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One World with Zain Asher
Many Feared Dead In Major Earthquake In Southeast Asia; Myanmar's Military Junta: At Least 144 Dead And More Than 730 People Injured In Powerful Quake; Israel Strikes Beirut For First Time Since November; Ukraine Facing Demographic Crisis As war Grinds On; Trump: Call With Canadian PM Was "Extremely Productive"; Republicans Divided Over Investigation Into Signal Chat; ; Aired 12:00-1:00p ET
Aired March 28, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:40]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zain Asher. This is the second hour of ONE WORLD.
It is eleven o'clock in the evening, and still urgent rescue efforts are underway in both Myanmar and Thailand. Many people are feared dead after a
powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake, the biggest quake to hit Myanmar since shortly after World War II.
GOLODRYGA: And Myanmar state television says at least 144 people are dead with hundreds injured. The military government is calling for blood
donations. Now, these are pictures from Mandalay not far from the quake's epicenter.
Now take a look at what happened just hours ago in the Thai capital of Bangkok.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Search and rescue operations are continuing after a building under construction collapsed during the earthquake. At least three people
have been killed. We're told that 81 others are trapped under the rubble.
ASHER: The quake has been followed by a series of aftershocks. The largest at magnitude 6.4 tremors have been felt as far away as China.
Let's get straight to CNN's Mike Valerio live for us from Seoul. So tremors being felt in China. Obviously, there were a building collapse in Thailand
and obviously Bangkok underwent some damage too, but really the epicenter and where the bulk of the damage is of course going to be in Myanmar.
I when you think about what this country has been through, Mike, the civil war starting in 2021, the coup d'etat that made things a lot worse. And now
this, they've already been through a significant humanitarian crisis. Of course this is the last thing that they need.
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And I mean, I think our international viewers need to realize that people in Myanmar, half the
country is under the poverty line. And the special U.N. rapporteur speaking to us about two hours ago said that there's the danger that a quarter of
the population, in addition could go under the poverty line based on this epic magnitude 7.7 earthquake that happened a few hours ago.
We have two centers of human tragedy, two centers of gravity when it comes to human tragedy, Myanmar, but also Bangkok, and that's where we want to
start, especially with that skyscraper that came tumbling down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VALERIO (voice-over): A skyscraper in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, reduced to dust Friday. A massive earthquake in neighboring Myanmar destroying the
building. Authorities think many are trapped inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Earthquakes are not common in Bangkok or in Thailand. I've been living here for over 10 years. This is the first earthquake I've
ever experienced here.
VALERIO (voice-over): The earthquake's epicenter was about a thousand kilometers away in the center of war-torn Myanmar. It hit just after midday
local time with a powerful aftershock minutes later. Residents in the city of Mandalay filmed collapsed buildings on their phones, while golden
statues in some of the temples were also damaged by the quake.
In Bangkok, the quake sent people fleeing homes and offices for the relative safety of the streets.
VARUNYOU ARMARTTAYAKUL, THAI OFFICE WORKER (through translator): I heard the noise of the cracking walls and cracking glass. Part of the ceiling
even collapsed. That's when I had to run out.
VALERIO (voice-over): Water spilling from this hotel rooftop pool onto the roads below. Thailand's prime minister declaring the capital an emergency
zone.
SHENGJI WEI, PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, EARTH OBSERVATORY OF SINGAPORE: It's not an unexpected event. We know that this place, this segment of the
fault, is likely to rupture as a big earthquake in the near future.
Tremors were felt as far away as China. Experts said, they weren't surprised at all by the quake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VALERIO: And we just want to make clear that we have all of these images of Bangkok, but, you know, when you have internet and you have electricity out
across all these corners of Myanmar, we're very slowly starting to get these arresting pictures and video from Mandalay, from Naypyidaw, the new
capital established by the military junta, from Yangon, which is the old capital of Myanmar.
[12:05:09]
So as we now here in Seoul cross 1:04 AM, we're starting to get more and more pictures that are outside of Bangkok.
But we're watching the storyline of which international groups are able to get in and will international aid, you know, where does it go? The groups
that are speaking to CNN from our colleagues across continents are very concerned that with this military junta, perhaps aid will be weaponized,
denied from some parts of the country, denied to some parts of the country that are in civil war with the military junta, Zain and Bianna.
ASHER: Exactly. That is -- that is a lot of people's fears as well, the fact that this civil war will make it that much more complicated for aid to
get to the areas that really need it.
Mike Valerio, is one o'clock in the morning where you are. Really appreciate you staying up for us. Obviously, this is a hugely important
story.
VALERIO: No problem.
ASHER: And again, as I mentioned earlier, the death toll will, of course, likely rise, especially when we consider what happened in 2023 in Turkey.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Let's turn to Nada Bashir for more. She joins us live from London.
We talk about Myanmar being one of the most sanctioned countries not only in the region, but in the world right now. And as we were just noting with
Mike, the obstacles of getting aid in to the area logistically, A, because we're still feeling aftershocks that could be there for hours if not days,
but also to get around and try to circumvent some of these sanctions.
We already are hearing from the WHO in terms of the enormity of the casualties here. Talk to us about what global aid organizations are doing.
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bianna. And typically, of course in response to an earthquake of this scale, much as you said likely
as we saw in Turkey and Syria in 2023, we would see the mobilization of these aid efforts by organizations like the WHO, the U.N., other
humanitarian groups, despite those huge logistical challenges.
But there is another layer of challenges that will be faced by these humanitarian organizations, when it comes to providing that emergency
relief response in Myanmar.
We've heard from the Red Cross team on the ground. They have said they are providing first aid on the ground. They are attempting to provide emergency
relief. But this is just one organization.
And what we've seen over recent years since the military regime took power in a coup in 2021 is the severe restrictions being put in place on the
operations and the freedom of movement and activities of these humanitarian organizations on the ground.
And as Mike mentioned, the potential weaponization of aid getting into Myanmar with regards to which regions and which areas and towns are
actually receiving that humanitarian assistance.
But it is important to note that we have now heard from the military regime making a rare appeal for international support, calling on international
bodies and leaders to stand behind Myanmar in this moment of crisis.
So potentially a positive signal there when it comes to how aid will be allowed in by the military regime. And of course important to remember that
the area impacted most significantly is central Myanmar which has been, over recent years, essentially a battleground between the military regime
and rebel groups and pro-democracy organizations on the ground.
And this is a region, this is a country which has faced significant humanitarian catastrophes and crises as a result millions of people were
already displaced prior to this earthquake. Hunger levels at an alarming, staggering rate, according to U.N. figures. So this is a desperate
situation for many of those who have been impacted.
And, of course, then there's also the infrastructural challenges that many will be facing. We have heard from the Red Cross, which has noted the huge
amount of damage that has been sustained by public buildings, by roads, by bridges. There's concern around the security of dams in the region as well.
So there's a lot to think about in terms of the next stages and what Myanmar may continue to face, particularly if we see aftershocks in the
coming hours. That is still a huge concern for many in the region. So a lot to think about, a lot to consider.
The key focus right now is on getting that aid in as soon as possible. And plus, this is a country under the Trump administration which has seen a
huge cutback in U.S. aid as well. So another challenge being faced by the people of Myanmar.
As we were talking about earlier, it is difficult to get that up-to-date accurate information from the ground. Independent media has effectively
been banned since the military regime took power in 2021.
There is limited and restricted access to social media. So there are limitations in terms of getting that up-to-date data. We are waiting for
updates on the official figures when it comes to casualties. Already more than 100 confirmed to be dead and hundreds more injured.
GOLODRYGA: Really a digitally isolated country and yet, we are seeing limited images coming out of social networking sites like Telegram just
showing the sheer devastation, the magnitude of which is only exacerbated, I would imagine tenfold if not a hundredfold in actuality.
[12:10:20]
Nada Bashir, thank you so much.
ASHER: Thank you, Nada.
All right. I want to bring in a seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, John Cassidy. He's also a senior research scientist with Natural
resources Canada and joins us live now from Vancouver Island.
John, thank you so much for being with us. I think what's troubling about this particular earthquake is not just the fact that it was a 7.7 magnitude
on the Richter scale, but also just how shallow it was. It was about 6.2 miles in terms of its shallowness, 10 kilometers.
Just explain to us how that, the fact that it was so shallow will contribute to the end result in terms of the damage and, of course,
unfortunately, the potential number of lives that could be lost here.
JOHN CASSIDY, SEISMOLOGIST, GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA: Right, and that's a really important point. So a large earthquake, but in this case, it was
shallow, so we have stronger shaking. And the other factor, of course, is that it was so close to major population centers. So it's that combination
of depth, distance, and magnitude that always is the critical part of this and the strength of shaking. So millions of people felt extremely strong,
even violent ground shaking from this earthquake.
GOLODRYGA: And Myanmar is in one of the world's most seismically active regions as well. We're talking about the likelihood of aftershocks for
hours or days to come.
What are your top concerns in that regard?
CASSIDY: Yes. Aftershocks are always an important factor. And the larger an earthquake is, the larger is the rupture zone. So in the case of today's of
this earthquake in Myanmar, we're looking at a fault that is 200 to 300 kilometers that broke during this earthquake.
So it's a very large area. And what that means is that you can see aftershocks all along that segment of the fault that broke and adjoining
areas. So it's a huge area.
The larger the earthquake is, the longer the aftershocks will continue, and the larger they can be. So that is always an important factor. Buildings
that may have been weakened by the original earthquake, aftershocks, even though they're smaller, if they happen to be closer to you or closer to
particular communities, they can actually produce stronger shaking
So you have buildings that may have been weakened by the original earthquake now being subjected to additional shaking. And in the case of a
7.7 earthquake, the aftershocks, although they are expected to drop off in time, they are expected to continue for weeks and probably even months in
this case.
ASHER: And, John, one of the things we've been talking about quite a bit on this program is just how much this, you know, obviously reminds us of what
happened in Turkey just two years ago, January 2023. Because you think about the magnitude of this earthquake at 7.7, I believe the one in Turkey
was about 7.8. Very similar. And obviously the death toll for that was really significant, 50,000 people dead.
And given the situation in Myanmar, we haven't really gotten a clear picture of the extent of the damage or the actual numbers of people have
been killed. It's the middle of the night there. So hopefully we might have a clearer picture in the coming days.
But just give us your take on how concerned you are about the fact that this could end up being quite similar to what we saw in Turkey.
CASSIDY: Right. It's always -- you're right, it's always a concern when you see an earthquake of this magnitude because they're very rare events. You -
- typically around the world one or two events of this magnitude each year. The last time we had an earthquake of this size was the Turkey event in
2023. So it's a rare event and it's so close to densely populated regions.
So, you know, very similar, older buildings. The type of structures in Myanmar are often older and masonry type buildings. So those are the types
of structures that are susceptible to strong ground shaking from earthquakes.
So it's, you know, a very difficult situation there right now.
ASHER: John Cassidy, live for us there. Thank you so much for your perspective.
All right. U.S. Vice President --
CASSIDY: Thank you.
ASHER: -- JD Vance and his wife Usha and the rest of the U.S. delegation have arrived in northwest Greenland. Here they are. Here they are getting
off the plane. There's Usha Vance waving, and there's JD Vance right behind her. They're getting off Air Force Two there. They're actually visiting a
U.S. base in the -- in the territory.
[12:15:15]
The Vice President actually decided to join his wife because she was actually supposed to visit by herself originally, but he decided to join
his wife after her visit sparked some controversy amid President Trump's repeated statements about wanting Greenland to be part of the United
States.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Still to come for us, new violence erupts between Israel and Lebanon. We will look at where a ceasefire deal now stands.
ASHER: And three years into Russia's war, a demographic crisis is unfolding in Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is definitely one of the quietest maternity hospitals that I've ever visited. And the
main doctor just told us that births here are down 40 percent since the start of the war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEIRRA KAMOLVATTANAVITH, DOCUMENTARY PRODUCER WHO LEFT EARTHQUAKE: The grounds were shaking so much that I had to hold on to my car just to keep
from falling. And I felt a little bit of motion sickness. I felt dizzy. And I couldn't even believe it was an earthquake. My partner was saying it's an
earthquake. And I was like, there's no way that, know, earthquakes don't really happen in Thailand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Scores of people are still trapped under rubble in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake triggered a catastrophic
collapse of a building under construction. At least eight people there are dead.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. The epicenter of the quake hit Myanmar Friday. The head of its military government says at least 144 people are dead and more than 700
injured. They have made a rare appeal for international assistance following the quake. We are keeping a close eye on this story and will
bring you updates as we get them.
ASHER: All right. To another one of our top stories, a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah literally hanging in the balance right now after the
first Israeli strike on southern Beirut since the deal was agreed to last year.
The IDF is saying it was actually in response to two projectiles being fired at Israel from Lebanon and says, it targeted a Hezbollah stronghold.
Israel is warning of repercussions if Lebanon fails to enforce the ceasefire.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. People were seen fleeing Beirut following the strikes, the first of their kind in four months. Lebanon insists the Israeli strikes
were unjustified. There's also been international reaction with France's president raising concerns about Israel's actions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[12:20:00]
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): I want to express my thoughts in solidarity with the Lebanese people, with the people of
Beirut who suffered further strikes this morning in violation of the ceasefire.
The Israeli army must withdraw as quickly as possible from the five positions it continues to occupy on Lebanese territory to allow the
Lebanese army to deploy there and the civilian population to return home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Jeremy Diamond is following the story from Tel Aviv. Really a precarious situation that the newly formed and rather fragile Lebanese
government finds itself in right now, as Israel has returned some thousands of its citizens to the north there and warning that if more of these
projectiles coming to Israeli territory, Israel will continue to respond.
What are the options for the Lebanese government at this point?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly this moment marks an escalation after this ceasefire went into effect in November. This
is the first time that the Israeli military has struck the Lebanese capital since then.
And as you know, it comes at a very precarious time as the Lebanese government is trying to kind of rebuild itself, stabilize, rebuild its army
with a lot of support from the United States as well as from France.
And then into that mix, you have these two rockets that were fired from southern Lebanon towards Israeli territory. One of those rockets was
intercepted by the Israeli military. The other fell short of its target and actually landed in Lebanese territory, according to the IDF.
But in response to that, Israel carrying out these strikes. And it, of course, raises questions about the stability of the Lebanese governments,
the -- whether or not Hezbollah will indeed choose to retaliate, insisting that it did not fire those two rockets, that it wasn't responsible for
that. And Israel threatening to carry out further strikes if we see more of these rockets.
And it's also important to note that we saw two rockets in very similar fashion fired at northern Israel last week as well. And in both of these
instances, the pictures that we've gotten from the Lebanese military of what these rocket launchers actually looked like, they are quite
rudimentary.
And Lebanon's president said himself, that he doesn't believe that these were carried out by Hezbollah. Instead, it seems more likely that these
were fired by some kind of a smaller militant group that also operates in southern Lebanon.
But what Israel's position has been is that it will carry out effectively disproportionate strikes in response to any kind of fire from southern
Lebanon, and that it will ultimately clearly hold Hezbollah responsible. But beyond that, that it will hold the Lebanese government responsible for
securing its territory and ensuring that there is no fire directed at Israel from there. We don't know yet whether Hezbollah will respond.
And it's also important to note that Israel has carried out strikes throughout this ceasefire since November, based off of Hezbollah militants
moving in certain areas, things that Israel has called violations of this.
So this has been a tenuous ceasefire, and it has largely held up, because Hezbollah, for now at least, seems to have made the calculus that it is not
prepared to return to the pre-ceasefire state with rockets flying in one direction and very heavy Israeli airstrikes hitting Lebanese territory.
So this is a very delicate moment and certainly a moment of escalation. We just don't know exactly where it will go from here. Bianna, Zain.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Jeremy Diamond reporting for us live. Thank you.
ASHER: All right. Turning to Kyiv, European leaders delivered a show of support for Ukraine during a summit in Paris on Thursday. As Vladimir Putin
makes it clear, he wants the Ukrainian president removed from power.
GOLODRYGA: The Russian president called for a, quote, temporary administration in Ukraine as the two nations work toward reaching an
agreement to resolve the ongoing conflict.
The White House responded saying governance in Ukraine is determined by its constitution and the people of the country.
ASHER: Across Ukraine, three years of war has filled graveyards with slain soldiers and left maternity wards quiet as couples have fewer children,
sending the birth rate actually to an all-time low.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. In short, Ukraine may be losing an entire generation to the war. Clarissa Ward reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Baby Mark is just hours old, but his mother Ophelia waited years for this moment.
Probably the war was the only thing stopping us from having a baby, she tells us. My husband is in the army and talked about kids for four years,
and then the war started and it wasn't time for kids.
WARD: Do you feel it's sort of your duty?
WARD (voice-over): I think yes, she says. They are destroying us. Our nation.
Odesa, like all of Ukraine, is in the grips of a demographic crisis. It can be felt in the heavy silence of these hallways.
[12:25:03]
WARD: This is definitely one of the quietest maternity hospitals that I've ever visited. And the main doctor just told us that births here are down 40
percent since the start of the war.
WARD (voice-over): According to official statistics, there are three deaths for every birth. Ukraine has the highest death rate and the lowest birth
rate in the world.
Just as the country needs babies to keep growing the population, it needs men to keep fighting the war.
On the streets of Odesa, draft officer Oleksandr (ph) stops men of fighting age to make sure they are not dodging their duty.
You're the second team to stop us today, two young men tell him.
They're 21 and 19, below the conscription age of 25. Lucky for them, Oleksandr says it has become harder and harder to find draft dodgers
because people put out notices on social media warning others of where the patrols are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's caution day.
WARD (voice-over): It happens every day. As soon as we set up checkpoints and start working, the Odesa telegram channels inform locals about this, he
says. And there are no people on the streets. Everyone runs away.
It's not hard to see why, everyone here has lost someone. Three years of war with Russia has ravaged Ukraine's male adult population. The section of
Odesa's main graveyard designated for military burials is a sea of flags and tombstones.
Fresh plots have been dug ready for the war's newest victims.
Here, funerals are near daily and often held in batches of two or three. Every detail is perfectly choreographed. The city has had plenty of
practice to get it right.
The mother of 23-year-old Anton Sidorko (ph) weeps over the body of her son.
My sunshine, you won't shine anymore for me. You won't come and say, mama, I'm here, she sobs. I won't see you again. You are far away, so far away.
For those who give life, the pain of losing that life too great to bear.
Back at the maternity hospital, Ophelia's husband has come to fetch her and baby Mark. He asks we not show his face.
Grow big and strong, the nurse says as she hands him the baby. Come back to us for a sister.
But he will be heading back to the front in just over a week, and Ukraine's population will never recover until there is peace.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Odesa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:30:51]
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to ONE WORLD, I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.
Let's return to our breaking news this hour. Rescue efforts are underway after Friday's powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Southeast Asia.
The Thai minister says more than 100 people are still trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building in Bangkok, and at least eight people are
dead.
ASHER: Meantime, Myanmar state television says at least 144 people are dead there with hundreds injured.
The military government is calling for blood donations. The World Health Organization says, the damage from the quake is enormous.
CNN's weather team is closely following today's tragic events in Myanmar and Thailand. Here's meteorologist Derek Van Dam.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Look, we have some other extraordinary video coming out of Bangkok as well. This is of one of the many high-rises
that are really pre-positioned in a way to absorb earthquake activity just like this.
Notice the pool at the top of this high-rise building, and look at the water sloshing back and forth and spilling over the edges. Sometimes in
these newly constructed buildings, they actually utilize pools of the tops of these high-rises to dampen earthquake activity. It is acting at as it's
supposed to in this particular situation. And I just find this type of video extraordinary to show you the engineering feats that are in play here
for these earthquake prone areas.
But, of course, we've seen the not so fortunate buildings that have collapsed, the pancaking effect from the violent shaking that has occurred
from this magnitude 7.7.
So we're going to recap for people who are just now tuning in following this major breaking news of a significant earthquake that struck the
central portion of Myanmar, 7.7. This happened roughly around 12:50 in the afternoon, local time, on March 28.
But what's interesting to note is the depth of this earthquake. And I'm going to explain why. That is a shallow-natured earthquake. And that is
significant. Don't need to be an expert to really understand this.
The fact that it is so shallow, it is near the surface, the shaking is going to ripple out in all directions. So it will be more felt towards the
surface versus if this was a deeper focal point of an earthquake. That means that the ground would observe the shaking. Unfortunately, that
results in significant damage and the locations where people live.
So there's three different types of fault lines that traverse the entire planet. There's the normal fault lines that separate during an earthquake,
a reverse type of fault line.
But what took place here in Myanmar is known as strike-slip. So the Sagaing Fault is -- runs parallel right through Myanmar. If you look at a map on
the USGS website, you can see it.
This actually moves about 18 millimeters per year. So in a course of a decade, it moves about 10 or rather 7 inches.
So let's say you were to build a fence across this very fault line here in Myanmar, for instance. In 10 years' time, you would have a seven inch
separation just by the pure nature of its movement over time. Remember 18 millimeters per year sounds like a little, but that's quite significant
because there's a lot of pent-up energy that is associated with that strike-slip motion that I showed you on the graphics a moment ago. So that
explodes or erupts into a significant earthquake at some point in time. And it just happened to be about six hours ago.
[12:35:18]
Look at the number of people that felt the shaking, just incredible. Nearly 90 million people felt at least light to weak shaking. But when we're
talking about the real serious business stuff, the severe to violent shaking, several million people in and around the epicenter here felt the
shaking.
And you bet, there will certainly continue to be aftershocks going forward and we need to brace ourselves for a high fatality event, especially when
we compare this to previous similar events. And I'm thinking about 2023 in Turkey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Many thanks to our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam for that report.
GOLODRYGA: And still to come on ONE WORLD, the continued fallout from U.S. attack plans against Yemen being leaked. What the Trump administration is
saying about the messaging app at the center of the leak.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN BAPTIE, SEISMOLOGIST, BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: This is a very large earthquake. It's capable of causing extreme damage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: All right. We're starting to get a better idea of just how extensive the damage is in Myanmar after that powerful magnitude 7.7 quake. The
military junta says at least 144 people have been killed and more than 700 injured. It also made a rare appeal for international aid.
GOLODRYGA: And in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, more than a thousand kilometers from the epicenter, search and rescue teams are working through
the night, combing through the rubble of a building that collapsed in the quake. At least eight people are confirmed dead, dozens more are missing.
We'll have another update for you in about 10 minutes.
ASHER: All right. President Trump has had a phone call with Canada's Mark Carney, the first since Carney took over as prime minister.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Trump posted on Truth Social saying the call was very productive and that both he and Carney agree on many things. Trump went on
to say that they will be meeting each other in person after Canada's upcoming election.
For more on the phone call, let's bring in CNN's Alayna Treene. Alayna, do we know what actually came out of this call? We were told that it was
productive, but not much more than that.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. All we have so far is what we have heard from the president, who kind of gave his immediate reaction
readout on Truth Social.
[12:40:00]
He said, as you mentioned, that he plans to meet immediately with Prime Minister Carney after their upcoming election, which is scheduled, I should
say, exactly one month from today. So it could be, you know, a different dynamic that President Donald Trump faces one month from today. But he said
that they want to talk about then elements of politics, business, and all other factors that will end up being great for both the United States of
America and Canada.
Now, what I really took away from this, though, Zain and Bianna, is the rhetoric that the president used. This was far friendlier rhetoric than we
know the president has used with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
He referred to Mark Carney as the prime minister. He didn't call him governor as he had been doing as like more of a taunt with Trudeau
previously. And look, all of this comes, of course, as, you know, the relationship between the United States and Canada is very tense and very
fragile right now.
I mean, the tariffs that the president has been issuing just the latest even this week with the auto tariffs has really been damaging Canada's
economy. And even Carney has acknowledged that Canada has to rely less on the United States moving forward and that their relationship is so much
more fraught now because of the actions that President Donald Trump has taken.
So I think notable is to see how this relationship will develop moving forward. One thing I also took away is that this call actually happened 14
days after Carney was sworn into office. That is kind of unusual. Normally, you'd have the president of the United States calling one of its strongest
allies, like Canada, far sooner than that. So interesting that it took so long for these two to talk.
But the fact that he said it was very productive, that they agree on many things, is definitely perhaps more friendly and favorable to Canada than
what we've seen the president use with his language in the past.
ASHER: Alayna Treene, live for us there. Thank you so much.
A federal judge is telling the Trump administration not to delete text messages sent on the Signal app.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. The messages included sensitive Yemen attack information and were accidentally shared with a journalist. A watchdog group filed suit
saying, the chat may have violated the federal records law.
Now, meanwhile, the U.S. attorney general continues to defend the use of Signal by high-ranking Trump administration officials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: You are completely confident that this was - - this was a mistake and nothing more than that.
PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are. And all of our intelligence officials who were on it are confident of that as well.
I think Signal is a very safe way to communicate. I don't think foreign adversaries are able to hack Signal as far as I know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Republicans on Capitol Hill seem divided over how to respond to the Signal message scandal. Some say they're satisfied with the answers they've
gotten from senior Trump officials, but others say there should be a watchdog investigation.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Time now for The Exchange. Joining us is CNN senior political commentator Adam Kinzinger. He was a Republican member of
Congress who broke with the party to stand up to Donald Trump after the January 6th riots. Adam, always good to see you. It's been too long.
Looking back now, it's been a week since this scandal was first reported by Jeffrey Goldberg at "The Atlantic." And initially, one of the ways he
described it all and seeing what had transpired over the group chat and the fact that he was even invited to these principles group chat over highly
classified information is how unserious it all felt and was being taken.
And I would say that that's still how it seems to have unfolded over the course of the week in terms of the response from the White House and those
principals involved in the conversation.
What was your initial reaction when you heard about this?
ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I mean, this is amateur hour. I mean, it really is. It's -- first off, I've never seen --
I've never seen grown adults use as many emojis as we saw in this. Like I never use emojis, but I'm not judging.
But, you know, you've got that. You've got the whole time, Pete Hegseth appears to be trying to impress everybody else on the call with his level
of knowledge and detail, stuff that wasn't necessary.
Like, even if you're going to say, OK, we're going to have this discussion on Signal, which of course you shouldn't. And by the way, there have been
reports that, for instance, Russia has used Signal to exploit the location of Ukrainian troops. So I think it's not necessarily as clear cut safe as
people think.
But yes, I mean the bottom line is you look at what's on that chat and it's just those are a bunch of people that are more interested in impressing
themselves and not in doing the serious work of a strike in Yemen.
I will tell you, I talked to somebody that was at the level in a previous administration at one of those folks on there. I don't want to reveal who
it was, but they basically said, in a situation where you have a military strike like that, there is no way there should have been that many people
that were in the note. This person said usually it's maybe four or five people at the max.
[12:45:01]
And, of course, their response this week was everything from Jeffrey Goldberg was sucked into the chat somehow to, you know, people's names got
switched around to it never really happened to yes, it did happen. So nobody knows what to believe.
ASHER: I love that what stood out to you the most was the emoji. Because I think a lot of people were talking about that.
But just in terms of, you know, your own background, obviously, you're a military man. You're a veteran. You served in Iraq and Afghanistan. So from
your perspective, just talk to us about the risks here on a more serious note that could have been posed to American troops.
KINZINGER: Well, there's massive risks. First off, you know, if this information had been sent to the Houthis, they have an anti-air capability.
They've shot down unmanned MQ-9s, our drones, which are about the size of airplanes. They're not small drones.
They also could have moved the proper stuff, anti-air equipment in. And if you know, for instance, F-18s are on the way, you can shoot them down.
The other big thing that happened is it's clear by that -- by that text that, you know, there was a human intelligence source on the ground. And
there are reports that Israel's very upset about that because it was their source. So, how do you recruit human intelligence sources in the future now
if they know that this happened?
And I will say when I was in Iraq like my family knew I was in Iraq, but I could not, on the phone, when I was talking to them, tell them I was in
Iraq even though they knew it. I have a total of three pictures from my time in the war in a certain base I was at because we could not take
pictures unless they were done by, you know, the folks that knew, the professionals there, that knew what to take a picture of so they didn't
reveal anything classified. And that was all top-secret level stuff.
We would target certain members of Al Qaeda or certain members of, you know, Iranian intel. And I wouldn't even know their names until we -- after
we got them. And even then some of them were still hitting from us and we had top-secret clearance.
So the idea that you could put out strike plans before it happens, and say that's unclassified, is ludicrous, and everybody knows it's ludicrous. But
we're playing a game that the Trump administration plays all the time, which is lie, lie, deny, lie, deflect.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And you're talking about the "Wall Street Journal's" report that it may have been Israeli intelligence that led to the whereabouts of
where this target was going to visit his girlfriend as all was laid out during that text chain. I would imagine if it was the Israelis, they
extricated that source as soon as Jeffrey Goldberg reported reading all of this in a Safeway parking lot in Washington, D.C.
But the consequences are severe. That same report suggested that Israel had expressed their concerns and disapproval to the White House over this news.
Do you think that there will be any consequences in terms of heads rolling, you know, professionally? Will anybody lose their job as a result of this?
KINZINGER: Well, let me first off say, if I would have done anything like this, even in Congress, but especially in the military, I would be not at
least kicked out of the military and likely facing charges. I just want to make that very clear. Our military would be facing charges and have for
less.
In terms of, is anybody going to pay the price? I think so, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do it after the story kind of fades away so that it
doesn't look like they acquiesce to the pressure. Because again, Trump's superpower is he acts like he doesn't care what anybody says.
I think this embarrassed him, honestly. And I think Mike Waltz gets the axe or possibly Hegseth. If they go after Hegseth, my guess is that will be
later. And they'll try to pretend like it wasn't connected to this. But I certainly think Mike Waltz is potentially on the chopping block here.
ASHER: It's interesting, yes, because when it comes to Mike Waltz, when you look at what Trump has said publicly, he said, look, Mike Waltz learned his
lesson and ultimately, you know, the attacks were a success.
I do want to get your take on just how the administration has handled this just in terms of their response. I mean, obviously, they have tried every
strategy from blaming the journalist and focusing on that to just simply focusing on the fact that, look, the attacks were a success. And that's all
that matters. What do you make of their strategy from that perspective?
KINZINGER: Look, I mean, it's just dumb. I mean, I -- you know, look, in the first Trump administration, he had people around him that I think could
push back and give him good advice.
In this one, it's an emperor's new clothes situation. There's nobody that's willing to contradict him. And what they do is they look at his behavior
and they say, that's how we have to act.
If Donald Trump had been caught in something like this, which he was, by the way, at Mar-a-Lago, he had tons of documents there, he just denied and
deflected. The difference is the people that work for him are not as good at it. So I think they've handled it poorly.
I mean, honestly, if they would have just said, yes, we did it. We've learned our lesson. It never should have happened. You know, we're going to
make sure that, you know, safeguards are in place, I think the story would be dead right now.
[12:50:08]
But when you continue to cover it up, as we always say, the cover-up is worse than the crime. In this case, the crime is still probably worse. But
I think this is what's extending this story.
And it just goes to show you have a bunch of, frankly, kids and people that have never done this in a very important job. And unfortunately, it's
costing us a lot.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. The only winner here really is the app creator for Signal, who's, I'm sure had a very good and busy week with many people downloading
the app.
But it's important to note you have the FBI director not answering whether or not an investigation would be launched, which in any other
administration, Republican or Democrat, surely would have been the case.
And then you had the attorney general, Bondi, confirming that there will not be an inquiry into what happened here. And she further went on to say
that Signal is very safe to use.
The app itself may be safe. But, Adam, just talk about the issue at hand here is not the app per se, but whether a phone can be compromised.
What does that tell you --
KINZINGER: Right.
GOLODRYGA: -- about lessons learned here and the fact that intelligence like this could continue to be shared between highest level officials over
their phones?
KINZINGER: It goes to show that Pam Bondi is either ignorant or, you know, intentionally acting ignorant.
Right. Look, the question about, is somebody going to intercept a signal between two, you know, Signal chats? I guess. As far as I know, no. That's
what the encryption thing is.
But when at the end of that message, obviously, when you look at Signal, you can read something.
What we know is our adversaries have the ability to, in essence, read what you're reading so they can get that information. The idea that they can is
ludicrous.
Look. I mean, I use Signal a lot. It's an important thing if you're kind of having conversations that you don't necessarily want out there, so to
speak, but not for classified information.
And Steve Witkoff claims he was in Russia, by the way, when he was added to the Signal chat. Now, he claims that his personal phone was at home and it
may have been, but the reality is, had him -- had his personal phone with him, very easily, Russia would have hacked that and read that. And they may
already have acted. I mean anybody who's anybody's probably already a target of that.
So it's nonsense to say this isn't a threat. Of course, it is, but they will never admit they're wrong. That's the whole thing. That's what all
this is about.
ASHER: All right. Adam Kinzinger, always a pleasure to have you on the program. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
KINZINGER: You bet.
GOLODRYGA: We'll send you a bunch of emojis over text later.
ASHER: The strong arm emoji. Yes. I love the strong -- that was my favorite, the strong arm emoji, along with the fired.
KINZINGER: That's great, great.
GOLODRYGA: All right. We'll be right back. Have a good weekend, Adam.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:55:28]
ASHER: All right. Returning now to our breaking news. We're getting more details now as rescuers scramble to find survivors after a massive
earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand. A 7.7 magnitude quake is the biggest to hit Myanmar since shortly after World War II.
GOLODRYGA: And Myanmar state television says at least 144 people are dead with hundreds injured. The military government is calling for blood
donations.
And in Bangkok, Thailand, search and rescue operations are growing more urgent after a building under construction in the Thai capital collapsed
during the quake.
ASHER: At least eight people have been killed. We're told that 110 others are trapped under the rubble.
GOLODRYGA: And we'll be right back with more breaking news coverage of the earthquake in Southeast Asia after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
