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Trump: I Couldn't Care Less If Auto Prices Rise Over New Tariffs; White House Pulls Elise Stefanik's U.N. Ambassador Nomination; Rescue Workers Search For Survivors Amid Bangkok Rubble. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 30, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right, Jake Tapper, thanks so much. The all-new episode of "United States of Scandal" with Jake Tapper airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific, right here on CNN.

[15:00:15]

All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, with new sweeping tariffs set to go into effect this week, President Trump is doubling down on his promise to punish foreign automakers. Starting Thursday, the U.S. will impose a 25 percent tariff on all imported cars and parts.

In a phone interview with NBC, the President had this to say about the prospect of higher prices. "I couldn't care less. I hope they raise their prices because if they do, people are going to buy American made cars. We have plenty."

Auto industry experts have said Trump's tariffs will raise the cost of producing all cars sold in the United States by thousands of dollars, both for imports and American made vehicles. But President Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill say it will boost American manufacturing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): And right now, North America actually cooperates together to be able to build many of Americas cars, you'll have a Ford Bronco, for instance, cross back and forth between Mexico and the United States several times as far as parts and manufacturing there.

So Canada, the United States, and Mexico have cooperated together. The USMCA that President Trump negotiated has been a key part of long standing supply chain that's actually been developed among North America, a lot of manufacturers, BMW and others that are foreign manufacturers, Toyota, Nissan, we can go on and on, have come to the United States to actually build vehicles here. That's the key goal of this that I hear from President Trump is, we want more manufacturing in the United States, and we want to encourage those folks that are around the world that plan to sell Americans cars, come here to be able to build them. That helps American jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Betsy Klein is live for us in West Palm Beach near Mar-a-Lago, where the President is spending the weekend.

Betsy, so what should everyone expect this week?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Yes, well, look, President Trump has long viewed tariffs and the threat of tariffs as a key negotiating tactic and we should see all of that play out on April 2nd as he imposes those sweeping 25 percent tariffs on cars and car parts. Now, even if you're not shopping for a new car, you could expect the price of car repairs to go up because this will impact car parts.

Now, when the President said in this interview that he "couldn't care less" if car prices go up because of tariffs, his goal here is twofold. One, to get Americans to buy more American cars and two, to pressure American automakers to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. even American manufacturers make a lot of parts in Canada and Mexico.

We should also note that after that NBC News interview, an aide to President Trump said that the President was specifically referring to the price of foreign made cars. The President is also planning sweeping tariffs, reciprocal tariffs, starting April 2nd, and Americans won't necessarily feel rising costs due to those tariffs right away, but the import taxes could raise prices on just about everything. More than 40 percent of the goods America imported last year came from the nations that the President is targeting.

And now I want you to listen to what Peter Navarro, the President's trade adviser said when asked about concerns from American consumers about rising prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER NAVARRO, SENIOR COUNSEL FOR TRADE AND MANUFACTURING: Trust in Trump. We have the example from the first term. We know that we imposed historically high tariffs on China. We imposed aluminum and steel tariffs. We imposed on washing machines, on solar. All we got out of that was prosperity and price stability.

And the reason why we are not going to see inflation is because the foreigners are going to eat most of it. They have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Trust in Trump, of course, may be cold comfort amid so much market volatility and so much instability for American investors, businesses and consumers -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Betsy Klein, thank you so much.

All right, today, at least one Republican senator is speaking out against Trump's tariff war. In an interview on a radio show earlier today, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul praised Trump's America First agenda, but broke with the President on tariffs. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): I live in a state where we have three of the big automobile manufacturers. They're all opposed to the tariffs and things that it will hurt them. We have the bourbon industry in Kentucky. They don't like the tariffs.

I've got farmers. They don't like the tariffs. I really don't have any organized business interest in my state that think they're a good idea. This is just something I disagree with President Trump on. So I am not for the tariffs, and we will continue to speak out on it.

[15:05:13]

WHITFIELD: All right, I am joined now by Alex Isenstadt, a senior political reporter for AXIOS. Great to see you.

And he is also the author of a new book, "Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power." Congratulations on your book.

All right, so, Alex, is Rand Paul the outlier for the Republicans, or do you think he will be the first of other Republican lawmakers who may come out against Trump's tariffs?

ALEX ISENSTADT, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER, AXIOS: Well, that's the question, right? There are Republicans who certainly feel this way privately, the question is, are they willing to speak out publicly the way Rand Paul is.

Now, let's go back to what happened during Trump's first term. There was plenty of outspoken pushback from congressional Republicans about tariffs and that culminated in meetings at the White House.

People were outspoken about it, but Trump has a much firmer hold on the Republican Party right now and so that creates a dynamic where congressional Republicans are maybe a little bit more unwilling to speak out.

But the fact of the matter is, is that there are concerns among congressional Republicans about tariffs, about the impact it could have on the economy, about the impact it could have on their political fortunes come the midterm season next year.

WHITFIELD: Trump's trade war and the uncertainty that comes with it has also caused a lot of major ups and downs on Wall Street, the volatility is expected to continue this week with that April 2nd reciprocal tariff deadline that Trump has dubbed "Liberation Day." Do you get the sense that the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers are willing to go forward with more tariffs if the markets drop dramatically this week?

ISENSTADT: Well, look, by all accounts, Trump is a lot more emboldened -- feels a lot more emboldened now to pursue the agenda he wants in comparison to the first term.

In the first term, Trump got pushback from some advisers about tariffs. He feels looking back on it, like he backed off on tariffs maybe a little bit too quickly. This time around, he has been a lot more aggressive.

Look trump has gotten pushback from foreign countries on tariffs. He's gotten pushback from other Republicans now on tariffs, and he is seen that the market doesn't react well to it.

Yet, you still have him going out and making statements like the ones you just pointed to today, where Trump says he doesn't really care, he is going forward.

So by all measures, you know, maybe there is some negotiation here, maybe there is some tough talk. Maybe, he is looking to get some leverage.

But he seems pretty serious about pushing -- having a pretty aggressive, pushing forward of tariffs at this point.

WHITFIELD: All right, let me ask you about Greenland, where the President appears to be now doubling down on his desire to annex Greenland. He said to NBC, "We'll get Greenland. Yes, 100 percent." And acknowledged that there is a -- I'm quoting now, "good possibility that we can do it without military force."

So, you know, if Trump makes good on this Greenland threat to take Danish territory by any -- by those means and we are hearing from Greenlanders and Danish leadership who say they're not interested, can any Republicans persuade the President otherwise?

ISENSTADT: Well, I think the question that a lot of folks have had right now is just how serious Trump is about this, or whether it is just a pipe dream, something he likes talking about a way for him to troll people.

So if people start to feel like he is actually serious about this and that, it is something he is doing beyond trolling people and having a little bit of fun with, then you could see some pushback at some point. But that's sort of the question right now.

WHITFIELD: All right, we will leave it there for now.

Alex Isenstadt, good to see you. Thanks so much.

ISENSTADT: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, this Tuesday, voters in two states may reveal at the ballot box how they feel about President Trump's agenda.

Republicans are fighting to make sure they hold on to two congressional seats in Florida, left open by the departures of Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz. Trump won the districts by more than 30 points in 2024, but so far, the Democratic challengers are vastly out- fundraising their Republican opponents, giving the GOP jitters ahead of Tuesday's vote.

Tuesday could also be a litmus test on Elon Musk, who has become a central player in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. The Wisconsin Attorney General has asked the State Supreme court to block Musk and his Super PAC from offering $1 million awards to voters.

CNN's Steve Contorno is joining us right now with more on all of this. So let's talk about Florida first. What's at stake?

[15:10:10]

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Fred, what's at stake is some much needed wiggle room for House Republicans who have been operating under that narrow majority and April 1st was supposed to be the beginning of reinforcements arriving. Instead, they are now being forced to sweat the results of Tuesday's special elections in two very red districts.

And this is an issue and a problem that was created by Donald Trump when he named Matt Gaetz to be his Attorney General. Obviously, that didn't pan out. And when he named Matt Waltz to be his National Security adviser, both of those individuals were members of Congress from Florida. And again, they were supposed to be representing safe Republican seats.

And so we saw the President at one point actually joking about how much he was pulling from Speaker Mike Johnson's majority to fill out his administration. Well, he is not joking anymore.

Take a listen to what and how he talked about this in January versus what he had to say on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (THEN): We gave him a majority of almost nothing. And then I said to make it tougher on him, let me take two or three of the people, right? I said, he will only have to suffer with that for about three months.

How are they doing, by the way? Are they -- is that moving along?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Totally unified.

TRUMP (NOW): It's true. I said, do you mind if I take this one, that one and a couple of others? He didn't mind. He can handle it.

TRUMP I said, Elise, would you do me a favor? We cannot take a chance. We have a slim margin. We don't want to take any chances. We don't want to experiment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, I will point out that there is one race in particular in Florida that they are worried about, and that is the race to replace Waltz, the Republican in that race, State Senator Randy Fine, has been outraised by his Democratic opponent 10 to 1. Nearly $10 million raised by the Democrat in that race as of March 12th. When that number was reported, Fred, it sent shock waves from Florida all the way to Washington. And actually, there was a bit of an intervention played by Trump advisers and some top House Republicans who told Fine that he needed to push a little bit harder to ensure that Republicans keep this seat.

So clearly, there is a lot of concern going into Tuesday about two races where Republicans thought they were going to have an easy victory.

WHITFIELD: Right, and those two districts are highly conservative, but still, a lot of folks in those circles are rather nervous.

All right, Steve Contorno, thank you so much.

All right, more victims are being pulled from the rubble as the death toll rises following the Myanmar earthquake. We are following the very latest.

And back in this country, over the past few days, Republican Representative Victoria Spartz has faced angry crowds at town halls across Indiana. Voters are demanding things like the resignation of those involved in the Signal chat scandal. I will talk to the Congresswoman straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15 17:54]

WHITFIELD: Collapsed bridges and mountains of rubble are some of the challenges facing rescuers as they race to reach any survivors from Friday's massive earthquake in Southeast Asia. Authorities say a staggering 1,700 people are now confirmed dead in Myanmar, though experts fear it could take weeks to get an accurate number.

We are also getting new satellite images revealing the scale of the destruction. This image shows historic pagodas and a monastery before and the mass of wreckage that remains after the 7.7 magnitude quake.

This image shows a major bridge right there before and now after. It is one of three damaged bridges cutting off access to those in the area of the epicenter.

CNN's senior international correspondent, Will Ripley joining me now live from Bangkok, which saw significant damage even though it was hundreds of miles away from the epicenter.

So Will, what is happening right now?

Hi, Fred. I want to draw your attention to the very top of this pile of rubble from that 30-story skyscraper. You can see the man in orange up there. They just actually swapped out the teams who were there.

They have detected people they say. They don't know if the people are alive or dead, but just look at the scale, the size of the pile and how small they are. That just gives you a sense of the enormous undertaking here in Bangkok and the challenges being faced closer to the quake's epicenter in Myanmar are even more astounding. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): If hell had a name, it might be Sagaing, ground zero of Myanmar's worst earthquake in more than a hundred years. Stories and images are just now beginning to trickle out. The destruction as awful as we imagined, maybe worse.

The heroes are everyday people, like Po Po, a kindergarten teacher. She was with her students when the massive earthquake hit.

PO PO, KINDERGARTEN TEACHER: On that day of the accident, we were able to evacuate all the children. Many children and teachers in some schools lost their lives due to the earthquake.

RIPLEY (voice over): Po Po's school is in Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city. Her home is across the river in Sagaing, a historic city known for ancient pagodas and monasteries, many of them now in ruins.

She says 80 percent of the city is gone.

The old Sagaing bridge collapsed, cutting off aid, leaving survivors to fend for themselves. Even first responders are powerless. The fire station flattened, trucks crushed beneath the rubble.

About 200 miles away, Myanmar's famed Inle Lake, almost unrecognizable. Entire villages submerged, so many iconic homes on stilts collapsed into the water. Some here wonder if the world has forgotten them.

In Mandalay, near the quake's epicenter, a moment of hope.

"Big Brother, we are coming for you," he says. "We found you. Your heroes are here. After this, we will sit and sip tea."

Against all odds, one life saved, not everyone is so lucky.

Minutes later, another powerful aftershock, the remaining structure gave way.

Just like that, gone.

In the capital, Naypyidaw, a small miracle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. Hello. Hold on.

RIPLEY (voice over): Forty-four hours after the quake, rescuers from Singapore pull a survivor from the rubble, a rare bright spot in the grim search for any sign of life.

Hope of finding more buried survivors, all but gone.

Back near ground zero, Po Po says no rescues are happening. Sagaing is almost totally cut off. Survivors are desperate for food, clean water, medical supplies. Every passing hour brings more uncertainty, more heartbreak.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (on camera): Desperate conditions for the people who survived and for the potentially thousands who are dead. They may not be discovered for days, weeks, even months. The true extent is still unknown because a lot of these areas they just can't get to, but these are the latest numbers from Myanmar right now, at least 1,700 people dead, 3,400 injured. Nearly 1,700 houses destroyed, along with 670 monasteries, 60 schools and three bridges damaged or destroyed. The bridges, of course, crucial to getting to some of the hardest hit areas that remain painfully isolated right now -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: It is unbelievable and those rescue missions are astounding, too, that people can be found alive after 40 hours. It is incredible.

Will Ripley, thank you so much, in Bangkok.

All right, for more information about how you can help the earthquake victims, go to cnn.com/impact.

All right, another graduate student in the U.S. is detained by immigration officials, this time at the University of Minnesota. We will talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:37]

WHITFIELD: All right, happening right now, a large crowd of people marching in downtown Dallas to protest President Donald Trump's immigration policy. Organizers hope it will be one of the largest acts of public dissent against the mass deportations that are now being carried out. They encouraged marchers to carry American flags and wear white to symbolize peace and unity.

Officials at the University of Minnesota are actively working to gather more details after it says an international graduate student was detained by ICE. A statement from the university's president says the student was detained at an off campus residence.

This detainment sent state and local officials scrambling to find out more information. Senator Amy Klobuchar is weighing in, posting on social media: "My office and I are doing all we can to get information about this concerning case. We are in contact with the university and understand they had no prior warning or information that led to this detainment."

This follows several international students being detained or deported over what the Trump administration calls homeland security concerns.

CNN's Rafael Romo is here with more on all of this.

What are you learning? RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a lot of information there, but at the same time, this last case is exactly that's the problem that there is not enough, but this case stands out due to the lack of information about what exactly happened to the student.

Officials have not released the student's identity, the location where this individual is currently being held, or the reason for the detention. CNN reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to request information about this case, but so far there has been no reply.

The University of Minnesota disclosed some details in a letter sent to students, faculty and staff on Friday, calling what happened a deeply concerning situation as many on campus rallied in support of the detained student, expressing concern and indignation.

According to the letter, an international graduate student was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday. The detention happened off campus, but the student is enrolled at the Twin Cities campus. University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham said in the letter that the university had no prior knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities before it occurred.

Several Minnesota officials, including Governor Tim Walz, have reacted with both concern and surprise about this case, given that authorities have so far provided no information about the reason why this international student was detained.

This is what State Senator Doron Clark had to say about the case.

[15:30:17]

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DORON CLARK, MINNESOTA STATE SENATOR: What stood out to me was the lack of information. We don't know. We don't know where the student is. We don't know the student's name. We just don't know what happened.

And without -- the only way we found out was not from the federal government.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ROMO: And, Fredricka, the detention comes as several foreign nationals affiliated with prestigious American universities have been arrested amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

Rumeysa Ozturk, we reported about it yesterday, an international graduate student from Turkey was detained Tuesday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and sent to a detention facility in Louisiana, where she is currently being held. The only thing stopping her from being deported is an order from a federal judge issued late Friday. An attorney for the University of Minnesota detained student declined comment to CNN saying it is a highly sensitive situation. The attorney also confirmed she has been in contact with her client, but it is unclear how long it took her to reach the student after the detention.

Again, many of them have been sent to Louisiana, and this case in particular, we just don't know right now.

WHITFIELD: Okay, let us know as you learn more information.

Rafael Romo, thanks so much.

All right, up next, just two months after wildfires devastated parts of Southern California, a stunning new report reveals first responders have high levels of toxic metals in their blood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:20]

WHITFIELD: Long term ramifications from those devastating wildfires in Southern California, measured in many ways, lost lives, lost property and now health effects impacting some of the first responders.

A new study focusing on firefighters has revealed some early findings. Researchers from multiple universities are looking at how intense exposure to potentially toxic smoke is affecting frontline firefighters, as opposed to a typical wildfire that burn through brush and forest, the L.A. Fires disintegrated homes, cars and infrastructure filled with all sorts of harmful pollutants.

Joining us now is Dr. Kari Nadeau. She is the chair of the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which is part of this multi-institutional study.

Dr. Nadeau, great to see you.

DR. KARI NADEAU, CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AT THE HARVARD T.H. CHAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Thank you. Nice to see you.

WHITFIELD: So how are you conducting this study or how have you been conducting this study? How many people are willing participants in this? And what have you learned so far?

NADEAU: This is a really important study. It is a consortium. It is a collaboration, and its community driven. So we work with the community directly, and we have thousands of people as well as Fire Department officials that are helping us to be able to help those first responders like you mentioned.

We want to make sure that we focus on those that fought the fires and those that cleaned up with the fires as well, but importantly, also civilians.

So it is a long term study. It is going to be testing toxins that otherwise haven't been tested. And importantly, be able to follow the lives of people and answer questions that the community asks us.

WHITFIELD: We learned a lot about first responders following 9/11, didn't we, in terms of the inhalants, what they were exposed to under very different circumstances, but the toxins from the buildings, from the aircraft? Now in many cases, we learned of the effects perhaps without the kind of immediacy that you're already gathering through your study.

So what are you learning about the exposure that many of these first responders have already learned are impacting their lives?

NADEAU: We are learning that the importance of that exposure, that where you were, your location, where you were close to the fires as well, and what days you got exposed to is a really important indication of potentially what went into your blood.

We noticed that in the air, and many people have done this work, that the lead levels were very high in L.A., and it is around that time that we also collected blood in a very few amount of firefighters so far.

So this is very preliminary data. We need a larger sample size. But importantly, what we found is that lead levels were five times as high in those firefighters that fought the L.A. fires, compared to firefighters that had fought just a forest fire.

And also mercury was three times as high in the firefighters that fought in the L.A. Fires compared to forest firefighters, and with that in mind, what is also important is we used an innovative novel tool to be able to show that these metals were inside the cells, and we really want to make sure that we follow those firefighters now and like I said, examine more firefighters because we want to help them.

We want to bring our science to the public to help health and the firefighters being one of our first cohorts to look at, and we are really grateful Cedars-Sinai is helping, the L.A. Fire Department is helping, but we really want to make sure we bring our science to the public.

WHITFIELD: And how are you hoping that this study might help better address the needs of firefighters and fire responders as it pertains to their health care, or perhaps even protective equipment?

[15:40:25]

NADEAU: It is a great question.

Firefighters put our lives in front of theirs, and because of that, I wanted to make sure that we could help and be of service to them first.

We are testing over 200 plus toxins. We are trying to understand the degree by which if you wear a filter, if you wear the best mask that you can, does that reduce your risk of these toxic metal exposures like lead, like mercury, and if that is the case, can it improve your health? We know that lead and mercury have short term and long term effects on learning disabilities, behavior, on dementia. And so we thought we would look at them first. And so we want to follow up these firefighters especially to try to help them potentially with better equipment, better ways of fighting fires to be able to protect their health and have them live a high quality of life.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Kari Nadeau, it is all so important. I mean, you know, collectively we all praise these firefighters and first responders. We are grateful for them, and certainly we want the best ahead during and even after their line of duty.

Thank you so much.

NADEAU: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, still to come, Prince Harry is being accused of bullying by the chairwoman of a charity he co-founded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:24]

WHITFIELD: Today out of the U.K., some stunning accusations against Prince Harry. The chairwoman of the HIV-AIDS charity he co-founded is coming out with claims of harassment and bullying after the Prince and others associated with the organization publicly quit last week. here is CNN's Clare Sebastian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the public spat has now escalated between Prince Harry and the chairwoman of Sentebale, the HIV and AIDS charity he co-founded.

Sophie Chandauka gave a wide ranging interview to Britain's Sky News Sunday, claiming that the Duke of Sussex had tried to oust her for months as chairwoman of the board, accusing him of bullying and harassment, something a source close to the former trustees of the charity told Sky News was "completely baseless."

Chandauka also claimed that donors had pulled out of the charity after the Duke left the U.K. and stepped down from Royal duties in 2020, but no one at the charity, she said, felt able to talk to him about the risk his reputation was posing to the organization.

Last week, Prince Harry and his co-founder, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho announced they were quitting until further notice because their relationship with Miss Chandauka had broken down, "beyond repair."

Miss Chandauka said Sunday she had no prior warning of this announcement.

SOPHIE CHANDAUKA, CEO, SENTEBALE: At some point on Tuesday, Prince Harry authorized the release of a damaging piece of news to the outside world without informing me or my country directors or my executive director, and can you imagine what that attack has done for me? On me? And the 540 individuals in the Sentebale organizations and their family? That is an example of harassment and bullying at scale.

SEBASTIAN: Neither the Duke of Sussex nor Sentebale have commented on this interview, but a source close to the trustees and patrons of the charity told CNN on Sunday they quote, "expected this publicity stunt and look forward to the adjudication of the truth."

A source familiar with events also denied Chandauka's assertion that the press had been informed about the departures before the charity made the announcement last week, saying they sent her a resignation letter on March 10th.

As for the charity that Prince Harry, of course set up in 2006 to continue his mother, Princess Diana's legacy and help children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana living with HIV and AIDS, well, Miss Chandauka said its work will continue.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Clare, thank you so much for that.

All right, take a look at this incredible video. This is a test flight of a new rocket from a spaceport in Norway. Moments after launch today, the Spectrum spun out of control, crashing into the water exploding right there. The company behind the rocket says the flight, "met its set goals."

According to the manufacturer, this marked the first time a rocket capable of reaching orbit has launched from Continental Europe.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:54:08]

WHITFIELD: Okay, so one-half of the final four is now set.

CNN's Coy Wire has more on who made it through so far.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Fredricka.

Almost time to head to San Antonio for the Final Four. We had a dog fight in the Elite Eight between number one Florida and Texas Tech. The Gators were up against the ropes, down by nine with two minutes and 50 seconds to go, but Thomas Haugh, look at him nailing the three.

And then on the very next possession, it is Haugh again. Another three ball. Bam! Texas Tech's lead was cut to three. And on the very next possession, Walter Clayton, Jr. turned, he ties it up. The Gators were raining threes. They go on to win it in this one after ripping off an 18 to four run in an 84-79 win. Florida in the Final Four for the first time in 11 years. [15:55:02]

Number one Duke, they came out swinging against two-seed Alabama and Bama's Mark Sears rejected like a friend request from a fake profile, instant block. Seven-foot-two, Khaman Maluach, my goodness. Cooper Flagg, Duke's freshman phenom who will be the number one overall pick in this draft, just too much, 16 points, nine rebounds. Blue Devils dancing through to the Final Four, winning by twenty, 85 to 65, holding Bama to the second fewest points they scored all season.

Today, two more men's games with trips to the final four in San Antonio on the line. One-seed Houston taking on two-seed Tennessee, the winner of that one gets Duke and top overall seed Auburn facing Michigan State. Winner of that gets Florida.

Women's tournament three-seed Oklahoma facing Paige Bueckers and the one-seed UConn Conquerors, Paige Buckets. UConn had ten three-pointers on the night. Paige had six of them. She scored a career high of 40 points, Fredricka, and she outscored the entire Sooners team by herself in the second half. Huskies headed to the Elite Eight for the 29th time in an 82-59 win. Bueckers, first UConn player to ever score 40 points in a March Madness game.

TCU and Notre Dame, Olivia Miles, look at this, a magician, behind the back dribble, then the no-look dish to Liatu King showing why she led the ACC in assists. Then she drained a three of her ten points, and she is feeling it.

Irish were up, but the Frogs hopped back in it. Hailey Van Lith on fire. Bench goes wild. Van Lith has more handles than a bucket shop. She scored 26 and becomes the first player to play in an elite eight for three different schools. TCU wins 71-62.

After today and tomorrow, Fredricka, we will know which four women's teams will be headed to the Final Four in Tampa. You can get updates and analysis during the games today at our March Madness live story at cnn.com.

WHITFIELD: Fighting Coy Wire, thank you.

All right, the final episode of "Twitter: Breaking the Bird" follows Jack Dorsey's return to Twitter as CEO. Dorsey's new reign was anything but traditional, leading a holistic approach, including leading the entire company in 15-minute silent meditation.

Under his leadership, the platform saw years of unprecedented growth that then came to a halt. Jack Dorsey looked for guidance from other tech leaders like Elon Musk, which foreshadowed the sale of the platform in 2022.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One team was the whole team. Got together in one location for announcement as to where things were going.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go. Okay. Okay. We've got some sun. How's everyone feeling?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When one team came around, they really made Jack's sort of health stuff, his personality as key part of the programming. So Jack would fast for days at a time. He would do ice baths and cold tubs and saunas. He walked to work.

He, every day would drink what he called salt juice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were like little salt juice packets under everybody's seats, as like, the weirdest Oprah check under your seat giveaway you can imagine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me right now to discuss is one of Twitter's creators, @Rabble. So good to see you, @Rabble.

@RABBLE, ONE OF TWITTER'S FIRST EMPLOYEES: Thanks. Wonderful to be here. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So when you reflect on your days with Twitter, is it with a smile? Do you feel like, you know, it was very enriching or was it a big challenge?

@RABBLE: It was both of those. It was an amazing ride. It was exciting. We were changing the world and we never quite lived up to its possibility. We wanted it to be more.

WHITFIELD: So, social media has changed a lot since you were, you know, on that team. What do you think is most pressing? The most pressing issue to win the success of a social media platform or outlet?

@RABBLE: The most important thing is to listen to our users. Twitter was always the best at looking at how people used the platform and supporting it and building it.

Users created the @reply and the #and the retweet. All Twitter did was support those users and create a culture of innovation.

WHITFIELD: Were there certain -- what were those goals that you wished you had met with Twitter? What's the potential that you were hoping to witness or be a part of?

@RABBLE: You know, that's a fascinating question. There was a moment where we had a debate. Is Twitter a platform like Facebook, or is it a protocol like e-mail? And we never went down that protocol route until Blue Sky was set up, until these new protocols like Nostr were created, and now we have that protocol, Dream, and the goal was for Twitter to adopt the Blue Sky protocol.

The goal was for Twitter to become again, an open protocol like the web, and that didn't happen once Elon took over.

WHITFIELD: All right, and so when you reflect on what it was and what it is today, how would you describe it? @RABBLE: I mean, we changed the world. We democratized communication. We put everybody into the zeitgeist and the public sphere and that was really powerful. But we didn't give everybody the right tools to govern that. And that caused a lot damage to the society in the world at the same time.

And so I am very proud that we created the platform for Black Lives Matter. And for #MeToo and the Arab Spring and I am saddened that we also empowered swarms of hate speech.

WHITFIELD: All right, @Rabble, all very profound thoughts. Thank you so much. Glad you could be with us.

@RABBLE: Thank you so much. Look forward to seeing the last episode.

WHITFIELD: It is tonight.

Be sure to tune in to "Twitter: Breaking the Bird," final episode tonight, 10:00 Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

The next hour starts right now.

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