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CNN NEWSROOM

Border Closure, Overcrowded Centers, and Aid Cut on Three Central American Countries; Jeff Bezos' Phone Hacked by Saudi Government; Fox & Friends News Blunder; Joe Biden Accused of Inappropriate Conduct; Student Dies After Mistaken Uber; Elie Honig Answers Legal Questions after the Mueller Report; Woman in a Spacesuit. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 31, 2019 - 17:00   ET

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


[17:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You're live in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thank you for being with us. On the southern U.S. border right now in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, the migrant crisis is not about policy or politics at the border, on the ground.

It's about people, these people, caught by Border Patrol crossing illegally into the U.S. Whatever their reason for risking their lives and their families, there are more of them than there are beds and shelters and security at the facilities set up to handle them.

So right now, overflowing it, over capacity border processing centers are doing something about the log jam of people in detention. They're letting thousands of people out. Customs officials put it very bluntly. They say the immigration system is broken and the current situation on the border is "unsustainable."

President Trump is blaming Mexico in throwing out his solution. He's saying close the border. He tweeted this just yesterday, "Mexico must use its strong immigration laws to stop the many thousands of people trying to get into the USA. Next step is to close the border."

Something else the president is doing to punish Central American countries for failing to keep people from fleeing, he's cutting aid, millions of dollars to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, effectively making life more difficult in those countries. The president's right hand man in the White House is defending this decision to cut off money to these nations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICK MULVANEY, ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Mexico could help us do it. They need to do a little more. Honduras can do more. Nicaragua could do more. El Salvador could do more. And if we're going to give these countries hundreds of millions of dollars, we would like them to do more.

That, Jake, I would respectfully submit to you as not an unreasonable position. We could prevent a lot of what's happening on the southern border by preventing people from moving into Mexico in the first place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: President Trump will get a look for himself at the border situation in just a few days. He is planning a visit to a border town on Friday when he is in California. And I want to get to CNN's Ed Lavandera. He is in El Paso, Texas for us. Also CNN's Martin Savidge in Brownsville. Ed, the migrant processing center there in El Paso is one of those that is said to be way over capacity, nearly triple capacity. What's the plan?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, agents here, and this is coming from the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection is saying that they're reassigning agents to handle the influx and the overflow of migrants that are being processed. For the better part of the last two weeks, many migrants were being held underneath this bridge here.

And this is one of the bridges that lead from El Paso, Texas into Juarez, Mexico. And there were hundreds of migrants who had been essentially waiting for hours and hours underneath this bridge waiting to be processed.

Now, that had been going on for the better part of the last two weeks, and then all of a sudden this morning, after the images of those migrants sitting and waiting underneath that bridge, they're gone here today. So that is no longer going on here at this scene in downtown El Paso.

We're still waiting to hear from CBP officials as to exactly where they've been taken and how they're being processed or if they are being moved through the system now. But the commissioner of CBP says there are about 3,500 last count that we heard from the agency, migrants that need to be processed here in the El Paso sector alone.

And Ana, this has really been one of the areas that has been of intense focus, this El Paso sector which reaches out into the remote areas of New Mexico, west of where we are. This is where you have seen large groups of migrants arriving over the course of the last few months and agents here continue to say that they're overwhelmed.

Although critics of the administration and the way Customs and Border Protection has been handling this, saying this is essentially an agency trying to create an image of chaos to push this idea of the national emergency to build more border wall.

And that's why we're seeing these images of these chaotic situations along the border. Critics of the administration say that the agencies have plenty of resources to handle processing these large numbers of migrants.

CABRERA: And we see, it is a developing situation. Ed Lavandera, we know you're continuing to follow what happened to those people who were in that holding area behind you. Thank you for that reporting. Let me turn to Martin Savage who is in Brownsville, Texas, where the CBP intends to release we understand a large number of migrants from their processing centers.

[17:05:04] Martin, what is the timeline on that release and are officials there in Brownsville bracing for this?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the time line is still something that city officials here Brownsville would love to know, which they say they haven't fully heard from federal officials. They have been informed that at least 2,000 migrants have been released in the Rio Grande Valley. They haven't heard since when. And like we say, they still don't know how many more thousands could be headed this way.

The Brownsville bus station where we are is now the main processing point for those migrants. It is the handoff point where those migrants go from federal control right to the city's control. They've worked out a system that seems to be going pretty well today and that's essentially where they're greeted by city officials and also from the county.

Those migrants are then screened, they check the documents and if they have travel arrangements, and many of them already do, they can either be helped on a bus or transported to the airport so they can go and fly and be with family members here in the U.S. while they 0wait their asylum fate.

Otherwise, Brownsville is prepared by now trying to house them temporarily, there are shelters that are opened up to feed and provide them showers and things like that. What they don't want is for Brownsville to become some sort of destination point.

In other words, that this would be the holding area. They go from federal authorities to right into the city's hands and the city does not want that. Moved along as quickly and humanely as they can, they are doing it pretty well and they could handle up to a thousand a day. Here's the mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY MARTINEZ, MAYOR OF BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS: I'm comfortable because what happened is I've dealt with this issue for a long time now and I'm not talking about decades, but I'm talking about, you know, a little bit more than a year. And everything that they've sent down our way, we've been able to handle and I'm very, very proud to be honest with you, of my volunteers, of my -- the people, the city people, the community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: The situation is their handling on their own, a federal problem, and they're paying for it, and that is adding up very quickly, Ana.

CABRERA: I imagine it is. Thank you so much. Martin Savidge. Joining us now is Congressman Juan Vargas who represents the 51st District in California, that includes part of the U.S. Mexican border and also the busiest land port of entry in the country. Congressman, thanks for being with us. Do you agree with the president's suggestion to shut down the southern border?

REP.JUAN VARGAS (D), CALIFORNIA: It's the most idiotic thing he's said since raking the leaves in the forest, that's what Finland does to prevent fires. It would be an absolute disaster for both sides of the border, for the United States, for Mexico, millions of people would ultimately lose their jobs. It is really dumb.

CABRERA: What do you see as the economic impact there in your district?

VARGAS: Well, the economic impact in my district would be a disaster. We have San Ysidro, as you mentioned, the land port of entry, the busiest one in the western hemisphere, and hundreds of thousands of jobs in California depend on that border, on that crossing.

And if you close it down, it would be a huge economic impact, not only for my city and for my area, but all of California, and frankly, all of the United States. It really is something that's unbelievable, reckless, stupid and again it is up there with some of the dumbest things he's said since he's been president.

CABRERA: I know the San Ysidro port of entry was actually closed back in November for a few hours after there was a bit of a clash there along the border. And I understand, according to the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce that the estimated toll that took to local businesses was $5.3 million to have that closed for just a few hours.

Immigration is an issue that the president believes works for him politically. He's focused on it for a long time. And now given the reality that we're seeing on the ground with a surge in migrants crossing the border, the shelters above capacity, doesn't that bolster his position that there is in fact a crisis?

VARGAS: No, in fact he is creating this crisis interestingly. We've seen numbers larger than this a decade ago, and why were we able to handle it? Well, because the administration was working to try to handle it. He is purposely trying to make this a crisis. He's making it a crisis.

And every time he opens his mouth in Central America they hear, oh, United States let's go. He is in a sense, interestingly and oddly enough getting more people to come. So, all the things he's doing as barbaric as they are, is actually making the situation worse. I've lived on the border my entire life and I have to tell you, it's never been like this.

We've had larger numbers. Absolutely we've had more people coming, but it's worked better because the administration hasn't been trying to make it a crisis. This administration has been trying to make it a crisis, trying to make it look bad. He's been doing it on purpose because he wants this wall that everybody knows won't work.

CABRERA: But it doesn't make sense. Why? Why are we seeing this spike in migrants now?

VARGAS: Well I think there are two reasons. [17:10:02] I mean, we've always had a spike in the spring so this is

not unusual, that's one. Secondly, he is talking so much about it. He's like the commercial down in Central America. I mean, it's interesting, he thinks every time he opens his mouth, fewer people are going to come.

CABRERA: You think it's backfire?

VARGAS: No, more people are going o come. It's backfiring. I mean, he is a commercial for come to the United States. Every time he says something like this, more people come. He's the person drawing -- oddly enough and ironic enough, he's the problem once again. If he would just shut up for once.

CABRERA: So you agree though with the president that more people are in fact coming across the border? That there is a situation at the border regardless of who or what is to blame? Now, we've seen the images coming out of El Paso, Texas, where migrants have been held under a bridge and fences, waiting to be processed.

The head of the CBP says the system is at a breaking point right now. DHS Secretary Kirsten Nielsen characterizing the current situation as being in a free fall. I mean, it sounds like they are pleading for help. What is Congress going to do?

VARGAS: Well, we should help, but frankly, let's be fair. If you go back and you take a look at the numbers, the actual numbers of a decade ago, they were higher then. They were higher then.

CABRERA: Well, a decade ago, in 2000 is when we saw the peek, and then it started to go down, but given what we've heard from DHS --

VARGAS: That's right.

CABRERA: -- it could reach in this fiscal year a million immigrants -- migrants being apprehended at the border. That's getting much closer to those numbers back in early 2000 than they have been in the past several years.

VARGAS: That's right. It's an excellent point that you make, but I ask you this, why wasn't it a crisis back then when the numbers were higher? We had fewer officers. Why wasn't it an outrageous crisis as it is today? It is because the immigration system worked better because the administration wanted it to work better.

This administration purposely is creating this crisis. Yes, the numbers are bigger and yes we should spend more money housing the people, but also, this administration purposely has these inhumane processes to make it look bad, make it a crisis.

They could release more of these people. They're women and children. They're not going to hurt anybody. Put the ankle bracelets on them, let them go as we used to, you wouldn't have to cage them underneath these overpasses, which is inhumane, outrageous, illegal, it makes us look so bad, it's ridiculous. But they don't need to do that. They know they don't need to do that. CABRERA: So let me just summarize what I'm hearing you say in terms of solutions. You could let these people go, give them ankle bracelets so you can keep track of them if that is of concern. You could offer more funds to the border to support the needs there when it comes to housing, food, medical care.

The Trump administration is offering another solution. They are saying let's cut off aid to some of the northern triangle countries, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and I want to play what acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told my colleague, Jake Tapper this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MULVANEY: We could prevent a lot of what's happening on the southern border by preventing people from moving into Mexico in the first place.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Right, but that's what the USAID money does, is it makes those countries more stable. This is not according to me. This is according to experts in your own administration.

MULVANEY: Look -- career staffers, but let's talk about that for a second. If it's working so well, why are the people still coming? Why are these historic numbers, again, 100,000 people across the border this month alone? That is a crisis. It's a humanitarian crisis. It's a security crisis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Congressman, should countries where these migrants are coming from be doing more? Should they be held accountable to prevent migration?

VARGAS: They certainly should, however, I've known Mick a long time, and he's a pretty smart guy. But that's one of the dumbest thing he wants to do. I mean, when he wants to cut off aid to these countries that are trying to do something about it, he's going to make the numbers worse. He's going to double the numbers.

Once again, it's like a commercial to get people to come to the United States. Every time they emphasize this, more people come. Cutting off aide is going to make the situation much worse, much more chaotic and these numbers are only going to grow.

I mean, I can't believe that Mick is going to -- I've served with him for six years, good guys, smart guys, their politics are different, but that's the dumbest thing I think he's ever said. To cut off aid like that is really, really ridiculous. It's only going to make the situation much worse and they ought to rethink that.

CABRERA: Congressman Juan Vargas, I appreciate your perspective. Thanks for being here.

VARGAS: Thank you. CABRERA: New questions and fewer answers tonight over the data breach of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Why his security consultant says he is confident that Saudi Arabia had access to Bezos' phone.

And former Vice President Joe Biden hasn't even entered the race yet, but now he's having to defend against allegations of inappropriate behavior. What a former Nevada state lawmaker is saying live in the "CNN Newsroom."

[17:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: New developments and new questions in the scandal involving Amazon owner Jeff Bezos after racy texts between him and his mistress, Lauren Sanchez, were leaked to the "National Enquirer." Initially, fingers pointed to Sanchez's brother as the source of the leak.

Well now, in a "Daily Beast" op-ed, Gavin de Becker, a security consultant for Bezos writes this, "Our investigators and several experts concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos' phone and gained private information."

For more, I'm joined by CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy. So Oliver, let's back up for a second because de Becker is now bringing the Saudis back into this. Remind us where they fit into this story.

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Well the story is incredibly confusing and it's getting more confusing by the minute. So, you remember back when Jeff Bezos posted that medium post a couple of months ago. He kind of hinted the Saudi Arabian government, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia might be involved in leaking that information about his affair to the "National Enquirer."

[17:20:] And it was kind of people are looking into it and figuring out what that exactly meant. Now, a security consultant, Gavin de Becker, is writing in the "Daily Beast" that the Saudi government had access to his phone and the implication at least that they may have leaked this information or tipped off the "National Enquirer" to Jeff Bezos' affair.

Why would they do that? Well, Jeff Bezos is the owner of the "Washington Post" and the "Washington Post" has been very critical in its coverage of the Saudi Arabian government because of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. And so the idea here is that the Saudis hacked or got information on Jeff Bezos that would make him look bad. They then leaked that information or tipped off the "National Enquirer" in some sort of a revenge plot.

CABRERA: So what is the "National Enquirer" or its parent company AMI is saying?

DARCY: Well, the "National Enquirer" is denying this. They're staying very strongly in a statement out earlier today and they say, "Despite the false and unsubstantiated claims of Mr. de Becker, American Media has and continues to refute the unsubstantiated claims that the materials for our report were acquired with the help of anyone other than the single source who first brought them to us." That source they say is Michael Sanchez, who is the brother of Lauren

Sanchez who Jeff Bezos was having an affair with.

CABRERA: And you talked to him, right?

DARCY: And I talked to him earlier today and he's kind of abhorred with Gavin de Becker who's Bezos' security chief. But I will say that we have reported previously at CNN and other outlets have done as well, that Sanchez was the source for the "National Enquirer."

And it is note worthy that de Becker while he writes this column in the "Daily Beast" and says the Saudis were involved or at least accessed to the information on Bezos' phone, he doesn't present any evidence to back up that assertion. So, we're still waiting.

CABRERA: We'll see where this goes.

DARCY: And trust me, we have asked for evidence many, many times and he has not provided any. He just made these assertions and so, you know, you got to take his word for what it is. There's a lot of competing story lines here.

CABRERA: Yes, and the timing is interesting and obviously the fact that he's writing an op-ed, he's putting this out there without the back-up evidence is all very curious, but I know we don't have all of those answers so let's move on to another topic because I want everyone to take a look at this graphic that was on "Fox & Friends" this morning.

And let me remind our viewers, this weekend, the State Department announced the U.S. is cutting off aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras for stopping or not stopping migrants coming to the U.S. from those countries. You can read the banner there, "Trump cuts U.S. Aid to three Mexican countries. That's obviously inaccurate. Do we know how this happened, Oliver?

DARCY: I mean, I don't know what to say about something like that. Ed Henry, one of the co-hosts of "Fox & Friends Weekend," he came out and he apologized for that. It's really unclear. I think what's so striking about this is it's just so sloppy and it kind of is representative of the whole "Fox & Friends" show, right?

They're not tethered really a lot of times to reality, to the facts, and this is where the president of the United States is often getting his information. And we know this because he tweets every single day almost about what he sees on "Fox & Friends." And so, you know, this chyron is a sloppy error, but it speaks larger volumes about what "Fox & Friends" is putting on the air.

CABRERA: Yes, the message that's getting out there. Thank you so much, Oliver Darcy. Good to see you.

As former Vice President Joe Biden mulls a 2020 bid and leads many polls, he's now on the defensive after allegations that he made a Nevada politician uneasy. Hear how she's describing her interaction and his response next, live on the "CNN Newsroom." [17:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) CABRERA: New today, former Vice President Joe Biden is responding to allegations that he acted inappropriately toward a former Nevada state lawmaker. Here's what Lucy Flores told CNN about what happened before a campaign event in 2014.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUCY FLORES (D), FORMER NEVADA ASSEMBLYWOMAN: Very unexpectedly and out of nowhere, I feel Joe Biden put his hands on my shoulder, get up very close to me from behind, lean in, smell my hair, and then plant a slow kiss on the top of my head. And that in and of itself might not sound like it's a very serious thing. That in and of itself might sound like it was innocent and well intentioned.

But in the context of it, as a person that had absolutely no relationship with him afterwards as a candidate who was preparing to make my case for why I should be elected the second in command of that state, to have the vice president of the United States do that to me unexpectedly and just kind of out of nowhere, it was shocking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: In response, Biden says he's given countless handshakes and hugs on the campaign trail and "not once -- never -- did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested that I did so, I will listen respectfully, but it was never my intention."

Joining me now, the associate editor for RealClearPolitics, A.B. Stoddard and CNN reporter Michael Warren. A.B., Biden's response was actually the third statement put out by his team. How do you think he's handled all of this?

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, REALCLEARPOLITICS: Well, it is interesting. They're trying to walk a line where they don't acknowledge that he's done something disqualifying. It's not a sexual assault. They're trying to talk about his long history of hugging people and kissing people and that they have to do.

Because, you know, there have been -- as Kellyanne Conway and others have pointed out, Lucy Flores, there are pictures, there are videos of him behaving this way, so they're trying to both acknowledge this same time of not, you know, apologizing for anything, because he doesn't feel that what he did was inappropriate.

[17:30:06] Lucy Flores made the case on "State of the Union" about why she felt this was inappropriate. You can see the other candidates responding like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren responding to this. I think people -- in the responses so far, I've noticed there is sort of a chorus, this one event may not be disqualifying, but certainly women must be heard. I think they're trying to acknowledge it without a full fledged apology and hope that they can move on.

CABRERA: Michael, critics have suggested Flores may have been politically motivated in sharing her story. Here's her response to that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You know that people might accuse of you of being politically motivated here. We should point out you supported Bernie Sanders in 2016 running for president. He's running again. You attended a Beto O'Rourke campaign event yesterday.

You've told us that you haven't endorsed any candidate yet. You haven't decided who you want to support. But how would you respond to somebody out there who says, she's attending a Beto rally, she supported Bernie in 2016. Politics might be at least partially motivating you here. What would you tell those people?

FLORES: I would say politics was definitely the impetus. The reason why we're having these conversations about Vice President Joe Biden is because he's considering running for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Michael, as A.B. mentioned, we've now heard from Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro among others weighing in saying they believe Lucy Flores. Do you think this scandal if you want to call it that, would in any way keep Biden from entering the race?

MICHAEL WARREN, CNN REPORTER: Well, it certainly seems to be challenging him in the decision that he's been making now it seems for months. Look, this is a fight that's happening within the Democratic Party. We can remember just a couple of years ago that Al Franken, the much-loved senator from Minnesota essentially pushed out after some photos and other evidence that he sort of acted inappropriately in a sexual way. Kirsten Gillibrand, who is now a presidential candidate, a big part of that.

And there is this fight now and it's somewhat generational and I think that -- it must be giving them pause, the three statements you're saying from both Biden's spokesperson and Biden himself suggests that this is something they're very concerned about.

The other Democratic candidates are understandably running with it and saying and asking these questions. I also thought it was very interesting that Ms. Flores didn't run away from the idea that this was politically motivated. But she's talking about it in a way that this is a decision that we have to make as Democrats and as voters in our political process. That's a sea change I thing that's happened over the last couple of years as MeToo has become such a part of our culture.

CABRERA: I wonder when it comes to the president and Republicans, A.B., if this is something they're going to stay far away from considering the president's own history himself?

STODDARD: Yes, that's the thing. I mean, that's why Kellyanne Conway was trying to make hay of this today on Fox News Channel by saying the Democrats just won't put up with this, essentially was her conclusion, because Republicans have put up with this.

It is not an issue Republicans can criticize Joe Biden on should he become the nominee or be one of the ones at the end of the race next spring and the running to become the nominee because they can't defend all the accusations against President Trump. And so it's going to --

CABRERA: Right. So, if it's Biden versus Trump in the general, does this issue just go away?

STODDARD: I absolutely believe it would not be an issue at all in the general election. This is something that either Kirsten Gillibrand or one of the other candidates is going to pick up and run with and try to cut Biden down.

He leads in the polls. We really have no sense, Ana, at this point, which is so interesting of what the Democratic primary electorate will demand. There was a backlash to Al Franken having to leave the Senate. There was a backlash to the reaction against him.

So we have -- there are people that are going to stand up and push back against this in the party saying Biden's our front-runner. He's the best shot we have at beating Trump. There will be pushback to that. We have no idea where the voters are going in this primary yet with this isisue.

CABRERA: As we look to 2020, health care is going to be a top issue, at least as expected to be given. The president is now pushing for the courts to overturn Obamacare, but he still has no replacement. Here's Jake Tapper asking the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MULVANEY: Keep in mind, we have offered plans in the House. We have offered plans in the Senate. We came up with a bunch of ideas out of the White House. Yes, they didn't pass because -- primarily because John McCain went back on his word to vote for it in the middle of the night. That's another story for another day.

But you've seen the details with Republicans and what we're going to do over the course of the next couple of months because the lawsuit will move fairly slowly. It is to come up with something that can pass into law. We'd love to work with Democrats. We don't think they're going to do that with us until that lawsuit is over.

TAPPER: But wouldn't it be responsible to have the replacement there before you take the insurance away from the individuals, the tens of millions of Americans who are relying on it?

MULVANEY: Would it be responsible for the Democrats to pass a decent bill in the first place, they didn't do that, they admit that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:35:05] CABRERA: I'm guessing the president will like that he brought up John McCain again in his answer, but Michael, it sounds like he's banking on this lawsuit to go slow, but what if it doesn't?

WARREN: Then I think Republicans have a big problem on their hands and this is what you're hearing from Republicans connected on Capitol Hill. They are saying we weren't expecting this. We weren't ready for this. Another sort of example of how the White House and Capitol Hill Republicans have a disconnect there.

And it's interesting that it's Mick Mulvaney who's not only the acting White House chief of staff, also still the figure ahead, the Office of Management and Budget, the head White House budget office. These are things that he seems to be pushing really hard from that position -- lots of power there.

And Republicans on the Hill just are throwing their hands up going how can we be prepared for this, we tried this in 2017, it didn't work. That's a lot of frustration especially coming off with the Republicans and the White House are considering a big win, which is the conclusions of the Mueller report. It's making a lot of them scratch their heads.

CABRERA: All right, Michael Warren, A.B. Stoddard, thank you both for being here.

WARREN: Thanks.

CABRERA: Police in South Carolina have made an arrest in the murder of a college student. Why they say a case of mistaken identity could have played a role.

[17:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Police say she got into the wrong car and wound up murdered. Right now, a suspect is being held on charges that he kidnapped and murdered a University of South Carolina student. And here's what we've learned. Twenty-one-year-old Samantha Josephson was last seen on the surveillance camera outside of a bar in the early morning hours on Friday.

Police say it looks like she was waiting for an Uber that she had ordered through the app, and when a black Chevrolet Impala pulled up, she got in. She never made it home. CNN's Jean Casarez is following the story for us. And Jean, there were some chilling details about what and who police found inside the suspect's car when they took him into custody.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When they pulled it over it was a traffic stop, it was about 24 hours later after she was allegedly abducted in that vehicle. What they found first of all, the K-9 officer spotted the car, pulled it over.

And who is now the suspect fled from the car so the officer pursues him, gets him, gets him into custody, brings him back. And in that car, authorities are saying was a large amount of blood along with cleaning supplies, bleach, some personal wipes, even some Windex and a female we have now confirmed, police confirmed with CNN, a female was in the front seat. She is cooperating with authorities. They do not believe she was with

him at the time of the alleged abduction, and even murder. But she was there in the car filled with blood that had been 24 hours later.

CABRERA: That is so chilling. What do police say happened after Samantha Josephson, the victim, got into this car?

CASAREZ: You know, we don't know a lot, right. But here are the facts. Here's what we do know. She was transported, either dead or alive 90 miles from where she was picked up. Number two, there was an immense amount of blood in that car, so what that shows is that something very violent happened because when you suffocate someone, there's not a lot of blood.

Even a gunshot, depending upon where it would be, there's not that much blood. So, there had to be something extremely violent and there were child restraint locks in place in the back seat so that she couldn't have gotten out even if she wanted to.

CABRERA: That just makes me sick. I can't imagine being her family. And we're hearing from her father, right?

CASAREZ: We are. And remember, she was a student at the University of South Carolina. She was a political science major and her father posted one thing and we want to read that for you. He says, "It is with tremendous sadness and of a broken heart that I post this. I will miss and love my baby girl for the rest of life. Samantha is no longer with us, but she will not be forgotten. It is extremely hard to write this and post it, but I love her with all my heart. I could turn to write about her, but it kills me. I sit here and cry while looking at the picture and write this."

And Ana, they are from New Jersey, so her family is now in South Carolina, but they did not live close to where she was where she was that political science major. And she was with her friends.

CABRERA: Yes.

CASAREZ: And then they parted ways. And when the friends realized the next day, she's not here, she's gone. They called authorities, but it was hunters, turkey hunters that found the body while authorities are talking with her roommates. And if not for those turkey hunters it could have been months, years because it was --

CABRERA: -- that much more evidence.

CASAREZ: Yes (inaudible).

CABRERA: Wow! What a story. Thank you, Jean Casarez for your reporting.

With the conclusion of the Mueller investigation, there are still a lot of questions. In that case, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig is trying to answer some of them in the "Cross Exam," live in the "CNN Newsroom" next.

[17:45:00](COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: With the conclusion of the Mueller investigation, Attorney General William Barr's two letters to Congress and President Trump's victory lap falsely insisting that he is in the clear, made "Saturday Night Live" with fresh material. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As for conspiracy or collusion, there were several questionable incidences involving the president's team, but we cannot prove a criminal connection.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No collusion. No diggity. No doubt.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: All right, all joking aside, the developments this week with the Mueller investigation created some confusion and a lot of new questions, which brings us to our weekly segment "Cross Exam" with Elie Honig. He is here to answer your questions about legal news. Elie is a former federal and state prosecutor and now a CNN legal analyst.

You said your inbox almost crashed with so many questions. And the one on everyone's mind I think is, you know, will we actually see the Mueller report and what information might be kept from the public even if some of it is released?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So the main focus of our viewers questions this week was William Barr's four-page summary of the Mueller report. A lot of people are calling that a Cliff's Notes version of the Mueller report. I went and dug up --

CABRERA: Cliff's Notes.

HONIG: (Inaudible) Cliff's Notes.

CABRERA: I remember that.

HONIG: I won't ask you if you used them or not, but I will cop to using them when I was younger. But look, Cliff's Notes are 100 pages. These are pretty detailed.

[17:50:02] I mean, we learned this week that Barr's letter is four pages -- we saw it was four pages, and the Mueller report is 400 pages, so we're talking about one percent. That's how little of Mueller's report we've actually seem. William Barr announced late last week that we'd all be seeing some of the Mueller report by mid-April which is good. That's quick. That seems like a reasonable deadline.

Not one of the big questions is going to be what happens with grand jury information? William Barr said he's in the process of redacting out grand jury information. Now that means anything that Robert Mueller got by a subpoena. And we know that Robert Mueller served 2,800 subpoenas in this case.

That is 10 times more than I ever served in any case. So, if grand jury information comes out of this report, it is going to be redacted like crazy and I don't think people will accept it as a fully transparent version of the report.

CABRERA: One person who did not get a subpoena was President Trump and we've talked about this a lot because the question of obstruction of justice, I mean, that really speaks to that question if you were asked why do you think that he was not subpoenaed.

HONIG: This is one of the big mysteries I think that still lingers around this. Look, if we remember on the questions about Russian conspiracy, Mueller worked out a deal with Trump's team that they could take the written exam, the take home exam and they submitted written answers.

When it came to obstruction though, Trump's team took a hard line. And the quote from the lawyers was "over my dead body will I let Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani said this, go in and speak to Robert Mueller," for reasons I think we can probably understand.

That left Mueller with a choice. Either issue a subpoena and try to force Trump in or walk away and Mueller chose to walk away. And I think given where Mueller came out on obstruction that the evidence was so close he couldn't even make a decision, it's even more inexplicable.

I think this is one of the questions that lawmakers are going to focus on if and when they have William Barr and perhaps Robert Mueller in to testify on Capitol Hill.

CABRERA: We know there are still some ongoing investigations involving Roger Stone, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, perhaps others. One viewer wants to know, is it likely Mueller will refer ongoing investigations to the Southern District of New York and could Trump pardon any convictions that happen there?

HONIG: So yes and yes. And we actually found out for sure this week that there are other ongoing investigations that come off of Mueller's main mandate. A federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. talked about robust ongoing grand jury investigations. We know the Southern District has Michael Cohen and the inaugural and the Trump Org.

And even in his letter, William Barr says some of the information that he is redacting out relates to ongoing criminal investigations, plural. So, there are plenty more tentacles to come out of Mueller's work. Yes, the president can pardon charges out of any U.S. attorney's offices including the Southern District of New York. Those are federal charges the president can pardon federally.

CABRERA: But he can't pardon state charges --

HONIG: Correct.

CABRERA: that we know at least Paul Manafort's case there is some state investigation going on involving him.

HONIG: Yes.

CABRERA: What are your top questions for this week?

HONIG: So the House Democrats gave William Barr an April 2nd deadline to release the full Mueller report. That's Tuesday. Barr has now said we'll all get it probably the week after, he said by mid April. What are they going to do?

Nadler said if we don't get it by -- I'm sticking to April 2 -- if we don't get it by April 2, I'm issuing or him saying I'm issuing a subpoena, but he said I'm going to take action. So, I think its political feeder at this point from Nadler. Look, I don't think there's any problem with us waiting until mid April to get it. That's number one.

Number two, how are the House Democrats going to adjust their oversight strategy? Adam Schiff I think doubled down this week, right? He gave a speech about, do you think this is OK? Do we think this is OK? Maybe it is not up here, beyond a reasonable doubt of a crime, but do we think this is okay? So it looks like there will be some effort to continue digging in and counter veiling efforts to try to go down new roads.

And the last one is, is DOJ going to do anything about the president's request that now that he claims, falsely, I think, that he's been fully exonerated. Now, the other side, right? President Trump, he said we need to investigate the other side. Not clear who he means exactly by the other side. But if he means the people who opened this investigation, I see that as a huge problem.

I think that is the opposite of what the Department of Justice is about. And if our DOJ starts getting used to avenge personal or political problems that the president has, that is really the opposite of what having an impartial nonpolitical Department of Justice is about.

CABRERA: Elie Honig, as always, thank you sir.

HONIG: Thanks Ana.

CABRERA: If you want to learn more or ask your own questions, check out "Cross Exam" at CNN.com/opinion.

They put a man on the moon so what's the big deal about making enough space suits for women? Jeanne Moss has that story, next.

[17:55:00] (COMMECIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: When it comes to space suits, size matters. Here's Jeanne Moss.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOSS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you ask does my space suit make me look fat, the answer is yes, whether you're a man or a woman, but when it comes to two women.

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: Houston, we have a problem.

MOSS (voice-over): The problem being not enough size medium space suits on board for two women to take the first all-female space walk. Anne McClain and Christina Koch were scheduled to go outside and change some batteries on the International Space Station.

CHRISTINA KOCH, NASA ASTRONAUT: I'm kind of a geek at heart.

ANNE MCCLAIN, NASA ASTRONAUT: And I'm still a total nerd now, but hey, nerds get to go to space.

MOSS (voice-over): Anne got her first walk in space March 22nd with a male astronaut. She's the one wearing red stripes.

MCCLAIN: I have it oriented.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, you got it?

MOSS (voice-over): But with both women scheduled to go space walking Friday, there weren't enough size medium suits to go around. That launched snarky tweets like, "We can put a man on the moon but we can't put a woman in a space suit?" Even Hillary Clinton chimed in, "Make another suit."

MOSS (on camera): Some fun facts about space suits. First, they're not actually custom-fitted to each astronaut. The ones currently being used were designed over 40 years ago and could cost as much as $250 million to create a new suit from scratch.

[17:59:53] It turns out they do have a second size medium suit on board the Space Station, but prepping it takes time. They didn't think they'd need it because Anne trained on the ground wearing medium and large suits, but when she went on her first real space walk, she thought the medium fit.

END