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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Trump Says Strait Will Open Soon And Be "Jointly Controlled"; Senate Confirms Markwayne Mullin As Next DHS Secretary; Trump Tells GOP To Skip Easter, Pass Election Bill "For Jesus." Aired 9-10p ET
Aired March 23, 2026 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good, I'm glad he's dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people.
That's it for us. The news continues. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now. I'll see you tomorrow.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: President Trump tells me he's negotiating with the top person in Iran. As officials in Iran are denying that any talks with the United States are underway.
I'm Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.
Good evening from Washington, after a whirlwind day on aboard Air Force One, as I was traveling with President Trump, as the press pool reporter today from Florida, to Tennessee, to here, with a pit stop at Graceland along the way.
We asked the President this morning about a range of urgent issues, including the new negotiations that he says are now ongoing between the United States and Iran, as this war is now entering its fourth week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have had very, very strong talks. We'll see where they lead. We have points, major points of agreement, I would say, almost all points of agreement. Perhaps that hasn't been conveyed. The communication, as you know, has been blown to pieces. They were unable to talk to each other.
But we've had very strong talks. Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner had them. They went, I would say, perfectly. I would say that if they carry through with that, it will end that -- that problem, that conflict, and I think it will end it very, very substantially.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: That answer sums up much of the day, which was filled with conflicting signals and flat-out denials from Iran, about what the President had said about how these talks are going.
We also heard from the Israeli prime minister, who says he spoke with President Trump today. And according to Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump believes there's an opportunity to leverage military achievements into a deal here.
It was just a few days ago that the President had issued that ultimatum to Iran, saying that they needed to open the Strait of Hormuz to allow the flow of traffic to go through and bring down energy prices on a global level. Or, the President said, the United States would obliterate Iran's power plants. The President now says that deadline was moved from tonight to this Friday.
And that switch from red lines to possible peace talks is why I asked the President today on the tarmac about who exactly he's talking to in Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Mr. President, who are you speaking with in Iran?
TRUMP: A top -- a top person. Don't forget, we've wiped out the leadership phase one, phase two and largely phase three. But we're dealing with the man who I believe is the most respected and the leader. You know, it's a little tough. They've wiped out -- we've wiped out everybody.
REPORTER: Is that the Supreme Leader?
COLLINS: Is that the Supreme Leader?
TRUMP: No, not the Supreme Leader. We don't -- well, nobody's ever -- nobody heard of the second Supreme Leader, the son. Nobody -- we have not heard from the son. Every once in a while, you'll see a statement made. But we haven't. Now, we don't know if he's living. But the people that seem to be running it, and they seem that based on really fact, because things they've said have taken place.
COLLINS: Can you say who that is?
TRUMP: I can't.
COLLINS: Why not?
REPORTER: Mr. President I know you're deploying--
TRUMP: Because, I don't want him to be killed. OK? I don't want him to be killed.
REPORTER: Mr. President, are you deploying--
TRUMP: Nobody wants to be that -- nobody wants that job right now, you know? Nobody's exactly looking forward to being the head of that particular country. But perhaps we'll be able to solve that problem.
COLLINS: What exactly are you looking for in these talks, Mr. President?
TRUMP: We're looking for all of the things that we've been talking about. We want to see no nuclear bomb, no nuclear weapon, not even close to it, low-key on the missiles. We want to see peace in the Middle East. We want the nuclear dust, we're going to want that, and I think we're going to get that. We've agreed to that.
COLLINS: The enriched uranium?
TRUMP: Yes, we're getting -- we've agreed to that.
COLLINS: You want the enriched uranium before you can end this war?
TRUMP: We want no enrichment, but we also want the enrich -- enriched uranium. Where, if this happens, it's a great start for Iran to build itself back. And it's everything that we want. And it's also great for Israel, and it's great for the other Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, all of them, Kuwait and Bahrain in particular. So, it's great for all of them.
COLLINS: And just a detail, you said there's many points of agreement with Iran right now?
TRUMP: Many.
COLLINS: What -- can you give us a few of those?
TRUMP: Many. Like, 15 points. 15 points.
COLLINS: And Iran has said yes to--
[21:05:00]
TRUMP: Well, they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. That's number one. That's number one, two and three. They will never have a nuclear weapon.
COLLINS: They've said yes to that?
TRUMP: They've agreed to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, it's still unclear exactly who the United States is negotiating with. But we do know there are rumblings about what exactly that could look like.
We'll have more on that in a moment with our experts.
And of course, if these talks work and are successful, it remains to be seen how the President is going to handle two of the most pressing issues that have left much of the world in a state of alarm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: You said you want to get the enriched uranium. How are you going to get the enriched uranium? Are you going to send --
TRUMP: It's very easy. If we have a deal with them, we're going down and we'll take it.
Thank you. COLLINS: What about the Strait of Hormuz? Who's going to be in control of that?
TRUMP: That will be opened very soon, if this works.
COLLINS: How soon?
TRUMP: I mean--
COLLINS: And who's in control of it?
TRUMP: I mean--
COLLINS: Will Iran still be able to control the flow of oil?
TRUMP: It'll be jointly controlled
COLLINS: By who?
TRUMP: Maybe me. Maybe me.
COLLINS: You want the United States to be in control of the Strait of Hormuz?
TRUMP: Me and the Ayatollah, whoever the Ayatollah is, whoever the next Ayatollah -- look -- and there'll also be a form of a, a very serious form, of a regime change. Now, in all fairness, everybody's been killed from the regime. They're really starting off. There's automatically a regime change. But we're dealing with some people that I find to be very reasonable, very solid. The people within know who they are, they're very respected, and maybe one of them will be exactly what we're looking for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And we start tonight with my lead sources.
CNN's Political and Global Affairs Analyst, Barak Ravid.
As well as our Global Affairs Analyst, Karim Sadjadpour.
And it's great to have both of your minds on this tonight.
Barak, just first off, obviously you're extremely well-sourced in this region. When you hear what the President announced today, how he answered those questions, what we've learned so far. What's your assessment of where this stands tonight?
BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, AXIOS: So, I think, Kaitlan, the first thing that is obvious is that President Trump realized that maybe his 48-hour ultimatum was not a good idea, and he wanted to buy more time, and which, by the way, in my personal opinion, was a good idea.
And so, I think that on Sunday, when several countries, like Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, came to the U.S. and said, You know, let's try again to get some negotiations going. They also went to the Iranians.
And I think the Trump administration and the President himself used that in order to say, You know what? Let's stop with this deadline. Let's put it aside and give another few days for negotiations and see what happens.
And I think that that's, you know, if you take out all the noise, that's the most significant thing that happened today, that in a different scenario, the U.S. would have gone on a massive bombing campaign against energy facilities in Iran. The Iranians would most likely retaliate very harshly against Gulf countries' energy facilities. That did not happen today, because that timeline was prolonged.
COLLINS: Do you think when the President says that Iran has agreed to no nuclear weapon, that that's -- that the Iranians would say it that way?
RAVID: Well, the Iranians will definitely say that they agreed to no nuclear weapons, because the Iranian public position for years was that they don't need nuclear weapons, that it's not part of their defense strategy. But that doesn't mean that they really meant to do anything practical about it.
I think what President Trump laid out today is, you know, those 15 points are obviously the U.S. position. Those are the demands. By the way, some of those points, the Iranians already sort of agreed to in the talks before the war started. Some of them, they completely rejected.
So, I think the gaps are still very wide between the U.S. and Iran, even after three weeks of very, very intense war and bombing campaign against Iran.
COLLINS: Yes.
And Karim. I asked the President there, who exactly he's speaking with. He said, I can't tell you, because they'll be killed.
I mean, they would obviously be killed by the United States or Israel, which has taken out the top Iranians.
But when it comes to who actually they can speak with, who actually has the credibility to negotiate on Iran's behalf. This is -- CBS is confirming tonight from an Iranian foreign ministry official that there has been a message passed through intermediaries, at least.
But what do you make of who he could be talking to? Is it the Speaker of the Iranian parliament? What does this look like?
[21:10:00]
KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE, IRAN EXPERT: The public reporting, Kaitlan, is that the person he has in mind is indeed the Speaker of Parliament, a guy called Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf. He has been a fixer of the Iranian system, former senior Revolutionary Guard Commander, very close adviser to the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
But I think Barak is right, that if it were up to President Trump, and he could just push a button, he wants to have a friendly relationship with a new Iran. I think what he underestimates is that this is a regime which, for 47 years, has had a very strong revolutionary identity, in opposition to America, in opposition to Israel. And it's going to be virtually impossible for any Iranian official, in the near term, to reverse that ideology, given the last three weeks of bombing the country has experienced.
COLLINS: And so, what's your assessment of this today? Do you think these are real talks?
SADJADPOUR: I think that both the United States and Iran would like to see a cessation of hostilities. But their expectations are very different.
My view is that we're not going to see a cessation of hostilities, so long as Iran is blocking the Strait of Hormuz. I think that that is a possibility in the coming weeks of reaching a resolution there. But I think there's no chance of a normalization between America and Iran. At best, we can go from what has long been a cold war, is now a hot war, to go back to a cold war again.
COLLINS: Yes, and one thing that the U.S. has done in recent days, amid this energy crisis, is lift sanctions on Iranian oil that's already out to sea, Barak.
I asked the President about that, given, obviously, the United States is in the middle of this war with Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Can I ask you, the Treasury lifted sanctions on Iranian oil that was out to sea. You criticized President Obama for giving Iran $1.7 billion.
TRUMP: Well, I just want to have as much oil in the system as possible.
COLLINS: But Iran is making--
TRUMP: And we don't even know if Iran gets that money. Frankly, I think it's very hard for them to get it. But you have ships that are out there that are loaded up with oil. Rather than keep it there, I would rather see it go to the system. Any small amount of money that Iran gets is not going to have any difference in this war. But I want to have the system be lubricated.
COLLINS: Even $14 billion, you don't think helps them?
TRUMP: Where's the $14 billion?
COLLINS: It's the inflated price, they get $14 billion from the oil.
TRUMP: I don't think they're getting the money. I can tell you, when this is all over, I will tell you who's getting the money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Barak, what do you make of that answer?
RAVID: So first, on the one hand, the President is right, because the Iranians will have a lot of difficulty accessing the revenues from the oil. But that doesn't mean that they cannot get some kind of payment from countries, not with actual money, but with goods or with other barter deals. And that's what the Iranians have been doing for quite some time.
And the fact that, you know, we did -- you get to the point that after three weeks of war against Iran, you get to the point that the U.S. is allowing Iran to sell $14 billion worth of oil? I think, more than everything, it shows that there was not enough thinking in advance about what, how deep the crisis in the oil market can be.
Because if there has been such thinking, I guess somebody would have said, Well, you know, we need to get to -- we need to avoid from getting to a point where we're giving sanction waiver to Iran to sell its oil. We need to find another solution in advance.
Because such a solution was not found, and nobody obviously thought about it enough in advance, the U.S. got to the point that it had to allow the Iranians to sell huge amounts of oil. And even if they're not going to get cash, they're going to get something in return that would obviously help the regime.
COLLINS: Yes.
Barak Ravid. Karim Sadjadpour. Great to have both of you here tonight. Thank you both for sharing your expertise and reporting.
And tonight, we're also hearing from someone who served under President Trump in his first term. That's his former Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis, who doesn't often speak, but is talking tonight about this decision that the United States made to go to war without the support of a lot of U.S. traditional allies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARGARET HOOVER, HOST, PBS "FIRING LINE": Can the United States succeed in this war without allies other than Israel?
JAMES N. MATTIS, FORMER UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: No.
HOOVER: What is your sense of the biggest concerns from our allies right now?
[21:15:00]
N. MATTIS: Well, they are many of the same concerns that we hear from our fellow citizens. America is becoming predatory. America is unreliable. They say one thing and then they change, seven days later or two days later. So, there's a sense that we are not a reliable security partner right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Right now, the Democratic senator of California, Senator Adam Schiff, joins me in response to all that.
Obviously, you heard what Mattis had to say about U.S. allies. If these talks are going the way that the President was describing to us earlier, do you think it's potentially a good thing to bring this war to an end?
SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Oh, for sure. I'd love to see this war come to an end. And if what the President is saying is true, that's encouraging.
But of course, we've heard the President say things that are -- proved to be completely untrue, in the past. So, we really don't know what to believe, whether these talks are serious, whether they're close to any agreement, or whether this is Donald Trump just trying to bring down the price at the pump, something he is very sensitive to, because he's getting a lot of backlash from around the country.
The fact though, that he has allowed Iran to sell $14 billion worth of oil and allowed Russian oil to be sold, and lifted sanctions on Russian oil, I agree, just shows how incredibly mishandled and poorly planned this whole war has been. The idea that we're going to enrich countries, in Russia's case, that are giving targeting information to Iran, in Iran's case, trying to kill us, we're going to give them oil money is really unthinkable.
COLLINS: Do you think the talks are genuine, or do you think the President is buying himself time by moving this deadline to Friday?
SCHIFF: The deadline never seemed serious to me. And if it didn't serious -- seem serious to me, I doubt it seemed serious to Iran. So, I don't know what to make of this five-day delay.
President does this quite frequently. He will say, I'm going to do this in two weeks. And then two weeks comes, and he pushes it down the road. It just causes you to lose credibility as the Commander-in- Chief. So, I don't know how serious the threat was to begin with.
We don't know how serious the negotiations are now. I hope they're serious. I hope we could bring this to an end. But I'm still very skeptical, particularly given that we're sending more troops to the region.
COLLINS: If the United States is sending more troops to the region, if the White House is still going to come to Congress and ask for $200 billion in more funding, where do you stand on that tonight?
SCHIFF: I'll vote against it. First of all, that money really won't go to this conflict. It won't be timely for this conflict to procure material. What it will be used for is essentially try to replenish stocks later. But I'm not going to support essentially an Iran funding bill, if that's how this is being sold and packaged. This is a war we should not have gotten into, and it's a war that every day puts our service members at risk. And given there was no imminent threat from Iran, I just don't think it's justified.
COLLINS: The President today also announced -- was talking about ICE going to airports. He was saying that they don't have to wear masks, the agents, when they're there, like they do when we've been seeing them out in the street.
We asked the President about that today, while we were on the tarmac, and this is what he told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Why allow them to wear masks, not at the airport, but they need to do it when they're out in the country?
TRUMP: Because the people coming into the airport, typically speaking, aren't murderers, killers, drug dealers, et cetera. There may be a few of them, but there aren't many. There are people that want to come into the country, or there are people that want to leave the country, going to maybe their home country. So, I didn't think it was an appropriate look for an airport.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Does that make sense to you?
SCHIFF: No, that's an absurd response, as if all of American cities are filled with murderers and rapists and the like.
If the concern is that ICE agents are getting doxed, then it doesn't matter where their face is appearing, whether it's an airport or on a street. So no, it doesn't make any sense. But I think it does point out the fact that he doesn't like the optic, and that's what matters to him.
Well, it matters a lot to me and to the rest of the country, that actually there's some accountability, completely notwithstanding the optics, we want to make sure that if ICE agents are engaged in the excessive use of force, they could be identified. And also, I think, when you wear a mask, there is a sense of impunity, and you see it leading, I think, to that excessive use of force.
So, his explanation really makes no sense at all.
COLLINS: Well, and part of that is why Democrats have been saying, We're not going to fully fund DHS until we can rein in ICE. But that is why we're seeing ICE at airports now. That's why the President decided to send them there. You're seeing these huge lines at TSA, in many airports, where Americans are missing their flights or having to get there hours early.
As a vocal proponent of reigning in ICE and holding that DHS funding, how do you explain to Americans why they are having to get to the airport hours before their flights, or missing their flights, or standing in lines like these?
[21:20:00]
SCHIFF: Well, because Republicans keep voting down funding for TSA. Democrats have offered to fund TSA over and over, we've called up bills to fund TSA, and Republicans have voted them down.
Tonight, we're hearing that there may be a deal to do exactly what Democrats have been proposing, and that is to fund the TSA, and essentially wall off ICE funding. Now, we'll see what the details are.
COLLINS: Did you know anything about that that you can share with us? We've been hearing that too, but it's not really clear what's confirmed.
SCHIFF: I only know what I've seen some of my colleagues say publicly. It looks like Leader Thune wasn't willing to make a definitive statement tonight, so we're still waiting.
But I think that -- I think the White House is getting the sense, if they haven't already, that the public is upset with the President, and with the Republicans who are controlling the Congress, that they can't govern, and that this is interfering in people's lives. And TSA agents aren't getting paid. And I think when they're facing vote after vote to pay them, offered by Democrats, it's become unsustainable for them.
COLLINS: We'll see where this ends up. Obviously, they should get paid.
SCHIFF: Sure.
COLLINS: Senator Schiff, thank you for joining us tonight.
Up next here for us. That standoff over funding has reached a new level today. We asked the President about whose idea was it to deploy those ICE agents to more than a dozen countries -- a dozen airports across the country.
And also tonight, I'm going to speak to a passenger who survived that deadly plane crash at one of America's busiest airports, and what happened on board.
[21:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, the National Transportation Safety Board is on the ground at LaGuardia, in New York, to investigate the airport collision, the deadly runway collision that happened between a plane and a truck. The NTSB -- and a fire truck.
The NTSB says they were able to get the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, and investigators say right now they're still hoping to know if that critical data is usable. But they've been cautious to say the answers, on how this crash happened, could take days, if not weeks, as this investigation goes on. We have video of the moment that that Air Canada plane slammed into a Port Authority fire truck, about a 130 miles per hour, ultimately killing both of the pilots who were on board and injuring dozens more. One of those pilots has now been identified as Antoine Forest.
We're also hearing from the daughter of a flight attendant who was found alive, outside that plane, still strapped into her seat, after the crash took place. Her daughter says that her mother was seated directly behind the pilots when the plane landed. She was ultimately ejected more than 300 feet from the plane. She suffered multiple fractures, and was taken to the hospital to have surgery on her broken leg after.
Air traffic control audio, from just a few moments before that crash, reveals the controller clearing the fire truck to cross the runway to try to help a plane that was on the other side of the airport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIRE TRUCK: Truck one and company. LaGuardia tower. Requesting to cross four at Delta.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: Truck one and company. Cross four at Delta.
FIRE TRUCK: Truck one and company. Four at Delta.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: Frontier 4195 just stop there please.
Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop truck 1. Stop. Stop. Stop.
Stop truck 1. Stop. Stop truck 1. Stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And my source tonight was a passenger on that plane today, and he was sitting in the exit row. And Joe joins me now.
And Joe, first off, let me just say, for everyone who is watching this right now, we're so glad that you're safe. I can't even imagine what has been going through your mind all day. Can you just -- can you just tell us what happened, from what you remember, when the -- when the plane was landing?
JOE, LAGUARDIA PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: For sure.
So, I was seated in the left side of the exit row by the emergency exit door, and as the plane was descending onto the landing strip, I noticed that there were a line of emergency vehicles that were along the left side of the landing strip, far away from where we were landing. I didn't think anything of it. But we landed pretty normally. It was rainy, wet conditions, it was foggy, but nothing out of the ordinary.
We made it probably about halfway down the tarmac until what felt like a sudden stop. I equate it to if you've ever been in a car and somebody breaks hard, or pulls an emergency exit on a train, and everybody jolted forward really abruptly, and then maybe a second or two later, people were thrown backwards as it felt like we had hit a large object, or something had happened.
At that point, it felt like the airplane was gliding across the runway, almost as if it was hydroplaning down the runway, is the best I can probably equate it to. At some point, the airplane came to a full stop, and everyone inside was very confused as to what had happened, terrified, frightened, scared, upset, every emotion that you can probably imagine.
And then, it quickly turned into everybody asking each other, Are you OK? Is anybody injured? Is anybody seriously injured? Can anybody move? So, everybody was trying to help each other, and it all happened in a matter of 30, 45, seconds.
COLLINS: So you could tell that the plane had hit something, you just didn't know what exactly it was?
[21:30:00]
JOE: It felt like it had hit something. I initially thought that maybe, because it was raining outside, and it was wet, maybe our landing gear didn't -- you know, malfunctioned, and the plane was sliding across the runway.
But I did feel a large crash or bump into something, what felt like a large bang into an object, and that's when the plane kind of shifted at an angle to the right, and our bodies were kind of shifted at an angle to the right, as it felt like we were gliding across the runway.
COLLINS: Yes.
JOE: But you can feel the impact, and that's when -- that's when you can tell something was wrong.
COLLINS: You're seated in the exit row. I mean, everyone who's ever sat there knows the flight attendants come over, ask you specifically if you're prepared to help in an emergency. I mean, I think most people don't think they're actually going to have to do that. You actually helped open the emergency door. What happened in those moments after this?
JOE: The adrenaline took over. Somebody in the front of the plane had yelled, Open the emergency exits because something was very wrong at the front. It took a couple of seconds to kind of process what had happened. And at that point, we just -- we pulled the lever down. Everybody was in the rows. There were four exits. I pulled one of the levers down, opened the door. We threw the lever to the side, onto the wing, stepped out of the vehicle -- or stepped out of the plane, onto the wing.
And that's when the FDNY and first responders all started to storm around the airplane. And at that point, before they had arrived, I had noticed, and I looked to the front of the airplane, and the front of the airplane was completely destroyed. There was parts all over the tarmac. There was metal everywhere. It was a horrific scene. COLLINS: The video that you took after you got off the plane, I mean, is -- it's stunning. I'm showing it right now. Where you just walk around the emergency vehicles. And to look at that plane, I think, is shocking to anyone, to see what the front looks like.
I mean, I can't even imagine what was going through your mind after being on the plane, feeling that you hit something, and then getting out and seeing what it looked like there on the tarmac.
JOE: It was -- I was besides myself, I was -- I was a wreck at this point, I have to admit. At this point, the plane had tilted up at an angle, but prior to that, it was completely flat on the ground, and we had watched the plane tilt at that angle as passengers evacuated the exit, as the weight shifted on the plane.
And the only things that were going through my mind at that point were one, There's two pilots in the front, there's crew in the front, there's passengers in the front of the plane, and I don't know where they are, I don't know what happened to them, I hope they're OK, somehow they're OK, and there's passengers trying to exit the plane as the plane is tilting, and I hope they're OK too. So, you know that -- those are the things that were running through my mind.
COLLINS: And we know that both of those pilots were killed in this crash. It's just devastating to think of how their families are feeling tonight, watching this, and now learning about this investigation.
When you think about what happened now in hindsight, with what you know, do you believe that the actions those pilots took, in the final moments, as they were breaking and trying to stop before getting to that fire truck, do you think they stopped this from being even more devastating?
JOE: I truly believe that. I think at the end of the day, they're heroes. They saved 70-plus people on that airplane.
My condolences go out to their families, and their friends, and their loved ones. And it's truly heartbreaking, and I can't even imagine the pain and the suffering they must be feeling. But I hope that they know that those two pilots, I truly believe that whatever they did at the end, whether it was pulling a break or trying to stop or divert at the last moment, they saved everybody on board. And I will be forever grateful to them, and they're always going to be heroes to me.
COLLINS: Yes, it's just -- we're all thinking of their families and praying for them tonight.
And Joe, I'm so glad that you're safe, and that your fiancee is safe, and thank you for being willing to come on and talk about what happened.
JOE: You're welcome, and thank you for having me.
COLLINS: And we'll continue to follow that investigation and bring you the updates as we get them. Also here in the United States, there are ICE officers -- agents that are at airports across the country. The President told us this about where this decision came from.
[21:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We do have some breaking news tonight, as the Senate has just voted to confirm Markwayne Mullin to be the next Homeland Security Secretary, replacing Kristi Noem, and putting the Oklahoma Senator at the helm of an agency that is in the middle of an ongoing shutdown battle here in Washington, and also, of course, one that has been the face of the President's immigration enforcement operations, both of which are front and center at U.S. airports tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
COLLINS: Who's idea was that to put ICE at the airport?
TRUMP: We're dealing really--
COLLINS: Who's idea was it?
TRUMP: Mine. That was mine.
COLLINS: And can I ask you, you said there are--
TRUMP: That was like the paper clip. You know the story of the paper clip? 182 years ago, a man discovered the paper clip. It was so simple, and everybody that looked at it said, Why didn't I think of that?
ICE was my idea. I called, the first person I called was Tom Homan. I said, What do you think? He said, I think it's great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[21:40:00]
COLLINS: That's what the President said to me today, about this decision to put ICE agents in airports, across the country, after more than 400 TSA workers quit, and thousands more called out because they've been going weeks without getting paid.
Joining me tonight is the Homeland Security Secretary who served under President Obama, Jeh Johnson.
And thank you, sir, for being here.
Do you think this is a good idea?
JEH JOHNSON, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY UNDER PRES. OBAMA: Kaitlan, I'm not taking sides in the current political fight. I do feel that someone needs to speak for the 250,000 workers at the Department of Homeland Security and the American people.
I think what's happening right now in this funding fight is sheer insanity. There will be no winners, when this thing gets resolved, however it's resolved. There will be only losers.
The object of the fight that Democrats are putting up resistance over CBP and ICE are actually being funded through discretionary funding within the Department of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, the TSA, the agency of our government that interacts most with the American people, is not being funded. To the detriment of aviation security and American travelers.
I spoke to somebody in local government in Atlanta, Georgia tonight. Atlanta is America's busiest airport. And this person reported that something like 40 percent of TSOs at the Atlanta airport did not report for work today. And the lines there, like a whole lot of other airports around the country, are as long as four and five hours long.
This is on top of a heightened threat environment, because we have gone to war against Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism. So this is--
COLLINS: Yes.
JOHNSON: --this is a real crisis, and it's a real meltdown. I worry that it is doing irreparable harm to the agency of our government that is charged with aviation security in this country.
COLLINS: That's a really good point. And I don't think anyone can blame these people for not going to work if they can't put gas in their car or pay for child care.
JOHNSON: That's correct.
COLLINS: And to your--
JOHNSON: Meanwhile, gas prices are going up for these people who live paycheck to paycheck.
COLLINS: Yes. And also about the heightened threat environment, because we heard John Pistole, who also ran TSA and was the Deputy FBI Director, he said that's his concern too.
And just to add to the, as you described it, sheer insanity. The NTSB chair, Jennifer Homendy, when she was giving an update earlier, she said there was an air traffic control specialist who was trying to get to LaGuardia to help with this plane crash investigation who couldn't get through. They begged for her to be able to get through TSA security earlier, and that she was in line for three hours--
JOHNSON: Yes.
COLLINS: --until they were able to call to get her through the line. I mean, I think that just puts all this in perspective of, of the consequences this is having.
JOHNSON: Kaitlan, we have to add also that the ICE officials, who reported this morning to work, at these various airports, are not trained in aviation security. What I'm told is that they're simply a presence outside the perimeter at the airports, sort of a show of force, so to speak.
They're not actually contributing to aviation security, reducing the wait times, and they're encountering passengers who are already agitated at the waits, who -- many of whom are further agitated by just the sheer presence of ICE in the airports in this country.
COLLINS: If you had to give a succinct message to Democrats and Republicans here in Washington on this, what would you say to them?
JOHNSON: Stop coupling policy disagreements in Congress with funding. The most basic obligation of Congress is to keep the lights on and fund the government. That's what the American people sent them there for. We have to get out of the business of once a year, now more than once a year, of having these shutdowns, because of policy disagreements in Washington.
COLLINS: Secretary Jeh Johnson, thank you for joining us tonight. It's always great to have you.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
COLLINS: And up next here on THE SOURCE.
As Congress is set to go on its own break with a lot of unfinished business. Today, the President actually said, No, I think you guys should stay in Washington.
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TRUMP: Don't worry about Easter, going home. In fact, make this one for Jesus, OK? Make this one for Jesus. That's what I tell them.
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[21:45:00]
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COLLINS: When President Trump returned to the White House tonight, he met with a group of Senate Republicans on these stalled negotiations to fund the Department of Homeland Security. We heard from Alabama Senator Katie Britt after, who told reporters that they had reached a solution, but they're still waiting on -- we're still waiting on the details of what exactly that looks like.
Earlier today, the President demanded in Memphis that any deal to fund DHS be tied with his voter ID and transgender policy bill that is known as the SAVE Act.
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TRUMP: When I announced yesterday about ICE, the Democrats called, We want to settle, we want to settle. And I told the people, Don't settle. Don't settle. Because we have something bigger. Only settle if you get the SAVE America Act, voter ID and so important proof of citizenship.
It should be part of the Homeland Security bill, and I'm requesting that the Republican senators do that immediately. You don't have to take a fast vote. Don't worry about Easter, going home. In fact, make this one for Jesus, OK? Make this one for Jesus. That's what I tell them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[21:50:00]
COLLINS: My political sources are here with me tonight.
David. I was there in the room in Memphis, when the President said that. I think everyone kind of looked around, I think we should--
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Was he channeling Elvis?
COLLINS: --I think we should leave--
URBAN: Was that like a gospel thing or what?
COLLINS: Yes, he did -- he -- Elvis did love gospel. And we did go to Graceland after, for people who don't know.
URBAN: I saw that.
COLLINS: I think we should leave religion out of this.
But in terms of what you're seeing, what do you make of what's going on?
URBAN: Yes, listen, so I think that -- look, they're both noble cause. I think -- I'm a big proponent and fan of the SAVE Act, but it's going to be very difficult to do on its own.
We've got to get the DHS funded, and we've got to get ICE -- the TSA agents paid, these people who are working at our airports every day paid. And so, it's like pulling not one rabbit out of a hat, but two rabbits out of a hat. So, I think it's going to be very difficult to accomplish.
I want to see the Senate just get this, the DHS funding bill passed, and then we can move onto the SAVE Act. I don't think you're going to get both of them together.
KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, SENIOR ADVISER, HILLARY CLINTON'S 2016 CAMPAIGN: But can we just be clear? When he said that, it was very clear, as it's been clear, this -- the whole TSA situation has nothing to do with money. Let's just be really clear.
They already have an extra $165 billion that they got from the big, ugly bill, on top of their regular funding. So, the money is there. You can -- they could find the money. You could take -- you could actually spend for four -- you could have 4,000 TSA agents, you could pay them for a year with the money that Kristi Noem spent on that ad campaign.
But more importantly, when he coupled it with the SAVE Act, he made it very clear, never let a crisis go to waste, right? So not only does he now say he doesn't want ICE to be held accountable, as all law enforcement should be accounting for their actions. He now wants to use it to try to get the SAVE Act, which, let's be clear, the SAVE Act is going to make it harder for people to vote. It's going to make it harder -- and more expensive for a lot of people to vote, and it actually doesn't improve election integrity.
It also, if you are in rural America, if you're a senior, if you're an older person, if you don't have access to your birth certificate, if you don't have a passport, that's going to cost you time and money that a lot of people don't have, to go and try to get those things.
URBAN: Well -- yes--
FINNEY: But it doesn't make the system safer. Is that it doesn't make--
URBAN: Well we'll agree to disagree. We can have our--
FINNEY: Yes.
URBAN: We can have our SAVE Act. We can have a separate discussion on SAVE Act, right? Because it is something that I think it's important. We need to get IDs, people to vote.
FINNEY: But then why do people have to pay -- why are you going to say to someone, In order to utilize your right to vote, but -- which you're guaranteed by the Constitution, you're going to have to pay -- if you don't have a -- if you don't have a passport, 300 bucks?
URBAN: Well, listen, I think they're--
FINNEY: I mean, people don't even have that kind of money.
URBAN: No, no, listen. There's a way to negotiate around this, right? This is a bill. This is a legislative process. They may--
FINNEY: But they're not negotiating.
URBAN: Don't look -- don't look at making the sausage. You should have an ID to vote, everybody in America.
FINNEY: You do.
URBAN: Listen, it's wildly popular, having a -- having a state-issued ID to vote someplace, right? That's--
FINNEY: But that's not--
URBAN: --you should have it.
FINNEY: But David, that's not what this says.
URBAN: I understand, but I'm saying we--
FINNEY: This actually says you have to prove you're a citizen -- you couldn't use your military ID.
URBAN: Well--
FINNEY: You couldn't use your driver's license.
URBAN: I think it's -- again, it's a legislative process, so they can get up -- get in place.
FINNEY: And ICE?
URBAN: Let's go -- let's go to the DHS funding, right? The White House is given three -- 75 percent -- 80 percent of a loaf to Chuck Schumer and Democrats on this like, just take a win. Take--
FINNEY: Actually it's the majority of the American people.
URBAN: Take a win. Take a win and move on.
FINNEY: Trump just busted up the deal today.
URBAN: Take -- take a win. Take a win.
COLLINS: Well, I do think that's a real question. I mean, the President is the one tying them together.
FINNEY: Yes.
COLLINS: What happens if they come out of this tonight and that's not the deal?
URBAN: But, you know, they can go to the President and say, Mr. President, this is the best we can get, right?
FINNEY: Wait, but--
URBAN: The best that we can get is this, on that right?
FINNEY: But according to Senator Kennedy of Louisiana, that's what he and Ted Cruz did, and the President said, No, don't do it.
URBAN: Well, we'll see. I mean.
FINNEY: You don't believe them?
URBAN: I do believe them. But I'm saying again, once again, we'll see what these guys go back to the President, with him -- with Senator Kennedy and Senator Cruz, and say, Look, this is the best we can get. We worked hard as we can, and this is what we can get. And it's up to him to either pass it or not pass it. He'll, like he said, you don't have to go home for Easter recess. You don't have to go home for a break.
There is a limit to what legislators can do in a condensed timeframe. Now, interestingly, as we all know here, legislators tend to legislate a lot more when they're up against the clock, and they smell jet fumes, and they want to get home to see their families, they work a lot harder and with a lot more--
FINNEY: But he seems to be--
URBAN: --a lot more determination.
FINNEY: But the legislators seem to be more willing to make a deal.
He seems to be the one who is now saying, I'm not even going to do it, unless you tie the SAVE Act to it, unless you tie handful of other things to it.
URBAN: Yes. Yes. So--
FINNEY: So?
URBAN: So, I think if you read The Art of the Deal, the President -- you never open with your -- yes, the President starts here, right?
FINNEY: I know. I have heard The Art of the Deal. I--
URBAN: And then he moves to here, and then he moves to here, and then he moves to here, right?
FINNEY: Yes, but then he TACOs out, so.
URBAN: Oh, just TACO out -- so, listen, I think we're going to see -- listen, hopeful for the American people that we get a bill, DHS, TSA, workers get paid, things get back to normal. Right?
FINNEY: They could pay them tomorrow, if they wanted to. They have the money.
URBAN: Oh, and Democrats could pass the bill as well too.
FINNEY: They have the money.
URBAN: Democrats -- again, don't let a crisis get in the way of good politics. Democrats could pass the bill. Chuck Schumer knows my feelings about his position, right?
FINNEY: I'm sure he does.
URBAN: So, like, Pass the bill, Senator Schumer, get it done. It's on him, not on this White House.
COLLINS: Karen Finney. And David Urban. We'll see what happens. Obviously. A lot of people hanging in the balance here. We'll keep you updated on those talks.
And up next. You probably didn't have this on your bingo card. The President was at Graceland today. It was actually the first time. We were inside Elvis Presley's home with him as he toured the famed estate. What the most memorable moment was, right after this.
[21:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: President Trump toured Graceland for the first time today, almost exactly 69 years after Elvis Presley bought the famous estate in Memphis, Tennessee.
We were there in the house, as the President was touring, where Elvis recorded music and spent most of his time in between touring on the road and performing in Las Vegas.
The President actually spent several minutes of his tour in what has been deemed the Jungle Room. It's filled with furniture that actually, we're told Elvis' father, Vernon, said he hated. He came home, told his son how much he disliked his furniture. And the next day, Elvis went out and bought the entire collection that now furnishes that room.
[22:00:00]
As the President was there, he signed a guitar with a gold Sharpie, holding it up for everyone to see, and also saw memorabilia from when -- other moments when Elvis actually crossed paths with the President, including that gold belt that he famously wore when he was inside the Oval Office for his meeting with President Richard Nixon.
Thank you so much for joining us here on THE SOURCE tonight for a very busy evening.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT" starts now.
