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Trump's Plan for Gaza; Republicans Respond to Gaza Plan; New Details in Mid-Air Collision; Peter Navarro is Interviewed about Tariffs. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 05, 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]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: No reason to believe there will be any further threat.

Two of Japan's biggest automakers are still holding various discussions, despite reports their merger was scrapped. That is according to Nissan. Nissan and Honda announced a possible merger in December as they try to compete with surging Chinese automakers. Nissan says they plan to make an official announcement by mid- February. We're basically almost there.

All right, a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's probably a couple of kinks in that slinky. What one Republican senator is saying about President Trump's new plan to take control of Gaza. We're getting fresh reaction as the reality sets in. We've got new reporting this morning on pushback against Elon Musk from within the Trump administration.

And then breaking this morning, where is your latest order from Temu? Your socks caught in a trade war with new developments in the odyssey in just the last few minutes.

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And happening now, we are following the reaction both in the United States and overseas to the new proposal from President Donald Trump laying out what is now his proposed plan for Gaza that the United States should own it and relocate the nearly 2 million Palestinians who live there. The president even open to sending in U.S. troops to implement his plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative.

They can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again. The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. We'll own it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And a live look behind me at the White House and at Gaza right now, a place that President Trump said all Palestinians should leave so he can redevelop it and eventually turn it into, the way he described it was, the riviera of the Middle East.

Some of his biggest Republican supporters on The Hill asked about this. Republican senators skeptical at best. Thom Tillis likely with the quote of the night, which was, "there are probably a couple kinks in that slinky." Have you ever tried to get the kinks out of a slinky? Thats my point.

Democratic senators, like Senator Chris Van Hollen, who was just on our show, called what the president wants to do, "ethnic cleansing."

We are standing by for more reaction and maybe more clarity from the White House on steps forward.

Let's first get to the White House. CNN's Alayna Treene is standing by for us.

And what are you hearing this morning, Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, look, Kate, I mean, these comments from President Donald Trump are very remarkable. I'm told, according to my conversations with those at the White House, that he is very serious about this. But I would remind you as well exactly what he is saying when he says that, you know, he wouldn't rule out having U.S. troops go to Gaza to have the United States help take over it. He said, we'll own it. I mean that is suggesting putting American troops on the ground in the Middle East, of course, as we are trying to find the - America and the people working on behalf of Donald Trump, along with Israel and those in Hamas and other countries in the region, are trying to find an off ramp out of this war.

Now, one thing as well that I think I want to stress is just, you know, Donald Trump was really building toward this moment all day yesterday, even before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the White House for his meeting with the president.

We also know that Trump has said many of - much of this before, at least on the part about wanting to revive Gaza, that it's a beautiful piece of land, that it could be prime real estate in the right hands. But his comments yesterday really went further than we've heard him say before, especially when you put into consideration that he was standing up on stage alongside the prime minister of Israel.

Now, I do also want to turn your attention to, you know, the question, and our own Kaitlan Collins asked this, over whether, you know, or what would happen, I should say, to the nearly 2 million of - people living in Gaza, if they were to be displaced, where would they go? We know that the president has said that he believes Egypt and Jordan, neighboring countries, should accept them and take them in.

But, of course, we also know that the leaders of those countries have argued that that is a nonstarter, that that is off the table. The - Trump, however, tried to argue that he believes it's still possible.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It'll be wonderful for the people, Palestinians, Palestinians mostly we're talking about. And I have a feeling that despite them saying no, I have a feeling that the king in Jordan and that the general president, but that the general in Egypt will open their hearts and will give us the kind of land that we need to get this done. And people can live in harmony and in peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:05:06]

TREENE: Now, Kate, of course, a key question is whether or not the White House is actually going to try and take steps to do this. The president was very light on details about how this could even be possible. But I'd note as well with that comment there about Egypt and Jordan, we do know that the king of Jordan is expected to come to the White House next week. This will certainly be at the forefront of that conversation.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Alayna, thank you so much for your reporting.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much.

Democrats, of course, have something to say of this. They are slamming the president's proposal. Earlier this morning Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen told our John Berman, this is pouring gasoline on a burning fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): This is an insane proposal. And there's been a huge backlash already because the president of the United States was saying that he would use U.S. military force, if necessary, to forcibly remove 2 million Palestinians from Gaza. That's ethnic cleansing by another name.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now - and there are several Republicans not jumping in on this bandwagon. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis also saying, "obviously it's not going to happen. I don't know under what circumstances it would make sense even, even for Israel."

CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill.

I'm most curious about how Republicans and more Republicans are responding to this, as they have generally followed Trump's lead, saying they don't want to be involved in foreign wars. And Trump is talking about sending troops in to remove - forcibly remove Palestinians from their homeland.

Lauren, what are you hearing on The Hill this morning?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, there was a late vote last night on Capitol Hill in the United States Senate. And it was clear that a lot of Republicans were trying to dodge reporter questions around this, saying that they had not seen these comments and that they needed to take - needed to take a closer look at them.

But one thing that is exceedingly clear is the fact that no one on Capitol Hill is really endorsing or getting their arms around this idea. Most people are making clear when they are commenting that they have deep concerns and reservations with moving forward with something like injecting U.S. troops into what is already a war torn area in Gaza.

And one thing that's really interesting is the number of Democrats who are on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who swiftly rejected this idea. Here's Senator Chris Coons, who is a key member of that committee. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): You can report that I was speechless. I'm speechless. That's insane.

I can't think of a place on earth that would welcome American troops less, and where any positive outcome is less likely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: We also heard from Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, who said, "we'll see what our Arab friends say about that. I think most South Carolinians would probably not be excited about sending Americans to take over Gaza. I think that might be problematic, but I will keep an open mind."

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, called the idea crazy. He said, "you can quote me that it would blow apart the Abraham Accords and that all the progress we have made, including the brave and costly battles that Israel has waged would be effectively undercut by this crazy notion."

I think you're going to see a lot more reaction today on Capitol Hill as so many Republicans will have a chance to review these comments. And obviously, reporters on The Hill are going to be pushing them for a comment.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and it wasn't lost on anyone that while everyone is calling this crazy, we did see Netanyahu seemingly agreeing in some way. So, we will see. Lauren Fox, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, Democratic strategist Matt Bennett and political strategist Madison Gesiotto.

I want to put up one more quote, following up on what Lauren was just talking about there. This from Republican Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri, who said, "I don't know that I think it's the best use of U.S. resources to spend a bunch of money in Gaza. I think that maybe I'd prefer that to be spent in the United States first."

So, Madison, what happened to America first from Donald Trump? Is that out the window?

MADISON GESIOTTO, TRUMP 2020 BOARD MEMBER AND POLITICAL STRATEGIST AND ATTORNEY: Well, I think this could be opening up conversations moving forward. And I think President Trump, last night, what he was doing was putting the Middle East on notice, putting the world on notice that the status quo will not stand, similar to what we're seeing going on here in the United States with DOGE and other things happening with our government. He's saying, we cannot continue to see this go on the way that it has in the Middle East for decades. The Palestinian people deserve better. The Middle East deserves better. And so maybe we see talks about Saudi coming in and potentially developing here, making it a habitable place for Palestinians and others to live in the future. We'll see what happens.

Obviously, Steve Witkoff visiting Gaza last week, seeing that it's completely uninhabitable. The people that are there that are remaining are living in squalor.

[09:10:03]

That there's unexploded ordinances that could kill children. People can't live like this, and it's gotten worse than ever.

BERMAN: Matt, just a conversation starter. I mean, Donald Trump didn't talk about the Saudis going in, he talked about U.S. ownership, a long-term ownership position there.

MATT BENNETT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND FORMER WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY ASSISTANT FOR PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: Yes, I mean, he was serious about this. It's a thing that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has speculated about, you know, making fancy properties in Gaza to sell to people who are not Palestinian, to be clear.

And, you know, it's just another case of Trump talking off the cuff, which is fine when you're a real estate developer, and not at all fine when you're the president of the United States.

Just yesterday they announced that the CIA, every person at the CIA got a notice asking if they want to resign. You know, it might be a good idea for the president to listen to the intelligence community, because if he did, he would know that the idea that he floated yesterday was bananas, as we heard from Republican senators, and is going to do damage to our efforts to try to bring stability back to the region.

BERMAN: So, Matt, along these lines, and also some of the things that are happening domestically, there's the question of how do Democrats react? And Senator Chris Murphy, from Connecticut, has been more outspoken than most Democrats. And just a few minutes ago he was talking, and I think I wrote down the quote correctly here, "Democrats need to act like our democracy is weeks away from disintegrating because it is," says Chris Murphy.

So, a, do you agree with him? And, b, what does it look like for Democrats if they're going to behave like democracy is disintegrating?

BENNETT: Well, I certainly agree that what Trump is doing on many fronts is incredibly destructive. He is breaking things that are going to be impossible or very, very hard to put back together. Things that we need to protect Americans.

And he's doing things that are putting Americans at risk. I mean he has given the keys to Elon Musk and a bunch of, like, 24 year olds to the Treasury payment system, to everyone's Medicare and Medicaid records. People are very concerned about their privacy. They're concerned about the ability of the government to continue to function.

So, I don't know if our democracy is at risk in the next couple of weeks, but it is clear that the function of American government is at risk because he is allowing this unelected, multi-billionaire to just run roughshod over all of American government. It's very scary what he's doing with the FBI and the CIA is scary. We do need to pay attention, but, boy, there's a lot of things happening all at once.

BERMAN: You know, Madison, I - you know, for years I've heard Republicans talk about unelected bureaucrats running government. But what about unelected billionaires running government?

GESIOTTO: Listen, John, drama is at an all-time high with Democrats right now. But the reality is, this is the one chance that we have as Americans to take our government back from these unelected bureaucrats. I think what Elon Musk and his team are doing is absolutely incredible. I mean they're saving us $1 billion a day. They want to increase to $3 billion a day.

When you look at the rampant waste, fraud and abuse that has got us to well over $34 trillion in national debt, you know, many people sounding the alarm ten years ago, myself included, saying that we can't continue down this road, Republicans and Democrats both have gotten us here, we can't continue to grow government and to spend money that we don't have. We don't, as Americans, get to do that in our companies, in our lives, and we shouldn't allow the government to continue to do that.

And so what they're doing I think is great. They're saving us money. They're putting money back into the pockets of the American people. And hopefully we can get that national debt and those deficits down where they need to be. BERMAN: Matt, how do Democrats have this discussion, this what

apparently is now an unelected bureaucrat versus unelected billionaire discussion?

BENNETT: Look, there's no question that there's some fat to cut in federal agencies. But this is the exact wrong way to do it. We need change, but we need some other kind of change, not this kind of hatchet and sledgehammer approach that Trump and Musk are taking.

If the Trump administration had come in and said, we're going to review all the things the government is doing and then we're going to take a scalpel and we're going to cut away the things that we think are - are bad, that would be much harder for Democrats to resist. But what he is doing instead is taking, you know, a sledgehammer and a bulldozer to government. And that is going to hurt people in real ways.

Now, just one last example. The day after the horrible air tragedy in Washington, D.C., the very next day, every single air traffic controller in America got an email asking them if they would like to resign and do something more productive, implying that they are lazy and useless. That is not the way to reform government.

BERMAN: Matt Bennett, Madison Gesiotto, thank you both for being with us this morning.

Kate.

BENNETT: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, President Trump said the blanket 10 percent tariffs imposed against China are just the opening salvo. Now economists are bracing for even more tariffs to come. [09:15:01]

The president's top trade and manufacturing adviser joins us.

And new radar data is providing critical clues into what went so wrong to lead to that military helicopter and passenger jet colliding mid- air, ending in pure tragedy.

And the northeast, it has not seen a ton of snow yet this winter. Could that be changing? We have the forecast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning we now have concrete evidence showing how high the Black Hawk helicopter was when it collided with an American Airlines passenger jet above the Potomac River, killing 67 people.

[09:20:09]

CNN's Gabe Cohen is at Reagan National Airport with details on this, this morning.

This is all about being able to find that black box in the helicopter. What can you tell us this morning?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, this radar data, a key piece of information for investigators. It came out of the control tower here at the airport indicating that that helicopter was, in fact, flying at an altitude of close to 300 feet, well above the 200 foot limit for helicopters along that route on the Potomac.

It does not tell us why the helicopter was flying at that altitude. It does not tell us if they were wearing night vision goggles, the pilots on board that helicopter, and it could have impacted visibility. It does not tell us why they told the control tower they could see that American Airlines flight, but seemed to take no evasive action. Sara, that is information that may come out of the black box that you mentioned that was on board the helicopter, and that investigators have now recovered.

There are voice recordings, flight data most likely that will come from that black box. But the problem is, investigators say they still have to confirm some of the information and it will require actually getting access to the Black Hawk helicopter itself. But that helicopter is still in the Potomac River, and crews are most likely not going to be able to pull it out until Thursday or Friday. And so we may have to wait a little while for some of that information.

In terms of the salvage operation itself, Sara, we know that crews have now recovered all 67 of the victims in this crash and have positively identified 66 of them. They are still waiting on confirmation for one. But that is a significant step for the families who are grieving, who are planning funerals right now, Sara.

And we also know they have recovered most of the wreckage, parts of the plane, the wings, the tail, the cockpit, parts of the fuselage. And today they are going to be bringing all of it to a hangar here at the airport where investigators are going to start sifting through it.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, part of the gruesome process.

Gabe Cohen, thank you so much. Appreciate your reporting this morning.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, how Elon Musk has crowned himself the techno king of the federal government. New details about what he plans to do next.

And waiting for a package from China? We have brand new updates from the Postal Service on when you can expect to get your hands on it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:12]

BOLDUAN: Some breaking news this morning. The U.S. Postal Service announcing a quick reversal. Last hour, USPS reported that it would continue now to receive packages from China - we'll say for now - after last night saying deliveries of all packages from China and Hong Kong would be suspended.

Also overnight, China's minister of foreign affairs calling out the United States over President Trump's new moves on trade and the tariffs just ordered.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPEAKER LI JIAN, SPOKESPERSON, CHINA'S MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (through translator): We urge the U.S. side to stop politicizing economic and trade issues, or using it as a tool. It must cease its unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies. China will continue to take necessary measures to firmly defend the legitimate rights of Chinese companies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now from the White House is the senior trade and manufacturing adviser to President Trump, Peter Navarro.

Peter, thank you for coming in.

When are, first and foremost, the President and Xi Jinping going to speak? Will it be today?

PETER NAVARRO, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SENIOR COUNSELOR FOR TRADE AND MANUFACTURING: I don't know, and that will be up to the president.

BOLDUAN: The head of - I want to get in - I want to focus on China with the 10 percent tariff that has been levied against Chinese goods coming in.

NAVARRO: Sure.

BOLDUAN: The head of the leading footwear trade association in the country was on with me this week and said that these tariffs are going to cost consumers. And here's how he explained it. Let me play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT PRIEST, PRESIDENT AND CEO, FOOTWEAR DISTRIBUTORS AND RETAILORS OF AMERICA: We brought in about $10 billion in value for - of footwear from China last year. Ten percent - I'm not a mathematician, but 10 percent is about $1 billion in additional costs at the border paid by American companies. And so that $1 billion has to go somewhere. It's got to be absorbed somewhere for companies to be competitive, to continue to have profitability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And they say that is going to be a cost to consumers, Peter. How do you explain to someone, who's struggling already with inflation, which you've - you talked so much about, why it's worth it to now pay more for their shoes?

NAVARRO: So - so, that guy, I'm sure, when we had the historic trade tariffs during the first time, said the exact same thing, and we didn't have that inflationary effect because the first thing that really happens, Kate, is that China will absorb most or all of the tariff. That was our experience in the first term. That will be our experience here.

But what's interesting about lobbyists like that, they never ask the question why we're doing this. Seventy-five thousand Americans die every single year, that's about as many people that are going to be in the Superdome on Sunday, because of the fentanyl precursors that come from China, that go into Mexican drug cartel labs, both in Mexico and Canada, come across their border and kill Americans.

[09:30:06]