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Stock Futures Drop After Trump Hits Top Trading Partners With Tariffs; Third and Final Black Box Recovered from Wreckage in Potomac; DOJ Questions Thousands of FBI Employees Over Jan. 6 Investigation. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 03, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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


[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. Brace yourself for economic chaos. U.S. stock futures down after President Trump launches what The Wall Street Journal just called the dumbest trade war in history. What prices analysts say will go up first.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, investigators are now examining the data recorder from the Black Hawk helicopter involved in last week's deadly collision in Washington. And this morning, crews are set to begin removing wreckage from the crash site.

And a major night for the one and only Beyonce, bringing home more than one Grammy for her groundbreaking album, Cowboy Carter.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. Sara is out today. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: And breaking this morning, stocks are down, oil prices are up, economic anxiety is just about everywhere after President Trump launched a trade war on U.S. allies, what The Wall Street Journal called the dumbest trade war in history, a moniker the president clearly does not like. So, he signed executive orders imposing 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports. They all go into effect at midnight tonight. This means you could soon pay more for groceries, gas, new cars, cell phones, avocados.

President Trump says it will all be worth the price. He says it will be worth the price that must be paid. This morning, he is scheduled to speak with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't expect anything very dramatic. We put tariffs on. They owe us a lot of money. And I'm sure they're going to pay.

We may have short-term, some little pain, and people understand that. But long-term, the United States has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: By the way, that's not how tariffs work. They don't pay them. They're paid here, in the United States.

Let's get right to CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak for the latest on this. And the clock is ticking to the deadline, Kevin.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and it's quite a striking acknowledgement from the president there that Americans could feel some discomfort from these tariffs. Essentially, he's saying that in order to fulfill his campaign promises on tamping down on illicit drugs and migrants coming across the border, another one of his campaign promises, probably his top campaign promise, which was to lower prices for Americans, will just have to wait. And that's exactly what economists say might happen. And it's not only for big purchases like cars. This could affect small purchases as well, things directly from Chinese manufacturers, from companies like Shein and Temu. These could really have an effect on Americans pocketbooks.

And the president says that the tariff regime might not end here. Listen to what he said last night when he was asked whether additional tariffs could be coming for the United Kingdom and the European Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to see what happens. It'll happen, but we're going to -- might -- we'll see how things work out. It might happen with them, but it will definitely happen with the European Union. I can tell you that because they've really taken advantage of us.

The U.K. is out of line, but I'm sure that one -- I think that one can be worked out. But the European Union, it's an atrocity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: You know, by and large, Trump has enjoyed the support from Republicans on that, those who are opposed to mostly remain silent. One of the objections to that is Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky. He wrote on social media that tariffs are simply taxes. He said that this could mean less trade and higher prices.

Now, he represents a state that could be directly affected by the reciprocal terrorists from Canada. They have gone after American liquor.

Now, Mexico says that they will announce their own reprisals today. China says that they will file a complaint with the World Trade Organization.

One of the big questions in all of this is what Canada and Mexico can actually do to have Trump ease up on these tariffs.

[07:05:01]

It has never been explicitly clear what precise metrics he's using to curb the flow of migrants and fentanyl across the border. Over the weekend, Justin Trudeau says that he had been trying to reach Trump on the telephone since the inauguration, but his calls hadn't been picked up. Of course, that will end today. But as you heard Trump say there, any hopes for a last-minute reprieve seem farfetched at this point.

BERMAN: And, again, it is already having an impact with stock futures down, oil prices up, the opposite of what most economists and I think most Americans hope for on a day-to-day basis.

Kevin Liptak, thank you very much for that.

BOLDUAN: And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau right behind you because Canada is responding and responding quickly with tariffs of their own. The government announcing a full list of goods imported from the United States that would be taxed and the list is long, everything from meats and cheese, to appliances, like fridges and stoves. The list will continue to go furniture. Beauty products, fruits, vegetables, spices, sugar, chocolate, the alcohol -- the aforementioned alcohol that we were just hearing from Kevin Liptak.

CNN's Paula Newton is tracking all of this for us and what Canada is saying about this all this morning. Good morning, Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you Kate, you know, I think Canadians have almost surprised themselves at the reaction here, Kate. It has been so visceral, so emotional, words like betrayal being thrown around as if the United States had asked for a divorce. And the reason -- they're not being alarmist either, Kate. The reason is what Kevin just said, they do not understand what the United States wants.

Now, they could have irritants in the trading relationship, for sure. Get to the table, the prime minister's office is saying, and we will negotiate.

But this seems different. And remember, this is proceeded by joking or not, all those You know, musings by the president that Canada should become the 51st state. I want you to listen now to just some of the reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: I don't think there's a lot of Americans who wake up in the morning saying, oh, damn Canada.

DOMINIC LEBLANC, CANADIAN FINANCE MINISTER: My conversations with Howard Lutnick and others in the administration tell me that perhaps in March there's a window again. But most of this is so unpredictable.

CHRYSTIA FREELAND, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER CANDIDATE: The president has decided now to make gas in the United States more expensive. He's decided to make groceries in the United States more expensive. And our retaliation is going to cost Americans' jobs, that it's completely ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP) NEWTON: I think that's what's been so unnerving is the fact that this will, in fact, hurt American consumers as well. Now, look, Kate, no one's saying that Canada would win a trade war with the United States. All Canada saying is we don't want a war at all.

But, again, this has turned into cancel America and anti-Americanism that I have never seen. I want you to listen now here quickly to just one of the chorus of boos that we heard at least one NBA game, NHL games over the last 24 hours. I mean, Kate, I've been to games and hockey games. We actually know the words to the U.S. anthem. We at least applaud politely afterwards. This has taken on a whole new tone in Canada, and I want to get back to that issue of alcohol.

So, although even the alcohol is being taxed by 25 percent duty tariff coming into Canada, 25 percent, provinces on their own are taking U.S. wine, beer and alcohol off the shelves, saying we just don't want to sell it anymore.

BOLDUAN: The reaction has -- yes, that reaction even before the tariffs set in some of those provinces being very swift, very real, and very -- I mean, they're angry about it. No one wins in a trade war. That's one thing we can all be sure of, and we're going to start seeing it very soon.

It's great to see you, Paula. Thank you very much for your reporting on that.

So, coming up for us, new this morning, workers at the main office of USAID unexpectedly told to stay home today. This is as Elon Musk calls the aid agency a ball of worms, and President Trump considers shutting it all down.

The NTSB now has the black box from the helicopter that collided midair with the American Eagle passenger jet over the Potomac River. And the recovery operation in the Potomac is taking another big step this morning.

The NBA shocker that has Dallas heartbroken today, details on the country's potentially second biggest trade story. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BERMAN: This morning, the third and final black box has been recovered from the wreckage of the midair collision over the Potomac that left 67 people dead. And we are learning new details about the final moments before the crash. Early NTSB reports suggest the pilot of the American Eagle flight made an attempt to lift the nose of the plane just seconds before impact, which raises questions about if they did or did not see the Black Hawk helicopter in the path.

Let's get right to CNN's Gabe Cohen at Reagan National Airport for the latest. Gabe, what are you learning this morning?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well John, you mentioned a piece of it there. What we really saw over the weekend were investigators starting to put pieces of this puzzle together. You mentioned that early data from the flight recorders that are on the plane indicating that the plane may have been pitching upward in those final seconds, perhaps indicating that the pilots saw the Black Hawk tried to avert a disaster, but it was just too late.

[07:15:12]

We have also learned from investigators that those flight recorders on the plane indicate that the jet was flying at an altitude of around 325 feet.

Now that's early information, investigators still looking at the black box on the Black Hawk, but that height is significant because helicopters along this route on the Potomac really aren't supposed to be flying above 200 feet. So, if they were at 300-plus, investigators are going to want to know why.

Take a listen to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy talking about some of these unanswered questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I'll tell you this, the questions I have is, you know, what was happening inside the tower? Were they understaffed?

And the position of the Black Hawk, the elevation of the Black Hawk? Were the pilots of the Black Hawk wearing night vision goggles? Did it affect their peripheral vision or their perception?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: And, John, we've also learned that 55 of the victims have been recovered and identified by dive crews from the Potomac River. That means 12 are still missing in the water.

And so I have been told that in the next hour or so, a salvage operation is going to get underway. Crews have gathered at the scene, heavy equipment, a crane and barge, and they are going to start the process of lifting the wreckage, the plane, out of the water, hoping that it is going to help them reach those 12 missing people.

BERMAN: Yes, it is difficult work. It is emotional work for all the people involved.

Gabe Cohen at Reagan National Airport this morning, Gabe, thank you very much. Keep us posted on what else you learn.

All right, time to dig in, New York's top FBI official vows to fight after the Trump administration questions agents about their involvement in investigating the January 6th riots.

And imagine preparing for takeoff and seeing flames and smoke coming from the wing of the plane.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: This morning, the FBI Agents Association is sending a clear message to thousands of FBI employees, do not resign, as some are fearing the precursor they're looking at of mass firings to come. Multiple sources tell CNN that the Justice Department is now demanding FBI employees fill out a questionnaire, a 12-question survey providing detail on any involvement they had in investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

CNN Security Correspondent, former FBI Agent Josh Campbell has much more on this one for us. And so, Josh, what are you hearing about this survey and also what this could mean for people at the FBI?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, it is certainly a five-alarm fire inside the FBI right now. And that's because we are in an unprecedented time that we've never seen, and that is career FBI agents, analysts, professional staff members now potentially being targeted for firing.

Of course, this isn't just theoretical because it comes after the Justice Department has already been cleared out the seventh floor, the top floor leadership of the FBI, telling those senior agents to either resign, retire or be fired. And now word coming that this could also impact potentially thousands of FBI employees who worked on the January 6th riot investigation.

As you mentioned, you know, the FBI has sent out the survey to employees essentially trying to gather information about their role in that investigation. This is all coming from the Justice Department. And the FBI Agents Association is telling that people do not leave. I'll read you part of a statement that they sent out to their members saying, do not resign or offer to resign while we would never advocate for physical noncompliance. You need to be clear, your removal is not voluntary.

They later went on to say employees carrying out their duties to investigate allegations of criminal activity with integrity and within the rule of law should never be treated as those who have engaged in actual misconduct.

Of course, we know that the FBI itself has been the target of Donald Trump and his allies again, but what is so unusual here is that we've never seen career agents, employees actually being potentially targeted for firing.

Now, in the survey that you mentioned that was sent out to employees, they're supposed to list information and then provide a narrative on what their specific role was, but the FBI Agents Association and another message went on to advise members that they should actually write in the forum, quote, to the best of my ability and belief, I have performed my duties in accordance with investigative guidelines, federal statutes and the Constitution of the United States. And the matters I worked on were properly predicated, were opened and investigated at the direction of the Department of Justice. And that's what's so important here. Regardless of what people think of that January 6th investigation, this was done using the federal courts and obviously outside independent courts and juries in order to try to go after those cases, but really an unprecedented time.

And then, finally, I'll mention that all of this seems to fly in the face of what Kash Patel, who was the nominee to become the new FBI director, actually testified about in Congress, he was asked whether there would be any type of retribution against FBI employees. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR NOMINEE: Every FBI employee will be held to the absolute same standard and no one will be terminated for case assignment. All FBI employees will be protected against political.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They deserve --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: So, I talked with a lot of FBI employees who are wondering at this hour, you know, what's happening here? Is this an attempted clearing out of FBI employees before Patel potentially takes office, or is this something that, you know, he might know about? A lot of questions at this hour, a lot of consternation inside the Bureau, Kate.

BOLDUAN: I would say a lot of questions and a lot of concern given all of this.

Josh, thank you so much. It looks like we could be looking at some new developments even today on this one.

We're also keeping a close eye this morning on market futures, currently pointing lower after President Trump launches a trade war with Canada, Mexico and China all together.

[07:25:02]

And we're also learning new information about the victims of a deadly medical jet crash, the plane going down in the middle of a Philadelphia neighborhood.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. Happening now, stock futures are all lower. Take my word for it. Investors are bracing for some chaos after President Trump slapped tariffs on imports from Canada, China, and Mexico. Canada has responded with retaliatory tariffs, or saying it will. Mexico is expected to announce its own today.

Let's get right to Matt Egan and hopefully look at some of these stock futures. Here they are. Look at that, down, and in some cases, it's pretty way down.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, 600-point drop for the Dow, 1.7 percent for NASDAQ futures. Look, John, this is what the beginning of a trade war looks like. There's chaos. There's confusion. Markets are down. Business groups and trade experts are warning that this is going to cause higher prices for consumers.

So, President Trump is just hours away from putting tariffs on more than 40 percent of all U.S. imports, and we've seen a number of business groups come out and criticized this move. The footwear industry is saying that there's going to be higher prices for sneakers and shoes for consumers.

[07:30:03]

The oil industry wants to have lower tariffs on Canadian energy.