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Protesters Join Peaceful "No Kings" Rallies Across The U.S.; War With Iran: IRGC Threatens To Hit U.S. & Israeli Universities In Mideast; Conservative Straw Poll Supports Vance For President. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 29, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:27]

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.

And here's what's coming your way here on CNN NEWSROOM.

Thousands of "No Kings" rallies across the U.S. and around the world, coming together in a stand against the Trump administration. Our teams on the ground speaking to organizers and protesters.

A familiar face is now the next favorite to run Americas conservative party. We'll discuss some of the latest polling,

And Iran allowing some ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Could safe passage be offered to more vessels? Live in Islamabad with more.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER: Live from New York, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: Welcome to the program.

For the third time since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, huge crowds of people jammed streets and parks in the U.S. for "No Kings" rallies. It's a direct challenge to what they call Trump's authoritarian actions. And they joined more than 3,000 peaceful demonstrations across the nation on Saturday. They argued that the U.S. should have democratically elected leaders, not powerful monarchs. Many were angry with the policies that they blame on the Trump administration.

Like the war with Iran, the soaring cost of living, and, of course, violent immigration related crackdowns across the U.S. In Minnesota, that last point, it is particularly painful after two Americans were killed by federal agents just this year, Bruce Springsteen honoring them during this rally in Saint Paul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, SINGER: You gave us hope. You gave us courage. And for those who gave their lives, Renee Good, mother of three, brutally murdered. Alex Pretti, V.A. nurse executed by ICE, shot in the back and left to die in the street without even the decency of our lawless government investigating their deaths. Their bravery, their sacrifice, and their names will not be forgotten.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw my city outside my airport.

CROWD: I saw my city outside my airport.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw.

CROWD: I saw.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Some of these protests also happening in Chicago, as you see here, also denouncing violent immigration raids, as well as the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files and military actions in the Middle East.

Erica Thompson, she's a reporter for "The Chicago Sun-Times". She covered Saturday's protests in Chicago.

Erica, it's great to have you on. Thank you so much for joining us.

ERICA THOMPSON, REPORTER, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: So, talk to us about what you saw this weekend. And also, in covering these movements, have you seen an evolution of what's really the drive behind "No Kings" and this movement? Is it -- is it less about Donald Trump in general and more about some of the specific policies from his White House?

THOMPSON: Yeah. So, speaking with organizers, I mean, they've really seen a passion for this movement grow here in the city. It is a protest against Donald Trump and his policies. I would say, together. And you saw a lot of signs that said "No Kings" since 1776 and ICE out.

But people are really coming out to protest Trump's mass deportation -- mass deportation campaign, as well as the Iran war and also economic challenges. We heard a lot from people about not having access to health care or housing or quality education.

SANDOVAL: Erica, I saw your latest piece of reporting, and in it, we hear from one of the participants, an Argentinian migrant, I believe, who shared his concerns about feeling targeted by the Trump administration, potentially for deportation. But this this person also said that it was the war with Iran that was, as they described it, the tipping point. What really drove them to participate in these protests?

So, have you heard from many who have found themselves affected in multiple ways under the administration?

THOMPSON: Absolutely. We also talked to a veteran of the U.S. marines, and he spoke about out about the war, too. It really compelled him to talk about how a lot of folks who joined the military joined for financial reasons. And when they come home, they feel like they're in the same position as when they left. And then also, if they are from immigrant families, they come back home to fears of being deported.

[01:05:03]

SANDOVAL: Yeah. And of course, these are playing out on an election year with midterms months away. So that begs the question, what happens next, right? What is the impact after this weekend?

So, in addition to taking their message to the street, I'm sure is something that they told you. What else are protesters hoping to do so that the presence today will actually translate to change?

THOMPSON: Yes, we heard a lot from organizers that they want to galvanize people to go out and vote. And then speaking to protesters directly, one of them, 54-year-old woman, said she wants to see a blue wave during the midterm. So, people are really thinking about how can I make my voice heard come election time.

SANDOVAL: Erica Thompson, always appreciate a conversation with a fellow reporter. Thank you so much.

THOMPSON: Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: It's our pleasure. So. members of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, they are on their break right now. This after failing to end the partial government shutdown. And that means that there's currently no end in sight for the impacts that are being felt at airports across the country.

You see, the house, they rejected a deal that was cut by their Senate counterparts earlier this weekend. And the stalemate now leaving the Department of Homeland Security still not funded. And those working for the Transportation Security Administration that's charged with protecting passengers and travel ways, they are still going without a paycheck.

The Republican Party is already looking ahead to the future of its leadership at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, attendees debated the merits of a potential 2028 presidential candidate, or at least several of them. So, in a straw poll, Vice President J.D. Vance once again had the most support, with about 53 percent. But it was Secretary of State Marco Rubio who came in strong at second place, with 35 percent.

Joining me now is Ron Brownstein. He's a CNN senior political analyst, joining me to discuss some of that polling.

Ron, it's great to see you this weekend

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hello, Polo. Good to be with you.

SANDOVAL: Let's talk about what we saw play out at CPAC. What is that polling tell you about the vice presidents shot come 2028? And also of the secretary of state

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, it was -- I mean, I think from the -- that poll itself, the real headline was Marco Rubio's performance. I mean, not surprising that you have the sitting vice president of a Republican president who's still very popular within the party, even though his numbers have slipped. And that's important.

It's not surprising that his vice president would be ahead. But for Marco Rubio to be at 35 percent, that is significant. I would say that in the end, if Donald Trump decides to endorse somebody in '28, assuming that he follows the Constitution and steps aside, that person is going to have a big leg up in a Republican primary.

But, you know, Trump likes to keep everyone around him sort of angling always for his favor and uncertain. And so he's probably going to wait a long time before if he does endorse anyone. And this kind of showing gives Rubio, you know, a little fuel to keep the discussion going.

SANDOVAL: What about the protests? Let's shift gears and talk about the protests that we saw play out.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.

SANDOVAL: Not just here in the U.S., but also in other cities around the world this weekend. What is Saturday's turnout tell you about what we could possibly see come election day in November?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, I mean, this may have been the biggest single day of protest in American history, right? If the organizers are right that it was eight million people who came out and were going to, you know, it's going to take a while for independent sources to confirm that that would be, I believe, the biggest day of protest in U.S. history. And what it tells you is that the intensity of opposition to Donald Trump is extremely high and powerful.

I mean, polling tells you the same thing. If you look at polls about Trump, one thing that has always been true about him is that an unusually high share of the people who disapprove of him as president say they disapprove strongly. Roughly 50 percent of the country in polls say they now strongly disapprove of him, and that -- that strong disapproval, as opposed to strong approval, which is only running somewhere between 20 and 25 percent, that is really significant in a midterm election when not as many people vote, because strong disapproval is both a predictor of who turns out to vote and how they vote.

Usually in elections over the last 20 and 30 years, somewhere around 95 percent of people who say they strongly disapprove of a president vote against his party's candidates in the House and Senate. I think the rallies you saw today was a measure of how intense that feeling is. I mean, this is only seven months from the election, and the size of this protest movement is growing, not shrinking. SANDOVAL: On the turnout, we had reporting teams at many of these

cities over the weekend, and they heard over and over again that one of the sort of overarching themes in this is people stepping out in defense of the democratic principles.

[01:10:09]

So I wonder what, in your opinion, the president should take note of as he considers potentially reshaping elections, potentially working when it comes mail in voting by mail, for example. I mean, should he be taking note of some of the consensus among some of these protesters when it comes to -- to that?

BROWNSTEIN: Not, you know, kind of in his style to take note of any opinion outside of his outside of his base.

Your point in your question from the first guest was important, which is that this is not only and this is no longer only about the broad threat to democracy that Trump has presented, although it is certainly about that. It is about many specific policies that are generating 60 percent opposition or more. I mean, the cuts in Medicaid, the ending of the ACA subsidies, the war in Iran, tearing down the East Wing. Obviously, the ferocity of ice enforcement until Minneapolis, which I think kind of was a turning of the tide on that.

I mean, all of these individually are at 60 percent opposition. And I think if there is something that Trump should take from these protests is that, you know, if you look across the board at the way he governs, as I wrote last weekend, he believes he has escalation dominance in every circumstance. He decides how the conflict unfolds, how long it lasts and how intense it gets. That was his view in Minneapolis, when they were kind of adding more and more personnel. Certainly, it's been their view in Iran and dropping bombs. And I think it is his view in terms of potentially trying to manipulate the election.

And the evidence over and again is that he is not the only actor on the field. I mean, in Minneapolis, people with whistles and cell phones solely forced them to back off. Iran is obviously using asymmetric warfare. And I think the lesson of these protests is if they openly try to manipulate the elections, if eight million people are out in the streets today, if they start cutting off ballot boxes in Phoenix and Detroit and Philadelphia the same way they've now done after the fact in Fulton County, I think you would see unprecedented protests in the streets.

He is not the only actor with agency here, and I think that is a very clear message from these protests today.

SANDOVAL: Ron Brownstein, we'll leave it there. As always, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on all this.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: It's our pleasure.

Well, the rhetoric and military actions in the U.S. war with Iran, they appear to be heating up despite some recent efforts at diplomacy. You see Tehran now vowing to strike U.S. and Israeli affiliated universities in the Middle East. That threat after Israeli strikes damaged buildings at a university in Tehran overnight. Iran's state media also reporting heavy bombardment in civilian areas across the capital on Saturday, an Iranian missile also made it through Israels air defenses, and the strike had injured several people and left extensive damage just outside of Jerusalem.

In the meantime, there's Pakistan. It announced that Iran will be allowing 20 of its ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Let's bring in CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson, join me live from Islamabad.

Ivan, it's great to see you again.

Curious if Pakistan's deal with Iran, if it could perhaps foreshadow any potential diplomacy, or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't really know. Honestly. It is definitely being welcomed by the Pakistani government. The Pakistani foreign minister, when he announced that 20 ships under Pakistani flag would be allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

He said that this is a, quote, "welcome" and constructive gesture by Iran and deserves appreciation and maybe is a signal that there's a way to cooperate with the embattled Islamic Republic of Iran, which has made clear that as long as long as its under attack, it will incur costs on the region and on the global economy in retaliation. That's -- that's the conflict that's really underway right now.

What we're seeing right now here in the Pakistani capital is that you have the foreign ministers from countries across the Middle East. They are converging here. They're going to hold two days of crisis talks. They're trying to find ways to prevent further escalation of this month-long conflict.

But just in the last couple of days, Polo, the war has expanded. The Iranian backed Houthis. They announced their entry into the war, firing missiles for the first time in this round of hostilities at Israel. The U.S. military Central Command put out its own statement announcing the arrival of some 3,500 marines and sailors in the region, raising the specter of a possible U.S. ground offensive against Iran.

[01:15:09]

So, the headwinds here are pretty substantial, if you take it, in addition to the fact that people are continuing to be killed daily in Iran, Israel, Lebanon and across the Gulf countries. The countries that are represented here -- Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, of course, are being impacted by this conflict. Turkey has seen Iran fire ballistic missiles, presumably at the U.S. air base at Incirlik. And Saudi Arabia has repeatedly been targeted by Iranian missiles and drones.

So far, neither of these countries have retaliated. Retaliation from Saudi Arabia would create a potential scenario of further escalation. Pakistan shares a mutual defense treaty with Saudi Arabia, so it would face some kind of obligation to also get into the fight against its own neighbor.

So, Pakistan has tremendous incentive not to see this expand further. You've had the Pakistani prime minister and foreign minister in long phone calls yesterday with Iran's president and foreign minister, and what these diplomats are going to be trying to do is gather bilateral formats and this quad format to try to explore ways out of this.

And it's important to note that Washington and Tehran at this point are still at each other's throats. They have both issued demands, but they are maximalist demands, and there is very little common ground between these warring parties and little hope right now for any off ramp to this devastating conflict, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Ivan Watson, watching those talks very closely, thank you so much for that live report.

And we're going to stay on the conflict after the break. Lebanese doctors treating patients during the war risk losing their own lives. Still ahead, I'll speak live with the surgeon in Lebanon about health care workers putting their lives on the line.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:20:59]

SANDOVAL: Right now, medical workers are caught in the line of fire as Israel presses ahead with its operations in southern Lebanon, the World Health Organization now says that nine paramedics were killed in military strikes on Saturday, already, more than 50 health care workers have lost their lives since fighting was reignited this month, and 120 others were injured. About 20 percent of Lebanon's population has already been displaced, many of them forced to relocate multiple times since early March. And that's because of Israel's expanding operations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMAD DOUGHMAN, DISPLACED LEBANON RESIDENT: This is just the beginning. But when will it end? No one knows. Even if the war ends, the situation for us won't end because the suffering after the war will last longer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: For more on this, were joined by Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah. He's a professor of conflict medicine at the American University of Beirut. He's speaking to us from Lebanon's capital.

Doctor, thank you so much for taking the time.

DR. GHASSAN ABU-SITTAH, PROFESSOR OF CONFLICT MEDICINE, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: How have efforts to treat Lebanese civilians been affected by these repeated strikes in southern Lebanon? Is there even an estimate of how many clinics or hospitals have been either damaged, destroyed or forced to close?

ABU-SITTAH: So very early on in the war, and we lost four hospitals that were in the southern suburbs of Beirut because of repeated attacks in the areas leading to and surrounding these hospitals. That has led to a sudden and catastrophic decrease in the capacity of the health system. In terms of the work that I do, which is the treatment of children wounded in this war, this has been felt most acutely in the loss of pediatric intensive care beds.

There's now a critical shortage of critical care beds for children and with the system shrinking, and then these repeated attacks on the paramedics, it's becoming also very difficult to arrange for the transfer of wounded children from the outlying hospitals to Beirut, because paramedics and ambulances are unable to move except in very limited hours of the day. And so, these children are being left in a peripheral hospitals that cannot very -- cannot look after them very well.

SANDOVAL: And then also, if you could speak to that, the difficult decisions that are having to be made by your fellow medical personnel, especially if Israeli forces say that they issue warnings about possible strikes. So then essentially, they're forced to either, comply and evacuate to safety or remain in place, and staff their facilities and provide that critical, critical lifesaving support. I mean, how do they even approach those kinds of decisions?

ABU-SITTAH: The decision to evacuate the hospital full of critically wounded patients, some of whom are ventilated, is a mammoth logistical process because you have to move the patient to multiple hospitals, depending on the vacancies in the system. And so, in a lot of times, what you try to do is reduce the service so that you can at least maintain looking after the most critical patients.

And as someone who survived the Israeli attack on the Baptist hospital in Gaza in 2023, I can tell you its not the easiest thing when you find yourself in a hospital that has become the center of the battlefield.

SANDOVAL: Yeah. What are some of the conditions right now that are perhaps the most difficult to treat with this ongoing offensive? And also, what should the government be doing to perhaps health -- help, I should say, some of these ongoing efforts to provide care?

[01:25:01]

ABU-SITTAH: So one of the most disturbing aspects of this, war is the number of wounded children that were getting almost 25 to 30 percent of those injured are children and that compares to 12 percent in the war in Ukraine. And these children are very critically injured. Their houses are bombed. And so they're injured with their family members. A lot of them have multiple injuries, what we refer to as polytrauma and have lost family members in the process.

Almost all of the children that I have under my care have had a parent or both parents or siblings killed in the Israeli attacks on their homes.

SANDOVAL: Yeah, this idea of over 370,000 children already displaced amid this ongoing conflict, with over 100 killed.

Finally, just your -- if I could get your final thoughts, I have a few seconds with you, Doctor, of what your hope is as this conflict in the Middle East continues to rage on?

ABU-SITTAH: So since October 2023, we've witnessed the war on children in the region -- in Gaza, in Lebanon and in Iran, this is going to leave a generation of physically and psychologically injured children and the legacy that will stay with the health systems in these regions for generations to come.

This war on children, which sees a percentage of wounded children much higher than any other conflict, has to be stopped.

SANDOVAL: Dr. Abu-Sittah, thank you so much for what you and your colleagues are doing.

ABU-SITTAH: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. "INSIDE AFRICA" is coming up next for our international viewers. For those watching in north America, I join you in just a few more moments with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:24]

SANDOVAL: All right. To our viewers in the U.S., welcome back. Americans joined in another day of peaceful mass protests against the Trump administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(PROTESTERS CHANTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: These scenes repeated themselves really throughout the country, with huge crowds of people gathering in cities, large and small. You see them on the Lincoln Memorial there. They held more than 3,000 "No Kings" rallies across the country. The protesters expressing outrage over Donald Trump's policies and actions, calling them fascist and dangerous.

Crowds in Los Angeles, they flew this giant balloon of a baby Trump wearing a diaper. Organizers say that Americans are fed up with the constant chaos from this administration, as well as the soaring cost of groceries, housing and health care. And it's not just large metro areas. Protests have also spread to

smaller cities like this one in Columbus, Georgia. One protester says that she does not want to see the oppressive practices from her home country repeated here in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROTESTER: I grew up in a fascist country with a dictator who tore our country apart, and I married an American and came to this country after that, and Trump is a fascist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Well, some Americans living overseas are also protesting against President Trump. I want to show you the scene in Madrid where about 100 U.S. citizens joined other demonstrators. It's being called the no tyrants rally overseas, likely because Spain has a constitutional monarchy. Rallies also taking place in Italy, Germany and France. In Rome, demonstrators, they held up a massive banner saying "For a world free from war".

ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, it is just one of many reasons people are taking to the streets to protest Trump and his administration. CNN's Jenn Sullivan reports on Saturdays nationwide "No Kings" rallies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENN SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New protests held in cities across the country Saturday as demonstrators push back on what they call authoritarianism and overreach by President Donald Trump and his administration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is happening in America right now is wrong. It's destruction of democracy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): More than 3,100 rallies were planned in all 50 states, according to organizers. In Minnesota, rallies attracting high profile figures like singer Bruce Springsteen.

SPRINGSTEEN: ICE out now!

SULLIVAN (voice-over): These demonstrations come as Trump faces increased scrutiny over a range of issues, including the war with Iran, which was not approved by Congress. Since the war began February 28th, oil prices have surged as traffic through the strait of Hormuz has been curtailed. The supply disruption has caused gas prices to soar. The national average for a gallon of regular gas is now just under $4, jumping more than 33 percent in just a month, according to AAA.

And a partial government shutdown has led to weeks of long security lines at airports as TSA agents went without pay. Many have been calling out, leading to staffing shortages.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love our job, but it's just -- it's just so hard at this point.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): Trump signed an executive order Friday that would allow TSA agents to be paid while Congress debates funding for the department of homeland security. But all of this has led to mounting frustration, bringing more people out to demonstrate on Saturday.

I'm Jenn Sullivan reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And then there's this. It's pretty important in a midterm year. Organizers say that half of these protests in the United States, that they happened in Republican strongholds.

CNN's Omar Jimenez spoke to one of the movements leaders about the significance of protests in Americas rural communities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EZRA LEVIN, CO-FOUNDER OF INDIVISIBLE: It's not enough just to organize in blue cities. It's not enough just to organize in blue states. These are protests that are built for Kamala Harris voters or for Democrats. These are patriotic protests. And if you believe the folks who are -- who are organizing right now believe that this is indeed not politics as usual, this is an authoritarian threat.

We can't just organize the same people. We can't just organize in the same places. We need to be in the rural communities. We need to be in the right communities. And if you don't organize there, you're not going to find a way to pull people in.

[01:35:02]

So, it is very intentional. We recommended heading into these protests.

If you go to the "No Kings" map and there's not a "No Kings" protest within 30 minutes, an hour or an hour of where you live. We recommended people start your own, pull in your community, because the day of protest that's important.

Today, incredible, it was powerful. It was joyful. But today is one day and you don't save democracy on one day. The real measure of success of "No Kings" three is going to be in how many people get plugged into their local community. And the way that happens is by neighbors meeting neighbors, figuring out how to have some impact, and then moving forward together.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Some might say, hey, look, we protested, but these things still happened. So how do you take a movement like "No Kings" and actually shift that momentum to the ballot box, where of course, the American citizens have the greatest ability to affect change?

LEVIN: Look, one of the things we see when we look at authoritarians all over the world is what they do very effectively is they make you feel bad on a daily basis. They do damage that you cannot prevent. That's because they have accumulated a lot of power.

But the real test of whether an anti-authoritarian, pro-democracy movement is successful is whether that regime is less popular than it was before the pro-democracy movement is stronger than it was before, and we're innovating tactically as we move forward. What I would say about where Donald Trump is now versus when the "No Kings" protests start, his approval ratings are in the toilet. His congressional majority is fracturing, and he's headed towards a midterm election wipeout, and he knows it.

And he's doing what any authoritarian would do as the walls are closing in, he lashes out. So that's why we see him menacing Venezuela and Cuba and Greenland. That's why he's starting an illegal and unconstitutional war with Iran, and that's why he's using his secret police force to try to menace Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.

I wish I could tell you, Omar, that we've got this solved. It's all going to get better from here. I can't guarantee that. In fact, I think as the walls close in, it's going to get worse. But that's why we need more people organizing, exercising their First Amendment rights and building community together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: This year's conservative political action conference has exposed a few rifts on the right, mainly over the war with Iran. Attendees also focused on the future of the Republican Party.

CNN's Steve Contorno with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Organizers released the annual straw poll looking at who attendees believe should be the Republican Partys nominee for president in 2028. Now, this is not a scientific poll, but it did include about 1,600 respondents and the favorite among the majority of people here was Vice President J.D. Vance. Perhaps no surprise, given that he is the most obvious heir apparent to Donald Trump.

But perhaps in a surprise, the second-place vote getter was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who finished with 35 percent of the vote. Rubio is someone who didn't even get out of single digits in this poll a year ago. He's also someone who has clashed at times with this crowd. However, talking to people here over the past few days, there is certainly a lot of interest in his candidacy as well as the future of Vance. Take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As much as I would like to say someone like Vance, I just -- I hate seeing the president and vice president run. I want someone new and different, someone younger.

ALEXANDER SELBY, CPAC ATTENDEE: I don't really like Vance. I think Pete Hegseth doesn't really know what he's doing. Trump -- well, he can't run, obviously, but I think Marco Rubio is the only person from the administration that I would support going into 2028.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd have voted for Vance.

SUSAN AUGUSTINE, CPAC ATTENDEE: I would go with Vance, too. I like Rubio, too. They make a good team. Too bad they couldn't be co- president, you know.

MAXINE CUNNYNGHAM, CPAC ATTENDEE: I think Vance is in the position and I don't think it would be wise for Rubio and his supporters to try to jump ahead of Vance, because I don't think that this is just my opinion that Vance -- I don't think he'll run for VP again. I mean, he expects to be president and he should be.

CONTORNO: No one else exceeded two percent in the poll, really showing the popularity of these two figures among the GOP base. In fact, one of the more popular opinions I heard was that the ticket in 2028 should be Vance and Rubio, one person even suggesting that they should be co-president.

Of course, looming over the future of the party is President Trump himself. And a lot of people telling me they intend to wait to see if and who the president ultimately endorses to succeed him before they make a decision.

Steve Contorno, CNN, Grapevine, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: After the break, a special CNN investigation, we uncover a disturbing hidden network of men who drug and rape their wives and then post tips about how to do it online. Some of the survivors share their stories.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:43:01]

SANDOVAL: Now to that months long investigation that has uncovered a horrific hidden network of men sharing tips on how to drug and rape women.

CNN's Saskya Vandoorne spoke to women who survived this type of abuse and also tracked down a man who boasted about raping his own wife.

Now, first, a warning that this report does contain accounts from survivors of sexual assault and abuse. Those who appear on camera gave their consent to do so, and we respected the wishes of those who asked to remain anonymous.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go ahead. What's your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've just heard from my daughter. She's on her own in a house with four children and has just learned she's been drugged with her son's sleeping medicine.

ZOE WATTS, SURVIVOR: We worry about his coming behind us, walking down the street. We worry about going to our car late at night, but we don't worry about who we lie next to. I didn't realize I had to.

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PARIS BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Zoe Watts may never know if the videos her husband made of her being raped were ever uploaded online. She met him when she was 17. He's now serving 11 years for rape, sexual assault by penetration and drugging.

WATTS: I knew that he wanted to have a conversation because we'd had a church service that Sunday. He reeled off a list of his wrongdoings to me as if it was, you know, a shopping list. I've done this, this, this, this, this, this and this. I've been using our son's sleeping medication to put in your last cup of tea at night to tie you down, take photographs and rape you. And I think I just went into shock

VANDOORNE (voice-over): Zoe kept the abuse secret for a few months as she grappled with what had happened to her, speaking out only after a severe panic attack, her mother then called the police.

WATTS: There were some times I thought, you know, this isn't right, but what would it mean? What would our -- what would our family look like?

[01:45:00]

Their children would be without a dad and there would be a reputation. And my boys would grow up having a reputation and they'd know what their dad was doing.

VANDOORNE: I've noticed you haven't used the word rape a lot. Tell me, tell me why.

WATTS: It just doesn't -- I don't know, it's -- it's like one of those things really, I really I struggle with that to say that that's what's happened. It's like people can say it to me, but I just don't think, oh.

VANDOORNE: You know you're not alone.

WATTS: Yeah, yeah. Sadly.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): Huge numbers of explicit sleep videos are being uploaded online by users who claim it's non-consensual. One website profiting from this is motherless.com.

Last year, we began investigating a porn site that gets over 60 million visits a month, focusing on the thousands of videos featuring women who appear unconscious during sex acts. Most of its users are based in the U.S. It's home to so-called sleep content, with hundreds of thousands of views. One popular hashtag is iCheck, a way of proving a woman is asleep.

We created a fake name and soon got into a private Telegram group dedicated to sharing sleep content with almost a thousand members. One day, a man in the group we're calling Piotr, not his real name, DM'd me.

Piotr admitted to me that he had been crushing pills into his wife's drink to rape her in her sleep.

Without encouraging him, I tried to find out how he was managing to do this. Who was he? Where was he?

Even when women come forward, proving it can be nearly impossible. Some drugs leave the body within 12 hours. Survivors often only realize much later what happened.

And even with the courage to speak out, there are still countless roadblocks when it comes to reporting to police or bringing a legal case.

Amanda Stanhope didn't know her partner had been abusing her for five years.

AMANDA STANHOPE, SURVIVOR: The police had to look through all these videos.

VANDOORNE: And what did they make of them?

STANHOPE: The one where I was absolutely horrified and he'd performed a sexual act on my face whilst I was unconscious. And it was completely clear.

And the police looked at this one and I thought, there's the evidence. And the police said to me -- well, we can't use that. That isn't clear evidence because it looks like you're pretending to be asleep.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): Her former partner was charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault. He took his own life before the case could go to court.

While talking to survivors, the man I was DM-ing continued to message and sent me videos.

VANDOORNE: It made me even more determined to try and meet him, to get him in person. So I'm going to send him a message now, and I'm going to see if he would meet with us.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): By now, we'd worked out he was in Poland, and we knew roughly where he lived, but he refused to meet. And then a tip, he let slip that he was planning to attend a party.

VANDOORNE: That's him. I recognize him.

So, we're inside the restaurant. And I've just seen him dancing with her. And at the start of this investigation, all of these men were faceless. And so, seeing him tonight has just really brought home the fact that this is happening in real life.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): The man who had been messaging me day and night was only a few feet away, oblivious. I'd come to see if he was real. And there he was with his wife, the same people I saw in the videos.

We couldn't approach Piotr's wife without potentially putting her in danger, so we reached out to police about our findings. The Telegram group we infiltrated eventually disappeared, but it's a pattern authorities know well. One goes offline, another soon resurfaces.

We reached out to both Motherless and Telegram, but did not receive a response. As campaigns by German journalists to shut down Motherless and strengthen moderation on similar platforms continue, videos of women who appeared to be abused while unconscious are still being uploaded, and U.S. safe harbor laws largely protect the site from liability.

[01:50:02]

In the end, it all comes back to Gisele Pelicot, the survivor whose trial shocked France and drew global attention.

With astonishing dignity, she has taken hold of her own harrowing experience.

VANDOORNE: In reporting this case, we've spoken to multiple survivors who say they were drugged and raped by their husbands, and many of them see you as a source of strength. With your permission, I'd like to read you some of the messages that these survivors have sent to me to read to you.

One survivor, her name is Amanda Stanhope. She lives in Wigan.

Her strength inspired me to speak out. She broke the silence and shame. So many survivors are forever grateful to her. I'd love to say thank you. If she can do it, then so can I.

GISELE PELICOT, SURVIVOR (translated): You're making me cry. It's beautiful. These are testimonies that move me, of course, but it is nice to say to yourself that they have found this strength. I was able to transmit that to them, it was a win, because we must indeed be united with everything that happens, because if you stay in your corner, you will never shift perceptions.

And I say bravo ladies, bravo. Don't be ashamed of doing it. All women must be able to do this process, even if it is very difficult, even if it is very complicated in their head.

But they're going to get there. It takes time. It can take months, days, maybe, even years. But they will eventually get there.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): Saskya Vandoorne, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SANDOVAL: And if you are an assault survivor or know someone who is, there is help really anywhere you are in the world. Here in the United States, you can call the National Sexual Assault hotline at 800-656- 4673, or you can chat 24/7 at rain.org.

Outside the United States, U.N. Women and the Pixel Project. They provide a vast directory of agencies. They are dedicated to survivor support.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:55:41]

SANDOVAL: Swiss food giant Nestle says that about 12 tons of its KitKat chocolate bars have been stolen as they were being transported from Italy to Poland. The company reported that the heist happened earlier this week. The vehicle and the chocolate still nowhere to be found, all 12 tons. Officials now warning that the thieves could get caught trying to resell the product by tracing the batch code that's located on the bars' individual wrapping.

A company spokesperson said, quote, "Whilst we appreciate the criminals exceptional taste. The fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes."

And one half of the men's NCAA Final Four has been determined. Illinois was the first team to make it to the next round of March Madness. On Saturday, the team traded the lead with Iowa 13 times in the second half, but ultimately, Illinois finishing on top 71 to 59.

And Arizona managing to best Purdue, 79 to 64, after heading into halftime, down seven points. The wildcats dominating the second half to secure their first trip to the Final Four since 2001.

Sunday, we'll be seeing Tennessee face Michigan and the University of Connecticut battled Duke for the last two spots in the Final Four. Best of luck to all the teams.

Thank you so much for joining us at the last hour of news. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York.

The news continues with my colleague Ben Hunte in a moment.