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Trump Administration Puts Dozens Of USAID Senior Officials On Paid Leave; White House Pauses All Federal Grants And Loans; Lawsuit: Electric Sparking Caught On Video Started Eaton Fire. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired January 28, 2025 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:30:10]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Overnight the Trump administration placed dozens of senior USAID officials on leave. The acting administrator accusing them of trying to circumvent the president's executive order freezing almost all foreign aid.
CNN's Alex Marquardt has much more and is tracking this developing story for us. Good morning, Alex.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate.
This could have a major impact on all kinds of projects around the world that are so reliant on U.S. aid money.
We were told that on Monday afternoon the senior leadership of USAID, the leading U.S. aid agency -- they were told to go home. They were being put on leave. These are officials who are not political. They were not put in place by Joe Biden, for example. These are career officials who are non-political and who are dedicated to helping people around the world.
Kate, we saw the email from the acting administrator to these officials telling them to go on leave. This is what Jason Gray wrote to his senior workforce. "We have identified several actions within USAID that appear designed to circumvent the president's executive orders and the mandate from the American people."
Now Kate, one of those executive orders was a 90-day pause on all foreign aid around the world with some exceptions. And much of that foreign aid, the White House said, is not aligned with American interests. We heard from the new State Department spokesperson who said that the U.S. is no longer going to be doling out money with no return for the American people.
In this foreign aid pause, Kate, there are some exceptions. Israel and Egypt, for example, will continue to receive military aid.
But Ukraine is not an exception and, of course, they are hugely reliant not just on American military aid but on humanitarian aid to keep the lights on, to keep the electricity and infrastructure running, to keep their schools running. To get food, for example.
Another example is PEPFAR, the very well known, very effective AIDS program that was started by George W. Bush that has saved some 25 million people around the world. Their aid will also be paused.
So there could be some major consequences for this, Kate.
BOLDUAN: Alex Marquardt -- great to see you, Alex. Thank you so much -- John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Today House Republicans are meeting at a Trump golf course near Miami to try to figure out how to enact the president's agenda while also slashing spending.
CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju is there with the latest.
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MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And now comes the hard part -- actually getting the details of Donald Trump's sweeping agenda, put it into a piece of legislation, and then trying to get the votes. The beginning part of negotiating what goes in that bill begins today.
J.D. Vance, the Vice President of the United States, will meet with House Republicans this afternoon to try to begin that process to move ahead.
But then there will be also specific meetings that are happening among House Republicans to try to put up the policy details. Yes, they agree on the broad principles, but the actual details of negotiating are going to be so complex in order to keep their party unified and not really lose more than one Republican in the narrowly divided House, and the Senate also -- 53-47. It will be difficult to maintain mostly -- most Republicans in the Senate side on board behind this proposal.
Now, what they're looking at -- energy issues, immigration issues, border security, a complex tax overhaul, and deep spending cuts. And the spending cuts, in particular, are going to be very complicated to agree upon, not to mention overhauling the tax code. But Mike Johnson wants to move ahead very quickly -- as soon as next week -- beginning that first process in this long process that could take months to implement.
And one of the big questions is how to sequence this. Whether to do it in one bill or two bills. That's a debate that's happening between House and Senate Republicans.
And when Donald Trump spoke last night in Doral, Florida to his -- to House Republicans as they are debating how to proceed, he did not give much clarity.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We just want -- whether it's one bill, two bills, I don't care. Let these guys -- they're going to work it out.
RAJU: Now, Senate Republicans are concerned by putting everything into one big bill. It could essentially collapse under its own weight. They believe strike now, fast, on issues of immigration and the energy -- and energy issues. Get that off the table and then punt on taxes until much later.
But the question ultimately is going to be what can they actually get through the House, and that's one thing they're going to figure out starting in these breakout sessions today as they move to Washington next week to try to move ahead with this early part of the proposal. Can they get it done? That's going to be a major question and a huge complication in the months ahead.
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BERMAN: All right, our thanks to Manu.
Let's get back to the big story breaking overnight. The Trump administration announced it is freezing all federal grants and loans, suspending possibly trillions of dollars in payments to numerous programs while the White House reviews each one.
[07:35:05]
With us now democratic strategist Julie Roginsky; and Pete Seat, former spokesman in the George W. Bush White House.
And Julia, there's a two-page memo here and I'm going to talk about this, but lawyers -- because there are some legal questions -- I mean, big legal questions about how much power the president has to do this -- but the tone is set by the explanations, sort of, for why they're doing this in this memo written by the Trump administration official here.
"Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including financial and foreign aid, non-government organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the Green New Deal."
The Green New Deal --
JULIE ROGINSKY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Doesn't exist.
BERMAN: -- doesn't exist. So what does this tell you?
ROGINSKY: It tells me that we don't live in a monarchy no matter how much Donald Trump wants that to be the case. He is not a medieval monarch. He can't just seize money that's been appropriated by Congress. And I'm sure lawyers will tell you the same.
But the reality is that this is money that Congress has appropriated, and it is for the Executive Branch to disburse that money. That's how it works in a -- in a system where you have the separation of powers. He cannot just come in and by executive order -- i.e, by fiat -- and decide that he is going to govern without the advice and consent of a coequal branch of government which has allocated this money.
And by the way, this is money that impacts people's lives. This is money that ensures that people get the health care they need. It ensures that they get the relief funding they need in places like California, which is facing wildfires right now. It is money that people rely on every single day to get through their lives.
And so the people who voted for Donald Trump need to understand this is not just him coming after woke "ideology." He's coming after them. People in West Virginia, people in Mississippi, people in Kentucky who rely on federal funding more than anybody else -- certainly more than California does for the amount of money that they give to the federal government.
They have to understand that this is their livelihoods. This is their lives that he's coming after, not just some woke people living in San Francisco or however he wants to term it.
BERMAN: You know, Pete, I mentioned you worked in the George W. Bush administration. One of the programs impacted, at least for now, is PEPFAR, which is financing for AIDS drugs.
In Africa, that saved 25 million lives, it's projected since 2003 when this was first enacted. That's a lot of lives. And there's one study that finds that if you were to get rid of PEPFAR that some 600,000 people would die in South Africa alone over the next 10 years.
I mean, this is the kind of thing that has a huge impact.
PETE SEAT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER SPOKESPERSON, INDIANA REPUBLICAN PARTY (via Webex by Cisco): PEPFAR is an incredible bipartisan program. It is one of the hallmarks of the George W. Bush legacy. I hear about it whenever I travel overseas. It's top of mind for people when you mention that you once worked for George W. Bush.
I'm a big believer and supporter in foreign aid. I think the American people just don't know the full scope of how important those dollars are and how they bring people together, and how it's a way that we can leverage America's status as a superpower.
But there are dollars that are being spent to advance a political ideology -- an ideology that was rejected at the ballot box in November. Pausing temporarily -- that's the important word -- temporarily pausing to review what these dollars are, where they're going, what they're doing I think is a responsible thing. Americans voted to reject that ideology, and we should take a look at it.
It may end up in the courts. A lot of these decisions may end up in the courts. Donald Trump is testing the boundaries, and it will end up being adjudicated as it likely should be probably by the Supreme Court at some point in the near future.
BERMAN: Julie, what about that?
ROGINSKY: But Pete, you know, while we're sitting here temporarily pausing -- you talked about foreign policy, you talked about foreign aid. There are people in Ukraine right now -- our allies -- who are going to be starving and who will not have energy or heat because of these decisions in the coldest parts of the Ukrainian winter even as they're being assaulted or their energy grid is being assaulted by Russian invaders.
If you really care about foreign policy, if you really care about those people in South Africa that you talked about, they need lifesaving medicine today. And that money has been allocated by duly elected members of Congress. It's not just Donald Trump who was elected -- so were those people. And those people allocated that money. It is for this administration to disburse that money.
They will have an opportunity to introduce a budget. Congress will pass it. Congress will tinker with it. And then you can go from there. But the money that's already been allocated legally needs to be spent.
[07:40:00]
And by the way, there are people who cannot wait, both here domestically and abroad, for Donald Trump, or DOGE, or Elon Musk, or whoever is going to get to the "bottom of this" to take their sweet time because this literally means life and death for them. And I don't for the life of me understand how that's not clear to anybody with any shred of empathy, which I know you have, in their body.
BERMAN: You know, it is interesting Pete because yes, everyone says elections have consequences. In this memo, that's the whole justification for this memo. The memo says the American people voted for this.
Well, elections have consequences, but the Constitution has consequences too, right? I mean, does the spending clause of the Constitution not have consequences, Pete?
SEAT: Again, the courts will have to decide this. Donald Trump was elected because Americans -- enough Americans to give him the Electoral College and the popular vote were sick and tired of the status quo. Not just the status quo of the Biden-Harris administration but the status quo of the entire system writ large.
So I don't appreciate the implication that I don't care about foreign policy or what's happening overseas because I don't see a problem with a temporary pause. Again, I'm not a legal scholar. I'm not a lawyer. I don't make decisions on that.
Politically speaking, Americans made their voices clear about how they feel regarding the ideology that was advanced by the previous administration, and they don't want to see that ideology advanced any further.
BERMAN: We will see I think in the coming days and weeks, depending on how long these temporary spending freezes are and how many people are impacted how they do feel about it. It will be something to see, and I do expect parts of this will end up in the courts soon.
Pete Seat, great to see you. Julie Roginsky, our thanks to you as well -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: Try this quote on for size. "Women have the strength of 10 men, no doubt about it." I agree, and I'm not biased at all. That is from one college coach -- basketball coach to another, praising the University of Tennessee's women's basketball coach Kim Caldwell after she returned to the court just days after giving birth to her first son.
CNN's Coy Wire joining me now with another amazing sports tale. What a week this coach had.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: What an inspiration this coach is, Kate. Kim Caldwell was such a good coach as the head woman there at Marshall that after just one season there Tennessee swoops her up. And now here she is, her first season, leading the 18th-ranked team in the nation.
One week ago she delivered her first son, 6-pound, 10-ounce Conor Scott while she had the flu. Four days later she was at practice. And last night there she was walking out onto the court for a huge showdown against the defending national champs, number two South Carolina. More than 12,000 fans there in Knoxville giving her a big ovation.
While Tennessee ended up falling short on the scoreboard there, Caldwell told reporters afterward she was surprised with the response she received from Vols Nation -- listen.
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KIM CALDWELL, HEAD COACH, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: I definitely wasn't expecting it. I try to sneak in, and so I sneak in the back. I always try to go unnoticed. But it made it worth it. It made coming back worth it.
DAWN STALEY, HEAD COACH, SOUTH CAROLINA: Women have the strength of 10 men, no doubt about it. I think she's very passionate about her team and coaching here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: If you want to talk about tough women maybe Kim Caldwell's channeling one of her predecessors, the late great Lady Vols head coach Pat Summitt who for years held the record for most wins in NCAA hoops.
In 1990, Coach Summitt was two weeks away from her due date, but she was determined to go on a recruiting trip to visit the top high school recruit in the nation up in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Summitt's water broke on the plane. When she landed, she called her doctor who said first babies take a little longer. That's all coach needed to hear.
Crippling back spasms and all, she made probably the fastest recruiting pitch ever, Kate. Made the two-hour flight home, and a healthy baby Tyler was born.
And that recruit was Michelle Marciniak. She went on to become an All- American and played in the pros. And she was at the game last night.
You know, Coach Caldwell said of the late great Pat Summitt -- she said she changed the game. "I'll never be Pat Summitt -- nobody can -- but I will strive every day to be somebody she would be proud of."
Man, I think she'd be quite proud of her determination and her dedication to be there with her other kids, right -- those ladies on the court there for the Lady Vols.
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
WIRE: And she now has that healthy baby boy at home to go home and be a good mom for him too.
BOLDUAN: And an amazing freaking example of just being a boss. I mean, that is like getting it done. Rockstar status for sure.
And you know why, Coy, she didn't expect what was coming at her? She's too busy. She's got to coach and she's got her -- she's too busy, OK? She's too busy to be looking --
WIRE: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- for any accolades, my friend.
WIRE: Exactly. And there's a great quote from Pat Summitt in the book about her where she said I always feel like I have one more thing to do.
[07:45:00]
She's always living in the moment thinking about what's next and what's next and never thinking about anything other than being the best she can be right here, right now. Kim Caldwell setting a great example for all of us around the world with that inspiring story.
BOLDUAN: Yeah. Kim Caldwell way too busy this morning to be watching us. That I can be sure of with a -- with a baby at home. With a 1- week-old at home. But we applaud you and we are here for you to support you, nonetheless.
It's good to see you, Coy. Thank you for shining a light on that one.
Coming up for us, he had just been pardoned by Donald Trump for his role in the January 6 insurrection and he's now dead after an encounter with police. We've got more detail on what happened.
And a new lawsuit claims this video that you see right here shows the moment that sparks caused one of the deadly fires in Southern California that killed 17 people and destroyed more than 10,000 structures.
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[07:50:20] BERMAN: All right. This morning an investigation is underway in Indiana after a man who was just pardoned by President Trump for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy in a traffic stop.
Indiana State Police say the deputy stopped Matthew Huttle in his vehicle. Huttle resisted arrest, they say. According to police an altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding him. Police say a firearm was found on Huttle.
Google says it will rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America on its Google maps in the U.S. That is following the executive order from President Trump. It will also rename Mt. Denali as Mt. McKinely in line with the president's executive order. Google says the changes will appear once federal maps make the switch.
And an Apple watch to the rescue. Three people backcountry skiing near the Cascades Mountains in Washington State -- they were stranded after one of them fell approximately 1,000 feet and injured his leg. The King County Sheriff's Office say they received an SOS alert from an Apple watch and a helicopter with infrared equipment was dispatched to the scene. Aerial footage shows the skiers waving to the crew.
Now, the person fell 1,000 feet is said to be doing OK. I think maybe the person, like, tumbled 1,000 feet down the hill. I don't know that you hurt your leg falling -- like, you dropped 1,000 feet. I'm not even sure an Apple watch can save you.
BOLDUAN: I was, like, I have so -- I agree on all fronts. And I'm also now having heart palpitations because my husband is about to go off on one of his many ski trips. And this is why for every holiday I give my husband, like, avalanche kits and all sorts of things, John Berman, because this is terrifying.
BERMAN: Also, I think the infrared footage there showed Bigfoot. That's an aside.
BOLDUAN: My cue to move on. I love you. Get out.
As -- here's another quote for you -- "As many as we can arrest and deport." That is what President Trump's border czar is saying that he envisions, or the goal may be over this coming year. Tom Homan denying that there have been arrests quotas that have been set and given to ICE officers, but sources do tell CNN and the CNN reporting is that law enforcement teams across the country have been given various numbers for arrests that they should be hitting each month.
Homan spoke with our colleague Kaitlan Collins about the ongoing deportation operations and the Trump administration's changing longstanding policy that had prevented federal immigration officers from entering sensitive sites like schools and churches to make arrests. That has now changed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Your big priority right now is deporting public safety threats and national security threats.
How does changing the ICE policy that allows agents to conduct arrests and enforcement at churches and schools help with that?
TOM HOMAN, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BORDER CZAR: There is no safe haven for public safety threats and national security threats.
People will say well, are you really going to a high school? Well, people need to look at the MS-13 members and Tren de Aragua members who went to this country -- a majority of them between the ages of 15 and 17. Many are attending our schools and they're -- and they're -- and they're selling drugs in the schools. And they're -- and they're -- and they're doing strongarm robberies of other students.
So we do not go into schools or hospitals as a matter of practice but if it's a -- if it's a significant public safety threat or a significant homeland security threat there is no safe haven. We'll go where we need to go to take them off the street.
COLLINS: But you obviously are someone -- you've been working on the border for years, sir. I mean, you got an award from President Obama for people who don't know watching, and you also have worked in these administrations. This was the policy that's been in place I believe since 2011 and it wasn't changed before.
I mean, do you have any reason to believe that elementary schools or churches are harboring these violent immigrants who are here illegally?
HOMAN: Like I said, when the circumstances arise and we've got a national security threat or a significant public safety threat, we're going to go where we've got to go, whether it's a school, a church, or a hospital. The national security is important.
And look, name another law enforcement agency. Does the FBI have those requirements, no. Does DEA have those requirements, no. So ICE shouldn't have those requirements either. We have a national security responsibility and we're going to take those people off the street. And if it's out of the school then that's what we're going to do.
Again, it takes a lot to get approval to go in a school or a church but if there's a national security threat we're going.
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BERMAN: A new lawsuit against Southern California Edison claims the company's equipment is responsible for the fire that burned down the plaintiff's home. Her lawyers released video from a gas station security camera that they say shows sparking at a transmission tower in the area.
[07:55:00]
CNN's Veronica Miracle has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): A flash on this gas station surveillance camera is at first hard to see, but a new lawsuit alleges this is the start of the deadly Eaton Fire that tore through Altadena. Video obtained by law firm Edelson PC allegedly shows sparking electrical power lines they say eventually erupted into the fire that killed 17 people and damaged or destroyed more than 10,000 structures.
The video is a centerpiece in a lawsuit filed against utility company Southern California Edison on behalf of an Altadena woman who lost her home.
MIRACLE: At this point, are you confident that SCE is responsible for the Eaton Fire?
ALI MOGHADDAS, ATTORNEY, EDELSON PC: Absolutely. We filed a lawsuit against them, and we believe they are responsible.
MIRACLE (voiceover): SoCal Edison has repeatedly denied claims that their equipment started the catastrophic blaze. Monday morning the company filed an update to the California Public Utilities Commission saying they found a fault on a transmission line five miles away from where the fire allegedly started.
MIRACLE: Even though there was an issue five miles away from the alleged starting point, could that have impacted that area and caused arcing and sparking in that area, and caused the fire?
KATHLEEN DUNLEAVY, SPOKESWOMAN, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON: So this is an ongoing investigation, and we will continue to inspect and review our equipment.
MIRACLE (voiceover): While the cause of the fire is still under investigation more videos of the alleged origin of the blaze are emerging all around the same time. This new surveillance video is timestamped at 2:10 a.m. coordinated universal time, or 6:10 p.m. Pacific time.
Pedro Rojas took this video just a few minutes later at 6:24 p.m. It shows flames exploding at the base of an electrical transmission tower. Jennifer and Marcus Errico captured pictures from a similar vantage point at 6:15 p.m.
MARCUS ERRICO, ALTADENA RESIDENT: I can't say definitively that it was the power lines that caused but Eaton Canyon is right on the edge of Altadena and Pasadena and that's where the fire began. It was under that tower. It began as a small little blaze underneath and within 10 minutes the whole hillside was engulfed in the -- in the fire.
MIRACLE (voiceover): In court Monday, Southern California Edison agreed to keep this transmission tower and nearby equipment deenergized to preserve evidence. It gives Edelson's lawyers 21 days to have their own experts inspect these lines.
MOGHADDAS: What we learned today was that there could be potentially physical evidence five miles away in this other line that they reported experienced the faults at the same time as the fire.
MIRACLE: How is that possible if it's five miles away?
MOGHADDAS: All of these lines are interconnected. These transmission lines -- they all feed together. And so when one experiences an issue miles down the line -- this is traveling at the speed of light -- it has implications. It impacts lines down the way.
DUNLEAVY: Our hearts are with everyone who has been impacted by the wildfires at Southern California Edison. Right now this is an ongoing investigation and we're at the beginning of it, and we are committed to working with local investigators and finding out, you know, what happened here.
MIRACLE: The judge in today's case says there are at least 19 other lawsuits against Southern California Edison. And when we spoke to the plaintiff's lawyer, he said that he's also representing hundreds of other people. He expects to file more lawsuits. He also expects all of these cases to get folded into one big case so that a bunch of different judges aren't making a bunch of different decisions.
And just for reference that video that you saw at the beginning of this story -- this is the ARCO gas station where that surveillance video came from. The transmission tower in question is over a mile from here. Obviously, that spark would have had to have been very large and very big for it to be picked up on this camera.
Veronica Miracle, CNN, Altadena, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Breaking this morning, cleaning house at the Justice Department. President Trump firing more than a dozen career federal prosecutors all involved with the special counsel's cases against him.
And wait, there is more. Also this. Oklahoma schools potentially promoting the president's immigration agenda. The public schools there about to vote on whether they'll require parents to report their immigration status when enrolling their children in school. And now the pushback they are facing.
And for the first time since Amazon bought Whole Foods, workers at a Whole Foods in Philadelphia have just voted to unionize.
I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sara Sidner is out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
OK, we are following breaking news continuing this morning about another major move by the White House -- a move described by the Politico Playbook this morning as "Trump's massive power grab." At stake, potentially trillions in federal grants and loans, and aid as the clock now winds down on it all being halted.