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Trump to Speak with Mexico and Canada; Glenn Stevens Jr. is Interviewed about Tariffs; DOJ Questions FBI Employees; Third and Final Back Box Recovered; First Hearing in Baldoni/Lively Legal Case. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 03, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:00]

NAOMI WATTS, ACTRESS: Point where we were coming close together physically and I remembered that I had my patch on.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Hormone patch.

WATTS: Hormone patch. And so I slipped away right in the heat of the moment. And I was probably in there a little bit too long, panicking.

SIDNER: Because it wouldn't come off.

WATTS: Because if anyone's ever worn a patch, they're very - the adhesive is very sticky. So, I was scrubbing and scrubbing myself raw. And then I just thought, I've just got to confess. I've just got to say it.

And I came out and he's like, are you OK? You don't seem OK. And I was like trying to dance around it. And eventually I just said, look, I'm in menopause. And I have to wear this patch. And it's because it regulates my hormone.

Should I just leave? Should I just go, you know?

SIDNER: Oh.

WATTS: And he was like, what? No. What do you mean? We're the same age.

SIDNER: At 56, her coming of age story is not the one Hollywood usually tells. Her goal, to lift the stigma of a natural change half the world's population will experience.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we are standing by for U.S. stock markets to open. You can see futures way down over new fears over tariffs from President Trump. What one Republican senator called a tax on U.S. consumers. Prices could go up on cars, electronics, cell phones, fruits, vegetables, avocados, in Super Bowl week.

And where is the water? President Trump bragging about a release in California, but local officials say it is not at all what he claims it is.

Sara is out. I'm John Berman, with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now, stock futures are down as U.S. markets are about to open. This comes as America's biggest trading partners say they are being forced to retaliate against President Trump's new tariffs. Tariffs that he now admits for the first time really will cause the American people pain. Still, President Trump saying it will be worth it.

Starting tomorrow, Canada and Mexico are looking at a 25 percent tariffs on goods, and China is staring down an additional 10 percent tariff on goods.

President Trump is going to be speaking with Canadian and Mexican leaders this morning. But the president has already said he is not expecting anything to come of those conversations. So, say hello to your trade war, I guess.

CNN's Kevin Liptak at the White House for us this morning.

Kevin, what are you hearing from the White House this morning?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I mean, at least when you listen to Donald Trump, it does not sound as if an 11th hour reprieve will be coming. He says he doesn't expect anything dramatic to come from his conversations with Justin Trudeau and Claudia Sheinbaum today.

But I think when you're talking about Donald Trump, you can never rule out a last-minute change of heart. And it was interesting to hear just last hour from Kevin Hassett. He's one of the top economists here at the White House who said that there had been positive conversations, at least with Mexican officials, over the weekend. And he says that once President Trump sees what these countries have to offer, it will be up to him to make the call.

So certainly I think these next several hours will be intense ones as Americans look to see whether or not these tariffs will go into effect and whether or not prices could increase on all manner of goods that they're consuming. Large goods, like automobiles and refrigerators, but also smaller items, like produce, avocados, things that are shipped directly from Chinese manufacturers, from companies like Shein and Temu. All of these things could have a significant effect on Americans pocketbooks. And that's a reality that Donald Trump himself is acknowledging.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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. We have deficits with almost every country. Not every country, but almost. And we're going to change it. It's been unfair. Thats why we owe $36 trillion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So essentially what Trump is saying that - there is that in order to fulfill his campaign promises on curbing flows of migrants and drugs across the border, he will - another of his campaign promises, perhaps his biggest campaign promise, which was lowering prices on Americans, may just have to wait.

[09:05:03]

BOLDUAN: Yes, and for how long? That now becomes a real question. Thank you so much, Kevin. Good to see you.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is the executive director of MichAuto at the Detroit Regional Chamber, Glenn Stevens Jr.

Sir, thank you so much for joining us.

MichAuto is basically a trade group representing auto makers. What will these tariffs mean for Americans who want to buy cars?

GLENN STEVENS JR., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MICHAUTO AT THE DETROIT REGIONAL CHAMBER: Thanks for having us on this morning, John.

Well, this is a very resilient industry. We've been doing this for over 120 years in Michigan. But what we don't do well is with is - is disruption. Short-term disruption or long-term disruption. And eventually input costs go up. Tariffs do increase the cost of doing business. Parts move back and forth across our borders here in Michigan and Ontario every day. And eventually that shows up in the consumer price in the showroom.

BERMAN: Costs go up. Cars will be more expensive.

STEVENS: Absolutely.

BERMAN: How long will that take to manifest?

STEVENS: Well, that takes time. It's not over - overnight. But again, these - these supply chains, particularly between Canada and Mexico, are very interconnected. It's a just in time type of business. Parts move multiple times just in Windsor and Detroit, across the border to build up components. If they're taxed, and if input costs go up, in fact, including fuel prices, that has to get passed through. It takes time to move through the system. But if this is prolonged, and we hope it's not, and based on some of the things we're hearing this morning, I'm optimistic about that, but if it is prolonged, it'll get painful.

BERMAN: You mentioned how interconnected everything is. Car manufacturing, sometimes a car, depending on what type of car or where it's built it, parts of it can cross a border several times before it even gets to the consumer, correct? STEVENS: Yes. I mean, if you just look at Detroit, we have two

assembly plants in Detroit, 12 overall in Michigan. There are multiple assembly plants in Ontario. One major one for Stellantis in Windsor. And there's Canadian component makers, U.S. manufacturers and Mexican manufacturers. They all work together. Thousands of components come together. It just takes one to disrupt things. But, you know, major disruption across the board. It's a - it's a problem because these components get built up. They get built up into modules. And eventually they go into this plant. Very complex, very tight margin, very long lead time business. And it doesn't do well with disruption.

BERMAN: And again, just so people understand here who is paying. When there is a tariff, which will go into effect tonight, I guess, who pays that first? Is this something - you know, is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau writing a check for this? Who's paying that tariff?

STEVENS: No, the manufacturers and the importer of record pays that tariff. So, as, again, these parts are built up and eventually it's - it's - and it could be a finished vehicle. It could be a finished vehicle that moves across the border between the U.S. and Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. And there's a tariff applied on that. It's paid ultimately by the consumer.

We're not against tariffs. We believe tariffs should be deployed. But we also want commerce to move freely. And right now, as it appears, we're going to have a real big problem with really a trade agreement that has worked very well, and President Trump really led that under USMCA.

BERMAN: Who benefits from these tariffs if they go into effect tonight?

STEVENS: Well, there's a lot of rhetoric that's going on about why these are being done. And I don't want to get into that. But nobody benefits right now. Certainly not in the short term.

And again, it's a complex business. You can't build a new manufacturing component plant overnight. It takes a couple of years really to do that. So, you can't change the supply chain dramatically either. So, no one benefits from this right now.

BERMAN: All right, Glenn Stevens Jr., it could be a busy day for you and a busy few weeks depending on what happens. Thank you so much for your time.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also this morning, the FBI Agents Association is telling thousands of FBI employees, do not resign, as some fear that mass firings are coming. Multiple sources tell CNN the Justice Department is now demanding that FBI employees fill out a questionnaire. A twelve question survey providing detail on any involvement that they had investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

CNN's security correspondent and former FBI agent Josh Campbell is following this one very closely for us.

And, Josh, what are you hearing about this survey and what it can mean now for everyone at the FBI?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, certainly a five alarm fire right now inside the FBI with thousands of career FBI agents, analysts, professional staff now concerned that their own job is in jeopardy.

[09:10:08]

And that's because we've seen already the Trump administration, the Department of Justice clearing out the executive management of the FBI. And now, as you just mentioned, we reported yesterday, employees started getting this email in their inbox saying you must fill out this survey about what your role was specifically in the January 6th insurrection investigation, which was obviously a massive, sprawling investigation from coast to coast. And so, the concern here is that because of this information being requested, that we could see yet another round of firings. And again, not political appointees, but career FBI employees.

Now, the FBI Agents Association, which represents thousands of agents on the job, actually sent guidance to their employees saying, do not voluntarily leave. I'll read you part of what they said. They said, "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."

Now, of course, the FBI has come under fire from the Trump administration, whose he's obviously claimed that they, you know, investigated him unfairly and has pardoned several of the January 6th insurrectionists. But, you know, employees continue to point out to me that these were lawfully predicated investigations that went through the courts. So, you had those layers of oversight.

Now, one thing that's interesting is that if you recall recently, Kash Patel, who is the nominee for FBI director, he was testifying before Congress and said that there will be no retribution.

Have a listen.

(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 retribution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They deserve -

(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMPBELL: So, the big question here, Kate, is, is he in the know? Does he know what the Justice Department is trying to do as they possibly prepare to fire, you know, many, many FBI employees? A lot of questions. And of course the big concern that people continue to raise is that we are in this heightened threat environment. And so you can imagine, you know, getting rid of a bunch of FBI employees whose job is to try to counter these threats obviously could pose a threat to America's safety. That's what FBI officials are telling us.

BOLDUAN: Josh Campbell. Thanks for the reporting, Josh.

John.

BERMAN: All right, a key piece of evidence has been recovered in the investigation into the mid-air crash over the Potomac. What we are learning about the moments just before the disaster.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth heads to the southern border.

And the drama surrounding the back and forth accusations between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni goes to court today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:50]

BOLDUAN: So today crews are going to begin a new phase of the recovery operation in the Potomac River really, starting to remove the wreckage of that passenger plane and helicopter that collided mid-air last week, killing 67 people.

And the third and final so-called black box, the one actually from the Black Hawk helicopter, has now been recovered.

CNN's Gabe Cohen is live at Reagan National Airport for much more on where things stand.

Gabe, a lot - a lot happened over the weekend and continues with the investigation into all of this. Where are things standing this morning?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, I want to start with that salvage operation, the lift operation that you referenced because I have just gotten word that it is now underway this morning. Plans for crews to remove at least part of the plane's fuselage from the Potomac River today. We have seen that heavy equipment that has assembled at the wreckage site, including a crane. So, that work just starting this morning. And they're hoping that by moving the wreckage out of the water they are going to be able to find those 12 victims that are still missing in the water. We know that crews have recovered and identified 55 others. D.C.'s fire chief, who is heading this operation, I asked him, how confident is he that as part of that salvage operation they will be able to find all of those missing victims?

Take a listen. Here's what he told me. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JOHN DONNELLY, D.C. FIRE AND EMS: So, it is my belief that we're going to recover everyone. If we knew where they were, though, we would - we would already have them out. So, we have some work to do as this salvage operation goes on. And we will absolutely stay here and search until such point as we have everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: And, Kate, as for the investigation, over the weekend we started to see investigators start to put some of the pieces of this puzzle together. We know that they got their preliminary data off of the black boxes that were on board the jet. A couple important findings. One is that it appears the plane was starting to pitch up in the last second or so before the collision, perhaps indicating that the pilots on board the plane saw that Black Hawk in those final seconds, tried to avert a disaster but it was just too late.

They have also learned from that data that it appears the jet was at an altitude of around 325 feet when the collision occurred. Now that's early data. They are still reviewing the black box from the Black Hawk. But that height, 325 feet, that is significant, Kate, because the helicopter route along the Potomac, helicopters are not supposed to be flying any more than about 200 feet off the ground. So, if that Black Hawk was 300 plus feet in the air, investigators are going to want to know why.

There are also questions about FAA staffing. We have learned that an air traffic controller that night was essentially doing two jobs at once. Although, Kate, I will tell you, a source has told our team that that is not particularly uncommon. But it speaks to how many questions are still out there remaining about what exactly led to this crash. We are hoping perhaps to get a briefing, an update from NTSB investigators a little later today, Kate.

[09:20:06]

But at this point, we're just waiting for information.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And you put it all together that the - all the preliminary data really presents so many questions that does need to be sussed out from the NTSB and their meticulous investigation.

Gabe, thank you so much.

Coming up for us, an expanded mission for Marines now at Guantanamo Bay. Troops arriving to handle tens of thousands of deported migrants. What does this new mission really mean?

And we are minutes - yes, minutes still from the markets opening as Wall Street tries to make sense of President Trump's trade war with Canada, Mexico and China.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:21]

BERMAN: All right, today is the first hearing in the legal showdown between actor and director Justin Baldoni and actress Blake Lively. This weekend, Baldoni's legal team published documents and texts related to the case online. He has already filed a $400 million lawsuit against Lively and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds. Earlier, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation. The two were co-stars in the film "It Ends With Us."

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister in Los Angeles.

Going to court today, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If this sounds like a mess, John, it's because it is a mess.

So, after this has been playing out in the court of public opinion since Blake Lively first filed her complaint in December, now, this, as you said, is finally heading to actually a court of law. So just in a few hours it will be the first hearing in this trial, which has been set for 2026. So, we have a ways to go.

But what has happened in this lead up is that there has been a lot of so-called evidence that has been issued or leaked to the media. So, over this past weekend, John, Justin Baldoni's lawyer, he actually launched a website where he put the complaint and a timeline that's 168 pages on this website so that it's easily accessible for the public. Now, these are already publicly filed documents, so you could get them through the court system. But now all of these fans who are obsessed with this story and eating it up, they can just read through all of these texts and all of these pages of these legal documents.

Now, where this started again was in December. Blake lively, she filed a civil rights complaint in California. She alleged that Justin Baldoni sexually assaulted her on the set of the film "It Ends With Us," and then after that she suffered career retaliation because he led a smear campaign. Now, on the other side, Justin Baldoni is saying, not so fast. You are actually the one who is trying to destroy my career. And you took over the film, which you were hired as an actress, and I was the director.

So again, this is a mess. This is a very public Hollywood battle, and it's very rare for stars of this stature to be letting all their dirty laundry air in the public. But again, as of now, this is going to court in 2026. The big question is, will this settle? Will we actually see them on the stand?

But the documents that were published this past weekend, John, they did mention Ryan Reynolds, who is Blake Lively's husband, of course. So now he is in this mess too. And Justin Baldoni has sued both of them for $400 million. He also previously sued "The New York Times" for $250 million because they were the first to report on this entire saga.

BERMAN: A lot of money at stake. A lot of reputations at stake. Hard to see where this goes really. Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you very much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington right now, and he is getting set to meet with President Trump tomorrow, making Netanyahu the first foreign leader invited to the White House in Donald Trump's second term. The focus of the visit, negotiations for the next phase of the hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

And over the weekend, more signs of success from that agreement. Hamas released three more hostages Saturday after 484 days in captivity. Keith Siegel, Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon were returned to their families. And it was an emotional reunion for Ofer and his wife. You're seeing some video of it right here. Two of his - their young children, Erez and Sahar, were also taken hostage on October 7th. They were freed last November.

And joining us right now is a relative of Ofer, Abbey Onn. She's an American citizen who lives in Israel. Five of her family members were either killed or taken hostage in the Hamas terror attack.

Abbey, thank you so much for joining me yet again.

Having Ofer finally returned home on Saturday, can you share anything with us on how he is doing and how the family is doing?

ABBEY ONN, FIVE FAMILY MEMBERS ABDUCTED BY HAMAS: Look, I think you see me smiling for the first time since we've ever spoken, which says so much. You see in the videos when he comes back, I think you asked me many times to describe him, and I always told you that he is the person that's going to lighten the room and make people laugh.

[09:30:02]

And from the moment that he got off the helicopter, he was making the military laugh and his bike (ph) crew laugh, and his children, and his brother and...