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China Hits Back at the U.S.; Mark Zaid is Interviewed about FBI Deadlines; RFK Jr. and Gabbard Face Votes; Wreckage Recovery Operation Underway. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 04, 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]

LISA BONNER, ENTERTAINMENT ATTORNEY AND FORMER LITIGATOR: The internet sleuths versus the journalists. So, it is going to be very interesting to see how much time, how much money each side is willing to spend. And it seems to me that they would want to settle this case and not take this into the court of public opinion any further because both sides have really suffered in terms of their public reputation. You have team Justin and you have team Blake. And the dueling narratives going back and forth, it's just not serving either of their purposes in terms of what is going to happen and their likability factor, their q scores. It's just in their best interest to settle. And there are bets, if you will, on whether or not this case will go the entire distance. Like I said, I do think it is in both interests, in both of their best interests to settle.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Lisa Bonner, thank you so much for your analysis this morning.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And breaking this morning, President Trump may have bought some time when it comes to a trade war with Mexico and Canada. But when it comes to China, it's on. And China is already striking back. What that means for American consumers and American companies now.

Plus, the FBI is on the clock essentially. Hours from now, the deadline for DOJ to report all employees and what role they played in investigating January 6th. And then what happens?

And President Trump, he's got a new plan for TikTok. Who he now says could buy the platform, and what that means for the 170 million Americans who use it.

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

SIDNER: Trump's trade war is on. China is now punching back after Trump slapped a 10 percent tariff on a myriad of Chinese imports to the United States. China's retaliatory tariffs of 15 percent hitting U.S. coal and liquefied natural gas, plus a 10 percent tariff on U.S. crude oil and large displacement cars and pickup trucks. Beijing also targeting a selection of U.S. companies including Google, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger. And the reverberations are being felt globally.

CNN's Alayna Treene is following the moves from the Trump White House, and Marc Stewart is in China learning what that country is doing as we see this sort of fallout.

But first, let's start with Alayna Treene.

What are you learning from the White House? We all watched, you know, over the last couple of days where there was a sort of war with Canada and a war with Mexico. That kind of fell off. At least we have a month reprieve. But this, with China, seems to be going full steam ahead.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, that's exactly right. We did see those blanket 10 percent tariffs on China go into effect at 12:01 a.m. today as originally planned. And then, as you mentioned, we are now seeing China kind of come back with a barrage of their own retaliatory measures.

Now, we also know that China had filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization. We also know that the president has ordered a broader trade review into China to be conducted on April 1st.

But look, one of the key things that was in the fine print of that executive order was a retaliation clause. That means that should the president believe that other nations are responding in a way that he doesn't like, he could raise tariffs further.

And I'd also remind you that we heard Donald Trump repeatedly on the campaign trail threaten a 60 percent tariff on China at times. Oof course, that's much higher than the 10 percent we saw him implement this morning. But still, something like that could still come. And we did hear the president yesterday essentially call this first round of tariffs on China an opening salvo.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll have some good meetings with China. We have meetings planned. And we'll see what happens. But that was just a - an opening salvo. If we can't make a deal with China, then the tariffs will be very, very substantial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Sara, we also know that President Donald Trump is expected to speak in the coming days with Chinese President Xi Jinping. And of course, as you mentioned, the key question is whether or not they could work out some sort of negotiation that could either put these tariffs on hold, like he did with Mexico and Canada, or, you know what the fallout from that could be.

Now, I will say, if we do see some sort of off ramp with these tariffs on China, that could cause some angst and consternation on Capitol Hill, especially among a lot of Republicans who are growing more skeptical of whether the president is as hawkish on China as he previously was. We do know, of course, you know, his rhetoric around tick tock, putting a pause on that ban, raised some eyebrows among Republicans on Capitol Hill, as well as inviting the Chinese president to the inauguration.

[09:05:02]

So, whatever ends up happening with China, if he ends up backing away on some of these tariffs, like he did with Canada and Mexico, we could see some sort of broader reaction from The Hill. But again, this is just the beginning. Very unclear how this continues to play out and move forward as we continue to see the real impacts of these tariffs, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and the Murdoch owned "Wall Street Journal" called it, you know, dumb to - to go forward with this - with this trade war. And then you're also sort of seeing what potentially could be the fallout. But you heard from Donald Trump there that this is just the opening salvo.

So, let's now go to - to Marc, who is in Beijing.

When these words are used like, this is the opening salvo, this could get much, much worse, what are you expecting to see as a reaction from Beijing? And with the things that are already in motion, how quickly could those be pulled back if there is some sort of, I don't know, coming together of the minds?

MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, Sara, China really had no choice but to respond. It needs to come across, not only to the rest of the world, but to Chinese citizens that it's a strong nation. And that's why we are seeing these retaliatory tariffs. And it falls very much in the Chinese playbook. You do something to hurt us, we're going to do something to hurt you back.

In fact, we were on the streets talking to people here in China. And they really praised this quick response by the Chinese government.

But here's the thing, these sanctions may not necessarily have a lot of teeth, a lot of weight. There are sanctions on energy sources, like liquid natural gas and some of the other heating sources. But if you look at where China gets its energy, it's from many other places than the United States. And on a much larger scale. So, you could argue that is very symbolic.

Also on the list, American pickup trucks. As someone who lives here in China, I can tell you that pickup trucks are not a vehicle of choice by Chinese consumers. But again, makes a broader statement that the world's second largest economy is a force.

I think what everyone is waiting for next is this phone call between Xi Jinping and President Biden. It's our - or President Trump, rather. It's already 10:00 at night here in China, 9:00 a.m. in Washington. So, it may or it may not happen. But that phone call will determine the direction of these conversations. Is the U.S. going to fight back with more tariffs, or are we at a more reasonable starting spot for a bigger discussion on trade between these two nations, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, there's certainly a lot of businesses that China could have gone after Apple, Tesla, which would have potentially made a much bigger impact. We will see what happens going forward as we are in the middle of a trade war officially.

Marc Stewart, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, happening now, we're standing by for a deadline to expire at the FBI that has many fearing a mass layoff could be coming. By noon today, a senior FBI - senior FBI officials were told by the Justice Department to hand over the names of employees who worked on January 6th riot cases. More than a dozen Justice Department officials were fired last week for working on cases like this.

With us now is attorney Mark Zaid, who just wrote a letter to the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove.

Mark, what did that letter say?

MARK ZAID, NATIONAL SECURITY ATTORNEY: Well, it basically gave warning to the acting deputy, as well as the acting director of the FBI, not to do two things. One, do not summarily fire all of these FBI personnel without any due process, procedural or substantive. But more importantly, do not release their names if, in fact, you do fire them. Do not put out a public list to say, essentially, these are the enemies, which would just target not only the employees, but potentially often also their families with doxxing, with swatting. We've already seen threats essentially come from former J-6, you know, criminal defendants who are calling for effectively the heads of all of these, you know, traitors, as they call them, who work within the FBI, who put them in jail.

BERMAN: What was the response from the DOJ to this letter?

ZAID: Oh, it was exactly what we expected it to be. We haven't heard a thing.

BERMAN: How unusual of a request is it from the Department of Justice to FBI employees to fill out questionnaires like this, did you work on the January 6th case?

ZAID: I mean, it's - it's incredibly unusual. For - for one thing, of course, they have this information anyway. It's within what's called the sentinel system inside the FBI. They were given this request, a whole litany of, you had to indicate, were you a witness in a trial?

[09:10:02]

Did you work on surveillance? Whatever role you did, as little as it was, even if it was just purely administrative. And they had a deadline internally of 3:00 yesterday. And as you mentioned, the noon deadline today is for the FBI to give that information to the Department of Justice, which we understand will then turn it over to the White House.

BERMAN: What are you advising? I don't know if you have rank and file clients in the FBI, but if you do, or if there are just people out there who are listening to you, what would you advise them to do?

ZAID: Well, we certainly did advise them to respond properly. They are still employees. They have to administratively follow the orders of their superiors to provide this information. We certainly didn't want anyone to be insubordinate. I represent a number of agents and analysts and technicians that are within the FBI. And right now we're - we're really in a wait and see mode, almost a race against the clock as we prepare litigation. Myself and the State Democracy Defenders Fund, your own and our own Norm Eisen, who I'm working with, to try and make sure that there is nothing done that would harm these dedicated and patriotic Americans.

BERMAN: Mark, last time you were on, you were talking to us about the fact you had advised a small number of clients to - to take a vacation for the inauguration because of fears of retribution or revenge for the Trump administration. Did they? And what are you advising those same clients now?

ZAID: Some did. Some went on vacation overseas. Some went on vacation domestically just to get out of the hustle and bustle of - of the District of Columbia and its region. Everybody came back. No - nobody fled. I guess the only one maybe is Ellen (ph), who went overseas. I don't know if that was because of - of this.

But look, we haven't changed our tactics. And - and the concerns are still real, right? All the concerns, many of at least, that I was indicating of retribution, of retaliation, of going after political enemies started to come true the very day he was inaugurated. So, I'm not sure why people are still sort of hesitant to think that he's not going - he, President Trump - not going to fulfill his promises. He has. I mean, I've had numerous clients who were subject to the executive orders that he submitted and signed the very evening and have now are being attacked online. So, he's doing exactly what he said he would do, fulfill promises. Unfortunately, they're promises that are hurting many Americans rather than helping.

BERMAN: And you will take him to court on these?

ZAID: Absolutely. Everything's being prepared as we speak. And we'll certainly get things filed as soon as we can. And as you're seeing with many organizations, there is a very active sort of resistance in a legal way to make sure the rule of law is followed by this administration, as - as we do with every administration.

BERMAN: Well, Mark Zaid, appreciate your time today. Thanks so much for coming in.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: A critical day ahead on Capitol Hill for two of President Trump's cabinet picks. Important votes are about to happen for RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard. And the mounting pressure now coming at one Republican senator in particular that could decide their fate.

Plus, we are expecting new information to be coming out from the NTSB today on that midair collision tragedy in Washington. What information they may have been able to pull from the helicopter's black box.

And California farmers facing a new worry. President Trump's order to release billions of gallons of water. The threat that now poses to their crops.

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[09:18:30]

BOLDUAN: Today is a big day for Donald Trump's cabinet. Two of his nominees, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, both are facing critical votes on Capitol Hill. And given how controversial both of these nominees are, President Trump has reportedly been making calls to lawmakers to try and get them over the finish line.

CNN's Lauren Fox has the very latest for us from Capitol Hill right now.

And what are you hearing about these nominees and these votes?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, these are really two critical votes and some of the more controversial nominees from Donald Trump. First, today at 10:00 a.m. we are going to see a vote on whether or not the Senate Finance Committee will move forward with the nomination of RFK Jr.

There is a huge question mark right now surrounding Senator Bill Cassidy. He's a Republican from the state of Louisiana. He is someone who cares deeply about vaccines. He's a former physician. He is also someone who has made his life's work on Capitol Hill really looking at changes to the Medicaid program, something that when he asked RFK Jr. about in the finance hearing last week, RFK Jr. seemed to really struggle with that series of questions. So, there's a huge question mark right now surrounding that nomination. If Cassidy votes no, that could be enough to kill this nomination in committee.

Then later this afternoon, the Senate Intelligence Committee is going to decide whether or not to confirm Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence.

[09:20:00]

Now, we have heard from most of the Republicans on that committee, including Senator Susan Collins and James Lankford, who announced last night that they would vote yes on this nomination after yet another rocky hearing from Gabbard last week.

But there's still a huge question mark surrounding Todd Young. He's a Republican who serves on this committee, who was mum last night when reporters repeatedly were pressing him on what he would do. He said he would make an announcement today. That hearing and vote is going to take place later today. So, two really critical moments for Trump's nominees on Capitol Hill happening in just under an hour.

BOLDUAN: All right. To - definitely to be watched very closely this morning. Thank you so much, Lauren.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thanks, Kate.

Right now the recovery operation continues for the deadly mid-air collision in the Potomac River. Investigators are still lifting pieces of the wreckage from the river. And you're looking at a live view of that going on right now. Today, the NTSB is expected to release new data from the Black Hawk helicopter. The agency has been analyzing the Army helicopter's black box.

CNN's Gabe Cohen is in Alexandria, Virginia, for us.

Gabe, the last of the black boxes have been recovered. What can you tell us about where the investigation stands now?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, we're hoping for an update from investigators later today. And if they do have clean flight data and voice recordings from the helicopter, that could be really helpful in painting a clearer picture of exactly what was going on, on that Black Hawk, inside of it, in the moments before the crash, because there are still a lot of questions about the flight path that that helicopter was on.

Remember, some of the early black box data from the jet indicates that the crash happened at an altitude of about 325 feet. That is well above the 200-foot limit for helicopters along that route. Investigators are going to want to know why the helicopter was flying at that height.

We also know that on air traffic audio from the night of the crash you could hear the pilots on the Black Hawk give a verbal confirmation that they could see the American Airlines flight and were planning to pass behind it. And yet seemingly no evasive action was taken.

And so, it begs the question, were they looking at a different aircraft? What exactly was the confusion? The hope is that the information from that black box - black box on the helicopter is going to offer some answers on that.

We also know that investigators are looking at the logbooks from the pilots that were on both aircraft, trying to put together a detailed history of not just their training, but any flights that they have made in recent days and weeks to see if it gives them any clues that could help them in this investigation.

And you also, Sara, mentioned the salvage operation happening behind me in the Potomac River. We know they are going to be back out today. They removed one of the jet's engines yesterday, as well as a large portion of the fuselage today. They are hoping to pull out the plane's cockpit and most of the wreckage from that American Airlines flight. And the hope is that that is going to help them find, recover and

identify those additional 12 victims who they have not yet pulled from the Potomac River. That - those 12 of the 67 total who died in the crash.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, it is just horrific what happened there. And there are so many questions that you alluded to, such as, were they wearing night goggles on the - on the helicopter, or whether or not there is something that went wrong with equipment on that, on that Black Bawk. There's just a lot of things that - that we don't know that the black boxes usually can tell us if they are intact.

Gabe Cohen, thank you so much for your reporting throughout the morning. Appreciate it.

Now, among the 67 lives that were taken were 28 athletes, coaches, friends and family associated with U.S. Figure Skating. An unthinkable loss that includes 12-year-old Brielle Beyer and her mother, Justyna. Their husband and father, Andy Beyer, spoke with my colleague Kaitlan Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY BEYER, LOST WIFE AND DAUGHTER IN D.C. PLANE CRASH: They deserve to be remembered. They deserve to have their story known to the world. I mean, everyone dies, right? And they live on in though our memories. And I want people to have a memory of them so that they live on.

So, that's why I wanted to share their story.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you. Thank you for doing so, Andy, and I think everyone will be really touched to hear from you. So, thank you - thank you for coming on to talk about them.

BEYER: Thank you for - for sharing their story. I could talk to you all day about them.

[09:25:02]

And - and I know we haven't talked about my wife, but she was the most wonderful mother. She wanted to make every moment special for the kids. And she did. She gave him those magic memories, you know, Baille, too. And we thought those would sustain her into adulthood. She'd be able to draw from them. So, it's really sad that she doesn't get to do that because she deserved that.

But, you know, she was - she was wonderful and she was my soulmate. I am going to miss her so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Anybody who sees that cannot help but be touched by his words. Andy also told Kaitlan that he was trying to shield his son by keeping him busy with play dates and keeping the memories of his wife and daughter alive by talking about them, by remembering how wonderful they were.

John.

BERMAN: So difficult.

All right, we are standing by for the market open just a few minutes from now to see what the reaction will be for the new trade war with China. Right now, mostly flat.

And President Trump now suggests the United States should buy TikTok. Details on the new proposal.

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