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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Mandatory Evacuation Orders As New Fire Breaks Out Near L.A.; Trump Closes Federal DEI Offices, Puts Staffers On Leave; Elon Musk Slams Trump's $500b A.I. Project; JP Morgan Chase CEO On Trump Tariffs: "Get Over It"; Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Is Interviewed About White House In Talks For Jan. 6 Convicts To Meet With Trump. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired January 22, 2025 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: These DEI offices were given a deadline of 5:00 p.m. Eastern by President Trump after he signed an executive order banning DEI programs in the federal government, calling them, quote, "forced, illegal and immoral discrimination programs," unquote.
Plus, yesterday on this show, we brought you news of Trump's $500 billion AI announcement, which the president says will create up to 100,000 new jobs in the U.S. But now Elon Musk, the first buddy, is casting serious doubt on whether that's actually possible. Musk's latest comments plus what we're learning about Trump's other major economic plans for tariffs and what products you could theoretically immediately start paying more for.
Leading this hour, however, mandatory evacuations now underway as a new fire is quickly growing near Los Angeles. The Hughes fire. It's the first new wildfire since the deadly outbreak earlier this month and it is spreading at the rate of a football field burned every two to three seconds. Our teams are spread out covering this breaking news. Let's start with CNN's Veronica Miracle, who just arrived on the scene of the Hughes fire, which has already spread to 5,000 acres in just two hours, according to Cal Fire.
Veronica, tell us what you're seeing.
VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, it's already a massive fire. As were driving in on the five plume of smoke was massive and causing a massive traffic backup. But I want to get out of the way here so you can see the flames. We're standing at Lake Castaic Park. This is a park here.
And you can see the flames just on the other side of this lake. They've been doing water drops. They've been fighting this fire very intensely. We have seen so many firefighters rushing in.
But here's an interesting note. We were trying to get access to go over toward the flames, which in the state of California, you have to let media through. And they stopped us and we said, well, the only way you can stop us is if it's a crime scene. And they said, yes, that's exactly it. There's an arson investigator up there. That's according to the CHP officer that stopped us and wouldn't not let us through. So that's happening right over there on the other side. And I do want to show you just the proximity to homes here. Just over there, we saw people hosing down their roofs. There is mandatory evacuations.
They are asking people to leave, but people are staying behind. We have seen people rolling out suitcases trying to get out. The smoke is really bad. And right now the winds are rather calm. But there have been incredible gusts here.
So, we're going to be watching this to just make sure that these flames stay over on this side. And it is our hope that no embers travel over there to the homes. That is just such a fear. You know, the last couple of weeks have been incredibly difficult for Los Angeles and the whole community. Everybody is on edge right now.
Jake.
TAPPER: Josh Campbell, what can you tell us about what assets are in place to contain the fire? And what else can you tell us about the mandatory evacuations? Who's being told to leave?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, just to echo what Veronica said, this was the absolute last thing that we needed here in Los Angeles right now. We were in this period of a low after those deadly fires and Palisades as well as Eaton. We now see a lot of the resources that were attacking those fires now being brought here. If there's any good news in this terrible situation, as I step aside, you can see the plume of smoke behind me here at the L.A. bureau over near Castaic. If there's any good news is that those resources were already here on station, not just from California and neighboring states, but also assets from Canada as well as Mexico brought in to fight this fire.
Now, our colleagues at KCAL, our affiliate here in L.A., we've looked at some of their aerial footage they've described this attack. Essentially over on the west side is where the helicopters are up. They're doing their job. There's a nearby reservoir they're drawing water from trying to attack the fire. On this side, the opposite side of the fire is where we see those big heavy jets now being brought in.
CNN's transportation team has been monitoring multiple aircraft that are now on station that are going -- doing their drops and then going to try to refill and then try to get ahead of this fire. As he mentioned, evacuations are in place because this is moving toward the southwest, towards a heavily populated area. There are residents who have been told to mandatorily get out. Others have been giving this warning. But as we've seen just so much in these recent fires, this can happen very quickly where residents have no notice and all of a sudden this thing starts to balloon, as you mentioned, over 5,000 acres right now we've seen just in a few hours.
So certainly residents on edge, authorities telling people who are in the immediate area to get out, Jake.
TAPPER: Let's go to CNN's Chad Meyers in the CNN Extreme Weather Center.
Chad, we know winds in the area are at about 20 miles an hour. What impact are these winds having on the speed with which this fire has grown?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Quite a bit because all the little spot fires that we've had over the past couple of days have been just pounced on and it didn't get anywhere. Now this one, we had about a 35 mile per hour gust right at the fire start. But the difference is here today, Jake, you even have to think about this and what it means to your entire body. The relative humidity in the air is 7 percent. That's taking all the humidity, if there ever was any in the plants, ripping that humidity out and making them completely a flammable, just literally piece of paper.
[17:05:10]
Red flag warning. So, yes, it was windy. Here's up the Hughes fire. You have to go up the 405 from the Palisades fire up in here towards Santa Clarita. This is the area here along the lake.
Now, the fire over here in the lake, here's the Castaic Lake that they were talking about. The good news is the lake is in the way as long as embers don't jump over the lake and then into this i5 corridor where all the homes are. This is a recreation area where this started. Do we have 50 percent containment? Because there's 50 percent of it by the lake. I don't know.
Because if you have a 35 mile per hour gust, you can get that ember to go across a one mile lake. So, boy, we really have to worry about this and see if it's going to continue.
One thing also Josh was talking about is those very large tankers, DC10 aircraft carrying about 84,000 pounds of that retardant are flying back and forth in this dropping that red Phos-Check, dropping that retardant to get a fire line so that this doesn't go any farther to the west because the wind is blowing it that way. Can they get a good red line? A red line in the trees? That's what they're working for right now, trying to get this thing stopped.
TAPPER: All right, thanks all.
Let's talk right now on the phone with L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.
Chief, can you talk about the size and scope of the Hughes fire?
ANTHONY MARRONE, L.A. COUNTY FIRE CHIEF: Yes, we can. So, currently the fire is estimated to be 5,054 acres. We have zero percent containment. We're obviously battling these red flag winds 35 miles an hour with gusts even higher. We're concentrating on evacuation orders and evacuation warnings.
We don't want any more people in Southern California to lose their life due to fire. So we're trying to get people out of harm's way. But this fire is growing. It doesn't look like we're going to be able to contain it anytime soon. And we're just doing our very best for perimeter control and evacuation.
TAPPER: For residents in the affected areas, what is your guidance right now?
MARRONE: It would be to have your mobile devices on. Do not silence the evacuation warnings. They can go to the local media. They can also go to the L.A. county website to see where the evacuation orders are. But they should be receiving alerts.
We also have sheriff's deputies that are driving through neighborhoods that are under evacuation order using their PAs to notify people up to and including door knocks.
TAPPER: Do you know anything yet about how this fire started? I realize the question might be premature, but we're told it being investigated as a crime scene.
MARRONE: Yes. You know, we were advised the fire started at 10:42. Units of LA County Fire, along with other state and federal resources responded. We have a lot of fire equipment in Southern California in the Los Angeles County area. We do not know the cause origin of the fire, but the U.S. Forest Service, the Angeles National Forest where the fire started, will be tasked with investigating that.
TAPPER: Are you concerned, I'm sure you're concerned, but is this fire spreading particularly fast? This must be very worrisome.
MARRONE: Oh, yes, no, we're always concerned. I'm not going to feel good about this fire until we have 100 percent containment. We've had multiple fires in L.A. County over the last 16 days, you know, starting on January 7th. This is not common, it's January, but we do have some forecasted light to moderate rain for Saturday through Monday. We're just going to see if that rain comes to fruition.
TAPPER: Do you have the resources you need at this time to put out this fire?
MARRONE: Yes, we do. You know, we've had a lot of resources move into L.A. County. A lot of engine companies, a lot of camp crews. You talked about the international resources that came to our aid from Mexico, Canada and Israel.
It's not for a lack of resources. It's very erratic fire behavior driven by strong winds and we haven't had any appreciable rain since April of '24. So we're in a drought condition.
TAPPER: All right, well, best of luck and God bless the firefighters out there. L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Maroney, thanks so much for your time.
Let's go now to Robert Luna, the Los Angeles County Sheriff.
And Sheriff, a brand new fire just weeks after the deadly fires a few weeks ago. How is your agency responding?
ROBERT LUNA, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF: We're responding quickly and appropriately. I have several hundred deputies not only out there helping with the evacuation orders that are in place, where we approximate that 19,000 people are in the evacuation order area and 16,000 in the evacuation warning area. But something that I also wanted to bring to your attention is this fire is approximately three miles out from our pitches detention center. Three of our custody facilities, out of our seven, are up there. And we are in the process of evacuating one of those facilities that contains approximately 476 inmates.
[17:10:22]
So I have several hundred deputies assisting with that mission as well.
TAPPER: Looting was an issue last time. When families evacuated their homes, criminals broke in. Sometimes it looked like organized gangs of people like, not just crimes of opportunity. Is there a proactive plan to stop that this time around?
LUNA: You say this time around we were doing it last time as well.
TAPPER: Right. Fair enough.
LUNA: That is always something that we prioritize. But if we're in the middle of evacuating residences and trying to save people's lives, that is always primary. We're focused on saving lives. Property is important, and we will adjust our staffing to make sure that we don't have individuals doing that kind of activity. But be assured, just like we did last time, we arrested several people who were involved in that type of conduct.
And if you don't mind, because I am on the air right now, I want to emphasize to any viewers who are in this area, one, if you get an evacuation order, please leave immediately. Number two, if you get a warning, I would recommend you leave at that time as well. Gather all your medicines, your paperwork, important pictures, pets, those kind of things. Make sure you leave as soon as possible. You don't want to put anybody else's life in danger.
And for anybody who doesn't belong in this area, stay out. We have a lot of emergency vehicles traveling from the county of Los Angeles into assist, whether it's firefighting apparatus, other deputies coming into assist to evacuate. For all the people that I just talked about, a lot of things going on. And our people, I think, are doing a very good job.
TAPPER: L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna, thank you so much and best of luck to you and your officers.
Federal workers in any DEI or diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices are expected to be put on paid administrative leave as of 5:00 p.m. Eastern. So 12 minutes ago, after President Trump signed an executive order banning DEI programs. What comes next for these employees? What comes next for the goal of diversity?
Plus, he may be the first buddy, but Elon Musk is now casting some serious doubts on President Trump's latest economic announcement. And now the White House is responding. Stay with us.
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[17:16:41]
TAPPER: In our politics lead, as of 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, federal workers in any diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices or DEI offices were set to be placed on paid administrative leave. So, that has just happened after President Trump signed an executive order banning DEI programs in the federal government. Let's go straight out to CNN Chief White House Correspondent and Anchor Kaitlan Collins live at the White House.
Kaitlan, explain exactly what this means. Are those federal employees going to ultimately lose their jobs?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: That's the big question. It essentially seems like they are going to be either reassigned or basically laid off from their positions, Jake. What we do know is right now they are not going into the office. Because as of about 16 minutes ago, any employee who works on diversity inclusion or equity initiatives is not allowed to work, not allowed to report to work and go into the federal government. They are on paid leave, I should note.
That's an important part of this. They are still getting paid. But all of this is really, you know, just showing how quickly Donald Trump, as he regained the power of the presidency, is moving to demolish any of these initiatives across the federal government.
And I was reading through this memo when it came out late last night, Jake, and one thing that was really important and that stood out to me is it's very clear Donald Trump was going to do this if he won the election back in November. He had basically been telegraphing it nonstop on the campaign trail. He was posting about it on Truth Social. He talked about DEI at a lot of the rallies that I went to. And so it was clear he was going to do that.
But in this memo, they say that if employees see that anyone is trying to disguise or hide DEI programs within these federal agencies by changing the language of how they refer to them, that they need to report that to essentially the Office of Personnel Management, which is a very powerful office inside the West Wing. And they were saying that if you do report it, there are not going to be any adverse consequences, but if it's not reported within the next 10 days, then there will be. So basically telling these employees that if they notice their colleagues doing this, that they should report it to them so they can't hide these programs or try to file them away under something different or it's not very plainly obvious that this is what they are working on. So that's something to keep an eye on, Jake.
And it is still a big question of what's going to happen to these employees who were working on this, though certainly to them, it's not going to be a surprise.
TAPPER: How does this fit into promises President Trump made during the campaign? COLLINS: I think it's what he said he was going to do, Jake. But I do think, you know, the fact that they are on paid administrative leave, you know, add something to this. I was talking to one White House official earlier who was saying, well, they're still getting paid. It's not like they're out of the federal government or the federal government and taxpayer money is not being used for them. It certainly still is.
So I think that's a question when it comes to the powers that they have for a lot of these employees and whether or not they can just outright fire them and get rid of their jobs, because these employees do enjoy a certain part of protection. So that's really the big question of here's what this looks like now with this memo coming out, but what are the long term effects for these employees?
TAPPER: Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. And don't forget, you can watch even more of Kaitlan. She'll have more tonight on "The Source with Kaitlan Collins." It's tonight and every weekend at 9:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.
For more context and perspective, joining us now, CNN's Renee Marsh.
Renee, explain what do these DEI policies and offices actually do?
[17:20:05]
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we'll start off by saying that this story is so much larger than Washington, D.C. and the federal workforce. It has the ability to reverberate really across communities across the country, just because DEI has been so fully ingrained, not only in recruitment and training, but also in policies and grants that go out to states and local communities. We're talking about things like at the Health and Human Services, they have DEI funds that go specifically to increasing diversity in some of their cancer clinical trials because a lot of people within the medical field see a lack of diversity within these clinical trials. They also have initiatives for vaccine equity in rural communities, research that promotes maternal health equity, also minority owned business development, that is an initiative. Environmental justice grants and programs.
All of those are programs, initiatives that keep in mind underserved communities and make, whether it's grant payments or certain sort of focus on research because of the recognition that these are underserved communities. And as Kaitlan noted, this is all happening quite quickly.
I just want to show you the Treasury Department's website that was clear in their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. This is what it looked like before Trump was sworn in. And let's flash to what it looks like now here, Jake. If you click on that same link, it now says page not found. And we saw the same exact thing at the Labor Department.
And I would assume that eventually we will see this at all of the federal agencies that have web pages devoted to diversity, equity, inclusion all wiped clean, Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Rene Marsh, thanks so much.
Let's bring in our panel to discuss. So Republican Congressman James Comer, the chairman of the Oversight Committee, was on CNN earlier today. Here is why he says he supports President Trump's decision to close all federal DEI related offices. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): There are already rules on the books to discriminate. You can't discriminate against a pregnant worker. You have to accommodate them. That is the law. You cannot discriminate against a minority or someone that's too old.
These laws are written in. You cannot discriminate. So, we believe the DEI is just an unnecessary layer bureaucracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Bakari Sellers, what's your reaction to that?
BAKARI SELLERS, (D) FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA REPRESENTATIVE: No, I think that was a very elementary understanding of the value of diversity, equity and inclusion. I mean, you combine what Donald Trump did along with him revoking the executive order from LBJ din 1965 which prohibited businesses who had employees that were seeking federal contracts from discriminating against them based -- on the basis of race or sex. You have a very chilling effect, Jake. I mean, it's more than that. I think that we're having this robust discussion in this country right now about why diversity is important.
But when you have socioeconomic levels that continue to drift further and further apart between African Americans and their white counterparts, or one of the clearest examples is my wife nearly dying in childbirth and black women being three to four times more likely to die during childbirth than white women. That factors into all of these decisions and how the input creates the output, Jake. And so, you know, Make America Great Again has become make America 1964 again.
TAPPER: Tiffany, what do you think?
TIFFANY SMILEY, (R) FORMER WASHINGTON SENATE CANDIDATE: Yes, that's just simply not true. We live in the greatest country on earth where there is opportunity, diversity is welcomed. We are a melting pot that comes together in this country and there is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all. I think the bigger picture of this is that the federal government has spent billions of dollars on DEI. And the American people are asking, why was that money not spent on securing our border?
Why was that money not spent on helping homeless veterans or perhaps helping those people whose lives have been destroyed by natural disasters? Specifically in North Carolina, many are still waiting for relief. So this is, again, this is President Trump's promises made and promises kept. He campaigned on ending DEI discrimination within the federal government and turning -- returning America back to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skill, their talent and their work ethic. That's the picture of the American dream.
There's opportunity for all in this country and President Trump is delivering on that.
TAPPER: So Bakari, in October, Pew Research surveyed a group of American workers about DEI in the workplace. Pew described DEI as, quote, "efforts to hire employees of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, genders, age group, sexual orientations," unquote.
[17:25:02]
And astral general reactions, 52 percent surveyed in October said DEI is a good thing. That's down from 56 percent who said the same thing in February 2023, 26 percent said it's neither good nor bad, down from 28 percent, 21 percent said it's a bad thing, which is up from 16 percent. What do those numbers tell you?
SELLERS: I think that means that the overarching majority of Americans understand the value of diversity. I find it kind of bold and rich for Tiffany to say that my experiences weren't true. But one of the things about DEI that we need to understand and the value of diversity is you have places and individuals who grew up in places like food deserts, majority of which are African American. And that actually and poor. And that is something the USDA focuses on. African American maternal health, you know, the Veterans Hospital, access to those federal grants.
I mean, environmental injustices. Black folk and brown folk and poor folk who live in Brownsville or have to drink unhealthy water or breathe unclean air. And while I appreciate Tiffany's outlook that utopia is here, of Vivek earlier simply saying, we've reached the Promised Land. One day we will. Hopefully my children are here to see that.
But until then, promises made, promises kept is exactly what Donald Trump is doing, which is the discipline we have in the Democratic Party not having an organized pushback, and those black folk like Stephen A. Eric Adams, Snoop Nelly and others who have coddled him and allowed him to give him some space when he does things like this which diversely affect many people of color in this country.
TAPPER: Tiffany, what about the parts of departments and agencies that focus on, for example, disparities in maternal health or food deserts and the like? Is there still room to acknowledge that there are racial disparities in this country and that the federal government should work to continue to push equity?
SMILEY: Well, look, it's exactly what Representative Comer was talking about. A lot of these issues are already solved within the government, and the DEI component is just another layer of bureaucracy. So, you know, you could look at DEI even within our military. We need to get our agencies back and focused on what they're good at, not special interest projects. DEI has essentially rendered our military as less effective. It has one role, lethality and readiness. And Bakari, I wasn't negating, I never said that your journey and story was not true. All of us come from different walks of life and different backgrounds. And I think it's important to point out also that these federal employees are getting paid leave. I mean, that's incredible.
I didn't have that when I quit my job to fly to Walter Reed to help my husband who was hanging on for life serving our country. I never got back pay for anything. So I think we need to look at the bigger picture of this and where our country is headed. There is opportunity for all. We need the government to be efficient and effective and deliver results for the American people.
That is clearly why Donald Trump won. And Democrats should pay attention to what the American people are seeing and feeling. You know, leading up to the election, 78 percent of Americans said that they do not feel like their children's lives will be any better than theirs. That's a very dark place for Americans to be in this country.
TAPPER: OK, Tiffany Smiley and Bakari Sellers, thanks to both of you.
As President Trump threatens even more tariffs today, we're digging into what all of this means for your wallet and purse, what you could soon be paying more for, how soon those price hikes theoretically could go into effect. Stay with us.
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[17:32:35]
TAPPER: And we're back with our Money Lead. Is President Trump's first buddy, Elon Musk, trying to short circuit the President's big tech ambitions? Musk is now expressing serious doubts about the $500 billion A.I. project that the President just unveiled yesterday. In a series of tweets, Musk says the companies involved, quote, don't actually have the money. When asked about Musk's comments, the White House press secretary said this.
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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The American people should take President Trump and those CEOs words for it. These investments are coming to our great country and American jobs are coming along with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Let's bring in CNN's Phil Mattingly. Philip, do we really -- we -- do we think Musk is really -- is really uncertain about Trump's A.I. plan and what have the companies involved said about his comments?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: So it -- it's complicated in this sense. I think when you have somebody who operates in that space, like Elon Musk and has actually raised billion dollars -- billions of dollars for his own A.I. company, people in the market, certainly that I've spoken today, have concerns that perhaps this isn't actually a real thing.
Now, we should note the people involved with this process say they do have the capital to raise the $100 billion that they have pledged over the top -- over the course of the four years to reach 500 billion. They do expect to bring in other investors also use debt as well.
And that's where the second element comes in. And this is a critical one. Musk was responding to OpenAI's tweet announcing the deal. Musk has sued OpenAI several times. Keep in mind, he and Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, actually started OpenAI together. They used to be close. Musk, according to many people involved in his career, hates Sam Altman. They have a very real beef. Altman has not pursued that in any way, shape or form.
In fact, he has been the response we've gotten from OpenAI -- OpenAI responding to Musk on X saying, quote, wrong, as you surely know. Want to come visit the first site already underway. This is a great country. I realize what is great for the country isn't always -- isn't always what's optimal for your companies. But in your new role, I hope you'll mostly put America first.
So, going back and forth on X, but I think that the personal element here right now seems to be carrying the day more than the actual technology or funding element. Still, think about this, Jake, in any administration, it would be stunning to see a very close adviser of the president come out and really trash a massive deal that was announced in a big public setting just a few hours prior.
In Trump's administration, you never see that from a current official who's currently on his -- in his employment. We certainly saw that. What this means going forward, we don't know. We do know, though, Musk was in the Oval Office last night as Trump pardoned the founder of Silk Road. So their relationship obviously has gotten through a lot. So close.
[17:35:12]
TAPPER: Silk Road, yes, the dark web. Very interesting stuff. Phil Mattingly, thanks so much.
Also on our Money Lead, get over it. That's the message from JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon when talking about President Trump's tariffs plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE DIMON, CEO, JPMORGAN CHASE: Look, I look at tariffs, they are an economic tool. That's it. They're an economic weapon, you know, depending how you use it and why you use it, stuff like that. And you know, people argue, is it inflationary and non-inflationary. I would put in perspective. If it's a little inflationary, but it's good for national security, so be it. I mean, get over it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Dimon made those remarks to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. And that's where we find CNN's Richard Quest. Richard, what else are business leaders with whom you're speaking saying about these potential tariffs?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: Wait and see. Donald Trump's bark is worse than his bite. Watch what he does, not what he says. That is the mantra that everybody is using in Davos to try and justify away. So when Donald Trump comes out and says 25 percent on Canada and Mexico, wait and see what he actually does. Ten percent on China, wait and see what he actually does. That's how people are getting around the actual reality versus the possibility of what happens.
And that's what Jamie Dimon. It was classic Jamie Dimon, basically saying the pragmatism. If it comes, it comes, we'll deal with it. But I spoke to Gary Cohn, of course, was the former director of Donald Trump's National Economic Council, and I asked him about this issue, particularly on the question of when tariffs come in, prices go up for consumers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY COHN, FORMER DIRECTOR, TRUMP WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: At the end of the day, if you want to tariff something that you manufacture in your country to protect your workers and protect your -- your GDP, I understand that. But if you're going to tariff something that you import that your citizens want and you're just going to raise the price on it becomes a consumption tax. I have had a hard time understanding this concept.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: So squaring that circle because many people have a difficulty. On the one hand, you're going to have revenue coming into this new External Revenue Service. The importer exporter will pay it, but that's going to be passed on to the consumer. Jake, you and me will eventually pay it because otherwise the profits will go from the -- from the business.
TAPPER: You can pay it for me, Richard. Walk us through how these potential Trump tariffs will impact everyday purchases for Americans.
QUEST: All right, bring them up on the screen and you'll see exactly when it comes through, whether it beer or whether it be cars, whatever the -- whatever it might be that is being used, that is being sold, that is how it's going to be passed on. So, for example, cars from Mexico, $87 billion. Cars from Canada, 34 billion. Now that if you start tariffing those imports, eventually you and I are going to have to pay extra on top of it.
And the Mexico Canada border is a really good example because, Jake, the truth is that's also covered by the new NAFTA. There's supposed to be a treaty that prevents this sort of thing, but instead, that's where it's going to be. Look at Canada and you talk about gas. You're talking about a potential hike of 25 to 75 cents per gallon because if you tariff the gas, it gets put on to the price that you and I will pay. And finally, I think the last one we've got is beer or some, maybe some sort of food and drink. Again, overall, it's going to be put on, it's going to be paid by the importer and it'll be passed on to the consumer for all sorts of goods, estimating at 4.5 percent.
TAPPER: All right, Richard Quest and Davos, thanks so much.
We continue to monitor the new wildfire that has just erupted in Los Angeles County, burning an area the size of a football field every few seconds. The latest on efforts to contain the Hughes fire, that's ahead.
[17:39:18]
Plus, we're also going to go to Capitol Hill where January 6th rioters could soon be welcomed to meet with some House Republicans. We're going to get reaction from a lawmaker who was trapped in the House gallery during the attack of January 6th, 2021.
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TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, House Speaker Mike Johnson today told CNN that he wants to move forward, not look backward when it comes to the January 6th attack on the Capitol. But despite saying he didn't want to look backwards, Speaker Johnson later announced the creation of a new select subcommittee to, quote, continue to investigate the events preceding and following January 6th.
In the announcement, Johnson said, quote, house Republicans are proud of our work so far in exposing the false narratives peddled by the politically motivated January 6th Select Committee during the 117th Congress. But there is still more work to be done, unquote. My next guest was one of many trapped in the House. She was trapped in the house gallery on January 6th. Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar of Texas joins us now.
Congresswoman, what is your response to Speaker Johnson's actions today regarding January 6th, the establishment of this new subcommittee?
REP. VERONICA ESCOBAR (D-TX): Well, Jake, first, thanks so much for having me on. It's no surprise they are trying to rewrite history. And they are doing it not here on, you know, mainstream media. They're do -- they're rewriting history in places and spaces where misinformation and disinformation flourishes all over social media. And they're now going to make it official by forming a committee that attempts to rewrite that history.
They are complicit in what happened on January 6th through their failure to condemn the pardons of these violent insurrectionists. And I hope that America wakes up and understands what they're trying to do in terms of that rewriting of history.
[17:45:01]
TAPPER: Sources tell CNN that the Trump administration is discussing having some of these pardoned January 6th criminals come to the White House. The sources caution that nothing's set in stone. It's unclear which ones would be invited. We also know there are members of Congress who want to meet with some of the pardoned insurrectionists at the Capitol. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert said she'd be willing to give them a guided tour of the Capitol in the future. What's your reaction to all that?
ESCOBAR: It is shocking and dispiriting. You know, the -- you mentioned I was one of the members trapped in the gallery on that awful day. And what happened to my colleagues and to me still lives with us. But it pales in comparison to what happened to our Capitol Police officers. Many of those same Capitol Police officers were here protecting the Capitol and the President and his billionaires and his friends and his family members who are here on his inauguration day.
And they -- they pledged an oath. They fulfilled their oath. They keep their oath. They keep us safe. And they have been betrayed by the President. They have been betrayed by the Republican Party. And it is shameful. You cannot allow, we cannot allow Republicans to ever again say that they back the blue or that they are a law and order party, because they are not.
They not only support the pardon. I mean, you -- we really should have heard unanimity from members of Congress condemning the President's pardons, but not -- but you -- you mentioned Lauren Boebert and others who want to bring them into the fold and invite them in to the very place that they desecrated. Today, Stewart Rhodes was in the cafeteria with staff and members who were victims of his crime, just milling around and as if nothing had happened. It's -- it's terrible.
TAPPER: Stewart Rhodes is a -- is obviously one of the -- the leaders of the group. I think he's with the -- the Oath Keepers. Yes. Who -- who helped organize and strategize to the attack on the Capitol. On another issue I want to ask you about. The House just voted to pass the Laken Riley Act. As everyone knows, Laken Riley was brutally murdered by a Venezuelan migrant who was not in this country legally while she was out for a jog.
The legislation aims to empower federal authorities to detain illegal immigrants who have been arrested for theft and other crimes until they are deported. You said earlier today you plan to vote against it. Why? Why would you vote against that?
ESCOBAR: It is a really bad piece of legislation. And I -- I think that many people who voted for it will come to regret their support of it. First of all, it is important for the American people to know that undocumented immigrants who commit crimes are already deportable. There's, you know, no need to pass a law that already exists. But what Republicans did was they added on a component that empowers state attorneys general like my own in Texas, Ken Paxton, to essentially play a role in federal immigration law.
The -- so Ken Paxton will be able to sue the federal government. He'll be given standing to impact legal immigration and, in fact, stop some legal immigration. And it opens the door for states to really usurp the federal government on immigration. And so it -- it is a very, very bad piece of legislation.
And look, I've been on your show and many other shows before, during the last Congress and before talking about the need to reform our very outdated border policies and immigration laws. This doesn't fix a -- a broken system. This essentially makes a broken system worse.
TAPPER: Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, Democrat of Texas, thanks so much for joining us.
[17:49:12]
We're on the front lines as people are evacuating and firefighters are scrambling to contain another massive blaze near Los Angeles. Stay with us.
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TAPPER: Back to this hour's breaking news. Mandatory evacuations is a new wildfire. The Hughes fire is quickly growing near Los Angeles. Let's quickly bring back CNN's Josh Campbell. And Josh, you've learned a major L.A. area interstate has been shut down?
CAMPBELL: That's right. We're getting updates here by the minute. We're learning from the California Highway Patrol, Interstate 5, major north south freeway that services communities north of L.A. that -- where this fire is currently burning. Over my shoulder, you can actually see as we pan here, this plume of smoke just continues to billow this fire now over 5,000 acres.
Now, that freeway shutdown is for several different reasons. First, obviously, the fire concern, you know, moving in the direction of the freeway. But also there are multiple evacuation orders that are now in place. So people have to get out of that area at the same time that authorities continue to bring in additional assets in order to try to battle this blaze.
Sheriff Robert Luna here was speaking with our colleagues at Cake House saying that there were 19,000 people under mandatory evacuation, about 15,000 people that have received evacuation warnings asking the public to take this very seriously. Of course, as we've been saying, this comes at, you know, the worst possible time because we thought were in this lull here in Los Angeles after those deadly fires and Palisades and near Altadena that scorched thousands and thousands of acres.
[17:55:00]
But now after that lull, we see this incident now occurring, authorities say remains under investigation as far as why this started. Their first focus right now is on preserving life. There are a host of resources up near that area right now trying to attack that blaze, including a multitude of aircraft, helicopters, as well as those big jets that are dropping retardant, dropping water, trying to get a hold on this fire, trying to stop the spread, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Josh Campbell, thanks so much. Keeping up a long standing tradition, President Biden left a letter for his successor. What did he have to say to Mr. Trump? That's next.
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TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, President Trump today shared what he called a nice inspirational type letter that former President Biden left for him in the Oval Office. Part of the letter reads, quote, the American people and people around the world look to this house, the White House, for steadiness in the inevitable storms of history. And my prayer is that in the coming years will be a time of prosperity, peace and grace for our nation.
[18:00:10]
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The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer right next door in a place I like to call The Situation Room. I'll see you tomorrow.