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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

White House Closes Case On Signal And Stands By Waltz, With Key Questions Still Unanswered; Interview With Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA); After Two Law Firms Cave To Trump, Others Vow To Fight; Judge Blocks Trump Admin. From Ending Deportation Protections For Venezuelans; Rubio: 17 Alleged Gang Members Deported To El Salvador; Columbia Univ. Student Ran From Homeland Security, But She Still Doesn't Know Why They Came For Her; NASA Astronauts Speak For The First Time After Unexpected 9-Month Mission To Space; Death Toll Rises To At Least 2,056. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired March 31, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

BUTCH WILMORE, ASTRONAUT: Our lessons learned from this whole process and make sure that we are successful in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, Erin, both astronauts have been here at Johnson Space Center in Houston since they landed here several hours after the splashdown in the Gulf. They say they are acclimating very well.

They credit the vigorous exercise regimen that exists on board the International Space Station with keeping them as strong as they are. In fact, Suni Williams mentioned that she was able to run three miles yesterday -- Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: My gosh, she can do that now. All right, thank you very much, Ed, and it's time now for Anderson.

[20:00:35]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, the White House declares case closed on the Signal text chain foul-up. But is it? New reporting tonight on the National Security adviser who lead a reporter into the chat and working now stance with President Trump.

Also, new video of ICE agents searching for a student, a former Fulbright scholar from Harvard and why she's now fled to Canada. We'll hear from her tonight.

And later, we talked to them up in space and tonight catch up with astronaut Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, how they are adjusting to gravity and all the attention and controversy their long mission got.

Good evening, thanks for joining us. In just about 24 hours we could have our first clear indication of how actual voters are sizing up the first two months and 11 days of the second Trump administration. Two special elections tomorrow in Florida. One to fill the House seat vacated by Matt Gaetz who was briefly the President's choice for Attorney General. The second, to replace former Congressman Mike Waltz who is now the President's National Security Adviser and there is breaking news on him right now. New word on where he may stand with his boss, the President, after he included "The Atlantic's" Jeffrey Goldberg on that Signal group text chat, coordinating immanent military strikes on Houthis in Yemen.

It turns out, as suspected, it was not the first time he was using Signal to chat according to "The Wall Street Journal" they report and I quote, "Two U.S. officials also said the Waltz has created and hosted multiple other sensitive National Security conversations on Signal with Cabinet members."

Now, CNN has learned that the President sees this as the first glaring misstep of his second administration, but determined early last week that he did not want to fire anyone over it. As you may recall, in his first term, he got rid of his first National Security adviser, former General Michael Flynn less than a month after becoming President.

As you know, Waltz has claimed that Goldberg's phone number was somehow sucked into his phone, which is not an actual thing. He's also said he doesn't know Goldberg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL WALTZ, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I can tell you for 100 percent, I don't know this guy. I wouldn't know him if I bumped into him, if I saw him in a police lineup.

I certainly, wasn't reaching out or talking to him at all. I didn't see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Now, yesterday, Goldberg said that Waltz had been, "telling everyone that he's never met me or spoken to me. That's simply not true." He didn't elaborate, but he said this earlier today with CNN's Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY GOLDBERG, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "THE ATLANTIC": My general reaction is they have one playbook, which is when they get caught on something they deny and they attack. Sometimes it works, either because the person they're attacking is bullied or intimidated, but were not bullied or intimidated, and it doesn't work when the goods are just there, visible for everybody to see.

I mean, they can say that, I don't know, you know, that it's fake news." I mean, Donald Trump literally said its fake news, but it's actually real. His own White House acknowledged that it was real. This is a thing that happened on Signal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, today the White House tried to move past it all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: As the President has made it very clear, Mike Waltz continues to be an important part of his National Security team. And this case has been closed here at the White House as far as we are concerned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: More on this now, from our chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, who anchors "The Source" at the top of the hour.

What more about this new reporting about additional Signal chats created by Mike Waltz, and what's his general standing within the administration at this point?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's kind of a split reaction, Anderson, in terms of how the President has been viewing all of this.

Obviously, his most enthusiastic response in backing of Mike Waltz was when we were inside the Cabinet room last week and he turned to him. He had him there with all of his ambassadors to be and kind of let him explain this for himself.

In the days since then, though, we have seen the President be less effusive of him in public. And that has come with questions behind the scenes from the President himself about how to handle the Mike Waltz situation and whether or not he should remain in the administration.

The biggest saving grace for him from our reporting, and based on what we've learned from sources, is that the President does not want to fire someone as a result of this scandal, and certainly not one that involves Jeffrey Goldberg someone that the President personally loathes and has a lot of disdain for.

And so, that has really been the key factor in helping Mike Waltz hang on in this situation. And he's also very wary of firing someone too early on, because obviously that was the narrative that marked his first few months, his last time in office. And so, he's kind of stayed away from that.

But that doesn't mean that he is not raising questions about Mike Waltz behind the scenes. Namely, it has been why Jeffrey Goldberg was in his phone and how he could have added him to this group chat, that it was really about anything sensitive being relayed over that Signal group chat message.

And so, that has really been the key factor here in terms of this. And we've talked to people who've said that, you know, they do expect Mike Waltz to stay in his role for now. That doesn't mean, though, he'll have a really prominent standing with the President.

I mean, that is something that remains to be seen. How he's viewed in Trump's eyes going forward from there.

[20:05:26] COOPER: Kaitlan Collins, thanks. We'll see you at the top of the hour at nine.

I want to bring in Congressman Seth Moulton, Democrat of Massachusetts. He sits on the Armed Services Committee, and I spoke to him just before we went to air.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Congressman, the White House says the case is closed on the Signal controversy. They clearly want to move on. You've called for the ouster of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Is the case closed for you?

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Absolutely not, because they've done nothing to show the American public and most importantly, our troops and intelligence professionals who risk their lives every day. They've done nothing to show that this will not happen again. This is a gross violation of the law.

And it put American pilots in danger. It literally opened up where they will be and when over enemy targets, so that those enemies might have shot them down.

And the Secretary of Defense needs to make it clear how this will not happen again, because he expects everyone under his command to follow the laws that he grossly violated.

COOPER: "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting that Mike Waltz, the National Security adviser has used Signal for other Cabinet level discussions. According to "The Journal," including separate threads on how to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, as well as military operations. I mean, what can you actually do? I mean, congressional investigations, is that even possible?

MOULTON: It's certainly possible, if our Republican colleagues weren't total cowards and so afraid to confront this administration.

This puts American lives at risk. The troops are in danger because of this behavior. And so, it absolutely has to stop. And to be clear, there are two major laws that are putting these Signal chats in service violate. The first is classified information. It's obviously that they're discussing classified materials in this administration does not take government secrets seriously.

But the second is these Presidential Records Laws, where they have to maintain records of the decisions that they make. And this administration just is so lawless. It just disregard those basic laws and that's going to continue unless this is put to a stop.

COOPER: If it's true, according to "The Journal," that that Waltz has done this before on policy discussions. I mean, if they are spit balling ideas on policy over Signal, is that okay? Is that a skirting the records as well?

MOULTON: It depends on what the policy is and I'm not a lawyer, so, I don't know the exact rules for the White House where I've never served.

But let's be clear, if they just want to discuss something that's in the open source. For example, I have talked to Mike Waltz about issues regarding Afghans. You know, we've worked on that issue in the past when he served here in Congress. And that's something that he and I have discussed, I'm sure, over Signal when he was serving here. But that's something that is already in unclassified, you know, that's unclassified. Everyone knows that there are a lot of veterans working on getting Afghan heroes out of Afghanistan, even though the Trump administration is now trying to put a stop to that.

But anything about future operations, future decisions, that's classified. And there's good reason that's classified. And when you put it on an unclassified phone in an unclassified space, on an app that is not cleared for classified information because it may have holes that allow our enemy to compromise it. There's a lot of ways in which this is very, very wrong and incredibly dangerous.

COOPER: Is the Trump administration trying to stop getting Afghans who helped the United States in that long war, who served with U.S. forces out of Afghanistan at the same time that they're helping trying to get Afrikaner farmers from South Africa, specifically into the United States?

MOULTON: That's right, if you're a group of people with a racist history in South Africa, please come to the United States. But if your people who put your lives on the line for our troops, keeping our troops safe, I mean, I might not be here today if not for what our translators did in my case in Iraq, then no, we don't want you to come. That's the message of this administration. They are eviscerating the refugee program.

There are hundreds and hundreds of Afghans who have already been cleared to come here because they're heroes. Because they're heroes, not just for Afghanistan, but for America. And that's why so many veterans, regardless of political background, are working to get these Afghans out of there and the Trump administration is trying to stop it.

COOPER: I mean, it's really remarkable. I was just reading that this administration actually set up an office in South Africa to specifically try to fast track White Afrikaners who formed the apartheid regime in South Africa to come here.

I mean, they are making it as easy as possible.

That's extraordinary that they are really actually stopping Afghans who served with U.S. forces.

[20:10:18]

MOULTON: It is incredible, you know, history of racism, please come to America. History of heroic service alongside our troops, stay away. That's what this Trump administration is saying.

So, for anyone who thinks that this administration upholds American values, for anyone who thinks that this administration is good for our troops or strong on National Security, let's dispel those rumors pretty quickly here.

This makes America look weak, both in terms of our troops, how we take care of them, how we take care of those who serve alongside us, and in terms of our values. I mean, it's really incredible, Anderson, how low this administration goes.

COOPER: Congressman Moulton, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

MOULTON: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, there is breaking news on the other side of the Capitol right now as Democrats nationwide are facing criticism about their own performance and what they are or are not doing to push back against the White House. Tonight, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker has taken to the senate floor and is vowing to keep talking, "as long as he's physically able."

Booker said he's doing it to draw attention to the wide swath of executive actions President Trump has taken in the first two months of his presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis. In just 71 days, the President of the United States has inflicted so much harm on Americans' safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy, and even our aspirations as a people from our highest offices, a sense of common decency.

These are not normal times in America and they should not be treated as such.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: CNN's chief Congressional correspondent, Manu Raju, is on Capitol Hill for us. So, what exactly is Senator Booker hoping to accomplish, and how long might that go on for?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he could go as long as he wants. The right of a senator to essentially hold the floor. He can go all night if he wants. He can go until tomorrow morning and that is certainly not unprecedented. It's not common. We don't see this happen very often, but we do see this happen.

Senator Jeff Merkley, back in 2017, he spoke for more than 15 hours in opposition to Neil Gorsuch to sit on the Supreme Court. We saw Rand Paul, the Senator from Kentucky, back in 2013, go from roughly 13 hours or so protesting the nomination of President Obama's nomination for the CIA director. We saw Ted Cruz object to the efforts on the Affordable Care Act back in 2013. So this has happened time and time again. The record for the Senate floor for any speech is more than 24 hours. That's 24 hours and 18 minutes by the late Strom Thurmond. And that was back in 1957 to filibuster the Civil Rights Act at the time.

Anderson, this is not a filibuster. This is -- so, he's not blocking any legislation here, but he's simply protesting the administration's actions here. And as you heard from that comment, he plans to detail everything that he is concerned about that the administration has done in recent days. And you're right, Anderson, this comes at a time when Democrats are facing a lot of criticism over their tactics. A lot of people in their base want them to fight harder.

Cory Booker is speaking to that base right now. The question is, will other Democrats join him in the days ahead? That's something that Democrats are debating their tactics on how to fight back against Trump.

COOPER: All right, Manu Raju, thanks very much.

Coming up next, the President is using all the levers he can to weaken potential opposition or challenges to his administration and to make sure the Department of Justice is fully under his control. We have new developments on that. The firing reportedly explicitly on the President's behalf of two career federal prosecutors.

And later, the Harvard graduate and former Fulbright scholar who's now fled the country after federal agents came after her. After the Head of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, called her a terrorist sympathizer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:18:37]

COOPER: The President spoke to reporters in the Oval Office this evening. He teased the sweeping tariffs scheduled to take effect on Wednesday but did not offer many details. He was also asked about a third term in office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: If you are allowed, for some reason, to run for a third term, is there a thought that the Democrats could try to run Barack Obama against you --

TRUMP: I'd love that.

REPORTER: -- for his third term.

TRUMP: Boy, I'd love that. That would that would be a good one. I'd like that. I know people are asking me to run, and there's a whole story about running for a third term. I don't know, I never looked into it. They do say there's a way you can do it, but I don't know about that. But I have not looked into it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, he certainly talked about that a lot. And he gets asked about it a lot, to be fair. And while he may be serious. For now, it is something of a distraction and there are a lot more pressing things we want to focus on tonight. In particular, the continued and unprecedented ways this administration is targeting attorneys in the Department of Justice and in private law firms.

"The New York Times" reported yesterday about two firings recently at the Department of Justice. The headline reads "White House Takes Highly Unusual Step of Directly Firing Line Prosecutors." Quoting now, "two longtime career prosecutors have been suddenly fired by the White House in what current and former Justice Department officials called an unusual and alarming exercise of Presidential power."

According to "The Times" the prosecutors from Los Angeles and Memphis were each dismissed with one sentence e-mails giving no reason other than it was on behalf of the President himself.

Now, the President, as you know, is two months into an effort to use the power of his office against his former prosecutors, judges and the legal establishment whether to advance administration policy or in some cases, as apparent retribution for prosecuting him.

[20:20:16]

His campaign against big law firms began with an executive order attacking a firm called Paul Weiss, after which it basically caved, cutting a deal to do $40 million in pro bono work for causes supported by the White House. Now that was a first.

The latest is Skadden Arps, which made a deal with the White House to the tune of $100 million. He's also gone after two firms that participated in investigations of him, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale. But it's the Skadden deal which proved too much for one former associate, who quit in protest and said why?

Quoting now from Brenna Frey's posting on LinkedIn, "Today, the executive partner of my former firm sent us all an update that attempted to convince some of the best minds in the legal profession that he did us a solid by capitulating to the Trump administration's demands for fealty and protection money."

Miss Frey goes on to say, "As one of my more eloquent former colleagues put it, do not pretend that what is happening is normal or excusable. It isn't. As an attorney, if my employer cannot stand up for the rule of law, then I cannot ethically continue to work for them."

Now, on Friday, without naming the President, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor also spoke about the current campaign against the legal system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SONIA SOTOMAYOR, SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: Once norms are broken, then you're shaking some of the foundation of the rule of law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Joining us now is best-selling author and former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin. I mean, it is standard for President to bring in new U.S. Attorneys at the beginning of a term. Why is the firing of these two in particular raising headlines?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: U.S. Attorneys are Presidential appointees and they always change hands when the presidency changes. But assistant U.S. attorneys line prosecutors, like I used to be back in the day, historically continue from one administration to another. And I am not aware of any situation ever, where a president ordered the firing of a line prosecutor who was just doing his job, as far as I can tell.

COOPER: In terms of the -- also, one of "The Times" reporting the colleagues of one of the fired prosecutors were, in their words, fearful about what his dismissal signaled for the tradition, not just of the Justice Department independence, but of the independence of individual U.S. Attorney Offices. That sends a message, you think.

TOOBIN: And the U.S. attorney in Washington said very clearly that he thinks of the U.S. Attorneys Offices as the President's lawyers. That is a complete departure from how federal prosecutors have been viewed historically. They are not the President's lawyers. They are lawyers for the Constitution. They are lawyers for the laws of the United States. And that's why they don't change when the administration changes.

But this is a situation where it is unclear if the President has the power to do this, as in so many areas of this second Trump administration. He is violating norms. Clearly he's violating norms. The question is, and now it's before the courts is -- is what he is doing legal? And I don't think that's resolved yet.

COOPER: I want to turn to his targeting private law firms, because I just think this is fascinating. It's really unprecedented, I also want to bring in Elliot Peters. He's a partner at the San Francisco-based law firm of Keker Van Nest & Peters.

In an op-ed for "The New York Times," Mr. Peters and his two partners issued a challenge to the legal community to push back on the administration. I'm quoting now, he said, "We believe that one of the noblest things a lawyer can do is to stand up against the government on behalf of a client whom the government seeks to destroy." They went on to say, "for his administration to attack lawyers and firms whose members have opposed or annoyed him is a threat to our democracy."

Elliot Peters joins me now.

Mr. Peters, why do you think President Trump's actions are a threat to democracy, and what are the consequences of other firms essentially giving in to Trump's demands?

ELLIOT PETERS, PARTNER AT KEKER, VAN NEST & PETERS: Because the President appears to want to punish law firms who have opposed his policies or who have done such things as represent people seeking political asylum. And if lawyers are intimidated and don't bring cases and don't represent people and valid causes, then judges don't get to decide them and the President has also been trying to intimidate judges.

Now, to be sure, these executive orders attacking law firms, which you've mentioned, have all been declared at least initially unlawful and unenforceable by three separate judges.

COOPER: So why are these firms caving? Because they have a lot of money. They're very powerful.

PETERS: I don't know why Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps decided to give in. But the most logical explanation is a concern about their business going forward and the idea that some very, very well paid lawyers might have concerns about not making quite as much money in the future.

I just don't think that's a valid consideration when the state of our democracy and our legal system hangs in the balance.

[20:25:23]

COOPER: I want to bring Jeff in on this because, Jeff, you and I, we've been talking about this now for weeks. These are huge firms that we all think -- oh, they're just doing litigation against the government. That's not all they're doing. They have big corporate clients. They make a lot of money.

TOOBIN: Let's talk about Skadden and Paul Weiss in particular, because they're the ones who capitulated to the government. Both of them have enormous mergers and acquisitions and private equity clients. That's where most of their money is made. They don't care about politics, those people. They just want to do their deals and their deals often involve clients who have dealings with the government.

COOPER: And the President has said very clearly to -- he has warned corporations about hiring firms that he does not like.

TOOBIN: Correct, and this is why the firms are completely terrified of losing clients. It's not the direct punishment of losing security clearances. It's the punishment of firms shying away. And Paul Weiss and Skadden make so much money from these corporate deals that they're afraid of losing it.

The Jenner & Block, Wilmer Cutler, the Keker firm, which are the firms that are standing up. They, you know, they have decided that there's something more important than money.

COOPER: Yes. I mean, Mr. Peters, can you talk about your decision to write this and to stand up? Because it seems to me the other part of this, the lever that this administration is pulling, is to intimidate firms like yourself from taking on any client who might be fired by the government and want to try to seek legal, you know, get a law firm to represent them. A lot of law firms would be like, why would we take on the government now? He's going to go after our firm.

PETERS: What these firms are being punished for is advocating for people or entities with points of view that the President disagrees with. And that's completely unconstitutional under the First Amendment for the government to punish someone for their point of view. It was also done without due process, in violation of the Fifth Amendment. And it's a direct attack on the right to counsel or their right to choose their own lawyers.

COOPER: So, if this goes to the Supreme Court, what do you think will happen?

PETERS: Well, I fear that we'll find out, although, I think that these attacks on the legal profession are not going to get a good reception in the courts.

In D.C., three different federal judges appointed two by Republicans, one by Democrats, have already temporarily prevented enforcement of these orders. What will happen in the Supreme Court? I don't know, but we're dealing with a situation where the President claims and wants the right to govern by executive order without any guardrails and the courts and lawyers are the guardrails.

Lawyers bring cases, courts decide them. And so, were going to find out what the Supreme Court does and I hope they stand for the rule of law.

COOPER: Yes. I mean, Jeff, just briefly, that is the big -- I mean, a lot of people are putting a lot of faith in the legal system as being one of the pillars of democracy, the judiciary branch. And yet, if this gets to the Supreme Court, I mean --

TOOBIN: I mean, there are so many issues now headed to the Supreme Court, whether it's about immigration or Elon Musk or these legal issues, they're all heading to the Supreme Court and we will find out what the law is, because we don't know at the moment.

COOPER: Jeff Toobin --

PETERS: Yes, they all have a common denominator too, which is what are the limits, if any, on the President's power. Is he a President in a system or is he a dictator?

COOPER: Yes, it's all coming down to that court. Jeff Toobin, Elliot Peters, I really appreciate you being on. Thank you so much.

PETERS: Thank you.

COOPER: Coming up next, federal agents came for a Columbia University graduate student. She was also a Fulbright scholar from Harvard. The head of Homeland Security called her a terrorist sympathizer. Now, she's fled to Canada. You'll hear from her tonight.

And later, after more than nine months in space, Commander Suni Williams and Captain Butch Wilmore are home and adjusting to gravity landing. That amazing landing they did two weeks ago, my conversation with them ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:34:13]

COOPER: There's breaking news tonight. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from stripping deportation protections for some Venezuelan immigrants. About 350,000 Venezuelans who sought refuge in the U.S. were set to lose their protections next week. The judge said the action, quote, "smacks of racism predicated on generalized false stereotypes".

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement today that the military transported 17 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang and also MS-13 members to El Salvador last night in a, quote, "successful counterterrorism operation".

The Trump administration provided no information about who these people were or how they were identified as gang members. The administration late today said they were not deported under an 18th century law called the Alien Enemies Act. You likely remember earlier this month, the court ordered a halt to deportations to that same draconian prison, which were carried out under that law.

[20:35:09]

In any event, last week's arrest of a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University near Boston by some mass federal agents has heightened concerns among many foreign students. This evening, President Trump said he hasn't looked at that arrest in any, quote, "detail". The student's attorney said she's never been charged and is being held at an ICE facility in Louisiana.

Also tonight, we've learned about another foreign graduate student, this one, a former Fulbright scholar from India who was just two months away from getting a PhD at Columbia University. She was labeled a terrorist sympathizer by the head of the Department of Homeland Security and has had her student visa revoked. She's now fled to Canada.

The story tonight from Shimon Prokupecz.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, you were asked to stay in the room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, why don't you just stay in the room?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If not, you can leave.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This new cell phone video captured by a roommate and obtained exclusively by CNN shows masked Homeland Security agents inside Columbia University housing, searching Ranjani Srinivasan's apartment after the Trump administration revoked her student visa, targeting her for deportation. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a warrant to search this premises for electronics documents related to Ranjani Srinivasan.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The search inside the apartment in mid-March lasted just minutes. This was the third time federal agents came to her door. By then, Srinivasan, an Indian national, was already gone, having fled to Canada in a panic, leaving her home of nearly 10 years.

RANJANI SRINIVASAN, FORMER COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT: It still doesn't feel real.

PROKUPECZ: Do you miss being there?

SRINIVASAN: Yes, yes. All my friends are there. You know, my home, like, my cat. I don't know when I'm going to actually be able to go back.

PROKUPECZ: Do you think you will?

SRINIVASAN: I mean, I want to. All my friends and family, like, my entire life is there right now.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): It all began when the State Department abruptly canceled her student visa, triggering a disturbing set of events. Immigration agents started showing up at her door. She and her roommate didn't allow them in.

SRINIVASAN: They basically started yelling in the corridor, saying my name, saying my visa had been revoked. And she just said -- she asked them, do you have a warrant? And they had to say no. And she was like, sorry, bye.

PROKUPECZ: Did you have any reason to understand why they were doing this?

SRINIVASAN: No, I was stunned and scared. I -- when she told me, she turned back and told me ICE is at the door. And I was just shivering.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not resisting.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Within days, she heard of the high-profile arrest of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil. Scared she was next, she went into hiding.

PROKUPECZ: Were you afraid that they were going to take you and then detain you and hold you in an ICE detention center?

SRINIVASAN: Yes, I was very afraid. But that fear was not born out of something I had done, because I had done nothing wrong. It was more about the other things that were happening around us. There have been disappearances, there have been random arrests. So I could not predict what would happen next.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Srinivasan's troubles trace back to two summonses she received during protests outside Columbia University on April 30th of 2024. DHS said she never reported them on her visa renewal. Srinivasan says she was trying to return home and wasn't part of the protest.

Those summonses were dismissed months before she applied for renewal, and there should have been no record of their existence.

NATHAN YAFFA, ATTORNEY FOR RANJANI SRINIVASAN: When people aren't fingerprinted, when they're not charged with a crime, convicted with a crime, that's information that New York City and New York State has said they don't make available to the federal government, and this raises very serious questions about those representations.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The question that Srinivasan's lawyers are grappling with now, how did she even get on the radar of federal authorities? For one, records reviewed by CNN show she was not in New York City during the peak of the campus protests and never participated in the encampments.

That didn't stop Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from posting this video of Srinivasan at LaGuardia Airport on March 11th and calling her a terrorist sympathizer.

SRINIVASAN: I'm not a terrorist sympathizer. I'm not a pro-Hamas activist. I'm just literally a random student. It just seems very strange that they would spend so much, you know, like vast resources in like sort of persecuting me.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The former Fulbright scholar who earned a master's degree from Harvard was just two months shy of achieving a lifelong dream, getting her PhD from Columbia University. For now, that's all in jeopardy.

PROKUPECZ: What are you worried about?

SRINIVASAN: I mean, without a degree, I mean, all of this is, you know, it's not going to be recognized, any of this work. My five years is completely wasted.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

[20:40:07]

COOPER: Shimon Prokupecz joins me now. I mean, this is incredible. I -- when I first heard this, I kept thinking, well, she must have done -- she must have been in some -- you're saying she wasn't part of the protest. She got a summons because she was coming home, you said, from a picnic.

PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Yes.

COOPER: And they just -- there was no charges ever. The whole thing was dismissed. And she's a urban planning PhD. She's a Fulbright scholar who went to Harvard. I mean, she could make a great contribution --

PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Yes.

COOPER: -- in this country. PROKUPECZ (on-camera): And she was. She was teaching. She wanted to teach. Her goal was to stay here so that she could one day teach. And she was in an extremely prestigious program --

COOPER: So there's no evidence, like she's --

PROKUPECZ (on-camera): No.

COOPER: And said she's not a Hamas sympathizer, not that that's, I mean, you know, you can argue with that, whatever you think --

PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Right.

COOPER: -- but it's not illegal. She hasn't written about this.

PROKUPECZ (on-camera): No.

COOPER: She hasn't --

PROKUPECZ (on-camera): She hasn't -- as far as from everything we can see and tell, there's nothing --

COOPER: She wasn't even at Columbia during that kind of protest.

PROKUPECZ (on-camera): No, she was -- that was the other thing. No one ever looked to see, OK, was she there? They never looked. And the thing is, when you go to the Department of Homeland Security to ask, well, what do you have on her?

They told me they would call me back. They never called me back. You know, at first they accused me of not being fair, but I think we are being as fair as possible. They just refuse to speak as to what these allegations are.

The other thing, Anderson, is they -- Homeland Security secretary went so far in calling her a terrorist sympathizer, a Hamas supporter.

COOPER: Right. They -- she pulled some video --

PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Yes.

COOPER: -- from the airport --

PROKUPECZ (on-camera): Which was --

COOPER: -- and use in here --

PROKUPECZ (on-camera): -- crazy, unprecedented, you know, basically then also accusing her of using the CBP home app, this app that they just happened to create that week that she used to self-deport. She denies that. Her attorney denies that she ever used that app.

In fact, her attorney told me that he had to call Homeland Security to tell them that she had left.

COOPER: Shimon Prokupecz, thanks very much. Coming up next, how NASA Commander Suni Williams and Captain Butch Wilmore are doing after their return to Earth after that unexpected 286 days in Space. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:46:11]

COOPER: Rescue crews are desperately searching for survivors across Myanmar more than three days after a devastating 7.7 earthquake in that country. There are more than 2,000 confirmed dead. We're going to have more on the situation in Myanmar in a moment.

But first, I want to address the astronauts who have returned from the Space station. We talked to both astronauts when they were up in space, Butch and Suni. I want to show you some of our conversation from back then when they were in Space. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

COMMANDER SUNITA "SUNI" WILLIAMS, CREW-9 ASTRONAUT: It's a lot of fun. I like my crazy hair up here. It sort of gets a little Einstein look. So it's cool.

When I'm, you know, when I'm back at home, it's a little flatter. So I like it. But really, both of -- like I mentioned, both of us have lived here before. And it is just amazing how when you come across the hatch after you've been here, it's like, oh my gosh, I remember what this is all like. I remember feeling what it's like floating. And I think both of us adapted really quickly. And I think I'm hoping the same will be true when we come back home.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: Earlier tonight, I spoke with Williams, Wilmore, and Colonel Nick Hague, who's part of the U.S. Space Force, who also returned to Earth as part of Crew-9.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: Commander Williams, let me start off with you. What was the first thing you did when you landed that wasn't work-related?

WILLIAMS: Well, you know, friends and family are there, right, at the landing, which was great. Got a big hug. After my husband hugged Butch, then he hugged me. So that was pretty awesome. Just joking around a little bit.

But after we got off the plane and saw a lot of our support crew, the people who had really got us back to Earth, it was really nice to just say hi, but I think the best thing that night was just to lay down in a bed and go to sleep.

COOPER: What did that feel like? Because, I mean, we talked about the -- your body adjusting -- when you were in Space, we had this conversation about your body adjusting once you're back. To lay down in a bed, what was that like?

WILLIAMS: Awesome. I mean, you just sort of can, like, you know, just -- you're not even tense at all. You just sort of lay down. I didn't even need a pillow. You know, I was thinking about, well, my neck need a pillow. I'm like, nope, I don't need a pillow. I don't care. I just want to lay flat on something.

I didn't really want to sit down. I don't know if my butt would be ready for a sit-down, but a lay-down was pretty awesome.

COOPER: And Captain Wilmore, how about you? What was the most noticeable thing for you when you first landed?

WILMORE: I think it was the same. Sleeping, though. Sleeping in Space is amazing. Just floating. It's restful. But the change to sleeping on Earth was special as well.

I think if I could choose one or the other, maybe sleeping in Space would be the preference. It's pretty great.

COOPER: When we spoke in February, you said that gravity is really, really tough. What's the toughest part about returning to gravity?

WILMORE: The structure of your skeletal structure. I think for most people, grab -- you have to hold that up, and your muscles, especially your back muscles, are not used to that. So you have some tension in your back.

I still feel a little bit right now, even though we've been back almost two weeks. That's the main transition. Neurovestibular, a couple of days. That skeletal, you know, stress happens for about a month or so.

And then, of course, when you're in Space, your blood floats in your veins, and your body thinks you've got too much, so it purges a lot of those red blood cells, so you come back anemic.

COOPER: Commander Williams, can you just explain to me your re-entry? I mean, because you're going from, what is it, I mean, like, more than 10,000 miles an hour suddenly to landing, and we all saw that incredible video of you guys landing in the water. Can you just walk us through what that felt like?

WILLIAMS: It was almost surreal, actually. Like, all these things are happening one after another, and they're on time, and it just, I think I put a huge smile on my face as I was listening to Nick giving --

[20:50:07]

COOPER: Well, Nick is -- Colonel Nick Hague, so I want to introduce you. You're from the Space Force, but you're also with NASA on this mission. You've been -- you were at the Space station. You brought them back. What was that re-entry like? What was that landing like?

COL. NICK HAGUE, CREW-9 ASTRONAUT: Yes. You know, it was a picture- perfect day, and it was fun to watch the video afterwards. It couldn't have turned out any better. You know, after you spend a period of time on orbit, gravity is -- it becomes kind of foreign to you.

So we start -- we're really fast, but you're so high up that you don't know you're going that fast, 17,500 miles an hour, 5 miles in a second.

COOPER: That's crazy.

HAGUE: You don't-- really crazy.

WILLIAMS: It's really crazy.

HAGUE: But you're so high up, you're 250 miles above the surface of the Earth, that the clouds are really down low, so you don't notice the speed. But as we get closer and closer, further and further down in the atmosphere, those clouds start going by the window pretty fast.

COOPER: Wow.

HAGUE: And you feel that speed. Then you start to feel a little bit of G, and you go from .01G to .02, and it slowly starts to tick up, and about 0.5G, you're like, I don't know if I can handle this, because it just feels like it's a gorilla sitting on your chest.

And then your body kind of gets used to it, and then, you know, 4.5Gs, 5Gs, is kind of what you see, and then chutes open, and everybody is excited because the chute's open. And then at that point, you just kind of drift on down to a splash down.

COOPER: Is it a big impact on the water? Like, is it like a big jolt?

HAGUE: You know, it's -- for anybody that's been in a parking lot fender bender, it's like you backed up into something. So it's a little bit of a jolt. It gets your attention, but it's pretty benign.

COOPER: Commander Williams, I don't know how, if it was NASA who arranged those dolphins, but, I mean, that was a genius touch on all of that. I mean, just visually, it was an extraordinary thing that those dolphins were there. Obviously, just by coincidence, but amazing.

When we spoke last, Commander Williams, you talked about when you got home, you would sometimes dream you were in Space. Have you been dreaming that you're still in Space?

WILLIAMS: That has happened. So it's funny. I had a dream that we were around the table like we did on Friday nights, and I think it's just that common thing, like Butch talked about, us being humans and us socializing, that really cued in my head, and we were just floating around the table, and it was awesome.

COOPER: And Captain Wilmore, when we last spoke, you told me you did not feel abandoned. You made that very clear. Were you aware of the controversy that was stirred up after that interview, and how do you see it all now?

WILMORE: Well, we heard some of that. You know, I can't speak to all those comments that were made or things that were said. We're not in those conversations. I have no reason to doubt that those people that were making those comments, you know, I have no reason to doubt that.

They give me no -- they've earned my trust over the years, and I have no reason to doubt those conversations, but we don't involve ourselves with that in any situation. So, yes, we understand that was the rhetoric.

We focus on our plan and our preparation and step-by-step and affecting what our nation's goals are in its human space flight program and the roles that we play in it. That's our focus.

COOPER: And in terms of lessons to learn, what lessons do you think need to be learned from what happened with the Boeing Starliner that can be applied the next time?

WILLIAMS: There are so many lessons learned. We'll be talking about them for a long time. One of them is just make the best of the situation that you have. Thank you.

COOPER: All right, well, I wish you the best.

WILMORE: Thank you, Anderson.

COOPER: Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: Coming up next, we'll have those concerns over America's role in earthquake relief efforts in Myanmar. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:57:56]

COOPER: Rescue crews are desperately searching for survivors across Myanmar more than three days after that 7.7 magnitude earthquake. There are more than 2,000 confirmed dead, nearly 4,000 injured, and the number of fatalities is expected to rise.

Buildings and bridges have been reduced to rubble. Many are said to be trapped beneath collapsed buildings. Two teenage girls were trapped in the ruins of their home along with their grandmother. They waited 15 hours for rescue, banging on the concrete with a butter knife to attract attention before they were found.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

(Speaking in Foreign Language)

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: In the city of Mandalay on Monday, a Chinese rescue crew pulled three people, including a pregnant woman and a little girl, from the wreckage of a residential high-rise building. Beijing pledging nearly $14 million in humanitarian assistance. Russia was quick to follow, sending specialized rescue teams. The United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia will also donate aid packages totaling more $20 million. There is a conspicuous absence so far on the ground, the United States. The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar said the U.S. would give up to $2 million in aid to local humanitarian organizations.

President Trump has vowed to send assistance. A three-person team from USAID is expected to arrive in the country on Wednesday. Three people nearly a week after the quake.

The headline in the New York Times over the weekend tells the story, Trump's USAID cuts hobble earthquake response in Myanmar. According to the Times, money to send search and rescue teams has been cut, and the Times reports, quote, "On Friday, as some employees in Washington in the USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance were preparing a response to the earthquake, they received agency wide layoff emails".

China has been quick to send rescuers in, as we mentioned, burnishing their reputation in the region. In the meantime, in Myanmar, neighboring Thailand, people are desperate for help, and time is running out.

For more information on how you can help earthquake victims, you can go to CNN.com/impact.

That's it for us tonight. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now. We'll see you tomorrow.