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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Officials Discussed War Plans On Commercial App; White House Official: U.S.-Russia Talks Going "Extremely Well"; Protest Grow In Support Of Jailed Istanbul Mayor; Sources Israel Planning New Ground Offensive In Gaza. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 25, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:21]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon. It is Tuesday, March 25th, 5:00 a.m. exactly here in New York.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Nobody was texting war plans.

JACK GOLDBERG, EDITOR IN CHIEF, THE ATLANTIC: Thats a lie. He was texting war plans. He was texting attack plans.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, FORMER TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: This is genuinely shocking. They sent war plans to the wrong guy.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've been invited, and they really like the idea. Greenland is going to be something that maybe is in our future.

ANDERS VISTISEN, DANIS POLITICIAN: Let me put it in words you might understand, Mr. Trump, (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off.

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: There is no military solution to this war. It has to end through negotiation.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Kremlin seemingly pushing the brakes on talk of a possible imminent full ceasefire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

SOLOMON: In just a few hours, a Senate hearing will feature two top U.S. intelligence officials currently embroiled in controversy. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. Both are among those who took part in a recent group chat on the commercial app Signal.

The group accidentally included the editor in chief of "Atlantic Magazine", Jeffrey Goldberg. He says that they discuss highly sensitive military plans on the open source app which should be done only on secure government channels.

Vice President J.D. Vance, national security adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also took part.

Now, according to "The Atlantic", the text revealed information on Houthi targets in Yemen, which U.S. weapons systems would be deployed, and the sequence of attacks.

Hegseth, meantime, denies anyone was texting war plans. And that's despite the administration already acknowledging that the messages seem to be authentic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: You're talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so- called journalist who's made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again, to include the, I don't know, the hoaxes of Russia, Russia, Russia or the fine people on both sides hoax or suckers and losers hoax.

So, this is a guy that peddles in garbage. This is what he does. Nobody was texting war plans and that's all I have to say about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP

SOLOMON: Goldberg, meantime, told CNN that Hegseth is lying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOLDBERG: He was texting war plans. He was texting attack plans, when targets were going to be targeted, how they were going to be targeted, who was at the targets when the next sequence of attacks were happening. I didn't publish this, and I continue not to publish it because it felt like it was too confidential, too technical.

And I worry, honestly that sharing that kind of information in public could endanger American military personnel.

But no, they were -- they were plans for the attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right. So, let's flash back a few years and see how some of the people involved in this group chat reacted to news of Hillary Clinton using a private email server when she served as secretary of state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: If there was anyone other than Hillary Clinton, they would be in jail right now.

RUBIO: Nobody is above the law, not even Hillary Clinton, even though she thinks she is.

JOHN RATCLIFFE, CIA DIRECTOR: Mishandling classified information, is still a violation of the Espionage Act.

MIKE WALTZ, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: When you have the Clinton emails, on top of the fact that the sitting president of the United States admitted he had documents in his garage, they didn't prosecute. They didn't go after these folks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: More now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump saying he has the utmost confidence in his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, after a daylong series of recriminations and revelations about the national security advisers here at the White House having a discussion about military planning for the bombing of Yemen with a reporter from "The Atlantic" magazine who was invited into this group chat.

On Monday, the president said this.

TRUMP: I don't know anything about it. I'm not a big fan of "The Atlantic". It's to me, it's a magazine that's going out of business. I think it's not much of a magazine, but I know nothing about it.

ZELENY: But whether the president knew it or not is not the central question here, because White House officials are reviewing the use of this encrypted app, that these conversations were taking place. Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill raising questions about how highly sensitive, perhaps even classified information could be discussed in this manner, with so many administration officials, including the vice president, who raised questions about the -- about the attack in Yemen, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the CIA director, the director of national intelligence.

[05:05:13]

Tuesday on Capitol Hill, senators will be questioning the CIA director and the DNI director, asking them about this and other worldwide threats.

Now, there is no question this is one of the biggest security breaches we have seen, at least in modern technological times here when the editor of "The Atlantic" was invited into this group chat, he removed himself from that and did not disclose the security information.

Now, the White House has launched some attacks against him. He's long been a top critic of this president, but there is no doubt this is just the beginning of this conversation, certainly extraordinary day in Washington.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: And some Republicans on Capitol Hill are acknowledging this could be a problem for the trump administration. Democrats, meanwhile, are demanding an immediate investigation and accountability.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The thing that Donald Trump searched for in his appointees were, first, absolute loyalty to Donald Trump. And secondly, how you perform on TV. So that's how you end up with a guy who was a weekend host on "Fox and Friends" as the secretary of defense. Anybody at a senior level that I know in any administration, Republican or Democrat, would have known this is not right. This is not how I'm going to communicate this information.

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): It's just incredibly sloppy. But it's also dangerous. If information on a strike against Yemen would leak out ahead of time, let's just say they put somebody else on that chain. And the person decided to broadcast it widely at the -- at an inopportune time. That could put the pilots that were conducting these strikes at risk.

And I think it brings up a larger question about whether -- are they following the rules that the rest of us live by when we handle classified information? If this incident is any indication, it looks like they do not. It was almost like they were deciding to order a pizza. And it's not the kind of conversation you would expect between the principals when they're deciding to commit -- to commit troops to combat in a foreign country.

So I was pretty shocked by, you know, how -- not only that this was done on this platform on Signal, but also just shocked about the lack of depth in the discussion before sending our navy pilots over the beach to drop bombs where there is a significant threat.

BUTTIGIEG: I got two questions on my mind. One, what if this had in fact gone to somebody else? I mean, somebody who could plausibly be in some of these people's cell phones -- I don't know, the Chinese ambassador or Russian negotiator. And the other question on my mind is how many other times has something like this happened? You know, this is the one that we know about, but how many other times could they have screwed up like this in a way that puts American troops and families in harms way?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right. A partial temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine appears to be inching closer after two days of talks in Riyadh, U.S. and Russian officials met for more than 12 hours Monday. A day earlier, the U.S. held separate talks with the Ukrainian delegation.

The White House says that progress is being made on a maritime truce on the Black Sea, and a, quote, positive announcement should be coming soon.

President Trump also says that a deal over access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals is almost done, but any diplomatic progress seems to be overshadowed by a surge in military strikes.

Let's get to CNN's Sebastian Shukla, following developments for us and joining us live from Berlin.

Sebastian, good morning to you. So where do things stand this morning and what happens next?

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Rahel, we're still waiting to hear from a joint statement that was supposed to come, according to Russian state media, citing CBS. There's no sign of that statement just yet. But we know that these things take time, and they're complicated, and there may be a lot of text to go through, especially seeing as those partners, the U.S. and Russia, met for 12 hours yesterday in the Saudi Arabian capital, going through a number of various issues, potentially looking at the 30-day infrastructure ceasefire, what the details of that may be, and also looking at the grain initiative, which is something that the Kremlin had touted specifically as what was going to be one of the -- the topics of these conversations.

And Grigory Karasin, who is one of the Russian mediators and diplomats involved in these talks, told state media on -- as the talks ended yesterday that we discussed everything and the dialogue was detailed and complex and useful for us and the Americans.

So that gives a little bit of a flavor of what we might expect in this coming statement.

[05:10:01]

As for the deal itself, the grain deal in particular, I think that that's the major talking point here. And the difficulty around that is I actually think when you look at what the pretext for this may be, this is possibly, maybe more of a benefit to the kremlin than it is to Kyiv, given that Kyiv has managed to secure that maritime corridor and has been in control of it for quite some time. It has used various methods to attack Russian naval vessels in that area and around Crimea, that illegally annexed peninsula from 2014.

And what they have managed to do in that time is push Russia's navy back from the port, a deep sea port they have in Sevastopol there, a way more eastwards back towards the Russian mainland., therefore, opening up that corridor there. And they've used it in various different ways and different tactics, and they've had varying degrees of success.

And don't forget those naval drones that that were seeing videos of right now on screen have also been used to attack the Kerch Bridge, which connects mainland Russia to that Crimean Peninsula.

So, all of this, if there was to be a deal and an agreement of a ceasefire there, when you look at it in the broader context, may actually be more of a boost to Russia and Vladimir Putin than anything else, Rahel. But at the moment, we still don't know what is in that deal and what is in that agreement or what will be in this statement. So, we will keep our eyes and ears peeled for that coming in the coming hours.

The other thing I should add is that we may hear from a Russian official, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, who is due to give an interview, according to his spokesperson later today.

SOLOMON: Okay, we will certainly be looking out for both things in the minutes and hours to come.

Sebastian Shukla in berlin for us -- Sebastian, thank you.

Right now, we want to take you to these live pictures as Europe's longest serving leader, Alexander Lukashenko, now being sworn in for a seventh term as president in Belarus. These are live pictures from the capital.

Now, the election there in January was widely criticized by the West, as well as Lukashenko's exiled opponents, who viewed the vote as a sham. Lukashenko has ruled the former Soviet republic for 31 years. He is a key ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and has played a crucial role in Moscow's war against Ukraine.

Still to come for us, Turkey's president doubling down against demonstrations in the country. What he's saying as massive crowds like this continue to gather and protest the jailing of the mayor of Istanbul.

Plus, trade talks get underway today between the U.S. and the European Union. How they could affect bourbon exports and champagne imports.

And later, why experts say the key to a good night's sleep could start with wearing something on your feet. Yes, we'll explain a little later in the show.

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[05:17:08]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

And to Turkey now, where political protests have continued for six consecutive nights. On Monday, crowds gathered again. So far, more than 1,000 people have been detained, and Turkey's president is calling the protests, quote, evil and a moment of violence.

Let's get to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, who joins us live from London, with more on these ongoing demonstrations.

And, Salma, no indications that we can see that these protests appear to be slowing down. What more can you share?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In fact, a seventh night of demonstrations has been called by the opposition, Rahel, and in a move of defiance, that opposition party, the CHP, was electing its presidential primary candidate, which is, of course, Mr. Ekrem Imamoglu, the one person who ran for it. They were praising the millions who voted in that presidential primary, looking ahead to 2028. Imamoglu spoke from behind bars, saying enough is enough.

And make no mistake about it, this is absolutely a man who is President Erdogan's greatest political rival, a man who is seen as someone who could beat him at the ballot box if he could only make it there. Thats how it's being seen by those protesters you see on the streets there, as President Erdogan crushing dissent. Thousands have taken to the streets across many towns and cities, some being met with water cannons, with tear gas, with brute force.

But President Erdogan says that these moves are ones of protesters he accuses of violence. He's accusing his rivals of corruption and terrorism. And he had some very strong words for them. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RECEP TAYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT (through translator): What we have witnessed in the last five days has shown us the truth, again. A country like Turkey has a main opposition party that is too small, too primitive, and too weak in terms of foresight, vision and quality. It has become apparent once again that they could not be trusted to run a country, let alone local governments or even a buffet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: No conciliatory tone there, as you can hear. So far, more than a thousand people have been detained, according to rights groups. Journalists are among those behind bars. President Erdogan has been accused for a long time now of making this slow slide towards authoritarian authoritarianism. But this move, this latest crackdown, has his critics crying that he is going into a full-blown autocracy.

President Erdogan has held power for more than 20 years, and the fear is that he absolutely is not prepared to let it go.

SOLOMON: Okay. As we continue to watch the largest protest there since 2013.

Salma Abdelaziz in London -- Salma, thank you.

The sexual assault trial of French actor Gerard Depardieu resumes today in Paris.

[05:20:02]

A tense day one saw lawyers sparring over legal procedures. Depardieu is accused of a number of sexual assaults on film sets. The 76-year- old actor has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMIE ASSOUS, LAWYER FOR GERARD DEPARDIEU (through translator): See if the accusations are founded, the plaintiffs will not be afraid to put their accusations face to face with a certain number of witnesses, with a layout evaluation, with medical expertise. They have rejected all of that, all objective, indisputable and impartial elements are systematically rejected by the plaintiffs. There is only one reason for this. It's that they fear the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Now, the trial was postponed from October because of the actor's poor health and now takes place with France's #metoo movement revitalized in the aftermath of the Pelicot mass rape trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANOUK GRINBERG, FRENCH ACTRESS (through translator): I left the courtroom because I could no longer bear hearing so many lies and calumny towards the women who had been assaulted physically by Depardieu. Depardieu has enlisted the services of a lawyer who uses bandit methods. He lies, he lies, he lies, he slanders, he dirties women. He dirties the legal system.

Depardieu is the shame of France, the shame of this profession, of being an actor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Depardieu faces up to five years in prison if found guilty.

Still ahead for us, Israel is planning a massive new ground offensive in Gaza. Still ahead, details of the potential scenarios being considered by the IDF, when we come back.

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[05:25:54]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

Israel is making plans for a potential major ground offensive in Gaza. Sources tell CNN the operation could see the deployment of some 50,000 troops to clear and occupy large areas of the enclave, just one possible of several scenarios that Israel is contemplating since the ceasefire in Gaza was shattered.

The Israeli military also ramping up attacks in Gaza. On Monday, two Palestinian journalists were killed in Israeli strikes. That is according to several unions that represent Gaza journalists.

On the left there, Mohammed Mansour, a Palestine TV today correspondent, was killed in southern Gaza. And on the right, Al Jazeera's Hossam Shabat was found near his car, marked with the word TV on the front windshield. More than 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war on Hamas.

And in the West Bank on Monday, an Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker was brutally beaten by Israeli settlers outside of his home. Hamdan Ballal was then taken away by Israeli police. That is, according to eyewitnesses. Video released by the Center for Jewish Nonviolence and geolocated by CNN shows what the group says was a violent attack on its activists by Israeli settlers near the village of Susya in the West Bank. This footage was captured in the area where Ballal was assaulted. The activists say that more than a dozen settlers attacked the village after a dispute.

Ballal co-directed the film "No Other Land", which won an Oscar for best documentary last month. The film shows the eviction of Palestinians from their homes in the West bank.

Meanwhile, the family of Elkana Bohbot, an Israeli man being held hostage in Gaza for about a year and a half, is begging Israeli and U.S. leaders to, quote, imagine this is your son and secure his immediate release. This comes after Hamas released a video showing Bohbot under duress, pleading for a ceasefire. And the video showed him with another hostage, Yosef-Chaim Ohana. The families of both hostages say that they fear for their loved ones, who appear to be starved and in poor physical condition.

Still to come for a second, Lady Uha Vance gearing up to visit Greenland this week.

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