Return to Transcripts main page

Connect the World

Bodies of Missing Aid Workers Found in "Mass Grave"; Rescuers Race to Find Survivors in Myanmar, 2,000 Plus Dead; Trump Threatens to Bomb Iran if Nuclear Deal isn't Reached; Trump: "There are Methods" for Seeking a Third Term; Historic Tree to be Removed from White House Entrance. Aired 9- 10a ET

Aired March 31, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is the scene in Bangkok where time is running out for search and rescue operations after

Friday's 7.7 magnitude earthquake. The 72-hour window to find survivors there and in Myanmar is closing. It's 08:00 p.m. in Bangkok and it's 02:00

p.m. in London.

I'm Christina Macfarlane. This is "Connect the World". Also coming up, the bodies of more than a dozen aid workers have been recovered from what's

being described as a mass grave in southern Gaza following attacks by Israeli forces. And the Paris court has banned French far right leader

Marine Le Pen from running for public office after her embezzlement conviction.

Let's take a look at the stock markets in New York as they're opening in about 30 minutes from now. As you can see, the DOW, S&P 500, NASDAQ, all

down deep uncertainty over President Trump's next move on tariffs, expected on April 2, day he's labeled Liberation Day.

And we will, of course, be discussing that in the hour ahead. But we begin in southern Gaza, where the U.N. agency on the ground says it has

discovered a mass grave. A warning the video about to show you shared by the U.N. is disturbing. The bodies of more than a dozen aid workers were

found on Sunday, a week after coming under attack by Israeli forces.

Among those killed were medics of the Palestine Red Crescent Society. First responders from Gaza civil defense and U.N. staffers. CNN's Senior

International Correspondent Ben Wedeman has been tracking developments. Ben, as we've seen there, it's been described as a devastating scene. What

more are you learning at this stage about what happened?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, Christina, this is the timeline. On the 23rd of March, there was an Israeli

operation near the Hashashin area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. And as a result, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and the Palestinian civil

defense sent five ambulances and a fire truck to the area where the fighting was occurring to retrieve the injured. Apparently, they came under

Israeli fire.

More vehicles were sent to help these emergency workers, including a U.N. vehicle. They came under fire and then all contact was lost with those

personnel and those vehicles. Now, according to the U.N. organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA, it took them five days to

get permission from the Israeli military to approach that area, but when they tried to do that, they found that there was fighting still ongoing on

the area, and actually witnessed civilians being shot by Israeli forces.

Finally, yesterday, they were able to reach the scene, and what they found were the ambulances, the U.N. vehicle, the fire truck, were crushed,

partially buried. They used bulldozers and heavy equipment to recover the bodies who were also buried.

What they found were 14 bodies, 8 belonging to members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, 5 Civil Defense workers and 1 U.N. worker, 1

Palestinian Red Crescent Society member is still missing. They were able to recover 1 body going back last Thursday.

The Israelis are saying that these emergency vehicles were acting in a suspicious manner. They didn't have their emergency lights on. They hadn't

coordinated and that in the process of firing on those vehicles they were targeting, what they said, what they claimed, were Hamas fighters who were

using civilian infrastructure to approach Israeli positions.

This is a claim Israel has made repeatedly, but in the process, of course, what we are seeing is that Civil Defense emergency workers are being

killed. In fact, more than 400 have been killed in Gaza since the 7th of October of 2023. Now, according to the U.N. all the bodies they recovered,

they had uniforms clearly identifying who they were, what groups, what organizations they were affiliated with, the vehicles were also clearly

marked as well.

Now we did see a statement from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, saying that this is the single most deadly

attack on their workers in more than a decade.

[09:05:00]

Now, it's not expected that there's going to be much in the way of repercussions for the Israelis. Certainly, the current U.S. Administration

isn't inclined to take any action against the Israelis, if anything, they seem to be in support of the Israeli operations that resumed on the 18th of

March in Gaza and have already left more than 900 people dead, more than 2000 injured.

And of course, international journalists have not had free and unfettered access thanks to the Israelis into Gaza since the beginning of that war,

Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, it is a deeply disturbing development, Ben, at this juncture of the war, we will, of course, continue to follow it for now. Ben

Wedeman, thank you. Meantime, Israel has countered the latest ceasefire proposal put forward by Egyptian mediators.

A senior official tells CNN they are asking for 11 live hostages and half the deceased hostages to be returned in exchange for a 40 day pause in

fighting. The original draft, which Hamas accepted over the weekend, called for the release of five hostages and a renewed ceasefire.

Alon Pinkas is the Former Israeli Consul General to New York, and he joins me now live from Tel Aviv. Good to see you again, Alon.

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL TO NEW YORK: Thank you, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Now what are the chances, Alon of Israel agreeing to this, or indeed any renewed ceasefire effort, given the expansion of this war is

really enabling Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to push through their interests or in but not Netanyahu's words change the face of the Middle

East.

PINKAS: Well, he's not exactly changing the face of the Middle East. But per your question, Christina, we need to draw a distinction between two

things. A deal is possible, whether it's 5 or 11, whatever is a blessing that does not necessarily mean, and that's the other aspect that does not

necessarily mean a ceasefire, or a durable ceasefire.

There could be a law -- a hiatus, a cessation of hostilities for 48 hours, after which the war will be resumed. Because Mr. Netanyahu seems to be

intent on resuming the war, and he seems to be intent in perpetuating it, and until now, he has met with absolutely no pushback or no criticism or no

pressure from the U.S.

So, he feels, although he has no military goals, he feels OK with the war going on. So, there could be a limited, a partial hostage deal that does

not necessarily mean a ceasefire.

MACFARLANE: I want to ask you, Alon, about these two advisers to Netanyahu arrested Monday as part of the investigation into the connection between

the prime minister's office and Qatar, the scandal known as Qatar gate and now, as you know, this has been a long running corruption case, the details

of which have been slowly emerging over the last six months. How big a problem are these two arrests for Netanyahu?

PINKAS: It's a good question. I'm not familiar with the exact details of the investigation. It is being conducted jointly by the Israeli police and

the general security service. And the general security service head was just fired 10 days ago. I think you and I spoke about this by Mr.

Netanyahu, and today, prior to his testimony in his own child, is now even bothered to announce his successor.

So, I don't know the exact details of this deal. I don't know if there's actually such a big an affair. Let me put it this way, Christina, it looks

more like an episode of Veep than some kind of a George Smiley, you know, sophisticated operation. Honestly, I don't know, but the truth, but the

important thing is, not only his two advisors that have been detained, but that he, Mr. Netanyahu, the prime minister, was today summoned to provide

testimony, general testimony.

He's not under investigation, to the best of my knowledge, on this very matter. Did he know? When did he know it was there money being funneled and

so on and so forth. The big issue, obviously, above and beyond that, is not -- whether or not these gentlemen were doing Qatar's bidding for it.

But Mr. Netanyahu's policy of strengthening Hamas with Qatari money, which, you know, it was a legitimate policy.

MACFARLANE: Yeah.

PINKAS: I think it was reckless, but nonetheless, a legitimate policy, not a criminal act.

MACFARLANE: So, you're right, Alon. We did speak 10 days ago when the chief of Shin Bet was removed from his position, and many believe that the

corruption case that we've been talking about was the reason for that removal. We know already that Netanyahu has put forward a proposal for a

new chief.

What do you make of the government's move to appoint a new chief before the High Court was due to hear petitions filed against his dismissal?

[09:10:00]

PINKAS: Well, he's basically testing the borderline defined the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said that the legality of the dismissal needs to

be looked at and needs to be scrutinized. Then one judge said that he's allowed to interview candidates to replace the head of the General Security

Service.

The Judge Ms. Kanfi-Steinitz did not allow him, or enable him to announce the actual replacement or the actual successor. So, what happened today

was, I think it was an attempt by Mr. Netanyahu to influence the Sabbath investigation on the issue we just spoke about. Look, we're in uncharted

borders, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah.

PINKAS: Where I mean a lot like the U.S., or other places where elected officials are swaying away from checks, balances and democratic norms and

openly daring Supreme Court decisions and almost defying them.

MACFARLANE: Yeah. Alon, always great to have your inside take on what is happening behind the scenes there from Tel Aviv. Thanks very much.

PINKAS: Thanks.

MACFARLANE: Now, Paris court has banned French far right leader Marine Le Pen from running for public office for embezzling European Union funds. She

and several others were found guilty of deliberately misusing EU money to fund their party. She denies any wrongdoing, but the ban, and here's the

rub, makes her ineligible to stand in the 2027 presidential election race where she was seen as the front runner.

Let's go live to CNN's Melissa bell on Paris for more on this. Melissa, a bombshell announcement. What does this mean now for Le Pen, her party for

France.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think you're going to hear from her, and we have yet to do so, but she's intending to speak on

French media tonight. What we can expect to hear Christina, I think, is more of what she's been saying in the run up to this verdict, that the

courts, through this are seeking her political death.

Now the judge presiding over this verdict and sentencing today went to great lengths to explain that it was precisely because of the way the

national rally had run its affairs, embezzling, finding it guilty of embezzling these European funds that should have gone to hiring European

assistance went instead to funding party political offices here in France that then went about campaigning for the party.

So, a misuse of those funds, they were not only -- not just Marine Le Pen, but several senior national rally, MEP is found guilty on those charges,

but some of the harshest sentences that have been sought by the prosecution were indeed handed down. And this is, of course, the five-year ban on

Marine Le Pen standing for public office effective immediately.

It is nothing short of a political earthquake here in France, not only because of her 2027 presidential ambitions that she made no secret of,

Christina, nor indeed, the fact that she stood fairly favorably in the polls. But remember that the National rally is currently the single largest

party in the French Parliament since the snap elections of last year.

It has a lot of political weight. It also has a lot of political power right now in what happens in the next few weeks and months to the current

Bayrou government. So, her reaction will be extremely important, but I think we can expect much more of the same denouncing of the judiciary and

what's happened here today.

But to be clear, Christina, this was a case that spanned many months over allegations that go back years, and what we heard from the presiding judge

today was that this was a vast system that was used by the national rally to fund itself at a time when it was having trouble funding, itself.

And that allowed it to become the political force that it is, that is very much the subtext of what we heard from the presiding judge today. So,

you're going to hear a counter narrative no doubt in the next few days in the French media, on the part of Marine Le Pen and her lieutenants.

What it means effectively for the next presidential election for now is unclear. Jordan Bardell is the man that she placed at the helm of her

party. The question is whether he will now be the man to stand but make no mistake, she will be making a lot of noise about this in the coming days

and weeks, as will many members of her party, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, a lot to watch in the coming days. Melissa there, live in Paris. Thank you. You are watching "Connect the World" live today from

London. Still ahead the race to find survivors from the devastating earthquake in Myanmar. Time is running out. We'll have a live report.

[09:15:00]

MACFARLANE: The window is closing for search and rescue teams in Myanmar to find survivors from the devastating earthquake that hit Friday. Officials

in Myanmar say the quake killed more than 2000 people, with nearly twice that number injured, hundreds more remain missing. International aid groups

are helping their work complicated by Myanmar's full year long civil war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIN MIN THEIN, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF DEPARTMENT OF REHABILITATION: We're trying to manage as much as we can, and also, these fire safety department

are working 24 hours, in these days to catch up the golden hours, 72 hours. And also, we are also arranging for the emergency shelters and also food

and water assistance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: In Bangkok, at least 18 people died in the quake, 11 of them in a collapsed building with search and rescue operations ongoing. Mike

Valerio is connecting us from Seoul. So, as we've been talking about there, Mike, this golden window, this 72 hours for finding survivors alive, is now

closing after that, you know, the chances are limited. So, to talk us through where those operations are in recovering people right now.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, we're going to start in Bangkok, this site of that dramatic implosion of the skyscraper. And the headline, ever

since we reported, started reporting this morning, is that more than 70 people, Christina. More than 70 people are believed to be underneath the

rubble of that skyscraper.

33 stories that came tumbling down one after another in just a few seconds, and the 72-hour window mark has passed, so we are now bracing ourselves for

the worst news. We have had no updates of anybody pulled out alive after that 72-hour window closed. The golden window to find people alive if

they've received no food and water, if they're underneath earthquake debris and they've lived through the initial event.

So that is where things stand in Bangkok. There are still heat signature machines that are on that pile of concrete looking for human rains, or

anybody who has miraculously survived over to Myanmar, though since Sunday, Christina, 36 survivors pulled from the rubble. One woman who was under

rubble of a hotel for 60 hours pulled out alive, and she is in stable condition. So that is where we stand at this hour, Christina.

MACFARLANE: A small win in devastating what 2000 people now nearly injured since the start of that devastation.

VALERIO: Yeah.

MACFARLANE: Mike, thank you for now. Right, let's turn to Donald Trump, who is warning of further tariffs on Russia after launching a scathing attack

on the Russian President over the weekend. The U.S. President used an expletive to describe his anger at Vladimir Putin, who requested the

credibility of Ukraine's President as a leader.

Mr. Putin has suggested putting Ukraine under, quote, temporary administration as a peace deal is negotiated. Donald Trump clarified his

comments on Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think he'll be OK, whatever he is. And I was disappointed in a certain way some of the

things that were said over the last day or two having to do with Zelenskyy, because when he considers Zelenskyy not credible, you're supposed to be

making a deal with him, whether you like him or you don't like him.

[09:20:00]

So, I wasn't happy with that, but I think he's going to be good. And I certainly wouldn't want to put secondary tariffs on Russia, but if they

were put on, it would not be very good for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Clare Sebastian is following the story from London for us. So, Clare, how do you read these comments about, let's say, Donald Trump being

upset with Vladimir, is an indication that he's changing his approach to Russia, or perhaps that he's maybe waking up to the idea, as critics have

been espousing, that he's being played by Vladimir Putin?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, I think what you can read into it is that there's a real sense of frustration. I think it's interesting that

the trigger appears to be Putin's comments last week that he wanted to bring in some kind of U.N. brokered temporary administration in Ukraine to

carry out the negotiations.

Now, Putin has repeatedly questioned the credibility of Zelenskyy. This has been part of his rhetoric going forward. Many, of course, especially in

Ukraine, have read this as yet more evidence of Russia's unwillingness to negotiate in good faith, that he's essentially pushing for regime change in

Ukraine as part of it.

And we've heard President Trump parrot some of this. He said, just a few days after his very first call with Putin, that President Zelenskyy was a

dictator, because he hadn't held elections last year, which, of course, as we know, is not allowed under the Ukrainian constitution, because martial

law is in place.

So, it's interesting that that's the trigger, but I think what we're seeing is real frustration, right? Because where we are, big picture is that the

U.S. proposed sort of overall ceasefire, 30-day temporary ceasefire, was rejected by Putin. Then Putin said he was going to, you know, sign on, he

said he was going to give the order to stop attacks on energy infrastructure.

Ukraine says that's been repeatedly violated. And then we had this situation where he said yes to a Black Sea ceasefire, but proceeded to

attach conditions to that, including sanctions relief, which the U.S. has not granted as of yet. So, it's stalled at this point. So, I think the

frustration is breaking through now.

I don't know if we can go as far as saying that he has understood that he's being played by Putin. There was a couch in there. He said, if it was

Russia's fault, which it might not be, but if it was Russia's fault, then I'm going to put secondary tariffs on oil coming out of Russia.

So that's one thing. And I think the second thing to note is that if you look at the actual pressure that he's putting the stick that he's

threatening to bring to bear in the form of secondary tariffs. But we don't know how that's going to work. We don't know if it would work.

This would mean putting sanctions on countries, a third countries who import Russian oil the likes of China and India. Now the sanctions have

been structured all along to allow this to happen, so that Russia, which exports 10 percent of global oil, Russian oil, would not come off the

market, sending prices up for everyone.

So, I think that is one thing to consider. We don't know if he's going to do it yet, and I think that's why you see the Kremlin shrugging this off

today and saying, actually, we're just going to continue with the work that we've been doing to restore bilateral relations and continue down, you

know, some kind of solution on Ukraine.

MACFARLANE: And meanwhile, there is still renewed scrutiny on Ukraine, because Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said he's rejecting the U.S.'s latest

deal on mineral, rare earth minerals. Just walk us through. What we know about this new proposal from the United States is not quite clear what's on

the table?

SEBASTIAN: Yeah. So, what we know, a couple of sources familiar with the matter told us last week that the U.S. had presented a new proposal to

Ukraine. And this proposal, apparently, according to the sources, expanded on the original proposal, which, as you remember, was set to be signed on

February 27, the day of that Oval Office spat between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy.

It would give, apparently, the U.S., more control of Ukraine's mineral wealth. It would include all minerals, including oil and gas, all sort of

natural resources. And I think that we can see now a disconnect between the U.S. position and Kyiv, which may have led to President Trump's

frustration.

He then hit back at Ukraine over the weekend, saying that, you know, Zelenskyy trying to back out of the deal. Because we did see Zelenskyy

let's slip significant frustration over this last week. He said on Thursday the U.S. keeps changing the terms. He said that they'd introduced a whole

new document.

Who talked about it again on Friday, which contains some things that hadn't been discussed, some things that had already been rejected. So, I think

Ukraine feels a little bit blindsided by this. They want to give it the proper legal scrutiny. And meanwhile, we still see this sort of sense of

urgency from the Trump Administration to push towards this deal, which, of course, is moot if we don't have a ceasefire. This is a post war deal that

we're talking about, the mineral deal.

MACFARLANE: All right. Clare, for now, thank you. Iran's Supreme Leader says his country will respond in kind to any U.S. military action against

it. On Sunday, President Trump threatened to bomb Iran and impose tariffs on countries that buy its oil unless it agrees to curtail its nuclear

program. Here's what he told reporters on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I can't imagine them doing anything else but making a deal. I would prefer a deal to the other alternative, which I think everybody in this

play knows what that is, and that's not going to be pretty, and I do not prefer that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, in his first time, President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the international agreement reached in 2015 which imposed limits on Iran's

nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

[09:25:00]

Since then, Iran has rapidly developed its nuclear capabilities, AP reported that. On Sunday, Iran's President rejected direct talks with

Washington, but did leave the door open for indirect talks. Investors are nervously awaiting President Trump's so called Liberation Day.

He's promised to announce sweeping new tariffs on America's trading partners on Wednesday. A closer look at how financial markets, are

reacting, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London and you are watching "Connect the World", these are your headlines. Search and rescue

teams in Myanmar are running out of time to find survivors from the devastating earthquake that hit Friday. More than 2000 people are known to

have been killed, but the final death toll is expected to be much higher.

The quake caused major damage as far away as Thailand, at least 18 people died there. 11 of them when an unfinished high rise building collapsed.

Israel is countering the latest ceasefire proposal put forward by Egypt. A senior official tells CNN they want 11 live hostages and half the deceased

hostages returned in exchange for a 40 day pause in fighting.

The original draft, which Hamas accepted over the weekend, called for the release of five hostages and a renewed ceasefire. A Paris court has banned

France's far right leader Marine Le Pen from running for public office for five years, effective immediately, she and 20 party colleagues were found

guilty of embezzling European Union funds. Le Pen denies any wrongdoing. She was seen as the front runner for France's 2027 presidential race.

And the world is bracing for the U.S. President's new tariffs on trade, which he's promised to unveil Wednesday. Donald Trump says his tariff plan

is needed to strengthen the U.S. economy, but analysts warn his so-called Liberation Day amounts to a major trade war escalation.

[09:30:00]

Well, that was the opening bell. The U.S. markets are open and shares. Let's take a look at them. Well, yep, they are all down across the board.

And no surprises, right, really, with Liberation Day being touted for April the second in an opinion piece. CNN's Stephen Collinson writes that

President Trump is set to gamble the success of his second term.

U.S. economy and the personal violences of millions of Americans on his long-held belief that tariffs can recreate a golden age of U.S. wealth and

independence. Stephen joins us now from Washington with more analysis. And Stephen has a lot for us to get through here, but let's start out with

President Trump's upcoming so-called Liberation Day.

Why do so many analysts believe this terrorist transformation is going to be so massively risky?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I think one of the reasons is that it's going to raise prices in the United States and around the

world at a time when the U.S. and the global economy is somewhat fragile. Over in the United States, we've got ebbing consumer confidence.

Voters and consumers are very tired of the high prices that they experienced throughout the pandemic. And although the rate of inflation is

down, those prices haven't gone back to normal as they were five years ago. So, there's a real fear, and increasingly, on Wall Street, analysts are

warning that this whole tariff policy risks putting the U.S. economy, and thereby the global economy, into a recession.

So, the president is playing with fire. He is betting that he can remake the global trading system, bring back manufacturing to the United States.

The issue there, though, is that you're asking voters to put up with a lot of pain in the short and medium term in the hope that they can create this

utopia of manufacturing in the long term.

But to many analysts, this seems like Donald Trump is trying to reinvent the 20th century economy a quarter of the way.

MACFARLANE: Yeah.

COLLINSON: A quarter, you know, quarter of a century into the 21st century.

MACFARLANE: And Stephen, as that Wednesday deadline approaches, we heard on Sunday from one of Trump's advisers that the plans for reciprocal tariffs

still remain fluid. I mean, this is a playbook we have seen repeatedly on trade from the president. You know, orders issued then reversed.

How much more is that compounding the problem here, you know, for the economy and for where this is going to land?

COLLINSON: Well, markets like certainty and so do companies. If a company is trying to work out what its costs are going to be for the year ahead,

they need to have some idea of what prices are, whether they'll be paying extra duties on imports, all that kind of stuff. So that pulls back

investment.

It makes people nervous about creating new jobs, and perhaps they tighten their belts. So, the uncertainty here that the president is imposing is

almost as damaging as the potential impact of the tariffs themselves.

MACFARLANE: Stephen, let's pivot to a moment for a moment to comments that Mr. Trump made to NBC News on Sunday that there are methods a president can

use to seek a third term in office, saying that he wasn't joking. What are those methods and how seriously should we be taking this?

COLLINSON: Well, it's difficult to see any methods. The 22nd amendment bars a president from being elected to more than two terms. There are some, I

think, rather fantastic scenarios whereby the Republicans think they could amend the Constitution. That is very problematic, because you need two

thirds of both Houses of Congress to vote to do so, which Republicans don't have those majority.

And then three fourths of the states have to ratify an amendment to the Constitution in their legislature. So that's not going to happen in a very

divided country as well. The only way it could happen is a complete collapse of democracy in the United States, which I don't -- we're seeing a

lot of autocratic impulses by the president.

I don't think we're there yet. I think the President likes talking about this because this bumps him up and makes him look like a very powerful

figure. We should probably point out too that his approval ratings are falling. He's not very popular right now, only three or four months into

his presidency or after he was elected for that second term. So, thoughts of well he could win a third term seem rather premature, three years out.

MACFARLANE: Yes, good point, and we should mention that Tuesday could provide Donald Trump with his first electoral feedback. Let's call it.

[09:35:00]

Or feedback on his tariff forces first two months in office, because we've got these key elections coming up, the judicial race in Wisconsin and those

two in Florida for the two Republican seats. Do you think we're going to see a political backlash at all in any of this play out?

COLLINSON: I think there's a chance that the dissatisfaction that Trump and Elon Musk have been brewing could show up. The Wisconsin Supreme Court race

is the most expensive of such race in history. $20 million that Elon Musk and his supporters have poured into this race.

Wisconsin is a state that's split right down the middle. Hugely important. The destiny of the Supreme Court can help set the electoral maps for future

elections. So, I think the Democrats, on one hand, a warning about the threat to democracy for Musk money, and also welcome his entry into that

race, because he is even more unpopular than the present is.

That race down in Florida, a house race is to replace Mike Waltz, the National Security Adviser who's been embroiled in this signal gate race.

Trump won there by about 30 percent, any hint that this is going to be a close special election would be an alarming time for the Republicans in the

year ahead of the midterm elections in November 2026.

So, I think those races are being closely watched. They probably won't lose the Florida race, but even a close result could be alarming to the White

House.

MACFARLANE: Stephen Collinson, always great to have your analysis. We will watch closely to see how that unfolds tomorrow. Appreciate it. Thanks. All

right, let's get you up to speed on some other stories that are on our radar right now. In the U.S., a line of dangerous storms is sweeping East

after triggering several tornados, dropping hail the size of golf balls and causing at least two deaths in the central U.S. this weekend.

On Monday, hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, mostly in Michigan, were without power. Four months after Syrian dictator Bashar Al

Assad was removed from power. A new transitional government has been sworn in. The 23-member cabinet is drawn from various religious and ethnic groups

and includes one woman.

Syria's President says the government represents a joint declaration to rebuild the war-torn country. Police in South Korea say a man tending his

ancestors grave may have ignited a huge wildfire last week. Multiple fires ravaged the southeast of the country, killing at least 30 people and

destroying thousands of buildings.

The fires, which have now been put out, burned about 48,000 hectares. And ahead in sports, a rising teenage sensation shocks the tennis world by

defeating 24-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic in the Miami open.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: A historic southern magnolia tree from the 1800s will soon be removed from the White House.

[09:40:00]

It's the oldest tree on the White House grounds, planted by President Andrew Jackson, but it's in a bad shape and has become a safety hazard. The

tree is set to be taken down next week and a new one planted in its place. President Trump says wood from the old tree would be preserved and might be

put to suitable use in the future. Good to hear.

Novak Djokovic fell short of his bid to claim his 100th career title following a shocking defeat by Czech teenager, a Czech teenager in the

Miami Open final. The 19-year-old beat the 24-time Grand Slams champion in an impressive display of skill and power during Sunday's match.

Coy Wire is joining me now. And Coy, I know how much Novak Djokovic lives for those milestones. He relishes them, so this must have done quite a bit.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, good to see you, Christina. And it's not just that Jakub Mensik beat the goal Novak

Djokovic, and that is 19, and this is first ATP title. It's how he did it. He almost didn't even play in the Miami Open. He was feeling his knee was

hurting.

He had his card ready. Was about to hand it to the referee and just pull out before the tournament started, and the referee was off on a lunch

break. So, there's a physio standing nearby, and Mensik gets his knee looked at and the guys helped him out of -- you can go, go ahead and play.

He goes on to play and be Djokovic in the final. It's an incredible story we'll hear from him and his emotional story and journey to this first ATP

win. But yes, he was -- let's see Djokovic had already won his first master's event. He was 18 years old when Mensik wasn't even born yet.

This is an incredible story. We'll have that. We have some footy. We have some Alex Ovechkin Hockey chasing records. It's going to be a fun show.

MACFARLANE: Coy, I never heard of a referee being on a lunch break before? Is that new? What happened? What happened there?

WIRE: Sometimes their stomach is grumbling. You just got to do what you got to do. And luckily for Mensik, that's what happened.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, well, look plenty of Drama Action. I look forward to watching it in "World Sport" coming up in just a few minutes, with Coy. Do

stay with us. That will be after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

[10:00:00]

END