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Erin Burnett Outfront

Several U.S. Troops Injured In Attack On Saudi Air Base; Tiger Woods Arrested; Scaramucci OutFront. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired March 27, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:19]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

Breaking news, a U.S. Base in Saudi Arabia attacked by Iran. And we're awaiting word on American casualties right now as Iran unleashes cluster bombs on Israel. Our CNN crew on the ground witnessing it.

And more breaking news. Tiger Woods behind bars tonight after being arrested for DUI following a rollover crash in Florida. TMZ's Harvey Levin has new reporting and he's OUTFRONT.

And Anthony Scaramucci is OUTFRONT with a lot to say about the suspicious trades made before Trump's war announcements and insider trading and who's involved.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

(MUSIC)

BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

And we begin with the breaking news. Iran striking a U.S. base. Iranian state media releasing this image, which shows a strike at the Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. At least a plane was reportedly hit. And you can see what appears to be the charred remains. So, we circled that there for you of a plane.

And we are now learning of casualties injured. Several service members, American service members have been injured in this Iranian strike on a base in Saudi Arabia. It is the second strike to the Prince Sultan Air Base since the war started. And obviously, U.S. casualties being a part of this is very significant.

It comes as there has been a dangerous escalation in the war with Iran today. Tehran tonight reporting that a projectile hit an area near its nuclear power plants, which comes shortly after Iran claimed that Iran -- that Israel hit two of the country's largest steel factories, a power plant and civilian nuclear sites.

Tonight. Iran is warning its attackers will, quote, "pay a heavy price". And our CNN team, meantime, in Israel, witnessing firsthand what that means air raid sirens going off as a cluster bomb was just seen over Tel Aviv. Another strike there killed at least one person today. The escalation comes as the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said this today about American troops going into Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops, but we are always going to be prepared to give the president maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust to contingencies should they emerge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURENTT: So is Rubio now just buying time before a ground invasion, or is there a real progress in the talks because the dates for the talks keeps moving to somehow very conveniently match the dates when U.S. boots would arrive on the coast of Iran, if they're going to be used.

So, whatever the answer, whether it's a delay or real, thousands of U.S. troops are now very close to arriving in the Middle East. We've got new images from the USS Tripoli showing troops carrying out a number of drills. And just moments ago, President Trump said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, we're just going after targets. And again, they have no anti-aircraft. So we're just floating over the top looking for whatever we want, and we're hitting it. And we have another 3,554 targets left, and that will be done pretty quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Of course, I just want to emphasize even with that, Iran just struck an air base -- a base in Saudi Arabia. And there are injured American service members tonight.

So, all the damage being done, Iran is still able to do that. And there are American service members tonight paying that price.

And tonight, one Iranian linked group is retaliating, now taking responsibility for hacking the personal email account of the FBI director, Kash Patel. That group claims the security breach is in response to the U.S. strike on an elementary school in Iran. That horrific and unforgettable strike, in which up to 168 children died.

The FBI is now offering up to $10 million for information that leads to the hackers.

Kristen Holmes is live at the White House with news just in on the U.S. base in Saudi Arabia that was attacked.

Jim Sciutto is in Tel Aviv.

But, Kristen, let me start with you because obviously, this base being attacked and we now know of multiple U.S. Service members injured, casualties were waiting for the number. But obviously, this is significant. What are you learning? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have

learned that this was an Iranian missile strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. We do know that there were several U.S. service members who were impacted who were injured, but we don't know the degree of those injuries.

And I do want to be clear, there was conflicting information as to how serious those injuries were, and that's why we're not putting out what we've heard since there are different reports coming out, we want to get that, make sure we have the right information before we put it out.

[19:05:04]

Now, it's unclear how many service members were impacted by this, but they are clear that this was an Iranian attack and that it is U.S. service members who have been hurt because of this.

BURNETT: All right, Kristen, thank you very much. As we're learning more on this and we're waiting to get more, as Kristen said, on the significant -- the level of those injuries, how many people. And obviously, we do know that Iran has been very successfully targeting certain places and parts of bases to target U.S. troops. So if this was -- was that and was successful, we still don't know. But more information here coming in as we're trying to understand the depth of these injuries and these casualties.

I want to go to Jim Sciutto in Tel Aviv.

And, Jim, Iran's attacks, we talk about that air base, but not letting up after 28 days of the war, you're seeing more and more use of cluster munitions.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yeah. No question. We should be clear, those Iranian missiles with those cluster warheads are designed to strike civilian targets. And within the span of minutes here in Tel Aviv, we saw two of them exploding over the city skyline.

They look like fireworks. They're not, because each of those points of light that emanates from there is an explosive, a submunition, and one of them exploded just over our heads and landed not far from where we are here, down the street and sadly killed one person, injured others. There were other injuries to the east of the city.

And what this shows is that Iran maintains a capability to lash out. It is said that its attackers would pay a heavy price for attacks, and today they were able to exact a price here in Tel Aviv on those U.S. service members in Saudi Arabia, with attacks on Kuwait, on Saudi Arabia as well, and on Jordan. And there was a Thai tanker on fire in the Persian Gulf today as well.

BURNETT: Yeah.

SCIUTTO: At the same time, for its part, Israel has been expanding its attacks on Iran, on things that Iran holds dear -- civilian nuclear power plants, steel plants. It all contradicts the talk of diplomacy that we've heard from the president and the secretary of state.

BURNETT: It certainly -- it certainly does. And obviously, attacking power plants, nuclear or not. I mean, if you're talking about that, obviously opening the door here to horrific escalation.

Jim Sciutto, thank you very much.

And everyone is here with me.

Congressman Max Rose, let me just start with you. You're an army vet. So, when you hear this, you're looking at it from the perspective of having served. And now we're learning more U.S. service members have been injured. We don't know the extent of the injuries. We don't know if it's -- we just don't know here. Okay? But we know there are multiple of them in Saudi Arabia.

So -- but Trump is saying, you know, Iran is on the run and they don't have the capability to do things anymore. What -- the reality doesn't seem to match that.

MAX ROSE (D), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: Well, first of all, we have to disassociate the extraordinary service of the United States military and its capabilities from just the fact that there are inevitable realities of war, which is sacrifice, loss of casualties, and extraordinary cost. And somehow Donald Trump thinks that he could have gone to war with Iran, and it would be costless. That in and of itself is obviously insane.

But let's just not forget the recklessness with which they went into war. They rushed to war so quickly they did not even have a clear reason to justify the war in the first place. So, what we're seeing here, while tragic, is also inevitable. And that's why when Congress, particularly leaders in the Democratic Party, say, you should have come to us, it is in part in a statement to try to prevent things like this from happening.

BURNETT: Right. And we're looking there, that blurred image, that's a Prince Sultan Air Base right near Riyadh. And that is a chartered plane, okay, that you're looking at with the big circle around it. As we're trying to understand exactly the depth of the injuries here, U.S. service members.

Karim, the attack, right, it was a missile attack. We understand Kristen was saying on Prince Sultan Air Base and the U.S. service members there came after the Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi posted, Iran will exact heavy price in terms of retaliating for Israeli strikes on its nuclear sites, including civilian power.

Karim, when you see what Iran is still capable of doing, even as Trump says, they're on the run and they don't have the ability to or the supply or the launchers, right. And somehow, they're still managing to do this, you know, what do you think the situation is among leadership in Iran right now?

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Erin, Iran is certainly still a regime which has great capacity for destruction. [19:10:02]

We have to remember, Iran is a wealthy country. It has the world's second largest reserves of natural gas, third largest reserves of oil. And it's always prioritized its ability to retaliate against the United States in the eventuality of a potential conflict.

And so that's what they're doing now. It's a scorched earth policy. And we're really dealing no longer with an individual after the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader. We're dealing with a system with a very deep-seated ideology. And that ideology right now, there's obviously factional differences inside Iran, but right now, they're all banded together, united against this common threat and prepared to continue fighting.

BURNETT: Which is and I would say, Congressman, in the context of Karim just said, so important to think about the fact when Karim lays out how much wealth of natural resources they have, that they are currently getting a lot more money when they are able to sell those natural resources. And in fact, they are able to sell some of that oil because the U.S. got rid of the sanctions on Iranian oil to try to add to the oil market. So Iran's getting more money. Okay, so there's that. Just for context here.

We do have new photos coming in here of U.S. service members who are right now headed to the region. Now, look, this is being put out. This is what, you know, Marine Corps -- DOD is allowing, right? I don't want to act like these are behind the scenes.

So, they are doing recon, surveillance. These are the -- these are the images that they're putting out. What -- where do you see? Obviously, the context of this is are they going to seize islands in the Strait of Hormuz? Are they going to go on to the Iranian mainland along the strait? Are they going to seize Kharg Island up at the top of the Gulf?

But all of this is certainly lending itself to, we're ready to do just that.

ROSE: Yeah, of course. And the United States military still is the best military in the history of the world. So, there's no doubt that if they wanted to, they could take an island. If they wanted to take the land on the -- adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz, our military could do it.

The biggest question is what happens the next day? What happens when they are attacked? What happens when there's an escalation? What happens when there's a loss of life? What do we do then?

And there has been zero national conversation, zero congressional deliberation about this issue. At least the Bush administration had the decency to present one unified lie to the American people and go to the U.N. and Congress. This administration has not done any of those things.

BURNETT: Right. Well, they have not -- they have not attempted to make a case.

I mean, Karim, and on that front, you know, Marco Rubio is saying the U.S. can achieve its objectives without ground troops. Yet when Trump said he, you know, last time he was negotiating with Iran last summer, he bombed them. This time he was negotiating and said he was negotiating, and then he bombed them, and he put all of that military in the region, and he's used it.

So, now when he's putting ground troops in, you know, you'd sort of say you'd expect him to use them. Do the Iranians believe that there is any real effort to negotiate, or do they see all of this as basically stalling to get all of those marine units in place?

SADJADPOUR: Well, given the context and history you laid out there, Erin, the Iranians have to take seriously the possibility that the United States is planning to send troops. I personally don't think that Trump actually wants to continue this fight. I think he's hoping that with the threat of military force, Iran will capitulate and open up the strait because he cannot end the war and declare victory so long as Iran is controlling the Straits of Hormuz and is dominating -- controlling the global economy.

I think he's -- the danger is that as the congressman was alluding to, that Iran calls Trump's bluff, and then he's forced to send troops. And obviously U.S. military has enormous potential, enormous capabilities. But if forces U.S. forces are killed, then he's going to be forced to perhaps escalate even further and get into a war which very, very few Americans want to see.

BURNETT: Yeah, yeah. Thank you both very much. I appreciate you and your time. And of course, as we get more information on these U.S. service members that we have just learned have been injured in a missile strike on a base in Saudi Arabia, we're going to share that with you. We are -- we are trying to get that information as soon as we possibly can to confirm the numbers and the injuries.

And next, we have the breaking news on tiger woods in jail tonight, arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after he was involved in a rollover car crash. And Anthony Scaramucci, storied hedge fund manager, is our guest raising a lot of questions about who is behind those suspicious trades made before Trump's war announcements. So much money at stake, like hundreds of billions of dollars.

And breaking news, wait times surging at airports across the country. The house right now working toward a deal but no deal yet. So, is that nightmare you see on your screen going to end anytime soon?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK

[19:19:38]

BURNETT: Breaking news, Tiger Woods behind bars tonight. He has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after police say the Land Rover he was driving in, clipped a pickup truck and then rolled onto its side. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BUDENSIEK, MARTIN COUNTY SHERIFF: Our DUI investigators came to the scene here, and Mr. Woods did exemplify signs of impairment. Mr. Woods did a breathalyzer test, blew triple zeros.

[19:20:01]

But when it came time for us to ask for a urinalysis test, he refused. And so, he's been charged with DUI with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: All right. Well, this photo shows the scene moments after the crash. And you see Tiger Woods. He's to the right of his SUV. And officials say he was not injured in the crash. Woods, though, does have a history of incidents, including a previous DUI arrest and most recently in 2021, which no doubt you remember when he needed to be rescued by first responders and get surgery on his leg after his SUV rolled over, something from which he had long struggled to recover to finally get back to playing golf.

Randi Kaye is OUTFRONT outside the Martin County jail in Florida.

And, Randi, what else do we know so far about this car crash and Tiger Woods arrest, as he's literally in that jail there.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, he's right here. We're in Stuart, Florida, at the Martin County Jail, and we're waiting to see if they do release Tiger Woods this evening at some point. The law here in Florida says if you're suspected of DUI, they can hold you for eight hours. So that would put him being able to walk out of this jail, possibly this evening at about midnight or so.

So, we're keeping an eye on that. But this all happened just before 2:00 p.m. on South Beach Road. According to authorities, Tiger Woods was driving his Land Rover. They describe him as driving erratically. There was a truck pulling a small trailer in front of him, and that truck was slowing down, trying to pull into a driveway.

And the driver of that truck told authorities that he could see in his rear-view mirror, the Land Rover was approaching him at very high speeds, according to the sheriff's department, Tiger Woods swerved, then clipped the trailer, and then his vehicle rolled. It rolled on the driver's side, and he was able to escape out of -- out of the passenger side of the vehicle, according to the sheriff's department.

Now, the good news here for him, maybe the only good news is that he was uninjured, as you said, but he did show signs of impairment. So, they did take him to jail here. He has been charged with DUI, with property damage and with refusal to submit to that lawful test, which would be the urinalysis. So here on site, he refused to do that.

So, he is not in general population here, according to the sheriff. They want to keep him safe. They want to make sure he is okay. But they -- we are still trying to figure out and learn more from them. We haven't seen the authorities come out or offer any more information since their press conference earlier.

So, we do hope to learn more. And we're waiting again to see if they do release him tonight, Erin.

BURNETT: All right, all right. As you said, possibly by midnight, but that they can hold him for up to eight hours on a DUI charge. Thank you very much, Randi Kaye.

And I want to go to TMZ founder Harvey Levin and criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Marc O'Mara now.

So, Harvey, can I just start with you? What's the latest that your sources are telling you?

HARVEY LEVIN, TMZ FOUNDER: Well, look, I mean, he's in trouble. He is in trouble not just because of this DUI, because the sheriff is saying, look, he had a 0.00 blood alcohol level, so it wasn't alcohol. The sheriff says it's meds.

And when you go back to 2017, also in Jupiter, he had a pharmacy in him. They found Vicodin, Dilaudid, Xanax, Ambien and THC in his system with that 2017 DUI.

So, this judge -- you know, if this doesn't plea bargain, this judge is going to look at that and he may not get that kind of slap on the wrist. And I think they could look back, Erin, as well to 2021. You referenced it. The local authorities in that area, Rancho Palos Verdes, were criticized because they didn't give him a field sobriety test after the car careened down an embankment. So, all of that is something this judge may look at.

BURNETT: Yeah. And I -- if I recall at the time he talked about being tired in that particular incident. Mark, you know, to this point, police say we heard them say he took a breathalyzer test at the scene and he blew 0.00. Right. It's not alcohol. He refused to do a urine test, which would test more broadly.

Here's more of what we heard, Mark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BUDENSIEK, MARTIN COUNTY SHERIFF: He is cooperative, but he was not trying to incriminate himself. So, he was careful in what he said and didn't say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So, Mark, what do you make of that? And if Tiger Woods was impaired due to painkillers and he's been through a lot of physical issues, that would have required him at some point to start on painkillers, right, and it could have progressed to something way worse than that. We don't know, though. That's a big if. But does that help his defense at all? MARK O'MARA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, what helps his defense

is, and I really believe he listened to good counsel because taking a breath test when you have no alcohol is perfect. You don't want to refuse something that you're going to pass, but also the decision not to take the urine test, I think is very telling, because he probably knew exactly what was in his system, but his willingness to accept the penalty of not taking the urine test -- much smarter to do that than to give them a urine test that showed that he was on some opiates or whatever drugs he may have been on, because notably, had he had even a scratch on a finger, because any injury, even to yourself, makes this a felony, not a misdemeanor.

[19:25:19]

So, the fact that he was not injured at all, or at least stated he wasn't injured at all, is going to help him. It does keep him in misdemeanor court, and there's not a lot to prove his impairment other than what the officers are now saying. And maybe there are some body cams.

BURNETT: Right. They're saying in terms of his behavior, but that's really important. What you just said, that given he wasn't injured, obviously the other driver was not injured, that that takes it from felony to misdemeanor. But obviously it's huge.

But, Harvey, you know, you look at the past here to try to understand Woods has at least three known auto incidents previously. Tiger Woods had a fire hydrant in 2009, 2017 was when they found him asleep at the wheel and arrested him on suspicion of a DUI, which he blamed on prescription medications, right? He pleaded guilty to reckless driving in that case. And then he had that single car crash down the hill that required surgery out in California in 2021.

But he said something out of that after that, Harvey, that I wanted to play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, PRO GOLFER: I'm lucky to be alive, but also still have the limb. That -- those are two crucial things, you know? So I'm -- I'm very, very grateful that someone upstairs was taking care of me that I'm able to not only be here, but also to walk without a prosthesis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Harvey, I mean, I'm sure every word he said there obviously is genuine. That's how he felt in that moment. And we have watched him face a lot of struggles and tragedies over the years. But it appears that there are just demons he has not been able to defeat.

LEVIN: Yeah. And through 2017, he said he was getting professional help for this problem. And you're right. I mean, look, addiction is just a horrible thing. But getting in a car is a whole other thing.

BURNETT: Yeah. LEVIN: You know, Erin, I created a show before TMZ called Celebrity

Justice, and I was fascinated kind of by how celebrities are treated in the justice system. Sometimes, they're -- they get a pass and a lot of times they throw the book at them and they are examples.

And when you look at the history here, it's not just about addiction, its then getting in a vehicle. And there are a lot of people in this field who say for every time somebody gets caught or gets in an accident, there are many other times they actually get away with it, Just by a stroke of luck.

So, this judge is not just looking at Tiger Woods, an individual, but somebody who has been in the public eye and a repeat offender now. And that may not bode well for him in court.

BURNETT: And, Mark, you know, what does that mean? Because while obviously if this if this comes down to addiction, there is -- that is a great tragedy and there's empathy for that. The fact that he gets in a car, right means that somebody could have died. And there are people who die because people get in in cars impaired all the time, right. And it's unforgivably horrible.

So, what does this past history of getting into the vehicle mean for Tiger Woods in this case?

O'MARA: So, let's just say he goes to a jury because that's where counsel doesn't count. They will never hear about his prior record of that sort because there were not previous DUI convictions. And even if so, the jury wouldn't hear. But if he either enters a plea or goes to a jury trial and gets convicted, then the judge who is given the authority and the responsibility to sentence will look into his history, both all that he has done, community service and whatnot, but also the fact that, as was just said, he has a problem with pills, it seems, and he has a worse problem with pills and driving, because I'm presuming were going to find out that whatever he was on, he had a prescription for drugs.

And he's also going to say, what I would say is he took the pill because he was golfing and injured. Something was trying to get home before the pill had effect. The accident, of course, delayed that. That's why he showed some of these signs of impairment.

That's -- that's what's going to be said. But as was again mentioned, the real concern here, he or anybody with a opiate concern or a medicine concern just needs to hire a driver. Certainly, he can afford to.

BURNETT: Yeah, certainly.

All right. Thank you both very much. I appreciate you.

And next, the breaking news. Another U.S. aircraft carrier expected to head to the Middle East. Sources are now telling CNN the USS George H.W. Bush, which can carry up to 6,000 navy personnel, is about to deploy. More and more and more, many thousands of boots on the ground are heading into the region. Plus, breaking news, we're just learning a key air traffic control

facility is being evacuated, grounding flights in Washington, Virginia and Maryland.

[19:30:02]

We've got the latest on this breaking news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news another U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is headed to the Middle East. Right now, the USS H.W. Bush deploying to the region, although it's still unclear if the ship will join the two carriers already involved in the Iran war or possibly replace one, as the Ford obviously is having issues. It comes as the Dow dropped nearly 800 points today, closing in a formal correction territory. Markets are now at their lowest levels since August, thanks to the war.

And that's because of what's happening to prices in part, oil prices up more than 50 percent from a month ago. Average price of a gallon of gas is up a whole dollar. Goldman Sachs now warning the odds of recession this year is up to 30 percent.

[19:35:02]

It will be four weeks tomorrow since Trump started the war, killing the Ayatollah Khamenei, the crucial Strait of Hormuz has been shut ever since.

The World Trade organization is now warning about foreign food prices and food shortages around the world due to the war. Right? All of the chemicals that come from there. Thailand and Vietnam have urged people to work from home to conserve energy. Severe fuel shortages in the Philippines are forcing that country to declare a national emergency.

It is a worldwide crisis and there is no end in sight as Trump is pushing ahead with his war. And as I just said, with another aircraft carrier heading into the region increasing significantly, the number of American boots ready to go on the ground if he makes that decision.

Anthony Scaramucci is OUTFRONT now. The former White House communications director for President Trump and of course, the founder and managing partner for Skybridge capital.

So, Anthony, I just laid out some things there, right? For everyone. I said, there's ten more that I didn't say. I mean, how much worse do you think this could get?

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, SKYBRIDGE: Well, I mean, listen, you know, I sort of feel like if you're putting the troops in the area and you're adding aircraft carriers, you're increasing the odds of using the troops. And if we use the troops, I do think it will cause another market leg down and possibly an additional spike in oil prices.

And I think everybody knows that the Iranians have been planning for this type of operation for 20 years. And so, we just have to be ready for that. So, I don't know, it hasn't gone well. You know, listen, they could have decimated the navy. I'll take the president at his word. He's taken out all of these different missile installations, but they understand something that we all need to understand.

They can choke the global economy at the Strait of Hormuz. And so that's putting a lot of pressure on American consumers, Erin. And let's face it, every time I hear the word inflation, I think of a regressive tax that hurts the poorest people in our country.

BURNETT: Yeah, yeah. And those numbers are getting -- are getting worse and worse. So, then Anthony enter into this, you know, I talk about the markets going down and correction territory. And that hurts people, right, because it hurts their 401(k). It hurts their Roth IRA. It hurts their retirement, hurts everybody.

But some people are benefiting. So let me just give you a couple of these because I know you've been looking at this very closely Monday morning, there's a sudden spike of $580 million -- $580 million in oil futures trading. And it was less than 20 minutes before Trump suddenly said he's pausing U.S. Strikes on Iranian power plants, right. He had that 48-hour deadline. And all of a sudden, he pushed it out 20 minutes before half $1 billion.

It comes, as you know, CNNs reported there's an anonymous trader that's made nearly $1 million on bets predicting the timing of U.S. and military actions against Iran on Polymarket. Do you have any doubt, Anthony, that this is insider trading?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, listen, you know, the expression on Wall Street is the windows open and you hear clippity clop. It's a horse, Erin. It's not a zebra.

So, the real question is who's doing it?

BURNETT: Right.

SCARAMUCCI: And I think its just real bald faced. In addition to those that you just showed, same activity happened on liberation day, April 2nd. Prior to the announcement. And then it happened again one week later when the president took the tariffs off, or at least initialized a 90-day delay.

It also happened on October 10th when the president was tweeting about rare earth minerals and a potential conflict with China. The market sold off, the crypto market sold off. And guess what? Somebody was there an hour or two beforehand to make trades consistent to the ones that you just showed our viewers.

So, to me, it's got to be looked at. Anybody would look at that. Martha Stewart went to jail for less, but the enforcement director at the SEC resigned last week because she asked to go look at that stuff. She was rebuffed by SEC leadership.

The president is saying, or the White House is saying they have nothing to do with it. So, if they have nothing to do with it, again, let's take them at their word, then investigate it. If no one that you know has anything to do with it, let's find out.

BURNETT: Yeah. Why do you think they won't investigate it then?

SCARAMUCCI: Erin, you know, you worked at CNBC, it's easy to find out who's perpetrating these last second trades before big news announcements.

BURNETT: Yeah, I mean, it is, right? So, if there was nothing to hide then fine. Look at it. Right. Shake the dirty laundry out.

All right, so now I got to ask you something. Youve known Trump for a long time. In his first cabinet meeting since the start of the war, Trump spent nearly five minutes talking about Sharpie markers. In fact, Anthony, he spent four minutes and 54 -- and 56 seconds. I'm sorry. I want to be accurate. Four minutes and 56 seconds. And I want to be accurate because it was a really long time to talk about this. Okay?

And I just want to play some of it for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This pen is very inexpensive, but it writes well.

[19:40:00]

I like it. What it is. I don't want to give too much publicity, but they do treat me well. Sharpie.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: So, I came here. They have thousand-dollar pens.

And you know, I said I'd like to use your pen, but I can't have a gray thing with a big S on it, saying Sharpie as I'm saying, you do. He said, I'll paint it black. I said, that's nice, and I can even paint the White House on it, sir, if you like, in gold.

Almost real. Do you like to pay? I said, how about five bucks a pen? I said, I said, that's all right, whatever the hell we agreed to. Peanuts as opposed to $5 could be zero, but for $5 I get a much better pen than for $1,000. And I can hand them out. And actually, they become hot as a pistol

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Okay. So, Anthony, you know, we use those. I mean, this went on and on and on, right? Were in the middle of a war.

I just want to be clear that "Washington Post" actually called Sharpie and Sharpie says the conversation did not occur right about this whole negotiation about the pen saying, we don't have any information about the conversation. But can I just ask you, Anthony, when you hear him talk like this, this is just one example of many, but it just went on for so long.

What do you think is going on here with him?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, you know, that's what goes on with him. I don't think anything has changed. I mean that's not cognitive decline. That is showmanship. And that's how he acts. So, I was watching that yesterday saying, okay, he's making this whole story up and they're laughing. And the more they laugh, he's going to embellish the story further.

BURNETT: Yeah.

SCARAMUCCI: I'm going to take it one step further for you, Erin. I think he made the story up about Hegseth. I don't -- I don't think anybody was going after Hegseth except in his own mind. Donald Trump was going after Hegseth and so he was backhand complimenting him there. But like he does to everybody in the cabinet, he slaps him around a little bit, too.

So, you know, the Sharpie people said it didn't happen. I guess CNN will have to confirm whether or not were actually talking to the Iranians. If there is a peace talk going on, I hope there is.

But listen, this -- this pen is only 25 cents. I don't know if it's getting on the shot. It's only 25 cents.

BURNETT: Yeah, right. The $5, yeah. None of it --

SCARAMUCCI: And I use it regularly, but I'm not going to promote it on your show. It's sort of it's sort of funny. But then he's the president of the United States. So, you're like, okay, it's not really funny. You know, there's an unhinged thing going on in there.

BURNETT: Yeah, no, you're right, you're right. And it's -- it's I mean, just that it's unsettling when, when you, when you see something like this, but yeah, for $5 a sharpie would be, that'd be a real rip off on Amazon.

SCARAMUCCI: By the way, there's no $1,000 pens in the White House either. Those cross pens are probably 50 to 100 bucks that they were handing out before the Sharpies came in.

BURNETT: Yep. And see, and that you speak of what you know, because you were there.

All right, Anthony, great to see you. I appreciate you.

SCARAMUCCI: Thank you. Good to see you, too.

BURNETT: All right. And next, the breaking news that U.S. air base attacked in Saudi Arabia. And service members are injured. It's a war that Pete Hegseth is tying to Christianity. And that has Pope Leo responding.

Also breaking, more misery for travelers still stuck in those long security lines. A key air traffic control facility now being evacuated. We're just learning this. This is grounding flights in the mid-Atlantic. And we've got more details on this just coming in. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:47:34]

BURNETT: Breaking news a key air traffic control facility on the east coast now being evacuated, triggering ground stops for flights to some of Americas busiest airports. Reagan, Dulles, BWI, all in the Washington area, but also across the mid-Atlantic, adding to the travel nightmare nationwide.

The house is in session right now, though. They're trying to get a deal to end the government shutdown fund DHS, which oversees the 61,000 TSA employees who are now missing a second paycheck. President Trump says he's ordered DHS to pay TSA employees. Checks could come as early as Monday, but it's unclear where the money comes from. So, this is all still very complicated.

Pete Muntean is OUTFRONT at Thurgood Marshall Airport in Baltimore BWI.

Tons of ground stops now. You had the lines of TSA and now ground stops that are that are happening here with a tower possibly evacuated in the region. We don't yet know why. What are you learning?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It sounds like smoke was the reason for this evacuation at the Potomac terminal radar approach control facility in Warrenton, Virginia, that's responsible for about 20,000 miles of airspace, Erin. And that is so key. It's the most critical radar facility overseeing all of the D.C. area, meaning here at BWI, Dulles, DCA, all in ground stops now, really adds on top of the level of frustration that you're seeing here in the lines at BWI. This is one of the worst airports nationwide when it comes to TSA callouts.

The sign up there says checkpoint wait times are the key. Checkpoint A and B are closed because of TSA staffing. And it says we're experiencing longer than normal wait times. That's a one way of putting it.

It takes people about two hours to get to this point in line. This is where the normal line for TSA starts, and this is what it looks like behind here. People come in from outside at that door, their door eight, then this line snakes down this hallway goes to the D concourse and back, then goes down another hallway here, makes a 180 and comes back. Feels like the Truman Show because you're seeing the same people over and over and over again.

I want to show you what it's like outside, because that's where this line actually begins. 31,000 people. That's what the airport expected to pass through here today. This is the official start of spring break for students for Anne Arundel County schools, which is where we are right now.

[19:50:00]

This is the line that's outside. At one point, it was all the way to the entrance of the airport.

There's a person down there holding a sign that says end of the line. It's taking people three hours to be in this line to get to the concourse.

This is not ending anytime soon, even though President Trump says he will make the money released for TSA workers, 37 percent of TSA workers have called out here, most recently.

BURNETT: It's just absolutely incredible what you're seeing there. And now, of course, a ground stop, you say, because of possibly smoke in an air traffic control, so the region.

All right. Thank you very much, Pete Muntean.

And next, Pope Leo not afraid to take on President Trump. Why is he so troubled by Trump's policies?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Tonight, Pope Leo emerging as a powerful voice of opposition to President Trump, describing the Iran war as a, quote, scandal for the whole human family and a cry before God and denouncing Trump's, quote, inhuman and extremely disrespectful immigration crackdown in the United States.

It's less than a year into his role as the leader of the Catholic Church, and now, the first ever American pope is increasingly comfortable taking on America's president and remarkably strong terms on the issues he cares most deeply about.

OUTFRONT now, Christopher Lamb, our Vatican correspondent and author of the new book, "American Hope: What Pope Leo the XIV Means for the Church and the World".

And, Chris, you know, Leo is criticizing a war that the defense secretary and the U.S., Pete Hegseth, has described in explicitly religious language, Christian language. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Snap the rod of the oppressor, frustrate the wicked plans, and break the teeth of the ungodly.

The providence of our Almighty God is there protecting those troops.

Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And there's a lot more where that came from.

I mean, Chris, Leo recently said that, quote, "God cannot be enlisted by darkness". And no modern pope has taken on such a campaign against an active American military operation. And of course, this pope is American.

I mean, Chris, as you look at him, what is the scope and the impact of Pope Leo's actions since this war began?

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, I think Pope Leo does have a big impact because as you say, he's the first American pope. He can communicate in English as a mother tongue English speaker. That hasn't been the case for popes for centuries.

So, he does have an ability to cut through with his words. And I think he is concerned by any kind of theological justification for, the war that's going on. And, you know, he's also as much as saying things like, God cannot be enlisted for darkness or God cannot be used to justify war and conflict.

He's also said that Christian leaders who have responsibility for war should go to confession. So far, I'd say that Leo is something of a spiritual counterweight to the Trump administration.

BURNETT: You know, and on that, you know, we mentioned another issue central to Trump's presidency that Leo has taken on, and that is immigration. Here are some of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, CATHOLIC CHURCH: Someone who says that I'm against abortion, but I'm in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants here in the United States. I don't know if that's pro-life.

When people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years to treat them in in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least, and there's been some violence, unfortunately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: He talks about it as inhuman, extremely disrespectful. And to your point, Chris, he chose to say that in English, right? For an American audience, right? He didn't speak in Latin. He didn't, you know, he knew to whom he was speaking.

How troubled is Pope Leo by the immigration crackdown in the U.S.?

LAMB: Oh, I think he is very concerned about it. He's spoken about it many times. Of course, Pope Leo for many years worked as a missionary and a bishop in Peru. And whilst he was there, he helped immigrants from Venezuela.

He's very sensitive to the whole plight of those who leave their homeland for whatever reason, often due to conflicts or other problems. So, you know, interestingly, he is planning on July 4th, which of course, in 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. He's going to be in Lampedusa, the southern Italian island, which is a main entry point for migrants coming across the Mediterranean. So sending quite a strong message with where he's going to be on July 4th.

BURNETT: Yeah. And on the 250th anniversary of the United States founding.

You know, you and I were together, Chris, in Saint Peters Square, when Leo became the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the Catholic Church. And I know neither of us will ever forget being there. And just, you know, being there together, that's an unforgettable moment.

And now, "The New York Times" went and they called two dozen Catholic dioceses in the United States. They found, Chris, that the number of people converting to Catholicism this Easter is up in every single one of them. And in France, as you and I speak, more than 20,000 people are going to be baptized on the Easter vigil at Notre Dame. Now that it is reopened.

You know, you write about this in your book, this growing interest in the Catholic Church, particularly with young people. You call it a quiet revival. How much of it comes down to Pope Leo himself?

LAMB: Well, I think there is certainly a Leo effect that we can see. I mean, the pope is the member of an Augustinian religious order. And they have reported a big spike in interest in people wanting to join their religious order. So, we are seeing an increase in interest.

There's something going on. I think people are searching for something, and searching for meaning perhaps in a world increasingly with conflict and uncertainty. And I think he is well placed to respond to this, to this interest. I don't know if we can say it's exactly because of him, but certainly he will be there to try and accompany people.

BURNETT: Well, there is such a deep yearning for meeting -- for meaning, and I know that many, many who are watching will feel that, too. And of course, as I said, Chris, your new book, "American Hope: What Pope Leo Means for the Church and the World is Out Now".

Thank you so much for being with us tonight.

And thanks to all of you for joining us as well.

"AC360" starts now.