Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump To Make First Major Speech To Global Business, Political Leaders; Trump Targets Federal Employees Involved With DEI Practices; President Trump Announces Withdrawal From World Health Organization. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 23, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:10]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening today, President Trump is going to Davos virtually though. He's expected to address the World Economic Forum later this morning delivering his first major speech to global leaders and political leaders since returning to the White House. His appearance at the conference comes as he threatens to unleash a wave of higher taxes on imports from America's second-biggest trading partner, China.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is joining me now. He says he going to consider this 10 percent across-the-board tariff on all Chinese goods as early as February. We've also heard him say he's going to put tariffs on Mexico and Canada --

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Um-hum.

SIDNER: -- as early as February 1.

YURKEVICH: Yeah.

SIDNER: What could this mean for consumers in the United States?

YURKEVICH: Well, ultimately, it's a tax and ultimately, U.S. consumers will end up paying that tax. So you can expect eventually, if this goes into effect, for us all to be paying a little more than we're used to.

So here's the proposal from the president. Ten percent by February 1 -- a blanket tariff on all imports from China coming into the United States. Right now there are currently taxes -- tariffs on Chinese imports on things like electric vehicles, steel and aluminum. These are things that are coming into the country that ultimately U.S. businesses and, at the end of the day, consumers pay for.

What is currently exempt from tariffs are things like cell phones, computers, TVs. These are things that we all use --

SIDNER: Right. YURKEVICH: -- every single day. We don't see a tariff on this right now. But that could change under this proposal and that's going to be very important for U.S. consumers. Because if you look at just how much we bring in from China the top goods that we bring in -- cell phones, TVs, computers, tablets -- you see it all there. And then, of course, things like toys, jewelry, sporting equipment. So these will all likely be hit with that 10 percent tariff.

And for the consumer who is already paying a little bit more for everything --

SIDNER: Yeah.

YURKEVICH: -- that's going to be added to the cost.

In terms of what China is saying about this, they don't want a trade war obviously because we buy so much from them. The Chinese Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs -- a spokesperson saying we always believe that there is no winner in a trade war or tariff war. China will always firmly safeguard its national interests.

So ultimately, they don't want a trade war but it's up to President Trump. He says he's going to go forward with this on February 1.

SIDNER: But prices -- that was a big reason why Americans put Donald Trump in office, you know. How soon might Americans feel the pinch of this?

YURKEVICH: It won't be a light switch on February 1 because a lot of the bigger retailers kind of saw this coming so they brought in merchandise early to try to stave off these higher prices. But for a smaller business they don't have the capacity to bring in so much merchandise early and stockpile. So for the smaller businesses they're going to feel it quicker and then they're going to pass it down ultimately to the consumer if they simply can't absorb those costs.

SIDNER: We will see if this threat comes to fruition.

Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much for explaining all of that and how it impacts regular people -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Today on Capitol Hill, a key procedural vote to advance the nomination of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. This comes as CNN has learned that Hegseth's ex-wife gave a new statement to the FBI about his alcohol use. One source familiar with her statement says Samantha Hegseth told the FBI, "He drinks more often than he doesn't."

With us now, CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod, and Republican strategist Doug Heye.

I don't want to spend too much time on this Doug, but I do want to ask you quickly, new information here. Maybe we'll find out more about it, maybe we won't.

But what would it take at this point for something to derail, in your mind, the Hegseth nomination?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think what we would need is very verifiable information and full releasing from FBI reports. What we've heard is obviously troubling but not troubling to the overwhelming majority of Republican senators.

And if the vote were held today Pete Hegseth would get through. It would probably be a 50-50 vote -- maybe 51-49 or a 51-50 vote because J.D. Vance would -- as vice president would have to vote.

But if there's not anything that is truly verifiable Republicans will find a fig leaf that they need to support him.

BERMAN: All right, I want to move on to other issues here. And I want to read a section of the memo that went out to federal agencies -- employees at federal agencies yesterday about basically rooting out DEI practices, processes, individuals.

It said to everyone in the government, "There will be no adverse consequences for timely reporting this information" -- as is, is there any DEA (sic) operation in this agency. "However, failure to report this information within 10 days may result in adverse consequences."

In other words, if you get caught not telling on someone, you're in trouble.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Yeah.

BERMAN: Now, I'm not asking about this specifically David, but speaking with you back up 50,000 feet. You see something bigger going on here in the first few days of this Trump administration.

[07:35:05]

AXELROD: Well, I think what we see is pretty clear. This is Trump unchained. He's beaten back all of these obstacles -- the greatest comeback in American political history. And he's in his final term, presumably, and I think he feels completely unconstrained. He's going to do whatever the hell he wants. And his priorities in this first 48 hours has been really sort of a MAGA pyrotechnic show.

The thing that's curious to me -- you know, we heard this conversation with Sara and Vanessa earlier -- is people did not actually elect him to do some of the things that he's done. They certainly didn't elect him to pardon the J-6 people -- this notion that somehow that was adjudicated in the election -- no.

People voted for him because their costs were too high. Yes, they were worried about the border. I think there will be some broad approval for muscular border security. But at the end of the day, they're still concerned about the price of eggs -- which are going up, by the way -- and all of their groceries. And at some point, they're going to say wait, what about us?

And I was really shocked, frankly, that he didn't spend more time in his inaugural address and all the other addresses he made that day, and in his interview, and so on, saying this is a real focus of mine. I want to get these costs down. Some of the things he's doing are going to send costs up if he actually follows through on them.

So I think for him, he is -- he may feel immune, but Republicans who have to run in 2026 may feel less so.

BERMAN: What about that, Doug -- the idea that he's leaning into the things he was elected in spite of rather than because of?

HEYE: Yeah. Look, it's obviously been a Trump 2.0 -- really, an extension of how he -- how he campaigned and how he governed the first time with, as David said, unchained, unshackled, and all of that.

But I would -- I would tell my Democratic friends stop following the bouncing ball that Donald Trump does on purpose. Donald Trump is a matador, and he waves a red cape, and Democrats in the media always follow it.

And look, I'm sickened by the pardons of violent criminals and that obviously is something that should be looked at and discussed.

But voters are still saying here is why -- here's what we care about. We care about what things cost, to David's point. We care about the situation at the border. Those are the things that Democrats should be focused on if prices go up with tariffs and maybe some of the other Trumpy things that he's doing in the administration.

So the DEI stuff on staffing -- you know, that doesn't really speak to everyday American concerns. But we do see the hiring freeze impacting the Veterans Administration. Doug Collins, who is an old friend and former member of Congress, is the nominee. He'll be having hearings soon.

That's an opportunity for Democrats to go back to that line that Donald Trump used very effectively in the campaign where he said that Kamala Harris is for they/them. I'm for you. This is an opportunity for Democrats to say we're focused on voters and what they need.

AXELROD: I didn't know matadors bounced balls, but that's a different -- that's a different question.

HEYE: Capes -- capes and balls. Mixed metaphors.

AXELROD: No. I think -- I think he -- Doug's absolutely right. Democrats should not chase every shiny object and should be focused on the things that voters were focused on.

My -- the point I was raising is Trump's not really focusing on the things that voters were focused on other than the border --

HEYE: Um-hum.

AXELROD: -- which was something that he very much is focused on.

And, you know -- but the vengeance stuff, the parole -- more than anything, I think people look at it and say what does this have to do with me?

BERMAN: And when do you think that would manifest itself or metastasize politically?

AXELROD: Well, I think he has a grace period, for sure. And let's be clear. Donald Trump is the greatest marketer, salesman, spinner that we've seen in -- because he has no audacity. He has all this incredible audacity about it. And so -- and he now has means of communicating -- Elon Musk and the social media. So he is -- he is sort of at the zenith of his spinning power. But you can't really spin what happens at the grocery store and that's going to be harder for him.

If I were advising him, and I am not, I would say let's focus a little bit more on the reason you got elected.

BERMAN: David Axelrod, Doug Heye, thanks to both of you -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are continuing to follow the breaking news this morning. Two new wildfires in Southern California and an evacuation warning has now been lifted though for the Bel Air neighborhood after a brush fire exploded late last night.

The Sepulveda Fire threatened the northbound lanes of the 405 just across from the Getty Center even.

This comes as the powerful winds that we've seen that have just -- would not -- have not let up -- they have picked back up triggering a high wind warning from the National Weather Service.

[07:40:00]

Let's get the very latest on that from CNN's meteorologist Allison Chinchar. She's standing by with more on this. What are you seeing with this -- with the fires, with the winds -- where this -- what the -- what the forecast looks like?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right. So the forecast does still include those high winds for today. They get a little bit weaker as we go into Friday. And then finally maybe, yes, some rain chances as we get into the weekend. But we've got the short-term concerns.

Here you can see the Hughes Fire that just exploded yesterday. This is just to the very far northwest of Los Angeles. This, the second fire that also began to develop. This is just to the northwest -- very, very close to Los Angeles. Here you can see it over that highway. You can see the sparks off in the distance.

We have five different fires that we are keeping a close eye on, none of which at this point in time are at 100 percent containment. The conditions today are going to make it a little bit more difficult for those firefighters.

Look, you can see already we've got some wind gusts up around 60 to 70 miles per hour in some places. You have the red flag warnings. This is valid not only for today but also into early Friday morning. The wind gusts on the north side about 55 to 65 miles per hour. Farther south, 60 to 70. You've got those high wind warnings, especially as we go through the rest of the day today.

But again, the good news is we finally will start to see some rain in the forecast for the weekend.

BOLDUAN: Some good news there. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Have you noticed you've picked up a couple of new friends on Instagram? Well, there's a reason for that. Why Meta says some users are now following the president and vice president without ever requesting to follow them. That story is ahead.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:46:20]

BOLDUAN: New this morning the Trump administration is sending a shockwave through the world of scientific research. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health received an email yesterday halting all grant approval meetings. NIH is the largest funder of biomedical research in the world. These research committees are panels of experts that advise the government on its regulatory decisions, including which grants and proposals should get funding.

The full impact of this move -- it is not yet known. Contacted by CNN though, a spokesperson for HHS characterized it as "...a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization."

This isn't the only public health disruption coming from the Trump administration so far. The president, in one of his first acts after inauguration, withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So we paid $500 million to World Health when I was here, and I terminated it. China, with 1.4 billion people. We have 350 -- we have -- nobody knows what we have because so many people came in illegally. But let's say we have 325. They had 1.4 billion. They were paying $39 million, and we were paying $500 million. It seemed a little unfair to me. So that wasn't the reason, but I dropped out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The United States is the largest contributor to the World Health Organization and China far below that.

Joining us now is Elisha Dunn-Georgiou, president and CEO of the Global Health Council, a nonpartisan group that advocates for global health. Thank you so much for being here.

I've seen reporting that the leaders of the WHO say that there's still time possibly to negotiate with the Trump administration over this announcement. Regardless, if the United States is out of the World Health Organization what will the impact be for world health operations do you think?

ELISHA DUNN-GEORGIOU, PRESIDENT AND CEO, GLOBAL HEALTH COUNCIL (via Webex by Cisco): Well, thanks so much for having me, Kate. I'm glad to be here and talk about this really important issue.

So just to say that the executive order that was issued is an intent to withdraw. There's a stipulation that the withdrawal is a yearlong process and that's why you're hearing from the World Health Organization. Some hope that there are opportunities to still negotiate with the U.S. and prevent the U.S. from withdrawing.

I think it's important to note that membership in the U.S. is actually quite beneficial for the United States on a number of fronts.

One is that we have through our membership in WHO access to real time global health and surveillance data about emerging threats that may initiate abroad but definitely put the lives of Americans at risk.

And this helps our own Health and Human Services Department to prepare for any diseases or incoming threats of public health that we may see on the horizon. It not only helps the Department of Health and Human Services, but it also helps state and local health departments be prepared as well for emerging infectious diseases.

Without membership the U.S. does become more vulnerable to these health risks because we won't have access to that data and surveillance.

It's also really beneficial for the U.S. to stay at the table. I hear President Trump's frustration with the dues and the membership fees.

But I think it's really crucial that we recognize how much influence the U.S. does yield at the World Health Organization as one of its founding members, both with the organization itself and inspiring reforms that further efficiency and reduce costs but also influence with the other 193 nations, including China and Russia, India -- a lot of countries that may in the absence of the U.S. take the opportunity to step into that vacuum and shape the global health world in a way that they want to see that actually wouldn't further U.S. interests or protect American people.

[07:50:25]

BOLDUAN: So that is quite interesting because you can be sure of few things in this world but in -- you can be sure that one of the intentions of President Trump in making this move would not be to allow China -- to give China more influence over anything or China a bigger seat at the table considering the way he's talked about it for so long.

But you think that --

DUNN-GEORGIOU: (INAUDIBLE). BOLDUAN: -- when the leading contributor, being the United States, would withdraw from -- well, any multilateral organization, someone is going to step into its place.

Do you see this as, I don't know, an opportunity actually, and maybe even a historic one for China if the United States does withdraw?

DUNN-GEORGIOU: I think that is a real risk. I think that the U.S. has played an extremely constructive role in helping to shape the way these multilateral partnerships work, particularly at the WHO, and to keep policies and other attacks on what we would see as American interests at bay in these multilateral institutions. And so you can't do that if you're not there.

So I think it is really important to consider what stepping away would mean, particularly in terms of access to data, surveillance information, and other emerging health threats that may be transferred from animals to humans that we're just not going to have the same access to if we're not members of WHO.

So if we're at the table we can push for greater transparency, greater accountability, but if we walk away then that leadership gap is there for the taking.

BOLDUAN: Let's -- that is a really interesting element to this. We'll see kind of what impact it has and what this means. As you -- as you said, it's an intention to withdraw. It's a -- it appears that it's a yearlong process for the United States to do what Donald Trump says he very much intends to do. So we'll see together.

Elisha, thank you very much for coming in -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. On the radar for you this morning seven San Antonio police officers were shot while responding to a call Wednesday night. The suspect was found dead after an hours long standoff. The police chief says SWAT officers arrived to the scene and the suspect barricaded himself inside an apartment for several hours. Four officers' injuries are believed to be non-life-threatening while three others unknown at this time.

Authorities say the suspect had been arrested Saturday on assault and DWI charges and was out on bond.

All right, an Oklahoma cattle rancher jumped into action to save a calf in a frozen pond. Hunter Wagnon's brother Conner tried to break up the ice as Hunter did what any brave animal-loving rescuer would do to save a struggling calf. He partially stripped down and jumped in that frigid water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTER WAGNON, RESCUED CALF FROM ICY POND: As soon as I saw it, man, I kicked them boots off, jeans off, and I was -- I was going in there. Every rancher has had to do this kind of thing before. Like, we really do love these little animals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Oh, what a sweetie. You can hear the baby mooing there as they got him out.

Hunter Wagnon's good deed has gotten him a lot of attention. The video has now racked up at least three million views, including me, John. And I, for the record, would do the same.

BERMAN: Strip down and jump in.

SIDNER: That is right -- just to save a calf.

BERMAN: Truer words never spoken by anyone -- all right.

This morning Meta is pushing back after some users accused the company of boosting the social media profiles of President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance and not letting people unfollow them on Instagram.

CNN's Clare Duffy is here. And basically, Meta says this is just what happens.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: That's exactly right. We've seen people over the last few days log onto their Instagram or Facebook accounts and seen the Facebook or Instagram profiles for Donald Trump or J.D. Vance at the top. It appeared that they were following them even though these people said I never chose to follow these specific men.

But what Meta says is that there's a simple explanation for this. That every new administration -- those accounts -- the VP account and the POTUS account get handed over. And so people may have been following Joe Biden or Kamala Harris and then they were like wait a second, why is Donald Trump showing up on my feed?

We saw a number of really prominent accusers complaining about this. Singer Gracie Abrams posted that she had to unfollow those accounts three separate times yesterday.

But Meta says that it could take some time as these accounts change hands for the follow and unfollow requests to go through.

[07:55:00]

Meta's spokesperson said, "People were not made to automatically follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts for the president, vice president, or first lady."

But I think you can see in the reaction to some of these people's, sort of, skepticism as we've seen these rightward moves made by Meta in the past few weeks. Mark Zuckerberg showing up at the inauguration. These moves to pull back on content moderation. I think you get the sense that users are worried about how that's going to show up in their experience on the platforms.

BERMAN: Well, I guess you can see that. I mean -- I mean, obviously, if you are actively unfollowing them and they don't go away that would be something. But I guess we'll have to see what happens in the next few days.

Clare Duffy, thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also this morning thousands of active duty U.S. troops are being ordered to the southern border as part of President Trump's immigration crackdown. While not clear right now which specific units are headed there, the initial wave is expected to be around 1,500 troops. There's already roughly 2,200 active duty forces at the border acting in support of Customs and Border Protection operations.

The president's aggressive push, like this one against illegal immigration, is also raising questions though about what it could mean for some migrants in the U.S. legally.

CNN's David Culver has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Calling out to us from the back of the bus, Juan Manuel Cisneros shows us what he describes as his American dream come true.

JUAN MANUEL CISNEROS, FARM WORKER (Speaking foreign language).

CULVER: I said, "Do you always carry that document with you?" And he goes, "Yeah, because if anything happens, he can pull it out and say, 'I am here legally in this country.'"

CULVER (voiceover): Everyone on this bus can say the same. They are farm workers here on H-2A visas, which allow foreign workers to fill temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs.

CULVER: They come here for about eight months. All the folks on this bus are on their lunch break -- are from Mexico. He says they're able to work the field. And as he sees it, it's a good solution to be able to make money and yet, at the same time, be here legally.

CULVER (voiceover): But with that visa comes grueling work.

RICK ROTH, PRESIDENT, ROTH FARMS: Nobody local wants to work in agriculture harvesting crops -- nobody. These are hardworking, able- bodied men, and that's what they're doing. They're doing manual labor.

CULVER (voiceover): And they're doing it in a place that might surprise you.

CULVER: That's East?

ROTH: Yeah.

CULVER: If I go far enough, I'll hit Mar-a-Lago?

ROTH: Yeah, you will. CULVER (voiceover): You need only travel about 40 miles from here as

Roth Farms sits just on the western edge of Palm Beach County, Florida.

CULVER: It certainly doesn't feel like the beaches of Palm Beach.

ROTH: But it has the weather.

CULVER (voiceover): Which can be brutally hot and humid for those working these fields.

Yet, despite his need for a reliable and cost-efficient workforce, Roth says he supports President Trump's stance on immigration.

CULVER: Is it going to get more difficult to get workers, do you think, under President Trump and the crackdown on immigration?

ROTH: No. I think it actually will get easier. We just want people to be vetted, and we want good workers that will come out -- come out here.

CULVER: So the H-2A visa program may seem like a perfect solution to keep predominantly migrant workers employed on farms like this one here in Florida, but critics point out that it doesn't cover every person or every situation. Say, for example, those migrants who are fleeing violent and dangerous situations and don't have a home to go back to once the season is over, or those who simply want to live and work with their families year round in the U.S.

Then you've got small farmers who say that the program is just way too costly and way too complicated.

CULVER (voiceover): For now, though, Roth sees H-2A visas as the best way to keep U.S. farms running. He hires a third-party company to handle the logistics. They recruit the workers from abroad and then place them at several different farms, including Roth's.

ROTH: You hire them in Mexico, and you transport them over here. You pay all the transportation costs.

CULVER: You're paying for that.

ROTH: I pay all the transportation costs. We put them up in housing. We pay all the housing costs. The only thing we're allowed to charge them for is the cost of the food when we feed them.

CULVER (voiceover): So what is it like for these workers?

CULVER: So here it is about 5:00 in the evening and these workers have just finished their shift at Roth Farms and they're arriving back at their housing complex.

CULVER (voiceover): Juan Manuel and the others invite us to meet them after their workday is over.

CULVER: (Speaking foreign language). UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

CULVER: Yeah. What do you do at this time of the day? Yeah, when you get here from work?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

CULVER: Dinner is at six?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Si.

CULVER: We can go with him. He's inviting us up.

CULVER: (Speaking foreign language).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Si.

CULVER: They've been working 10 hours today and they work six, sometimes seven days a week. They have just a few things that they need. A few changes of clothes, some snacks, and not much privacy.

CULVER (voiceover): Juan Manuel shows us his set-up.

CISNEROS: (Speaking foreign language).

CULVER: He says what he makes is about $16.00 an hour. So here what you make in an hour, as he puts it, "is an entire day's work in Mexico."

CULVER (voiceover): This is his third year on the visa work program.