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One World with Zain Asher

Trump Says He'll Speak With Vladimir Putin Tuesday; E.U. Foreign Ministers Gather Fort Summit On Ukraine And Defense; Grief And Anger Over Deadly Nightclub Tragedy; Trump: "Dire Consequences" For Iran Over Houthi Attacks; Brown University Doctor Deported Despite U.S. Judge's Order; CNN Poll: Democratic Party Favorables Sink To Record Low; Cheers In China As Trump Dismantles "Voice Of America"; Storm System Creates Powerful Storms Across U.S. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired March 17, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:25]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Could a ceasefire in Ukraine be just weeks away? Donald Trump thinks so. The second hour of ONE WORLD starts

right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, UNITED STATES SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: The president uses the time frame weeks and I don't disagree with him. I am

really hopeful that we're going to see some real progress here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Trump and Putin are slated to speak tomorrow as the U.S. president talks about Moscow and Kyiv dividing up certain assets.

Also ahead, powerful storm systems. What is left in its wake and where it's headed?

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOLLY PARTON, AMERICAN SINGER AND SONGWRITER: I had no idea that so many people were so in love with our love, with our love story. But it is a

heartbreaker, no doubt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: One-on-one with the one and only, Dolly Parton, on the heartbreaking loss of her husband and big plans for 2026.

Live from London, I'm Christina Macfarlane. Zain and Bianna are off today. Thank you for joining me. You're watching world -- watching ONE WORLD.

It's the conversation the world is waiting to hear. Russia confirms President Vladimir Putin will hold a Tuesday phone call with U.S. President

Donald Trump about the American-backed ceasefire proposal in Ukraine.

President Trump says, he's already discussing what he calls certain assets that will be divided up between Moscow and Kyiv.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday. I think we'll, you know, be talking about land. It's a

lot of land. It's a lot different than it was before the wars, you know. And we'll be talking about land. We'll be talking about power plants.

That's a -- you know, that's a big question. But I think we have a lot of it already discussed very much by both sides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, U.S. officials say Ukraine will likely need to give up territory and Putin has made it a condition of entering into a temporary

truce. CNN's chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt joins us now live from Washington, D.C.

Alex, this call, set for Tuesday between Putin and Trump, the stakes could not be higher for Ukraine. And we know, of course, that the 30-day peace

deal put forward is at odds with what Putin wants to see. What are the expectations of how this call will go?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This really does raise the question, Christina, of whether the U.S. pressure will actually

cause Putin to agree to this ceasefire. I think we need to look at these next two steps as separate, but obviously part of the same trajectory.

The Trump administration has argued, first, you need to get to a ceasefire in order to be able to negotiate the longer-term peace deal. Here we have

President Trump talking about dividing up assets. He mentioned power plants. We think that's a reference to the nuclear Zaporizhzhia power

plant, the biggest in Europe, which is currently occupied by the Russians.

But when it comes to the ceasefire, last week, the Ukrainians agreed to it immediately, a 30-day ceasefire that could be extended. And the U.S. made

very clear that, in their terms, the ball is now in Russia's court, that the onus is on the Russians to agree to this.

What we have heard from the Russian side could be them essentially playing for time. We heard one of the top Russian negotiators talk about how this

would only serve to give the Ukrainian forces a respite. And then we heard a whole litany of caveats, of reservations that President Putin has about

the concept of a ceasefire, how it would be enacted, how it would be monitored, and that kind of thing.

The U.S. appears to be giving Russia a bit of wiggle room a little bit, of breathing space in order to agree to this ceasefire.

Clearly, it has not been enacted immediately. We heard the Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who went to Moscow last week and met with Putin for hours,

talk about how Putin agrees about the philosophy of a ceasefire.

But clearly, there are some things that need to be figured out. That is -- that will almost certainly come up in that phone call tomorrow between

Presidents Trump and President Putin. That will be the top priority for the U.S. is to get to this immediate ceasefire in order to be able to then

start negotiating a longer-term peace deal, which, Christina, will be much more complicated, because then that is when we start talking about those

territorial concessions. What territory does Russia hold onto? What territory does Ukraine give up?

[12:05:02]

The security guarantees, if any, from the Europeans and the Americans. The U.S. has not committed any kind of security guarantees. They've been

talking instead about security arrangements. The Europeans have been talking about putting peacekeeping troops on the ground, something that the

Russians have ruled out, the question of NATO membership for Ukraine.

So there is a lot of detail to get ironed out. The priority now is to get to the ceasefire, the priority for the Trump administration. So again, this

will be a big question of how much this American pressure can actually influence Russia to agree to the ceasefire, which Ukraine has already

agreed to. Christina.

MACFARLANE: All right, Alex, for now, thank you.

While the high stakes phone call between Putin and Trump is expected to take place tomorrow, European leaders are meeting in Brussels right now to

discuss the future of Ukraine. They're expected to discuss a new initiative that could provide billions of dollars of further military aid to Kyiv.

It comes as the minister's question whether the Russian president really wants peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KESTUTIS BUDRYS, LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: There is no place for peace in Putin's imperialist plan. That is obvious. And these actions show more

than the -- than the words for themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: That was Brussels' Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys speaking, who is joining me now. Thank you so much for your time. I know

that you have been meeting with your European counterparts in Brussels. And we know now that this call is taking place between Putin and Trump

tomorrow, which will center around the dividing of certain assets.

Of course, there is great concern about what will be agreed without Ukraine or members like yourself from Europe present. What are your expectations

for how this will go?

BUDRYS: Our expectations are that the ceasefire will start without any additional conditions and that Putin will start it from the very beginning.

What is required from him is just to stop the military action and to stop the aggression right now and go with Ukraine to negotiations. That is our

expectation that he will tell this President Trump.

On the other hand, to what we already sees, the additional requirements, additional conditions and additional demands towards Ukraine even before

the ceasefire. And we don't have to allow ourselves getting into a situation where the ceasefire will be mixed with the peace negotiations

process. It will be presented as it is already the peace negotiations and Putin is mastered into -- in it.

We've seen it not once already, even with Ukraine before the Minsk 1 and Minsk 2 agreements. So we have to be very cautious on it. And we have to --

and we have to push forward on Russia and to force them to a negotiations table, because they are not showing any signs of their interest in it.

MACFARLANE: Are you saying then that you do not expect that President Trump will apply the necessary pressure on Putin during this phone call tomorrow

to push for a 30-day peace deal or any other reasonable terms of peace?

BUDRYS: United States have all the instruments and all the leverages in their hands. So they have to use it. And Europe is also in a position to

assist in doing it. So we expect that in the case it is needed, they will be used because it's not only Ukraine that has to go with the -- without

the any preconditions into the ceasefire. That's Russia, the aggressor, that it has to do it.

And that is why the -- all the options has to be at the table and the ceasefire is the time when we will decide, they will decide, and we

together, Europe, United States and Ukraine will decide together on the conditions of the -- of the peace.

And we already know that those conditions for the peace must include Ukraine's sovereignty, full territorial integrity and also security

guarantees.

MACFARLANE: Yes, territorial integrity and, yet, we're already hearing from President Trump himself that they are talking about the issue of land, of

power plants, of this being central to that conversation tomorrow.

If the United States do not use, let's say the carrots and sticks at their disposal with Russia in these negotiations, what are you bracing for and

what will this signify for European leaders in the months ahead?

BUDRYS: We still -- we still have to see how the process will go on. And we understand that it's also Ukraine that has an agency in all this process,

and it's up to them to decide whether the conditions are favorable or not for them.

When we are talking about the peace negotiations, once again, not about the ceasefire. To show that there is a room for maneuver, for aggressor, this

is a very, very bad precedent, and we want to avoid this.

[12:10:06]

We cannot -- we cannot provide any advantages to aggressor. We cannot provide any territory to aggressor, because it will be repeated, be it

imperialist Russia or be it any other state. That's why all eyes on the U.S. right now and all expectations, not only of Europe, but of all the

other countries are on U.S. right now. So it's very historical moment.

How will it proceed further? Because once again, as it was in your previous question, we have the leverages and we have the sticks and we can build

even the additional ones with frozen assets and with additional sanctions. That would be the historical mistake not to use them if it is needed.

MACFARLANE: Given that you are there in Brussels meeting with your European counterparts, President Zelenskyy said over the weekend, once again, that

Europe must provide a peacekeeping force to provide security guarantees for Ukraine, which of course the U.S. have not said they are willing to do.

So far, publicly, only the United Kingdom and France have come out and said they're willing to put troops on the ground. Will Lithuania be part of any

peacekeeping force moving forward? Are you committing to that?

BUDRYS: We are at the table where the different formats and designs are discussed and negotiated. We understand that there is devil in the details

how it will be implemented. And we are part of these discussions.

And I believe that Lithuanian flag will be among the others within the coalition of the willing. As troops on the ground in Ukraine will be only

one element of the security guarantees. And there are additional elements. That's the long multi-year military and defense assistance to Ukraine.

That's also EU membership of Ukraine and the provision of the economic assistance for Ukraine to become a member and many others.

So we are open and we are participating and contributing in many of the future security guarantees that will be provided to Ukraine.

MACFARLANE: OK. Kestutis Budrys, we appreciate your time there from Brussels. Thanks very much.

BUDRYS: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: A night of fun turns into a nightmare. This, after a nightclub fire, claims dozens of lives. We have new details of arrests and the club

itself.

Plus, a doctor in Brown University professor with a valid visa is deported to Lebanon despite a U.S. judge's order blocking the move. We'll have more

on the case, next.

Also ahead, and the Democratic Party seems to be tearing itself apart. Surprising advice from the Washington legend James Carville, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:50]

MACFARLANE: Police in North Macedonia have arrested about 20 people after a deadly nightclub fire Sunday. They include the owner of the club, which the

government says was operating under an illegal license.

CNN's Ben Hunte has the latest on the tragedy, which killed at least 59 people.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN HUNTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scenes of worry and grief outside of hospitals in North Macedonia.

Families wait for word on the condition of loved ones after a massive fire swept through a nightclub in the town of Kocani, East of the capital of

Skopje.

Officials say the Pulse nightclub was packed with young fans of the popular local band DNK, when pyrotechnics from the stage show most likely lit the

ceiling on fire.

Dozens of people were killed, and more than 100 people have been injured. One witness says chaos broke out as club goers tried to escape the fire.

MARIJA TASEV, SURVIVOR (through translator): Everyone started pushing each other, so I headed for the exit. I don't know how, but I ended up on the

ground. I couldn't get up. And at that moment, people started stomping on me. I don't know how, but somehow, I managed to get out. I'm fine now, but

there are many dead.

HUNTE (voice-over): The head of Kocani General Hospital says, many victims were young in their teens and 20s, a loss too unbearable for some

distraught parents.

DRAGI STOJANOV, FATHER OF FIRE VICTIM (through translator): After this tragedy, what do I need this life for? I don't need it. I had one child,

and I lost him. What do I need this life for anymore?

HUNTE (voice-over): Many of the survivors are suffering from serious burns and have been transported to hospitals around the country and in

neighboring countries, too.

One father in Skopje says he's relieved his daughter is still alive.

SIMEON SOKOLOV, DAUGHTER INJURED IN FIRE (through translator): She has burns, also smoke inhalation. And she is here for a treatment by

respirator. She is in stable condition. That's all we can say for now.

HUNTE (voice-over): The North Macedonian prime minister said it was a difficult and very sad day, and officials say they will hold those

responsible for the fire accountable.

But that's little comfort to the parents outside North Macedonia's hospitals. Many bereaved, bereft and angry that what was supposed to be a

fun night out turned into such a tragedy.

Ben Hunte, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, this just in. An ominous warning for Donald Trump to Iran. In a post on Truth Social just minutes ago, Trump said any further

attacks by Yemen's Houthi militants would be seen as an attack initiated by Iran.

The Houthis are one of several Middle East militant groups who are backed by Iran. Trump said Iran would suffer dire consequences if the Houthis do

not stop targeting ships operating in the Red Sea.

Let's bring Alayna Treene back to us from Washington. Alayna, what more did Trump have to say on his post?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. Just going through those pretty lengthy post, Christina, but you're exactly right. He essentially

said that any attack or retaliation from the Houthis, he would believe and would designate as being attack from Iran. And that he would try to push

back with the full force of the United States in response to that.

I just want to read for you some of what he wrote. He said, quote, let nobody be fooled, the hundreds of attacks being made by Houthi, the

sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen who are hated by the Yemeni people, all emanate from and are created by Iran.

He went on to say, any further attack or retaliation by the Houthis will be met with great force. And then it continued to reiterate the same message.

But look, this is actually in line with what I was hearing in my conversations with Trump administration officials this weekend. In light

of those direct and strategic attacks, we saw the White House carry out on Saturday.

Now, a key difference that multiple officials, including those at the NSC and elsewhere at the White House have been trying to reiterate to me is

that this attack that we saw on the Houthis, by the Trump administration on Saturday, was not a one-off, that they want to continue this, that there's

going to be a series of attacks over the next couple days, if not weeks, to really continue to hit their targets in Yemen against the Houthi group

there.

And they try to point out as well that this was a little bit different from Biden. I think it's worth pointing out here the context of this. You know,

the Biden administration carried out a series of similar attacks against Houthi rebels.

[12:20:03]

When the former president was in office, however, they weren't sustained attacks like the Trump administration is trying to argue that it will be

carrying out. All to say they are very much ramping up their aggressive posture toward this group and trying to send a message, I'm told, really,

both to the Houthi rebels, but as we're seeing from the president himself today, to Iran, to be very careful with how they deal with him. We know

that the president very much is trying -- has begun to, with many different countries, try to show this aggressive posture that if you hit us, we will

hit back 10 times harder. That's kind of his reaction that we're seeing on Truth Social today, that if any sort of, you know, response to the attacks

that the White House carried out, they will hit back even harder with more force than they had before. Christina?

MACFARLANE: Yes. Alayna, as you say, all of this kind of signaling the Trump administration's new assertive approach, shall we say, to Iran. For

now, thank you very much.

And the expulsion of a Rhode Island doctor was set to be the focus of a hearing in Boston today, but that hearing was cancelled at the request of

the plaintiff's lawyers. The 34-year-old doctor and assistant professor at Brown University has been deported to Lebanon despite a judge's order

blocking her immediate removal. The judge has given the U.S. government a week to provide the court with more information.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is tracking the story from New York and joins us now with the latest.

Gloria, this hearing has now been cancelled. The judge said the request came from the attorneys as a result of for further diligence. Do we know

what's happened here?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're starting to get some clues. In fact, the judge ordered both parties to return or to file their

responses by March 24th. So it looks like at some point we will see some of these details come out in court.

But in the meantime, I've been reaching out to sources on both sides as well as the doctor's attorneys to try and get an understanding of why she

was detained at Boston Logan Airport when she was returning from Lebanon.

It was there that she was detained for about 36 hours, according to her attorneys and her friends, and she was deported back to Lebanon. Now, she'd

been here on a worker visa, and she works as a medical specialist at Brown University.

But in the last few minutes, we have received a statement from the Department of Homeland Security saying that Dr. Alawieh had traveled to

Beirut, Lebanon, and attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader.

Now, I've also just gotten some brand-new details from a source familiar with the case, who told me that during questioning by immigration officers

at Logan Airport, they found photos of Nasrallah on her cell phone. And during questioning, she acknowledged having attended the funeral.

Now, it's not clear to us just yet why they were looking through her cell phone. During that questioning, Dr. Alawieh also told them that Nasrallah

was a high-profile religious leader and that while she followed his religious ideology, she did not follow him politically.

So during that questioning, officers determined that her intentions to enter the United States were unclear and moved ahead with her removal.

Now, we are waiting to hear back from the attorneys representing Dr. Alawieh just to get a sense of exactly what this means and their side of

what the government is appearing to be alleging here. We were hoping to hear that at today's court hearing, but as you said at the beginning, it

was canceled by the judge.

So an important detail, but also we need to hear more about why this prompted a deportation. The funeral was attended by thousands of people in

Lebanon last month. So it is certainly interesting that that was their apparent reasoning for deporting her.

Part of what they said in their statement from the Department of Homeland Security was that she openly admitted to the officers and stated her

support for Nasrallah.

So as of now, need to hear directly from Dr. Alawieh and her attorneys to see what more we can learn from this case.

MACFARLANE: Yes. That is a significant development. Gloria Pazmino following it for us, thank you.

All right. Coming up, Democrats are frustrated and fuming over a strategy for countering Donald Trump. And one of the top strategists around says,

now is the time to do nothing. We'll talk to him about that when ONE WORLD continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:32]

MACFARLANE: Welcome back to ONE WORLD. I'm Christina Macfarlane.

From shrinking the government to upending U.S. foreign relations, it is easy to see why some Americans are concerned about Donald Trump's first

couple of months in office. But what may be more surprising is how unpopular his rivals, the Democratic Party, have become.

A new CNN poll finds favorability numbers for the Democrats at just 29 percent. CNN has been asking this question for more than 30 years, and this

is the lowest ever recorded for the party. Much of the job comes from people who identify as Democrats who say their leaders are not doing enough

to push back on Trump's policies.

Let's dive into the numbers and what they mean. Let's bring in CNN's chief data analyst, Harry Enten.

So, Harry, the lowest polls we're seeing here since what, 1992?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, since 1992. And when you have to go far enough back that I wasn't even in grade school yet, you know, it's a

long time ago in which we are looking at polling.

But, you know, you mentioned that CNN SRS poll, right, 29 percent, that's the lowest since 1992. But there was also an NBC News poll that came out

that had even lower than 29 percent. They had the Democrats' favorable rating at 27 percent and they go all the way back since 1990. So it's one

data point, it's two data points, both pointing in the same direction that is record low favorable ratings for Democrats.

Now, if you believe these numbers are low, I got even lower numbers for you because when we don't just look at Democrat -- the Democratic Party

overall, but instead, look at congressional Democrats and how Americans feel about that.

[12:30:10]

You know, as I like to say, like to quote Chubby Checker, of course, I'm a big fan of the oldies, how low can you go? Voters' views of Democrats in

Congress among all voters, look at this approval rating, just 21 percent. Holy cow. The disapproval rating, 68 percent.

Now, this is interesting. But what I really think is interesting is on this side of the screen, the one that's closer to me. Let's look among

democratic voters. How do they feel about congressional Democrats? Look at this. Disapproval, 49 percent. That's the plurality opinion compared to

just 40 percent who approve.

This is a record low number according to Quinnipiac University. This is a record low number according to Quinnipiac University. It is record lows

across the board among voters at large and among the democratic voters in particular.

Now, why are Democrats so angry with their own party in Congress? Well, it all comes down to fighting Donald Trump. And this is where it gets really

interesting.

OK. Democratic voters on Democrats in Congress, what should they be doing and what are they doing? Doing too little to oppose Donald Trump. Look at

this, 77 percent more than three quarters of Democrats say that congressional Democrats are doing too little to oppose Donald Trump.

What do Democratic voters want? Democrats in Congress to do, they should stay principled. Even if that means nothing gets done in Washington, D.C.

Look at this. Two-thirds of Democrats believe that 65 percent. That is such a difference. Such a difference from where we were eight years ago in which

just 33 percent said that Democrats should stay principled, those in Congress, and compared to 59 percent who said that they should compromise

with Trump.

No Democrats want to compromise with Trump these days. They want Democrats to fight, and if they don't, that is why their approval ratings are solo

amongst their own base.

MACFARLANE: Harry, really appreciate the breakdown of numbers in the way you usually do. I appreciate it.

Now time for The Exchange. And we are joined by a leading democratic strategist who says the time has come for Democrats to do nothing. We

welcome in James Carville to ONE WORLD. He was the architect of Bill Clinton's 1992 run for the White House.

I'm going to challenge you on this, James. So we know that the polls there, were saying lowest since `92, which was actually just before Bill Clinton

took office. And they are, I think, not reflective just about the dissatisfaction that is clearly there, but the genuine anger among the

democratic base right now about how Democrats are performing or not performing.

What do you -- let's just start here. What do these numbers say to you about the crisis the party are in?

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: They say that losing an election has consequences. OK? And the reason that people don't like the Democratic

Party because Democrats don't like it because we lost.

Now, we can do something wild in the next three days, but what we'd rather do is prepare to win the next election. And then when that happens,

everything changes, right?

The purpose of a political party is to win elections. When it does not accomplish that, it member -- its members don't like it. And, you know, I

get the depression and the hysteria and everything else. The way that you come back is you start winning and you start winning elections. And that I

think any strategy we have, that has to be our primary motivator.

MACFARLANE: But it seems to wait for elections, you know, every two years, every four years to come round. I mean, that clearly is not what democratic

voters want to see.

We were just hearing from Harry there. Seventy-seven percent of Democrats feel that their party are doing too little to oppose Trump. I know you have

advocated, you wrote an op for "The New York Times" just recently to roll over and to play dead, you know, to have a strategic retreat in this

moment. Let the Republicans --

CARVILLE: Right.

MACFARLANE: -- make their own bed.

CARVILLE: Right.

MACFARLANE: But I mean, that is problematic for the party's base, is it not? And you can't risk losing support in the meantime.

CARVILLE: It's problematical for next week, all right? And clearly what -- I'm not going say this, everybody understands us and we play rope-a-dope,

that we are strategic, that we fight to win the election, not the day. All right?

You already have the Trump people talking about two and a half percent growth for the first quarter. That's not going to happen. And democratic

voters are not going to remember seven days in March. All right?

What they're going to remember is how clever you were and how smart you played this hand. And I will tell every Democrat listen to this, you have

no power, none, zero, no power. And so when you don't have power, you have to be clever. You have to be smart. You just don't think about frontal

charges. You have to think about flanked movements.

[12:35:03]

And I understand people say things. I love it when all of the people that embraced identity politics, that embraced that we had no choice but to

nominate President Biden. We had no choice to not have an uncontested convention. Three colossally wrong assumptions are now the people most

called for leading the charge at a light brigade, if you will.

And, you know, I'm seeing international can -- y'all can go crazy and hysterical and have a meltdown over the polling numbers, but it's -- when

we get to their next election is where we're to really see whether who's --

MACFARLANE: But the stakes are too --

CARVILLE: -- where we are.

MACFARLANE: But surely, the stakes are too high now to sit back and wait and hope that the Republicans will implode. I mean, we saw on Friday that

the Democrats had their first big chance to check Donald Trump's power. I think that's what a lot of Democratic voters were hoping for, to reject the

funding bill. But instead, they passed it and emerged looking even weaker.

Wasn't that the moment for them to step up and show that they still have some power to influence policy in Congress?

CARVILLE: Well, look, it's not what people think about it today. It's what they think about tomorrow. And the first thing you do where you had the

power to shut the government down. Maybe that's a power that you're going to have to exercise. And maybe by doing this, we'll be able to say we tried

to work with them.

The wisdom of this decision, I don't think can be assessed today. I think it can be assessed down the road. For all I know, a lot of people I respect

really didn't like the decision. But you know, lot of people I respect thought that Senator Schumer was playing a smart long game here. But it's

not going to be decided next week. And that's one thing that I would caution Democrats about.

And you -- so you got the power at one point because of the filibuster rule to shut the government down. Well, there's also nothing -- no reason to

think that they couldn't do -- temporarily do away with the filibuster rule. It's just self -- it's a congressional rule.

And the consequences of doing that, it was not an easy choice just to oppose for the sake of opposing. I'm not going to weigh in here. But I

don't think we're going to know the wisdom is the decision until later, but we had no choice to get anything done. Maybe at some points we have the

power to shut the government down.

But boy, that's a really tough thing and government workers are having a hard enough time today. So I don't know. We'll wait and see if it's smart.

But I don't think this is conclusive.

MACFARLANE: I think -- I think what the vote exposed was the, you know, the divide within the Democratic Party right now. And regardless of what

strategy you think should be in place, be it the one you're proposing or something else, how important is it for Democrats in this moment to at

least appear unified, you know, in order to not counter the Republicans in this moment, but just have a unified way forward?

CARVILLE: Well, I think Will Rogers said I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a Democrat. I think what the Democrats need to do is

rally around a policy winning. And every time I see the person -- 80 percent of the time, when I look at someone from Congress that's advocating

for action now, here we stand, we can do no other. We stand on the precipice. They're usually people that come from a partisan lean of plus 25

democratic.

Well, we're not going to achieve power by just appealing to plus 25 democratic congressional districts. We got to win districts at a plus or

minus four points. So you have to keep that in mind. Whenever you see somebody calling for the charge of the light, he says, how much trouble are

you going to have in our next election? And then how much trouble is one of your other colleagues going to have that has to win?

And these are questions that I don't expect the average democratic voter to get that deep in the wood zone, but it's an element of fact. The loudest

voices in this team tend to come from the safest seats.

MACFARLANE: Well, James Carville, is a pleasure speaking to you. We will wait to see if your strategy is correct. But for now, let's see where this

is headed. Thank you.

CARVILLE: A lot riding over that. I don't -- I don't think there's -- they don't like my decision of strategic patience, we want to lose now. Let's

be smart and win tomorrow and forget about losing today.

MACFARLANE: That's the message. We appreciate it. James Carville, thank you.

CARVILLE: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: Well, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is calling it a massive gift to America's enemies. But in China, Donald

Trump's decision is being welcomed with cheers.

The U.S. president signed the executive order on Friday, dismantling the Voice of America and other government funded pro-democracy media outlets

around the world. VOA began broadcasting in 1942 and it was aimed at countering Nazi propaganda. It provides service in nearly 50 languages and

reaches an estimated weekly global audience of more than 350 million people. Here's a clip from its first broadcast.

[12:40:23]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a voice speaking from America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: the voice from America at war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our voices are coming to you from New York, across the Atlantic Ocean to London, from where they are relayed to you in Germany.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, America has been at war for 79 days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daily at this time, we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good or bad. We shall tell you the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, for more on this, let's bring in Brian Stelter. He's our chief media analyst here at CNN. Good to see you, Brian.

Now, as we've been saying though, this news service has been viewed as the voice of American democracy for some 83 years. What does this signify?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. And journalists at some of these outlets were expecting dramatic changes from the Trump

administration. What they did not expect, by and large, was to get shut down over the weekend.

I spent Saturday and Sunday speaking with sources at Voice of America and some of these other affected networks. And what's really happened is a

sudden dismantling. It's a wrecking ball approach, the same way that we saw at USAID in January and February.

This was the result of an order from President Trump late on Friday night saying that this agency, as well as a bunch of others, should be shut down

to the minimum it can possibly function as required by law.

Of course, this U.S. agency was set up by Congress decades ago to provide free and fair news coverage in parts of the globe where none was available.

So this is something that was mandated by Congress, but so far, we have not seen many Republican objections to the sudden shutdown of Voice of America.

There's been a few Republican lawmakers who have spoken up, but by and large, it does seem Trump's party is going along with this. That means the

Voice of America website has been basically not updated for two days, no more news being reported. Some of the local language services in parts of

Asia and Europe have reverted to music because there's no news to air.

And some of the other networks like Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, they are still functioning, but they're starting to shut down. That's

because the funding they received from the government has been turned off.

Now, the head of Radio Free Asia says, she's going to challenge this shutdown order. Maybe there will be other efforts to try to make some

solutions. We've already heard some European lawmakers saying that they should fund Radio Free Europe to keep it online once the Americans have

given up on it.

But for the time being, this is a sudden shutdown affecting thousands of staffers and untold millions of people who no longer hear this American

news.

The whole idea was to provide news coverage but also promote democratic values and that's why you hear so many people saying that China and Russia

are going to benefit as America steps off this broadcasting playing field.

MACFARLANE: Yes. In this moment, a decision with truly global implications. Brian Stelter, thanks very much.

All right, coming up. Destructive storms with tornadoes push across the U.S. We'll have the latest from our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:09]

MACFARLANE: You are looking at a tornado tearing through parts of Gordo, Alabama on Saturday. The twister, as well as the storm, destroyed several

large chicken houses in the area. At least 42 people died as the powerful storm system swept through the central and southern U.S. over the weekend.

While some communities were hit by violent tornadoes, others got wildfires and dust storms.

Let's bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam, who's been covering all of this from the Weather Center in Atlanta. These tornadoes were just devastating.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Christina, you're seeing that video footage coming out of Alabama. But it wasn't just there, it was Missouri,

it was in Oklahoma with a fire threat. It was also powerful tornadoes in Arkansas as well.

Just look at Wayne County, Missouri, trees toppled like twigs. The roof taken off of half of this home. I think we'll see more of an elevated

perspective. There it is.

And just look -- you could see all the way through into the inside of this individual's home. I mean, this is the nature of these tornados and what

they can do here in United States. They are powerful and they are a force to be reckoned with. And I'm happy to report that this system is exiting

quickly off the East Coast as we speak.

And that is good news because we are not anticipating any additional severe weather today. But when we recap what just happened, you can just see how

impactful it truly, truly was. We had over 1,000 reports of severe weather, including 90 tornado reports, 748 wind damage reports and significant hail

just plastered over the eastern two-thirds of the country.

This is amazing. This is a list of all of the severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings that were issued by meteorologists from the local National

Weather Services across the eastern half of the U.S.

Remember, human meteorologists make these decisions. They pick up on what characterizes these storms as tornado -- tornadic or severe. And they issue

these warning critical life-saving information to the public. And while just plastered across the eastern half of the country.

Now, it wasn't just tornadoes that caused the damage, it was strong winds associated with these thunderstorms gusting to equivalent to a category one

Atlantic hurricane strength. So this is the storm system that brought the havoc to the eastern two-thirds of the country. It's exiting quickly off

the East Coast.

We'll say goodbye, good riddance to that storm system because while it was with us since Friday of last week, now we're focusing our attention on what

is a fire risk that is ongoing across the nation's midsection.

This is for today. We have a critical fire danger for portions of Texas and western Oklahoma, but I want you to see what will happen as another low

pressure system. A springtime storm ejects out of the Rockies, brings more wind to this area, and the critical fire weather threat goes to elevated or

extreme rather for the day tomorrow.

So we need to keep a close eye on this considering how this previous storm played out with the wildfires across Oklahoma. Christina?

MACFARLANE: Yes. I know you'll be keeping that close. All right. Derek Van Dam there, live for us. Thank you, as always.

A helicopter pilot who crashed into California's Modesto Reservoir Saturday is recounting his lucky escape. Bob Campana managed to get himself and his

injured passenger who was unable to swim, to safety after the helicopter he was flying slammed into the water. Take a look and listen to what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB CAMPANA, HELICOPTER PILOT: My depth perception got a little off, unfortunately, drove it into the water. The windshield blew out. Flotation

device popped up. He had broken his leg. He was in pain. And we were floating, as you can see, about 150 yards offshore.

I undid his harness. I did my harness up. When I undid the harness, the water was in my shoulders. And the helicopter was sinking. It was

instantaneous.

Pulling him, a 71-year-old guy, I mean, I don't know how it even happened. I am in good spirits because I'm with my family. I know that I'm going to

be with my family going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:50:06]

MACFARLANE: Bob Campana said he was in good spirits following the lucky escape and that he plans to keep flying. Good for him.

All right. Coming up, this weekend, Dolly Parton made her first public appearance since the death of her husband and while she always kept their

relationship close to her heart. She had a special message for fans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: That's Dolly Parton song debuted over 50 years ago, but it's taken on a new meaning this month. This weekend, the singer-songwriter made

her first public appearance since the death of her husband to celebrate the 40th anniversary of her theme park, Dollywood.

She told fans that, of course, she would always love him.

WVLT's Kyle Grainger has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PARTON: We're in Dollywood.

KYLE GRAINGER, WVLT REPORTER (voice-over): Dolly Parton returns home to open the 40th season of Dollywood, reflecting on the growth of the park and

how it all started when she decided to partner with the Herschends to create Dollywood. She says she had no idea the park would become this

popular.

PARTON: It is exciting. And I am excited to come back and kind of kick it off with the press and everything. We're going come back in May and do a,

you know, big celebration, but I can't believe that it's been 40 years. It just seems 10 or 15 at the most.

GRAINGER (voice-over): During the 40 years, Dollywood grew from a regional amusement park to a worldwide destination, now drawing more than three and

a half million people each year. Dolly says much of the success is due to so many people working behind the scenes.

PARTON: Dolly appreciates them helping her out. I kind of think that it's kind of a give-and-take kind of thing because all the fans have made it

great and the local people have been so supportive and you know we've tried to provide jobs for not only the people in the community, but for my family

as well, a lot of my family and friends.

GRAINGER (voice-over): More to come in 2026. Dollywood working on a new attraction, Dolly says will lead the industry and feature the Smoky

Mountains at night.

GRAINGER: So let's look at the future, new attractions, new places for people to eat all planned in the next year to two.

[12:55:01]

PARTON: Well, we hope to keep growing every year. And I think Dollywood will last long after I'm not here, but I'll always be here in spirit and

they'll always -- you know, I'll always be -- they'll be reminded of me in so many things.

GRAINGER (voice-over): Dolly also remembering the man who's been by her side for decades, losing her husband, Carl Dean, less than two weeks ago,

taking time to thank fans.

GRAINGER: And then to touch on what you just said, if I had to give you a hug from everyone who said, please give Dolly a hug today, we would be here

for the rest of the day. A lot of people are sending so much -- such love and comfort to you. Do you have a message for all of them?

PARTON: Yes, I absolutely do. I had no idea that so many people were so in love with our love, with our love story. But it is a heartbreaker, no

doubt. And, you know, I get, I'll always deal with waves coming in and out.

But at least I've had my work, and Carl would expect that. That's all I've ever done, you know. So, but yes, thanks to everybody for the concern.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Good to see her still smiling. Dolly and Carl Dean were married for nearly 60 years. They met at a laundromat near Nashville when she was

18 years old before she became famous. They snuck off and tied the knot two years later in a private ceremony. What a love story.

That does it for today's edition of ONE WORLD. I'm Christina Macfarlane. Thank you so much for joining us. Stay tuned for "AMANPOUR" coming up after

the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:00]

END