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Trump Warns Tariffs On China Are Coming As Soon As February 1; Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) On Affidavit Detailing New Allegations Against Hegseth; Trump: Putin "Destroying" Russia By Not Making Ukraine War Deal. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 22, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:10]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So President Donald Trump is warning more tariffs could be coming next week -- this time against China. The president threatening now to unleash a wave of higher taxes on imports from America's second-biggest trading partner.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're talking about a tariff of 10 percent on China based on the fact that they're sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada.

REPORTER: How soon -- how soon on those tariffs?

TRUMP: Uh, probably February first is the date we're looking at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And those -- that comes just a day after he also had threatened to -- again to slap a 25 percent tariff come February first on Mexico and Canada.

And when it comes to China, just a reminder that during the campaign Donald Trump promised as much as a 60 percent tariff on all goods coming from there. So stand by to stand by -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning members of the intelligence community raising the alarm after President Trump announced some incoming White House staffers could soon have access to top secret information before being fully vetted. Trump issued the temporary security clearances blaming in part stalled background checks.

CNN national security reporter Zach Cohen is joining me now. Zach, is this a consequence of the Trump administration failing to file administrative paperwork as we heard as he was coming into office, or is this really about a bureaucratic backlog for security clearances that Trump is blaming?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Sara. President Trump is obviously blaming the Biden administration and career officials for this so-called backlog in delays in processing these security clearances for incoming White House officials.

But the reality is that the Trump transition team and DT's incoming team waited until the last minute to submit the names of these staffers for vetting and submit the proper paperwork to do so. One source put it to me this way. You can't start the process until you have the paperwork. And again, the Trump team waiting until the last second to do so.

And that created a problem. Officials involved in the vetting process really working in that week leading up to inauguration to process the names and the paperwork that they did have. Some turning around these vet - this vetting process in about 24 hours. So it shows you the pace at which they were really trying to hustle to get these people vetted and cleared.

But ultimately, on his first day in office, Donald Trump issuing this order and saying look, it doesn't matter if you've been fully vetted or maybe you're not even vetted at all. I'm going to grant you a temporary six-month security clearance, which would give some of these White House officials access to the most closely guarded secrets despite the fact that basic vetting has not been done on them.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you, sort of, what the risk is here? What you're hearing from members of the intelligence community, both current and former?

COHEN: Yeah. Sources did describe a variety of risks, including that foreign intelligence partners -- allies of the United States may restrict what intelligence they share with the U.S. knowing that these people are in place in the Trump administration and knowing that they have access to highly classified information but that have never gone through the vetting process.

The other problem and issue potentially that this raises is that these individuals have not been vetted for potential security vulnerabilities. That raises a really big counterintelligence concern and something our source had described as really the primary issue here.

SIDNER: All right, Zachary Cohen. Thank you for your reporting on this -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: There are new allegations this morning against the president's pick to be defense secretary. Pete Hegseth now accused of being abusive against an ex-wife. This comes from an affidavit given to the Senate Armed Services Committee by Hegseth's former sister-in- law Danielle Hegseth.

CNN has obtained a copy of that affidavit which reads in part -- from Danielle Hegseth -- "I have chosen to come forward publicly, at significant personal sacrifice, because I am deeply concerned by what Pete Hegseth's confirmation would mean for our military and our country."

[07:35:00]

Now, in this one statement, Danielle Hegseth also said that Samantha Hegseth, at times, feared for her safety and had a code word if she needed help to get away from her husband. Danielle Hegseth says Samantha used the code word in a text to her in either 2015 or 2016.

Now, an attorney for Hegseth denies the allegation, but let's talk about this.

Joining us right now is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. Senator, thank you for being here.

What is your reaction to this new allegation?

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): Hi, Kate.

Kate, it's completely consistent with other material that the committee had available to us and other witnesses who have come forward who have shared their own experiences -- their direct knowledge of this situation -- with committee members.

Now, many of them have been too afraid to go public, but Danielle Hegseth, who I did not know, not met, or not talked to her until I saw this affidavit yesterday. Her account is very consistent with other accounts we're hearing.

And that's why we are encouraging our colleagues don't rush on this one. We think this latest confirmation of erratic and irresponsible behavior by Pete Hegseth would make him very, very dangerous as the Secretary of Defense, and we need to get to the bottom of these allegations before we try to rush a confirmation vote.

BOLDUAN: I want to remind people of some of your line of questioning of Pete Hegseth that got a lot of attention when it happened during his confirmation hearing. Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAINE: Did you ever engage in any acts of physical violence against any of your wives?

PETE HEGSETH, TRUMP NOMINEE FOR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Senator, absolutely not.

KAINE: But you would agree with me that if someone had committed physical violence against a spouse that would be disqualifying to serve as Secretary of Defense, correct?

HEGSETH: Senator, absolutely not have I ever done that.

KAINE: You would agree that would be a disqualifying offense, would you not?

HEGSETH: Senator, you're talking about a hypothetical.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Pete Hegseth denies that allegation, denies this new allegation. You said it was confirmation of behavior.

Samantha Hegseth, the ex-wife in question with this affidavit, told NBC News "There was no physical abuse in my marriage. This is the only further statement I will make."

What do you do with that, Senator?

KAINE: Well, she said physical abuse. She didn't say there was no abuse. There's all kinds of abuse. People who undergo abuse by a spouse are very aware that abuse can come in many forms.

The affidavit alleges physical abuse. Samantha Hegseth says there was no physical abuse, but she characterized it that way in her affidavit.

What we have is this. We have a Secretary of Defense whose two marriages broke up because of serial infidelity. He would not say spousal abuse was a disqualifying offense. That was an easy question, Kate. I asked him if a sexual assault would be a disqualifying offense. He would not say that it was.

I asked him whether publicly being impaired at the workplace because of alcohol would be a disqualifying offense. He would not say it was.

When you ask somebody a question that's very simple about something that should be a disqualifying offense and they won't agree that it is, then it makes you go back and look at the allegations made against that individual.

We've got to take these things seriously. This is not a minor post. And the witnesses' categorical denials, which are frankly in contrast with what we're hearing from witnesses and his refusal to acknowledge that these serious kinds of allegations would be disqualifying if true should make the senators really take the time before they vote on confirmation.

The Republicans are trying to rush this through potentially over the weekend. Don't rush it. Take a look at this and see whether this is an individual who is fit to lead the strongest military in the world.

BOLDUAN: Do you have any sense yet that this is swaying any Republicans to oppose Hegseth in terms of the -- his full vote?

KAINE: I haven't -- Kate, I can't -- I can't really speak for my Republican colleagues. I do know this. A number have said that they would support him unless other allegations come out and they've qualified their support based on the record as it is.

Well, this latest report -- and I believe there could well be others because what happens is when you have a hearing like this, and somebody denies behavior folks watching the hearing who are aware of the behavior then start to come forward. Well, wait a minute. You denied something that I know to be true.

I think that's why Danielle Hegseth came forward. Again, I don't know her, and I've not spoken with her, but why would this affidavit be filed now? She saw Hegseth deny that he had ever done anything wrong but then refused to say it would be disqualifying if he had. And that's why she's come forward. And, you know, I think there might be others as well.

BOLDUAN: Also, we have learned -- again, sitting on the -- considering the committee you sit on and what you cover, we've learned that the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard was just fired -- removed. And the way it's described as is "over leadership deficiencies and operational failures."

[07:40:00]

A DHS official told CNN that Admiral Linda Fagan's "failure to address border security threats and excessive focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies is also what led to it."

What's your reaction to this news?

KAINE: Um, I'm very troubled by it and other moves that the president is taking with the military in the first day or so.

You saw the president was -- you know, was really focused on a day one activity of removing the portrait of Gen. Mark Milley who was the previous head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He wanted to remove that portrait from the walls of other heads of the Joint Chiefs of the Pentagon. That was important for him to do on day one.

Remember, this was a president who is the only president that I'm aware of who ever vetoed a defense bill. He vetoed a defense bill in 2020 because he didn't like renaming bases that had been named after Confederates. So he didn't like rewriting history but then on his first day he wanted to rewrite history by removing Gen. Milley's portrait.

I think that, the firing of the head of the Coast Guard, and other actions that he's taking -- the Hegseth nomination -- demonstrate a desire to politicize the military. The nation's military should not be politicized.

BOLDUAN: You talked to my colleague Manu Raju about all of the pardons that are happening, and you caught my attention. You said in -- that you were disappointed over President Biden's preemptive pardons in his final minutes of several of his families.

Do you think that move by Biden eliminated the moral high ground over criticizing Donald Trump's pardons of January 6 defendants?

KAINE: Um, Kate, I was disappointed. I don't think you should pardon family members. I didn't think he should have pardoned Hunter or family members. There's a difference between preferential treatment for family and condoning criminality.

You know where I'm standing. Right behind me here and just down one or two levels is the Delaware door where a friend of mine Howie Liebengood, who is a Virginian, worked here as a Capitol police officer for 15 years after having grown up in the building. His dad was the sergeant at arms. He was here on January 6.

After the attack on this place that had been a pillar of his life, he used his service revolver to die by suicide a couple of days after the attack because of the attackers that Donald Trump unleashed on this place.

The fact that he would pardon people who are responsible for my friend who was a Virginian's death -- so many of them who committed criminal behavior just condones future criminality.

I wasn't happy with the Biden family pardons but they are -- they're infinitely different and of lesser magnitude than the pardons of January 6 protesters who attacked this democracy because President Trump urged them to.

BOLDUAN: Senator Tim Kaine, thank you for coming in -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning President Trump's promise of mass deportations causing panic and anxiety among immigrant communities. The administration issued new directives, including one that would let authorities arrest people near and inside places that had previously been considered off limits. That includes schools and churches.

CNN's Ed Lavandera visited one Texas city now preparing for these raids.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

T.J. FUNDERBURG, PRINCIPAL, CACTUS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Good morning, Cactus Elementary.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Every school day at Cactus Elementary starts like this.

(National Anthem playing).

Moments of patriotism --

(Students saying Pledge of Allegiance).

-- and reflection with a high energy dose of inspiration from principal T.J. Funderburg.

STUDENT: And why are we here?

STUDENT BODY: To learn!

LAVANDERA: You do that every morning?

FUNDERBURG: Yes, sir.

LAVANDERA: When I looked out on the student body this morning -- I mean, it's quite something to think that we're in the Texas Panhandle and that's what your student body looks like.

FUNDERBURG: It's always very eye-opening to people that come here. We've got 13-14 different languages, all these different cultures represented -- and yeah, we're up here in the heart of the Texas Panhandle. Everybody would think it would be farming-ranching country and kids in cowboy hats, and we've got just about a little bit of everything.

LAVANDERA: The population in Cactus, Texas is about 3,000 people, but the diversity is staggering. There's an African restaurant -- Safari Restaurant and Halal Meat. There's an Asian grocery store. There's a Mexican butcher shop. There's a Guatemalan grocery. There's also an Islamic center.

What draws so many immigrants and migrants here to a community like this is the work -- and it is brutal, back-breaking work. There is a meat processing plant that runs 24 hours a day. There are dairy farms that run nonstop.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): These are the kinds of jobs that the United States economy and food supply rely on every day. It's also the kind of work that only immigrants, by and large, are willing to do.

There are towns like Cactus, Texas all over the country. And with President Donald Trump promising to carry out mass deportations a sense of fear and uncertainty looms over these streets.

[07:45:05]

LAVANDERA: What are you hearing specifically from people?

ELIZABETH OLIVEROS, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Um, they -- well, they're scared. They don't know if they're going to be able to stay here, you know? A lot of them have been here for decades. They've built their lives here. Their kids are here. You know, everyone they know is here.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): Elizabeth Oliveros grew up in Cactus, the daughter of immigrants who became citizens and earned their living working in the city's meat processing plant. She went away to college and became a lawyer and moved back to Cactus to work as an immigration attorney.

LAVANDERA: If there were to be mass deportations here in this city what would happen to it?

OLIVEROS: It would be quite empty, I think. There's a lot of people here that don't have status that keep a lot of the businesses -- the smaller businesses around here running. So if immigrants leave, I don't know where they're going to find workers as hardworking as some of the immigrants.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): As we walked the streets of Cactus it was clear that most residents, regardless of their immigration status, didn't want to speak with us on camera and especially didn't want to talk about President Trump's deportation dreams.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I'm -- I don't like politics. I don't like.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): The fear among many in this town and other agricultural communities across the country is that vital food production would be paralyzed and communities torn apart.

The meat processing plant here says it only hires people authorized to work. Under different management in 2006, the plant was raided by immigration authorities. About 300 people suspected of identity theft or being in the country illegally were detained -- many of them deported.

Elizabeth Oliveros remembers the day clearly.

OLIVEROS: I was in elementary school, and I remember they had to keep us because they didn't know how many of us -- our parents were gone. And a lot of my friends -- their parents were gone.

LAVANDERA: Wow.

OLIVEROS: They got deported.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): The children at Cactus Elementary are mostly oblivious to the political storms brewing outside these school walls. Principal T.J. Funderburg is bracing for whatever comes next.

FUNDERBURG: It's just the unknown --

LAVANDERA: Right.

FUNDERBURG: -- the scares me to death.

LAVANDERA (voiceover): He says as many as half the kids in the school could have undocumented family members. These are the kinds of places where the reality of mass deportations could play out.

LAVANDERA: To the people who are going to be making these decisions about deportations -- whether it's mass deportations, just broad or targeted -- what's your message to them?

FUNDERBURG: Just -- I mean, come talk to me. Come meet these kids. I think -- you know, I know there has to be -- there has to be rules, there has to be checks, there has to be balances, but it can't just be paper. This community of people that have come together and that are here now from all these different countries, all these different places, we can do amazing things if we work together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: Our thanks to Ed Lavandera for that insightful piece.

All right. Ahead, a possible break in the series of burglaries at the homes of pro athletes. Was this the work of a transnational gang? A routine traffic stop may lead to some answers. That story and more ahead.

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[07:53:25]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning what could be a break in the investigation into burglaries at the homes of several pro athletes. Authorities are looking into see if four Chilean men arrested in Ohio at a traffic stop are tied to the break-in at the home of Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

CNN sports anchor Coy Wire is with us now. What are you hearing on this, Coy?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, John. Good morning to you.

This big break could be coming because of an old shirt and a ball cap. While Burrow -- his name wasn't mentioned explicitly, authorities in Clark County, Ohio say officers found LSU attire and Bengals gear in the suspects' car when they were pulled over for a traffic violation back on January 10. The Bengals QB Burrow played his college ball at LSU.

Now, according to the affidavit, officers also found two center hole punches -- tools typically used in burglaries.

The men all face charges, including patterns of corruption and gang activity. Police also say all four are in the U.S. illegally, which could tie into the larger picture. Investigators say they've arrested members of at least six South American burglary organizations, five based in Chile.

Burrow is one of at least nine pro athletes whose homes have been targeted in recent months -- even prompting the FBI to send a message to teams and players warning them about the break-ins.

Let's get to some highlights.

In the NHL, we had some role reversals by the Rangers last night against the Ottawa Senators. First up, Matt Rempe, better known for roughing up the opponent but shows he's got the scoring touch, too. Slick move burying his first goal of the season to go up 3-0 in the third.

[07:55:00]

Then Igor Shesterkin gets in on the act, John. The Rangers' goalie doing his best Rempe impersonation throwing down the gloves and getting into it with Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk after Tkachuk went a little too hard into the net.

The Rangers win 5-0.

Make sure to tune into the NHL on TNT and Max tonight as the reigning Stanley Cup champs Florida Panthers take on the Kings in L.A. Puck drop at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

And John, congrats to three baseball legends being elected into the Hall of Fame. Mariners' legend Ichiro Suzuki, all-star closer Billy Wagner, and CC Sabathia.

BERMAN: All worthy. Ichiro -- never seen a player like that in my life.

Coy Wire, great to see you. Thank you very much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. President Trump is taking a harsher stance on Russia as he's trying to make good on his promise to end the war in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: You called for a ceasefire in Ukraine. If Vladimir Putin doesn't come to the table to negotiate with you, will you put additional sanctions on Russia?

TRUMP: It sounds likely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: He went on to say that Russian President Vladimir Putin is destroying his country by not making a deal. And China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin held a virtual summit just hours after Trump took office with Xi promising that China and Russia relations will "continue to glow with new vitality."

Joining us now, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, John Herbst. Thank you so much for being here.

Lots of developments in this on Trump's first full day and now what will be his second full day in office.

He has changed his tone with Russia from complimenting Putin to being critical, saying Putin is destroying Russia by not making a deal. And you heard there that sanctions could be possible.

How do you think Putin is going to respond to this kind of messaging?

JOHN E. HERBST, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE, SENIOR DIRECTOR, ATLANTIC COUNCIL'S EURASIA CENTER (via Skype): It's pretty simple. Putin has not changed his objectives vis-a-vis Ukraine, which is to take effective political control of the country.

If Trump, in fact, pursues this initiative diligently, designed to stop the war and to keep -- let Ukraine survive and even have security and prosperity, that's objectionable to Putin.

So Trump is now coming to terms with the fact that Putin is not interested in real compromise, where Zelenskyy has said that he's willing to accept territorial compromise.

SIDNER: I want to ask you about this because it's been said so many times by President Trump. He has promised he will end the Russia- Ukraine war in one day -- in just 24 hours.

What is the reality here?

HERBST: Well, I think has begun to connect with reality on the timing when he said a couple of weeks ago this could take three or six months. And I think he's now saying -- he's asking Ambassador Kellogg to do this within 100 days. I think that's also extremely ambitious. It took two years to create a ceasefire that ended the hostilities in the Korean War 70 years ago.

If Trump wants a fast and durable peace -- and he says he wants a durable peace -- he's going to have to ratchet up pressure on Putin substantially. Not just sanctions but he needs to let Putin know that American aid to Ukraine will continue. Because Putin believes he can continue, albeit at the horrendous loss in Russian and North Korean lives, to take more Ukrainian territory.

If we make clear that we're going to help Ukraine stop further Russian advances on the battlefield Putin may have -- may have incentive to seek a real peace.

SIDNER: All right. I do want --

HERBST: And right now he doesn't have it.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you, Ambassador, about the entrance of China and its impact on all of this. President Xi Jinping has vowed to take his country's ties with Russia to a new height, and the two countries are saying look, we're pushing towards a new world order.

How could China play a role in this, and does it make it more difficult for the United States and its involvement?

HERBST: There's no question that Chinese backing for this Russian aggression has enabled Putin to continue even when he was unable to achieve a quick victory.

You know, the Chinese are supporting the Russian economy. The Chinese are sending dual use technology, which has military application.

It's worth remembering that the previous administration also thought they could persuade China to tell Russia to stop its aggression, and they failed. I suspect that the Trump administration may try, and they will have the same result. China is not interested in ending Putin's war in Ukraine.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you what you would advise Donald Trump to do as he is trying to end this war. What could a deal look like?

HERBST: We've seen unofficially elements of a Russian -- excuse me, of a Trump proposal. They demand compromise from the Ukrainians and that compromise includes giving up some territory -- at least de facto. And at least a moratorium for 20 years on possible Ukrainian membership in NATO.