do an invasion of Iran to overthrow the government and/or control the country. Just to refresh folks memories. We had somewhere in the range of 150,000 U.S. troops part of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. We had had a half million U.S. troops to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm In 1991.

And you and I are talking about single-digit thousands. And those forces also do not have the substantial logistics that you would need to do deep inland, sustained operations.

The Marines are designed primarily for operations along the coast. And the 82nd Airborne is designed primarily to grab airfields or other localized sites, and then generally just stay where they've arrived, maybe moving around a little bit tactically.

So this is not an invasion force. It could, however, be the beginnings of a more limited capability, either to go after Iran's nuclear facilities and create a perimeter defense on the ground while special forces and engineers go deep to find the stuff.

[14:19:51]

O'HANLON: Or to try to seize one of these islands involved in Iran's oil economy and/or control of the Strait of Hormuz.

And the last one, last possibility I can think of although this is still not nearly enough troops to do it would be to try to control the coastline near the Strait of Hormuz, let's say within about 50 miles on each side, so that Iran can't keep using these small boats to add more mines and unmanned underwater vehicles and so forth, to menace that strait.

I think that operation would still take in the tens of thousands of U.S. troops to do it correctly, and would leave our troops somewhat vulnerable.

But I don't see the small numbers that are being deployed right now as adding up to very much, even for these more limited possibilities.

WHITFIELD: Ok. So you've written a book, you know, on ground warfare. I mean, what do you think Iran means then when it says they are preparing for a potential ground assault by the U.S.?

O'HANLON: Well, Iran would be prudent to think that way in the sense that we have the capability. But if we did it and we did it right, or did it, you know, maybe there's no single right way, but in a way that was up to scale and that I think most prudent American military planners would want, you would see it coming for a few months.

And that may still not be a lot of time if Iran really is trying to prepare a detailed defense.

But I don't think it's going to come to that. I think that there is a chance President Trump would contemplate one of these more limited incursions, which are quite risky and again, require more than we've spent so far but this could be the beginnings of that.

And I think more likely, President Trump's just trying to get inside the head of the Iranian regime. And we'll see what happens there.

WHITFIELD: Ok. Well, does it do that? Does it get into the head of the Iranian regime, which many experts have said, you know, they are conditioned to not capitulate, not to back down.

And even if the reporting is the case where the Pentagon is considering now another 10,000 U.S. troops, is that enough to rattle the nerves of the Iranian strategy or approach to all of this?

O'HANLON: I doubt it. I think, you know, when you start adding 10,000 and then another 10,000, you start to get into the range that I would consider adequate to try some of these more limited things, but not to overthrow the regime, to try to either control Kharg Island or the Strait of Hormuz coastline, or the nuclear sites where we could go in and try to excise whatever material and centrifuges may still be there, or destroy them.

For those kinds of operations, I think you're talking low to mid tens of thousands of U.S. troops, and you probably wind up with the risk of suffering dozens of fatalities.

I don't know that we're into that realm yet. I don't think President Trump really wants to go there yet. But I think he wants to interject some uncertainty into the Iranian regime.

But to your question, I doubt very much that they are intimidated about the prospect of the United States marching on Tehran. And moreover, they're angry and they want retaliation for the killing of their friends and family. And they think they have a little bit of an advantage in their ability, even with asymmetric means to complicate or shut down traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

So I'd be surprised if this ends anytime soon. I'd be surprised if they're too intimidated by these small numbers of ground forces.

WHITFIELD: Michael O'Hanlon, great to have you. Thank you so much.

O'HANLON: My pleasure. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Meantime, diplomatic efforts are underway. There has been a meeting in Pakistan. It was first scheduled to be about two days long, but apparently its lasted part of today.

Joining us right now, Ivan Watson, to tell us more about what you're learning about this meeting.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Fredricka, these were crisis talks. You had the foreign ministers from across the Middle East -- big countries like Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the host country, Pakistan, that were gathered here in the Pakistani capital.

They were all in agreement that they're trying to find ways to bring an end to this war, in agreement that there is nobody who's getting an advantage from this, and it's only going to lead to more death and destruction. And this is where it gets interesting. The Pakistani hosts, the

foreign minister, he says he briefed his counterparts on efforts to organize talks here in Pakistan between the U.S. and Iran. Take a listen to what else he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMAD ISHAK DAR, PAKISTANI FOREIGN MINISTER: Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the U.S. have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks.

Pakistan will be honored to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:24:48]

WATSON: So that is really, really interesting. He's floating the possibility that these two warring governments, the U.S. and Iran, could possibly be meeting here, in his words, in coming days.

Now, we're going to have to watch very closely and listen to what kind of messaging comes out of both Washington and Tehran in the midst of what is a very fluid, very destructive and deadly situation right now.

We do know that we had two senior Trump administration officials telling CNN last week that it was possible there could be talks as early as this weekend here in Islamabad. That hasn't quite happened. But the Pakistanis seem to still be holding out hope for some kind of meeting here.

Again, let's watch closely and see what the U.S. and Iranian governments have to say as they continue to fight each other.

And as this war continues to expand, the Pakistani foreign minister went on to say that he's spoken with China's foreign minister and gotten his endorsement of this initiative to try to bring these two governments together to talk about this -- this terrible and deadly war, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ivan Watson in Islamabad, keep us posted as you learn more.

All right. Still to come, A.I. facial recognition helped put a Tennessee grandmother behind bars for months. Police now admit, however, that there was, quote, "a few" -- there were, quote, "a few errors" in the investigation.

We'll tell you how this all happened and what's being done to prevent it from happening again.

[14:26:21]

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WHITFIELD: All right. Live pictures right now of the Artemis II moon rocket, right there on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. And in just days from now, NASA's high stakes mission around the mood -- moon, rather, is expected to launch as early as Wednesday. In fact, this afternoon, we heard from the crew as they spoke with reporters ahead of the launch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINA KOCH, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: How do we feel as the people that can call the moon the destination, a destination, not just something we're looking at, and it is our strong hope that this mission is the start of an era where everyone, every person on earth, can look at the moon and think of it as also a destination.

REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: Just to remind everyone, this is a test flight. This is the first time we're going to try this. This is the first time we're loading humans on board.

And I will tell you, the four of us, we are ready to go. The team is ready to go, and the vehicle is ready to go, but not for one second do we have an expectation that we are going. We will go when this vehicle tells us it's ready and when the team is ready to go. So, we might go out to the pad and we might have to try again a few more times, and we are 100 percent ready for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: They are excited. The astronauts are in final preparations for this launch, going deeper into space than previously seen by any human.

All right. Millions of "No Kings" protesters took to the streets to rally against the Trump administration's policies. Demonstrators gathered to march, chant wave signs across red and blue states, telling CNN they felt a responsibility to call out rising costs and the war with Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Democracy is under a threat. It's that simple. It's absolutely tragic what's happening in this country and around the world, and I just want my voice to be heard with other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And throughout the day, protests were mostly peaceful. But in Los Angeles, federal authorities deployed tear gas and police arrested several protesters for throwing rocks outside a federal building.

All right. Gas prices in the U.S. declined slightly for the second straight day, according to numbers from AAA. The average price for a gallon of regular gas stands at $3.98, just a fraction of a cent lower than Thursday. Recent price moves have been fractions of a penny, leaving the cost largely unchanged since Tuesday.

But since the start of the Iran war, the end of February, the average price has risen by about a dollar a gallon.

All right. A Tennessee grandmother is trying to rebuild her life after an A.I. facial recognition tool linked her to crimes committed in North Dakota. Angela Lipps was arrested last summer in her Tennessee home after Fargo police used A.I. software to identify Lipps as a suspect in bank fraud cases. After more than five months in jail, the charges were dropped and Lipps was released after bank records show that she was in Tennessee at the time of the crime.

The Fargo police department has acknowledged a few errors in Lipps case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAVE ZIBOLSKI, FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Information that we received from West Fargo PD was their submission of the photo from an idea used in one of their fraud cases through their A.I. system made that identification of Ms. Lipps and forwarded that information. And I would say it's not an identification, it's a potential suspect. But they forwarded that information to our detectives, who then assumed, wrongly, that they had also sent in the surveillance photos with that photo I.D.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The A.I. tool used in her case was developed by a company called Clearview A.I. CNN has reached out to that company for comment and have yet to hear back.

All right. Still to come, U.S. officials warn Iran's reach can extend onto American soil, but not by missiles, rockets or drones. We'll explain how, after the break.

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[14:39:24]

WHITFIELD: As more U.S. troops continue to arrive in the Middle East, there are mounting concerns among terrorism and law enforcement experts over how and where Iran could retaliate.

CNN reporter Holmes Lybrand is in Washington. He's been digging into all of this for us.

Holmes, good to see you.

So what threats are officials most concerned about as the conflict with Iran continues?

HOLMES LYBRAND, CNN REPORTER: It's very interesting, Fred. And in the first weeks we were concerned about sleeper cells, potential agents that had been placed by the Iranian government in the U.S. for years waiting to potentially act on behalf of the government, were a war or conflict to break out.

[14:40:03]

That's not something that we've seen. Instead, what we've seen is lone wolf attacks. We saw two in the first week of the conflict that were carried out by people that authorities believe were inspired by the events in Iran.

Now, this is what officials are concerned about now is this lone wolf element where Iran really is focused on inspiring others to act on their behalf. And that is something that is extremely hard for officials to predict, to prepare for, because these are individuals that sometimes show no signs before they place those attacks, sometimes on behalf of Iran.

WHITFIELD: Is there anything that could trigger an increase in Iran's efforts to target the U.S. domestically?

LYBRAND: The biggest thing that officials and experts I spoke with are concerned about is a ground incursion. If the U.S. Was to decide to do some sort of ground incursion, we know that they're amassing troops in the region, that would push Iran to act potentially more desperately or really to kind of throw everything and the kitchen sink, because they're -- very much, they see this as a tit for tat conflict.

So, when you escalate things like that on their soil, we can certainly expect to see more plots and more ramp up for Iran to strike inside of the U.S.

WHITFIELD: All right. You can read -- thank you so much, Holmes.

You can read more about Holmes Lybrand's reporting on CNN.com.

All right. Straight ahead, two jury decisions against Meta and YouTube could signal major changes for social media companies. A father who lost his son after a scam that started online joins us to talk about how he hopes regulations will protect kids.

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[14:46:32]

WHITFIELD: All right. Last week, online safety advocates celebrated landmark verdicts that found Meta and YouTube responsible for harming kids who use their platforms. A New Mexico jury on Tuesday found Meta liable in a case where it was accused of creating a breeding ground for child predators. The next day, a California jury agreed that Meta and YouTube knowingly designed addictive platforms failed to warn parents and users of the risks and harmed a young woman's mental health.

Meta and Google said they plan to appeal. The rulings are bringing hope for many parents fighting for more protections and accountability online.

I'm joined now by Brian Montgomery. He is among those parents working to make social media safer. His son, Walker, died by suicide in 2022 following an extortion scheme on social media.

And, Brian, I do want to thank you so much for joining us at the same time. So sorry about what you and your family have been going through.

So as --

BRIAN MONTGOMERY, SON DIED BY SUICIDE AFTER SEXTORTION SCAM: We just so appreciate you having us on and thank you for the opportunity to talk about it.

WHITFIELD: Of course, thank you for being with us.

So, I'm wondering, as a result of these rulings, you know, do they give you hope that there might be real change on the horizon to protect young people on social media?

MONTGOMERY: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when we look up and we see two different juries make this ruling against tech, we know that tech is heavily funded and is constantly funding politicians. And in state and federal positions, you know, it's very difficult to get legislation through. But this was, you know, a jury of citizens that recognized the, you know, the harms that are out there for our kids. And they spoke and they spoke loudly.

And we, you know, we were just really appreciative and optimistic that this could be a spot where we see some real change.

WHITFIELD: Uh-huh. How are you managing through all of this?

MONTGOMERY: Well, I mean, I think that our default has been from the beginning of this is to use this as an opportunity to reach others and prevent other families from having to deal with this hardship and difficulty. You know, I don't -- I don't think I wouldn't obviously have chosen this, this direction, but we know that God is faithful and he's going to see us through it. And it's for an opportunity, you know, to reach other people and to prevent other people from these types of disasters. And we have to focus on that in order to manage it, I guess, is the best way to put it.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. And as painful as this continues to be, you know, you all as a family were able to get legislation passed in your home state of Mississippi in honor of your son. And those laws make sex, extortion crimes illegal and require parental consent, you know, for minors, creating accounts online.

So, what were some of the challenges that you faced to try to get this passed?

MONTGOMERY: Yeah, I would say faced and continue to face. You know, there's a there's a tech lobby that is alive and well and very well- funded. And, you know, they're currently challenging the Mississippi laws in court. And, you know, just to speak to that -- to that, we're really working very hard as, you know, survivor family groups to get the kids online safety act passed at a federal level.

And I mean, what is a slap in the face, as you see two days after these, a day after these two rulings, Mike Johnson welcomes Mark Zuckerberg into his office.

[14:50:05]

And, you know, he -- and we've been promised a meeting with him for the last 18 months and to no avail. They continue to not pursue that and allow us to speak. And, you know, just put our position out there, and, but he's got an open door, you know, policy whenever -- this is the -- this is the company that's responsible for lots of addiction, lots of tragedies.

And, you know, we just -- we're just asking for help as parents. We don't expect the government to do our job for us. We just expect some support. And we've got a harmful product in tech that continues to harm kids, and it has to be regulated 100 percent.

WHITFIELD: And as it pertains to this, you know, Kids Online Safety Act, you know, it did make it through the U.S. Senate with bipartisan support in 2024, but still faces hurdles in the House. It's gone through revisions. Some Democrats and safety advocates say favor tech companies. In your view, does this law you know, or bill, as currently proposed, go far enough to help keep young users safe?

MONTGOMERY: Not at all. I mean, the changes the house made to the bill. You know, one of the major issues is that the Senate version has a duty of care, which puts some very reasonable responsibilities on tech to keep children safe on their platforms. And we know through their historic behavior that they're just not -- they're not capable of self-regulation.

And the industry doesn't lend itself to that. The industry lends itself to cliques and, and people that, you know, spend more time on their system. And so, to expect them to self-regulate is absurd. We have got to have a piece of legislation.

And to your point, you know, when it passed the senate last year, what -- has anything ever passed the Senate with that much bipartisan support? We need to pass that version. I mean, that -- there are some real constitutionalists that were on that, that were in favor of that version that that have said they feel this is constitutional.

There's only one answer is that big tech has got their hand in the pot and we've got to as people, as citizens, we've got to stand up to that and say no more. Our kids come first.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, yeah, our kids should come first. That's right.

All right. Brian Montgomery, thank you so much. And thank you for sharing your family's plight and working so hard now to protect other families and children

MONTGOMERY: Thank you so much for the opportunity.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:57:14]

WHITFIELD: All right. So how are your march madness brackets doing? Well, half of the men's final four is set with Illinois winning over rival Iowa. And this will be Illinois's first trip to the Final Four in 21 years. What a -- what an incredible year.

CNN's sports anchor Don Riddell is here to discuss todays matchups. It's been exciting, but it always is.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: As we would have expected.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

RIDDELL: And now, we're kind of getting to the business end.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

RIDDELL: So, I mean, let's just tell you about some of the games we've seen already this weekend. I mean, so many great story lines in one of the greatest tournaments on the planet. One of them is the Wildcats. Arizona making it to the Final Four for the first time in a quarter of a century.

The newly minted NCAA assist king Braden Smith was everywhere for Purdue in this one. He finished with 13. They were up by seven at the half. But in the second half, Arizona found a way. The Wildcats, led by their three fearless freshmen, Brayden Burries, Ivan Kharchenkov and Koa Peat, who led all scorers with 20 combined for 52 points. Unfazed by the big stage in a 79 to 64 win. Arizona, advancing to their first Final Four since 2001.

The three seed Illinois, facing nine seed Iowa, Keaton Wagner shaking dude right out of his nikes, making him stumble from the arc to under the hoop. The fighting Illini are moving on after a 71 to 59 win back in the Final Four for the first time in 21 years.

And how about this water gun celebration in the locker room? They are going to face the winner of today's blue blood -- blue blood game between Duke and UConn.

And then in the women's tournament. Three seed TCU ending the Cinderella ambitions of ten seed Virginia, which was seeking to become only the second ever ten seed to make the elite eight.

TCU's Marta Suarez was a handful. She had 33 points in this game and so was Olivia Miles, the Big 12 player of the year, was two assists away from a triple double, scoring 28 points. Suarez and Miles scoring or assisting on every one of TCU's points in a win by 79 to 69 over Virginia. They will play the South Carolina in the Elite Eight.

WHITFIELD: I love it, so exciting. All right, let's talk MLB. That's always exciting, too. It just got started this season. So is the tone set, too?

RIDDELL: Well, it's early days, 162 games in the regular season.

WHITFIELD: We got a long way to go.

RIDDELL: Before we even get to the playoffs. But I know what you're getting at --

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

RIDDELL: -- because the Yankees and the Dodgers have both started 3-0. They're the only teams to have started with that kind of record. I mean, the Yankees have started. They've beaten their three opponents by a combined 13 runs to one. So, the Yankees are do well Dodgers who remember have won the last two World Series are also off to a perfect start. So that is the tone you're referring to.

WHITFIELD: Okay, I like it. I'll take it. Don Riddell, always good to see you. Appreciate it.