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U.S. Partners Bracing for "Liberation Day"; Key State Races Test Musk and Trump; Trump Administration Admits Deportation of Maryland Father; Missing Gaza Aid Workers Found in Mass Grave; Columbia Student Targeted by ICE, Not Charged; Call to Earth: Uganda's Mountain Gorillas; TikTok Almost out of Time. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired April 01, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN London, this is CONNECT THE WORLD.
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to our second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Christina Macfarlane, live
from London, where it is just after 3:00 pm in the afternoon.
Coming up this hour, we are one day away from the White House administration's Liberation Day, where Donald Trump is expected to announce
his most aggressive tariff moves yet.
Today marks the first major Election Night since president Trump returned to the White House, with key races in Wisconsin and Florida around the
Supreme Court and the House of Representatives. It would be the first major political test of Mr. Trump's second term in office.
As the White House's immigration policy ramps up, the Trump administration conceded in a court filing Monday that it mistakenly deported a Maryland
father to El Salvador because of an administrative error.
However, it argued it could not return him because he's now a Salvadoran custody.
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MACFARLANE: U.S. president, Donald Trump, is expected to upend the global trading order tomorrow. The big question is just how wide-ranging his new
tariffs will be. Trump has made it a point to keep everyone guessing and he's laid the groundwork for aggressive action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's going to be something that's going to bring a lot of wealth back to our country, tremendous wealth back to our country, actually. And
other countries are understanding it because they've been ripping us for 50 years, longer but they've been ripping us off for years right from the
beginning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: He's threatening to go as far as slapping reciprocal duties on all U.S. imports from every country. That amounts to roughly $3.3 trillion
worth of goods.
Well, whatever the day may bring, it will be filled with all the pomp and pageantry we've come to expect from Mr. Trump, delivering the news in a
major address from the Rose Garden.
Well, we have team coverage this hour. CNN's Stephen Collinson in Washington, D.C., and Matt Egan is in New York.
Thank you both again for joining me.
Stephen, as we mull what is to come in the next 24 hours, I just want to point out that Europe, the European Commission president, Ursula von der
Leyen, has, in the past hour, issued a warning shot earlier today to the administration. Just take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
URSULA VAN DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: We will approach these negotiations from a position of strength. Europe holds a lot of
cards, from trade to technology to the size of our market. But this strength is also built on our readiness to take firm countermeasures if
necessary. All instruments are on the table.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Stephen, what countermeasures does Europe have at its disposal?
And how much should we really be thinking here about a global trade war?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think obviously Europe is an exceedingly powerful economy. I would expect to see strategic
sanctions or tariffs that are taking aim at Trump country in the United States.
In particular, for example, whiskey from Southern states like Kentucky and Tennessee, perhaps Harley-Davidson motorcycles. I think also there is --
and we've seen this in the case of Canada -- boycotts of American goods can also be effective and they're not formal tariffs.
But that's action that people can take from themselves. Perhaps we will see a lessening of the substantial European investment in the United States.
All of these things can have an effect.
I think there is not much notice paid inside the White House of the fact that there are going to be consequences coming back the other way when
these tariffs are imposed. I think there's an assumption that the United States' economy is so mighty that anyone engaging with the U.S. will come
off worst.
That could be true. But what's going to happen is that, ultimately, everybody is going to get hurt if there's a trade war.
MACFARLANE: Well, let's talk about what's happening inside the White House.
Matt, you said in the last hour that many of Trump's closest advisers are still in the dark about Donald Trump's plans for tariffs. And so we're kind
of left reading the tea leaves here on how this can play out. Trump has said, though, let's start with all countries on reciprocal tariffs,
suggesting it could be universal.
Is there any precedent that we could look to when we try to figure out the impact that this is going to have?
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MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: No, Christina, really, there is no precedent in the modern economy. Trump 1.0 was very aggressive when it came
to tariffs. Right. He had tariffs on almost $400 billion of U.S. goods during his whole first term.
But we've moved well past that right. There's about $1 trillion of U.S. imports that now have tariffs. And if there were universal tariffs
announced by the president tomorrow, then we're looking at something like $3 trillion of U.S. imports facing tariffs.
So there's just really no precedent at this point. And there's just a lot of uncertainty. I mean, investors are clearly in the dark about what this
tariff announcement looks like. In my experience, that is not where investors want to be.
So it's not shocking to see markets down again today. You see the Dow off by about 300 points, a little less than 1 percent. This is after the U.S.
market had its worst quarter since 2022 just wrapping up the first quarter yesterday. You see the Dow off basically near session lows.
I mean, given all of the question marks right now, it's kind of surprising that markets aren't down even more. As you mentioned, Christina, CNN's
Kevin Liptak, he is reporting that even some of Trump's advisers are in the dark about what this tariff announcement looks like. Right.
We still don't know exactly what products from which countries are going to face a tariff nor for how long or how high the tariffs are going to go. But
one proposal that has been floated out there is that this could be a 20 percent tariff on most U.S. imports.
And I just talked to Moody's economist Mark Zandi. And he told me that, if that's what happens, right, a 20 percent tariff on most U.S. imports and
other countries fully retaliate, he said that that's a worst case scenario, right?
He said that's where you get a significant recession in the United States that wipes out millions of jobs and brings down other economies and brings
them into recession as well. And he said that's why he doesn't think that that's what's going to ultimately happen, because the economic damage would
just be too severe. Christina.
MACFARLANE: Stephen, when considering the economic damage, the impact that all of this has had on the markets, how much tolerance do you think the
American people are going to have for what's being proposed here?
You know, the long-term gain, the short-term pain, when in essence, you know, Trump supporters, this -- they voted for the opposite in voting for
Donald Trump.
COLLINSON: Yes. So there are -- there was a core of Trump supporters who will support him, whatever he does. I think we have to bear in mind that a
lot of people watch conservative media, where you're not getting this kind of discussion about what could happen if the worst-case scenarios play out.
Having said that, there are political signs in terms of Trump's slightly diminished approval ratings, growing questions about his handling of the
economy.
There are a couple of special elections taking place in Florida and Wisconsin tonight, in which Democrats have great hopes of not necessarily
winning in Republican districts but believe they can really cut back the margins that Trump won in November. That would be a political warning sign.
I don't think we can underestimate how frustrated consumers are right now with the prolonged high prices that are the legacy of the pandemic and
haven't come down, along with inflation, grocery prices, rent prices for cars, which now look like they're going to shoot up because of Trump's auto
tariffs.
So I think it's a very good question, A, about how much consumers are going to bear and, B, whether Trump and the Republicans are ready to pay the
political price that this attempt to fundamentally reshape the economy over a period of years would entail.
MACFARLANE: Yes, it's a very consequential two days ahead, isn't it, both on the political front, on the economic front. We will wait and watch with
bated breath to see how it plays out. Stephen Collinson, Matt Egan, thank you both.
All right, meantime, high-stakes elections are underway in Florida and Wisconsin as we were talking about, in races seen as an early referendum on
how Americans view president Trump and his senior advisor, Elon Musk.
In Florida, two special elections for the U.S. House are happening in heavily leaning Republican districts. In Wisconsin, there's a race to fill
a state supreme court seat that will determine the court's ideological balance.
That one has drawn the attention of both the president and Musk, with Musk backing -- backed groups, spending $22 million to support the conservative
candidate. CNN's senior White House reporter, Kevin Liptak, is with us this hour.
So Kevin, all three races today serving as the first big test of the nation's feelings toward president Trump, two months into term.
What is the mood there at the White House today?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think that the White House is watching all three of these races fairly closely.
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They are more confident in the results in Florida. Those are races in pretty heavily Republican districts. There's that one that is to replace
the current national security adviser, Mike Wallace. That is much closer than I think a lot of Republicans would like to see.
But when you talk to Republicans inside the White House, they are confident that, in the end, the Republican candidate, Randy Fine, will pull that race
out. But I do think that it is contributing in some ways to the frustration on the part of the president toward Waltz, who, you'll remember, is
embroiled in this controversy last week over the Signal app.
The president, in a lot of ways regretting that this seat is open in the first place. And it's open because he appointed Wallace to become his
national security advisor. But it is that race in Wisconsin that has really put Elon Musk at center stage.
It has become a referendum not only on Donald Trump but also on Elon Musk, who has really thrust himself into the middle of this contest for this
state's supreme court. As you said, he's been spending millions of dollars of his own money on this race. It's now the most expensive judicial race in
American history.
He's using some unorthodox methods, including giving away million-dollar checks to people who signed a petition against what they call activist
judges. In a lot of ways, this is the very same playbook that Musk used in last year's presidential election to help elect Donald Trump to the White
House.
But at the end, at this point, Musk is a much more controversial figure. Of course, he's in charge of these efforts to reform the federal government.
He has talked about reforming Social Security. He is a lot more unpopular, according to polls, than Trump himself.
And so, as he puts himself as the face of the conservative candidate in this race, it sort of remains to be seen how successful he will be in
bringing him across the finish line. This is a very, very close race.
The winner of this election would ultimately decide the balance of power in the state's supreme court, which would have potentially an effect on labor
laws on congressional redistricting in that race.
And it should also be said that Elon Musk himself does have potential business before this court. Tesla, which is obviously the car company that
he owns, has been in extended litigation to try and open dealerships in Wisconsin. The state currently prevents car manufacturers from opening
their own dealerships.
And so this is not a race that he is necessarily in a impartial observer toward. He could potentially have business before these judges in the next
several months or so.
And so this will be ultimately an important test not only of Donald Trump's popularity among voters but also almost directly in the case of Wisconsin,
of Elon Musk's popularity as voters now head to the polls for the first time since Trump took office.
MACFARLANE: All right. Kevin Liptak for us from Washington there. Thanks, Kevin.
Well, the Trump administration is now admitting that a Maryland father from El Salvador was mistakenly deported and sent to a mega prison. According to
a court filing, the man who was granted protected status in 2019 was deported due to, quote, "an administrative error."
And the administration argues he can't be brought back now. He's in El Salvador's custody. Even some supporters of president Trump, including
podcaster Joe Rogan, have concerns about the possibility of innocent people being deported.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE ROGAN, PODCAST HOST: You got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting, like, lassoed up and deported and sent to like, El
Salvador prisons. This is kind of crazy that that could be possible. That's horrific. And that's again, that's bad for the cause. Like the cause is,
let's get the gang members out. Everybody agrees.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is covering the story and has the latest for us from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Trump administration officials have expressed confidence in the way in which they identified and
sent migrants to El Salvador and, more specifically, to the notorious mega prison in El Salvador.
But in one case, senior ICE officials saying in a court declaration on Monday evening that a man, a Salvadoran man, was sent there because of,
quote, "an administrative error."
Now his name is Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. He's a Salvadoran national who crossed into the U.S. around 2011. It appears that his first brush with
law enforcement was in 2019 at a Maryland Home Depot, when police detained him and a group of other men.
Now the local police say that he was tied to the gang MS-13. And they used, for example -- or they based it on his attire and a confidential informant.
[10:15:00]
This, according to court documents. Now his attorney says that efforts to get more information from the police during his immigration proceedings
about those alleged ties were not fruitful and has said that he has no ties to MS13.
Now an immigration judge, in 2019, ultimately said that he would be granted withholding from removal. That means that he can't be sent back to El
Salvador for fear of persecution, though he is still deemed removable, just not to that country.
Now this court declaration provides a bit of a glimpse as to what exactly unfolded here in his case. For example, there had been a list, a manifest,
of who was supposed to be on these flights.
Some people were removed, according to the document, because of various reasons but his name moved up on the list, making him eligible to be on
this flight.
Now in the declaration, the senior ICE official says, quote, "Through administrative error, Abrego Garcia was removed from the United States to
El Salvador. This was an oversight and the removal was carried out in good faith based on the existence of a final order of removal and Abrego
Garcia's purported membership in MS13."
Now the administration also says that, because he is in El Salvador, therefore in Salvadoran custody, they cannot retrieve him.
So while they have admitted an administrative error here, they say that they cannot bring him back to the United States. Of course, this is an
ongoing legal proceeding, so we'll see what the judge says in this case. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Thanks, Priscilla.
Well, a short time ago, U.S. vice president JD Vance defended the deportation, posting on social media that the man was a convicted gang
member and calling it, quote, "gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize."
You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Still ahead this hour, more international students at U.S. universities are getting their visas
revoked. We take a closer look at how universities are responding to pressure by the Trump administration to address anti-Semitism.
Plus, international outrage after the bodies of missing aid workers are found in what's being described as a mass grave in Gaza. We speak to a U.N.
agency spokesperson inside the enclave.
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MACFARLANE: In Gaza, mourners gathered Monday as the bodies of eight Palestinian Red Crescent medics arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis.
They are some of more than a dozen aid workers who it appears were killed during Israel's renewed military offensive.
Aid organizations and the United Nations have expressed outrage over the attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN WHITTALL, U.N. OFFICE FOR THE CO-ORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: Health workers should never be a target. And yet we are here
today digging up a mass grave of first responders and paramedics.
Seven days ago civil defense and PRCS ambulances arrived at the scene. One by one, they were hit. They were struck. Their bodies were gathered and
buried in this mass grave.
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We're digging them out in their uniforms with their gloves on. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, the Israeli military has previously confirmed it fired on ambulances and fire trucks, claiming they were being used by Hamas and
Islamic Jihad militants but did not provide evidence.
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MACFARLANE: Olga Cherevko is the spokesperson for the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She is in Deir al-Balah in Gaza.
Thank you so much for joining us. We were just hearing there from the head of your U.N. organization, OCHA, who were involved in retrieving most of
the bodies of the medics.
Can you tell us a bit more about what you found and what you've learned about how they were killed?
OLGA CHEREVKO, SPOKESPERSON, U.N. OCHA: Thanks, Christina, for having me. Yes, it's been a few very tough days for us. As you know, this mission took
several days to achieve its objective and we finally managed to recover the remaining bodies on the 30th of March.
Of course, these attacks -- and attacks, any attacks on aid workers and first responders, are completely unacceptable. And these -- they have --
they're happening against a background and in the context of this widespread destruction and extremely severe impact on civilians in general
here in Gaza.
And, of course, we went on this mission to negotiate access with the Israeli authorities and support our colleagues in retrieving the bodies.
And it took several days, over which we saw people being shot as they were fleeing the area. And, of course, what we -- what we found was quite
horrifying.
MACFARLANE: Your reports said that these medics were targeted one by one by Israeli forces.
Can you talk to us about the evidence you have that revealed what had happened to them?
CHEREVKO: The information that we have at the moment, which is based on what we saw and based on, of course, the calls that we received from the
Red Crescent colleagues, was that the first team who went to rescue reported injured people from the area was first hit by the forces.
And then another one that was sent in to rescue that one and several others. They were these ambulances were hit as they arrived on scene to
rescue the injured.
MACFARLANE: You'll know that the Israeli military have said on Monday that an inquiry had found that the troops had opened fire on vehicles for
approaching position without prior coordination and without headlights or emergency signals.
Is that true?
What can you tell us about the circumstances?
CHEREVKO: We were not on the scene when this happened. Coordination, I must say, happens in specific areas of Gaza. And the coordinated move would
have been a voluntary mechanism utilized by the Red Crescent.
We have seen, however, in the past, given the number of staff that we have lost and aid workers that have been killed over these months, that these,
even these coordination efforts do not offer the guarantees that we would like.
And they are there to basically help support the parties to the conflict in abiding by their obligations under international law.
MACFARLANE: So in your understanding, that the area, the district in which they were in, did not require any cooperation as such.
CHEREVKO: Again, the -- this coordination is not a required mechanism. It's a voluntary mechanism. So whether or not they utilized it would have
been up to them.
MACFARLANE: They are also claiming -- the Israeli forces also claiming that several members of the militant groups, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic
Jihad, were also using the ambulances and were subsequently killed.
What do you know?
Or what do you say about those claims?
CHEREVKO: So far, no evidence on any of the 15 workers that have been recovered has been presented to us. And the fact remains that civilians
must be protected at all costs.
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And always measures should be taken to minimize civilian harm. And that includes not targeting aid workers who are trying to help those who have
been injured.
MACFARLANE: And you said at the beginning there that the targeting of aid workers, aid workers is clearly a war crime. And we know now that about 400
aid workers have been killed in Gaza in the last 18 months.
And hundreds more health workers with no accountability for their deaths, the U.N., of course, are calling for a full investigation.
What hope do you have that this will be investigated?
And by whom?
CHEREVKO: There are, of course, various bodies who would look into this and it's very important to ensure that all facts are established as soon as
possible. And, of course, these and other events that have transpired in the past, almost 18 months now, they demand the accountability.
And again, as we have always said there are rules to all wars and these rules must be abided by, by all parties to the conflict.
And again, these events are happening against this very grim background that also includes the fact that, for a month now, the crossings have been
completely shut for the entry of all cargo, including humanitarian assistance, which is severely impacting our work and our ability to help
the people in dire need here.
MACFARLANE: Well, I understand this has been, of course, a very difficult few days for you. But we really appreciate you coming on and giving us the
details here of what you know. Olga Cherevko, thank you.
CHEREVKO: Thanks, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Well, Lebanon's health ministry says at least four people were killed and several more injured in an Israeli strike in the southern
suburbs of Beirut.
An early morning strike hit the top three floors of a building with two missiles. According to the country's national news agency, Israel's
military claims the strike targeted a Hezbollah militant.
The attack comes just days after Israel launched its first strike on the Lebanese capital since a ceasefire with Hezbollah came into effect in
November.
OK. Still to come on CNN, how some of America's U.S. trading partners, including Mexico, are reacting to president Trump's expected tariffs.
And Harvard University is responding to threats by the Trump administration to lose billions of dollars in federal funding. What its president says the
university intends to do next.
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MACFARLANE (voice-over): Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD with me Christina Macfarlane. Here are your headlines.
China has now launched drills near Taiwan involving its army, navy and air force. China's military says its forces are closing in on Taiwan from
multiple directions during the exercises. Taiwan's presidential office condemned the drills, calling China a troublemaker.
Polls are open in three special elections in the U.S. that are seen as an early referendum on the Trump presidency. In Wisconsin, there's a race to
fill a state supreme court seat that will determine the court's ideological balance.
And in Florida, two special elections for the U.S. House are happening in heavily Republican-leaning districts.
Well, countries around the world are bracing for president Trump's new trade tariffs, which he's expected to launch on Wednesday. The president's
so-called liberation day is expected to be his most aggressive tariff move yet against America's trading partners. MACFARLANE: Well, Mexico's economy
secretary is in Washington today, attempting to halt the tariffs set to take effect on Wednesday. Mexico, of course, among the many countries
president Trump is targeting in his trade war. For more on this, let's turn to CNN's Valeria Leon in Mexico City and Vanessa Yurkevich in New York.
Valeria, let's start with you. This is a very sensitive time for this meeting to take place.
What more can you tell us about Mexico's attempts to negotiate here with the U.S.?
VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christina, this is the seventh time Mexican economy secretary Marcelo Ebrard is meeting with his American
counterparts in Washington, D.C., in yet another attempt to put a stop to the imposition of tariffs on Mexican goods.
This week, after Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem visited Mexico City last Friday, she announced that the Mexican government had agreed to
further reinforce security along the U.S.-Mexico border.
And Mexico has been using these agreements as a sort of bargaining chip to convince the Trump administration to either halt or at least delay the
imposition of tariffs, which will be Marcelo Ebrard's goal in this latest round of negotiations.
And this comes after U.S. president Donald Trump signed a 25 percent tariff on all vehicles produced outside the United States, which are set to come
into effect on April 3rd.
Mexican authorities have suggested that Mexico should receive what they call like a special treatment from the U.S. when it comes to these tariffs,
given that Mexico exports more than 3 million vehicles annually to the United States.
So because of this president, she said her government won't take any action in response to tariffs until April 3rd.
If the tariffs are actually put in place by then, she said, Mexico has prepared what she called a comprehensive plan that will include a response
to all the tariffs from those already in place, like metals to vehicles coming into effect this week.
And this has spurred a new round of negotiations to try to stem the impact of tariffs, with Mexico's economy secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, having been
sent to Washington, as he put it, to prevent massive layoffs in the automotive and related sectors. Christina.
MACFARLANE: Vanessa, everyone, trading partners, no one is exempt from doing what they can ahead of liberation day.
How are businesses planning for the uncertainty surrounding the tariffs?
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Right.
And how do you really plan for the unknown?
It's practically impossible. But you have businesses that are sort of working out different scenarios of what could happen.
I just spoke to an analyst from Wells Fargo, who said that he is seeing conversations between vendors, suppliers and businesses about how to absorb
potential cost increases that are coming because of these tariffs.
I spoke to actually a grocery store chain owner here in the United States. And he says that he gets salmon for his stores from Canada, for example.
And he's working with that vendor to try to save costs on salmon, so he doesn't have to pass that down to the consumer.
That vendor in Canada says that they're going to eat that cost because they don't want to lose business to other countries and other areas that may
produce salmon as well.
So really, you see businesses trying to hold on to what they can, eating the cost if they can, so that they don't have to pass it down to their
businesses and ultimately to the consumer.
We also heard from the International Fresh Produce Association, saying that they are hoping that the president exempts some food products from the
tariffs that are expected tomorrow. As you know, many countries rely heavily on imports of certain foods.
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For example, here in the U.S. we get almost all of our avocados from Mexico as well as tequila. So there's really no other option when you're trying to
provide that food service or product to the American consumer.
And one thing I will note, Christina, is that we saw in 2018, when president Trump sort of put a light round of tariffs in place, he put a 25
percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum. That was just one of the tariffs that were put into place.
We heard from automakers at that time that they saw increased costs; Ford and General Motors, specifically of $1 billion each. We know that auto
tariffs are going to set -- are set to take effect on April 3rd.
So that was just the beginning for them. We know that there are now sector tariffs that are going to go into place on April 3rd. So that number will
only escalate and grow. Ultimately businesses just trying to figure out what exactly is coming and how they can plan out different scenarios for
whatever is to come. Christina.
MACFARLANE: Yes, preparing for the unpredictable.
Practically impossible, isn't it, as you say.
Vanessa, Valeria, thanks both very much.
Now Harvard's president says the university will work with a federal anti- Semitism task force. That's after three federal agencies opened a review of nearly $9 billion in grants that Harvard and its affiliated institutions
receive.
The White House accuses Harvard of failing to protect students from anti- Semitism in the wake of pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year. Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the Trump administration is
conflating criticism of Israel's war in Gaza with anti-Semitism.
Harvard's president says the university has expressed anti-Semitism on its campus but adds that, quote, "We still have much work to do."
He warns that, without government funding, life-saving research will be halted. Gloria Pazmino has been following these stories for us.
And Gloria, yesterday, we were reporting on how Columbia University have made moves to remove or replace their head in order to make concessions to
the government.
What are we expecting to happen here?
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Christina. And actually, I think that point you're making is very important, because it was Columbia's
response to the Trump administration's threats several weeks ago that sort of set up the stage to what we might see from other universities.
Now if we just take a step back here, we are seeing a targeted attack from the Trump administration against several educational institutions here in
the United States.
Now Harvard is being targeted. The administration has said that it is going to revoke millions of dollars in federal funding, at least $9 billion with
a B and more than 200 million in outside contracts for Harvard.
Now we're talking about one of the most elite educational institutions in the world, also one of the wealthiest institutions. But without question,
the federal funding that goes to Harvard University is key for many of its operations. Here's part of what the Harvard president said in response to
this from the Trump administration last night.
He said, quote, "if this funding is stopped, it will halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation.
"We will engage with members of the federal government's task force to combat antisemitism to ensure that they have a full account of the work we
have done and the actions we will take going forward to combat antisemitism."
So I think part of what we're seeing there in that statement, Christina, is an acknowledgment by the university that they are going to make some
changes.
The question now is what kind of changes are we talking?
And will they at all mirror many of the changes that Columbia put in place just a short couple of weeks ago?
In fact, the Columbia interim president resigned just last week as a result of the fallout. So we'll see what Harvard does in terms of making changes
in the next several weeks, because, right now, they have a lot of funding. And the future of their research projects and all of the other work that
they do very much at stake.
MACFARLANE: Yes, surely a lot on the line. We will watch this space. Appreciate your reporting, Gloria. Thank you.
Meantime, more international students at U.S. universities are getting their visas revoked, the latest five students at Colorado State University.
The university isn't providing details about the reasons why, due to privacy concerns. And this has been happening at other universities across
the country.
And nearly a dozen known students and faculty members have been detained by federal agents.
Meanwhile, in New York, the first knock on the door came about a month ago. Three border security agents looking for a Columbia PhD student whose visa
was recently revoked. By the time the third knock came, Ranjani Srinivasan was gone. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has her story.
[10:40:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, you were asked to stay in the room. Hey, why don't you just stay in there?
If not, you can leave.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SR. CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER (voice-over): This new cell phone video captured by a roommate and obtained exclusively by CNN
shows masked Homeland Security agents inside Columbia University housing, searching Ranjani Srinivasan's apartment after the Trump administration
revoked her student visa, targeting her for deportation.
The search inside the apartment in mid-March lasted just minutes. This was the third time federal agents came to her door. By then, Srinivasan, an
Indian national, was already gone, having fled to Canada in a panic, leaving her home of nearly 10 years.
RANJANI SRINIVASAN, FORMER COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT: It still doesn't feel. Really.
PROKUPECZ: Do you miss being there?
SRINIVASAN: Yes. All my friends are there. My home like my cat.
I don't know that I'm going -- actually be able to go back.
PROKUPECZ: Do you think you will?
SRINIVASAN: I mean, I won't. All my friends and family like (inaudible) was there right now.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): It all began when the State Department abruptly cancelled her student visa, triggering a disturbing set of events.
Immigration agents started showing up at her door. She and her roommate didn't allow them in.
SRINIVASAN: They basically started yelling in the corridor, saying, my name, saying (inaudible). And she just said, she asked them, do you have a
warrant?
And they had to say no. And she was like, sorry, bye.
PROKUPECZ: Did you have any reason to understand why they were doing this?
SRINIVASAN: No, I was stunned and scared. I -- when she told me, she turned back and told me ICE at the door. And I was just shivering.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Within days, she heard of the high-profile arrest of Columbia graduate student Mahmood Khalil. Scared she was next, she went
into hiding.
PROKUPECZ: Were you afraid that they were going to take you and then detain you and hold you in an ICE detention center?
SRINIVASAN: Yes, I was very afraid. But that fear was not born out of something I had done, because I had done nothing wrong.
It was more about the other things that were happening around us. There have been disappearances, there have been random arrests. So I could not
predict what would happen next.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Srinivasan's troubles trace back to two summonses she received during protests outside Columbia University on April 30th of
2024. DHS said she never reported them on her visa renewal.
Srinivasan says she was trying to return home and wasn't part of the protest. Those summonses were dismissed months before she applied for
renewal and there should have been no record of their existence.
NATHAN YAFFE, ATTORNEY FOR RANJANI SRINIVASAN: When people aren't fingerprinted, when they're not charged with a crime, convicted with a
crime, that's information that New York City and New York State has said they don't make available to the federal government. And this raises very
serious questions about those representations.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The question that Srinivasan's lawyers are grappling with now, how did she even get on the radar of federal
authorities?
For one, records reviewed by CNN show she was not in New York City during the peak of the campus protests and never participated in the encampments.
That didn't stop Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from posting this video of Sreenivasan at LaGuardia airport on March 11th and calling her a
terrorist sympathizer.
SRINIVASAN: I'm not a terrorist sympathizer. I'm not a pro-Hamas activist. I'm just literally a random student. It just seems very strange that they
would spend so much, you know,
like vast resources in like sort of persecuting me.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The former Fulbright scholar, who earned her master's degree from Harvard, was just two months shy of achieving a
lifelong dream, getting her PhD from Columbia University. For now, that's all in jeopardy.
PROKUPECZ: What are you worried about?
SRINIVASAN: I mean, without a degree, I mean, all of this is, you know, it's not going to be recognized, any of this work. My five years is
completely wasted.
PROKUPECZ: Now CNN has reached out to all of the agencies named in our story, the Department of Homeland Security, the NYPD, Columbia University,
the New York City mayor's office, which told us they would look into this.
They never got back to us. All of the agencies have not responded to our requests for comment -- Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: All right. Coming up, see how a coffee brand is helping protect one of the world's most iconic species from extinction.
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[10:45:00]
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MACFARLANE: Now throughout this week, "Call to Earth" has been in Uganda, following the effort to protect one of the planet's most iconic species.
The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is home to half of the worlds remaining mountain gorillas. And today, we see how new income streams are
helping to save these gorillas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the highlands of southwestern Uganda, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is working to break the
chain of disease transmission between humans and mountain gorillas but sickness is just one of the many challenges facing these great apes.
With such close proximity to the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, much of the local community has relied on the forest for food and firewood for
generations and though the intention is rarely to hurt the gorillas. They are vulnerable to accidental injury.
DR. GLADYS KALEMA-ZIKUSOKA, FOUNDER AND CEO, CONSERVATIVE THROUGH PUBLIC HEALTH: In most cases, these people are just looking to put food on the
table. The subsistence poachers, they're hungry. That's the main reason they're poaching.
So they don't actually attack the gorillas to eat them if they're busy poaching other animals, like tiger or bush pig and they come across
gorillas. That happens from time to time, they set out snares and they spear the gorillas because they're trying to go for other food.
WEIR (voice-over): The mission to reduce poaching in the forest is twofold. First, help the local community see the benefits that guerrilla
tourism can bring to the area in the form of new jobs and infrastructure and schools and secondly, in helping former poachers find alternative
income.
KALEMA-ZIKUSOKA: During the pandemic, we started the Ready to Grow program where we give them fast growing seedlings.
So far now we've distributed to 3000 households and then we also try encourage them to have a cash crop like coffee or tea, because the more
that they have food security, the less likely they're going to enter the forest to poach, so this is what we're looking for. These which are exactly
right, these four.
WEIR (voice-over): With its high altitude and rich soil, Bwindi is an ideal climate for growing Arabica beans of good quality.
KALEMA-ZIKUSOKA: And even here there's Bukya (ph), there's some red cherries.
WEIR: So in 2016, Gladys and her husband Lawrence launched a new coffee brand that would provide a stable income for Bwindi farmers, while also
protecting the gorillas.
KALEMA-ZIKUSOKA: We signed it off with 75 farmers of which only five were women, we now have 630 farmers of which 230 are women and it's going really
well.
It's set up to only sell coffee from where gorillas are found and this equates to premium specialty coffee. And a donation from every bag sold
goes to support community health, Gorilla health and conservation education in the same communities around the National Park.
[10:50:07]
So we're -- in that way we're providing sustainable financing for conservation.
WEIR (voice-over): Thanks to Gladys and her team of Gorilla champions around her, this once dwindling species is slowly reclaiming its place in
the wild.
KALEMA-ZIKUSOKA: This is Kaunda (ph) now, it's getting big.
WEIR (voice-over): More than a thousand mountain gorillas still roam the protective forests of Bwindi and the Virungas, a fragile but growing
testament to 30 years of conservation efforts.
KALEMA-ZIKUSOKA: The mountain gorillas have really shaped my life. I went there as a vet student and I never left. I always get very excited when I
hear that baby mountain gorilla has been born.
It gives me hope that the numbers are continuing to grow. It means that we're bringing the gorillas back from the brink of extinction and every new
birth gives us hope that our conservation efforts are working.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: And you can let us know what you're doing to answer the call with the hashtag "Call to Earth." We'll be right back after this.
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MACFARLANE: Now it may feel like deja vu but a major deadline in TikTok's future is fast approaching, as a potential ban in the United States could
just be days away.
The app is used by 170 million Americans and now it's almost out of time to find a buyer for its U.S. operations after president Donald Trump extended
the original deadline in January. CNN business writer Clare Duffy is across the U.S. for this, for us from New York.
So Clare, how likely is it that we're going to see the app go dark again, do you think?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Well, Christina, both president Trump and vice president Vance have said they -- we are likely to see a deal
ahead of this April 5th deadline but it's not clear whether that deal will be signed, sealed and delivered and ready to go by Saturday or if they will
just be outlining the deal that they hope to make.
We know that there are a number of willing parties who are interested in acquiring the platform. But Chinese -- the Chinese government and ByteDance
have given little public indication that they are willing to play ball with a sale.
And now president Trump has indicated that he is trying to sweeten the deal by potentially offering to lower tariffs on Chinese imports in exchange for
a TikTok sale. Here's what he said on that yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: One point, in tariffs with China, big country, would be probably worth more than all of TikTok. As valuable as TikTok is, it's big stuff. So
there's a great example. That's a great question, actually. I'm a very flexible person. I could use that for that. Like maybe I'll take a couple
of points off if I get approvals for something.
I haven't done it. Maybe I'll do it, maybe I won't. But it's a very good question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUFFY: And look, I think even though he has made these assurances that there will be a deal, I think there is a question that if he is still
looking for leverage in the form of a tariff deal just days away from this deadline.
How close are we really to a deal?
And if there is no deal reached by Saturday, technically TikTok could be forced to go offline again, although president Trump has also said that he
would consider extending the deadline if no deal is reached by Saturday. Christina.
[10:55:00]
MACFARLANE: Who are the potential buyers?
DUFFY: There's a range of potential buyers here. We have one group that is led by billionaire Frank McCourt and "Shark Tank" famous investor Kevin
O'Leary. They have a whole vision for how they'd like to recreate the internet, starting with TikTok.
There is another group that includes tech founder Jesse Tinsley and TikTok star MrBeast. The AI firm Perplexity has shown interest.
And then there have also been a number of reports that Oracle, which is TikTok's existing tech partner in the United States, could acquire the U.S.
operations of the platform along with some of the other existing U.S. investors in TikTok.
It's sounding, based on reports, like that is the top choice of the Trump administration but we really still are awaiting details on exactly what
this deal will look like.
MACFARLANE: Well, it is a busy week for the Trump administration, isn't it?
Let's hope they don't forget about that Saturday deadline. Clare Duffy for us there from New York. Thank you.
And that is it for CONNECT THE WORLD. Stay with CNN. "ONE WORLD" is up after this quick break.
END
