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Recent Polls on Trump's Second Term; Rep. Katherine Clark (D- MA) is interviewed about Deadline Government Workers; Associated Press Sues Trump; Trump's Vision of Energy Independence. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 24, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN NEWSOURCE CORRESPONDENT: About half of that number in southern California. Of course, these are just estimates. But these communities are still on edge. You know, sources have told CNN previously that this was going to be a wave of enforcement action. So, more could still be to come.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, uncertainty, whether it has happened or will happen.

Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much for your reporting.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump promised to bring prices down on day one of this second term. Now, new polls show how voters are viewing his handling of the economy one month in.

And Apple is announcing and responding to the threat of tariffs with a plan to create thousands of new jobs in the United States.

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[08:35:13]

BOLDUAN: Boosting the economy, bringing down prices was a key part of Donald Trump's campaign message. Recent polls, though, show that support for how he is handling the economy so far that now that he's back in the White House, support there slipping.

CNN's Harry Enten here with me now.

Harry, there's been some key measures that have come out in the past week that are worth looking at. The state - the view that Americans have of the current state of the economy.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yes. So, we'll start with the current state of the economy. And all I can say is, compared to Trump's first term at this point, rut-ro (ph), the reboot not as well received as the original. Economy is currently good or excellent. Look at this. In April of 2017 it was 40 percent. Look at where we are in February of 2025. Just half that level, 20 percent. My goodness gracious. The term one high was 63 percent of Americans in February of 2020 thought the economy was excellent or good. This 20 percent we have currently going on right now is fewer Americans saying the economy is excellent or good than at any point, any point during Trump's first term. This is not a good sign, Kate Bolduan.

BOLDUAN: J.D. Vance said - said last week, you got to give him time, even though that's not what they promised in the campaign. They said they'd bring prices down day one. But what is the view of the future economy then?

ENTEN: Yes, so this is the current economy. How about the future economy? Is the economy getting worse or better? And all I can say is, yikes. Yikes. Again, compare it to where we were in the first term at this point, April of 2017, 53 percent. The majority said it was getting better. How about now, in February of 2025. The majority say it's getting worse, 59 percent compared to just 35 percent who say it's getting better. Worse is higher now than at any point in Trump's first term pre-Covid.

This number, to me, is much more worrisome. Perhaps the worst number I've seen for Trump on the economy because it says, even at the economy now isn't great, they also project that it's only going to get worse from here. This is a big, big yikes.

BOLDUAN: And fold in inflation, just like general views on inflation.

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, I think the question is, what's exactly cooking here. What is going on? You know, there's this whole idea that Trump was going to bring down inflation, right, Kate. So, what are Americans actually saying? You know, are Google searches for inflation going down or going up. They're going up. They're up 123 percent from February of 2017. And more than that, perhaps even more important, they're up 23 percent from last month. Americans fears about inflation are not going away. They are as interested in it as they were by the end of the Joe Biden administration. And the bottom line is, they're far more interested in it than they were at any point during Donald Trump's first term.

As I said at the beginning, the reboot, the sequel, is not being anywhere near as well received as the original when it comes to Donald Trump and the economy.

BOLDUAN: Let us see.

Harry, thank you so much for laying that out for us.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Elon Musk has told federal workers to justify their jobs by 11:59 tonight or they could face being fired. The ultimatum is part of his and President Trump's aggressive push to shrink and reshape the federal government. But their methods have led to criticism and pushback from both Democrats and Republicans.

With me now, Democratic Congresswoman Katherine Clark of Massachusetts. She is also the Democratic whip.

Thank you so much for getting up bright and early for us this morning.

Let's start here with the surprise announcement that right-wing podcaster Dan Bongino will be the deputy director of the FBI. In 2021 he accused members of the FBI, as well as the CIA, of unquestionably trying to rig the 2016 and 2020 elections. He called the FBI and the CIA corrupted intelligence community. What do you think of the Bongino pick?

REP. KATHERINE CLARK (D-MA): Let me tell you that this administration is replacing people of merit, people who are patriots, with loyalists. And what happens? The security of the American people is being threatened. And they understand it. They see it in what's happening in the economy. They see it in what's happening in the federal workforce when they are looking at delays in Social Security checks, in IRS refunds, real implications of - of what they are doing to the federal workforce when you replace it with the criteria that you have unfailing loyalty to Donald Trump.

SIDNER: I want to ask you about this, because the president's also replacing the head of the U.S. Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service. He fired the nation's highest ranking military officer, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General CQ Brown, highly decorated and seasoned leader who also happens to be a black man, and replace him with someone who has not served in any of the roles that nominees are legally required to have performed in order to be nominated.

[08:40:10]

What's happening here?

CLARK: What's happening here is corruption. And what we are seeing again is Donald Trump and Elon Musk saying, let's fire everybody who's doing their job in order to pass tax cuts for billionaires. And while they're doing it, they are trying to erode the very people who have risen through the ranks of our military and who have earned positions of power because of their expertise and experience, and replacing them with people who are saying, I will go along with our now self- proclaimed king Trump.

And it is why you are seeing the numbers for this president that are so shocking around the economy because he has betrayed what he said he would do, is focus on the American people, bringing down the cost of groceries and housing. And what he's doing instead is taking away their health care with a sleight of hand to give it to the very wealthiest and largest corporations in this country for a tax cut. That's what's on the floor this week, which is so outrageous and such a betrayal of people. Let me tell you one story from my district. A constituent who is

dealing with a husband who has early onset dementia. She is trying to work and care for her husband at the same time. She can't do it without Medicare. And so, when those cuts that Donald Trump has given the sign off to the House to go forward with this week hit home, Elon Musk is going to be OK because he can be cocooned in his enormous wealth. But the people of my district, of Republican constituents who voted for them, are not going to be OK. They are being asked to foot this tax bill to benefit Elon Musk.

SIDNER: Congresswoman, you're talking about the $880 billion that House Republicans are looking at to cut from Medicaid. And that is something that is - is in their bill for the budget. And there is a lot of concern, you're saying, with your constituents surrounding this and what that might mean.

I do want to ask you this. Some - some latest polling that has come out that says 73 percent of Democrats, or Democratic leaders believe their party is not doing enough. Since Democrats do not control the House or the Senate, what is your plan to try to give Donald Trump some - some checks and balances?

CLARK: First, let me tell you, you got to understand how frustrated people are watching what is happening with this administration and with the unvetted, unelected, richest man in the world running roughshod across our personal data and - and making, you know, threatening the basic services that they provide.

So, what we're doing is meeting this moment in three specific ways. First, we understand that we are the minority party in the House and the Senate, and they have the White House. And what we have seen is cowardice from House Republicans who won't stand up for their constituents because they don't want to step out of line. So, we are calling out the illegal and unconstitutional acts that we are seeing in the courts. That's our first line of defense. Over 78 cases have already been brought, and we are winning and holding Elon Musk and Donald Trump accountable.

Second, we are using the legislative tools that we have. We're clear- eyed that we're in the minority, but they have a very slim majority in the House. So, we're putting bills on the floor that would say to Elon Musk, get out of our tax data, get out of our health care data, you do not legally belong in those systems, threatening the privacy and security of our constituents. And we are asking and putting pressure on three Republicans, that's all it takes, to have the courage to stand up for the people who sent them to Washington and say no to this. Say no to stealing their hard-earned tax dollars that we all want spent efficiently, and handing it over to the billionaire class in this country.

[08:45:02]

SIDNER: Do you have any sense that any of those Republicans that you're -

CLARK: So, our third action point - SIDNER: Let me just quickly ask you, do you have any sense that the Republicans that you're putting pressure on will actually, you know, change their minds? Have they given you any indication of that?

CLARK: You know, what I see is a lot of talk in the background from them about empathy for the veterans who are losing their benefits, for the people on Social Security who are terrified. They're saying murmurings around this, but they are missing the moment here that they need to stand up for the American people, stand up for their constituents. And we just see cowardice. We just see them bowing to - bowing to Trump, bowing to the fear that Elon Musk will fund a primary opponent for them. And are they - is there any red line that they won't cross? Is there anything that they won't give from their - their constituents to - to the billionaire class because Donald Trump told them so? So far we haven't seen a single sign of actual courage and vote.

Let's see what happens this week. I hope we find a few who will stand up and say, this isn't going to be on my watch. I'm going to make sure that when we're in tax season, people can get a refund, that Social Security checks come out. All these services that people depend on.

SIDNER: Representative Katherine Clark, thank you so much. Really appreciate you coming on this morning.

John.

BERMAN: All right, happening now, a federal judge will today hear a request by the "Associated Press" to restore full access for the news agency after President Trump barred them from events for continuing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico in coverage.

CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter is with us now.

It's a big day, Brian.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, this is the first big First Amendment fight of the second Trump term. This case is being brought before a Trump appointee in Washington. There's a key hearing this afternoon because the AP wants emergency action to have this ban reversed. It's being supported by many press freedom groups.

For example, here's what Reporters Without Borders said over the weekend, John. Quote, "Donald Trump wants to make this about him versus the press. In reality, this fight's about Trump versus every American's First Amendment rights."

That's certainly how the AP views this as well. The AP is usually at every presidential event, able to hear what Trump says and oftentimes ask questions. But the AP's been banned for the better part of two weeks over a spat involving the name of the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump has declared to be the Gulf of America. The AP says it has to be able to choose what language to use. It can't allow the American president to be the word police.

So, the AP going to court today in a big action, and the White House Correspondents Association filed a brief overnight supporting the AP and saying this situation, this ban has, quote, "already had a chilling effect on journalists who simply want to do their jobs."

We'll see what the judge rules in this really important First Amendment case, John.

BERMAN: You say chilling effect. We're seeing at least maybe some efforts from President Trump when it comes to Comcast.

STELTER: Yes, we are. Overnight, a tirade from the president against Comcast, the owner of NBC and MSNBC. Some really interesting word choice by the president. He said the company should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they've done to our country. He's railing against progressive talk shows on MSNBC, but he's saying something out in plain view for everyone to see, including the government regulatory body that's investigating Comcast. Basically, Trump's FCC pick to run the FCC, Brendan Carr, recently told Comcast they're being investigated for their DEI practices. And here you have the president saying Comcast should pay up vast sums of money. We need to keep an eye on these kinds of moments where there could be a cause and effect between the president's words and his agency's actions.

BERMAN: Brian Stelter, I'm going to run to my computer to check out the "Reliable Sources" newsletter. Everyone should sign up immediately.

STELTER: It's coming out right now. I'm hitting send.

BERMAN: Hit send. All right, live coverage, "Reliable Sources."

BOLDUAN: Literally, he works on it everywhere. You can see him in action.

All right, the good stuff now.

A student at the University of Vermont jumped into action to do a very good thing after disaster struck. After learning that a campus employee's house had burned down on Christmas Day, college sophomore Duncan Starkenburg decided to help, starting a fundraiser for Starr Shover, who worked in a campus cafeteria. And when Shover found out about the effort, she says she just cried.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STARR SHOVER: You know, I had a lot on my plate. But coming into here, my kids are my first priority. So, you know, I have my kids coming through and then Duncan coming through.

DUNCAN STARKENBURG: I know there's enough people here in the community that have been touched by Star that we can - we can help get her back on her feet.

SHOVER: I cried. I couldn't believe that - for my kids to do that. And Duncan and it - it's an amazing thing to have your kids care for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: Within a few days the fundraiser has far surpassed Starkenburg's initial goal of

[08:50:02]

$5,000, having now raised more than double that.

Still ahead for us, Donald Trump is right now hosting French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House, and Macron's expected to be bringing a warning about Vladimir Putin with him. And what the president is getting wrong about his drill baby drill goals.

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BOLDUAN: New this morning, Apple announcing it will be investing $500 billion on expanding U.S. facilities over the next four years. The move could help the company avoid Donald Trump's sweeping 10 percent tariffs on goods coming from China as Apple imports many of its products, including most of its iPhones, are assembled in China.

[08:55:07]

The president celebrating this and taking credit for the announcement, saying this, quote, "the reason faith in what we are doing, without which they wouldn't be investing ten cents." Apple says the investment will create 20,000 jobs.

There's some scary moments for drivers in Boston when a slab of concrete crashed down from the ceiling on a packed tunnel, just barely missing several cars. It's hard to imagine that they were to avoid it. Officials say the chunk of concrete was five feet wide. Some vehicles suffered some minor damage, but fortunately no one was hurt. Authorities say this was an isolated incident, blaming the weather, saying this is the result of freezing and thawing over the last couple of weeks.

And then there is this. A video that has gone viral showing, what else, an alligator, a Florida alligator casually stopping traffic, walking across the street as it carried a turtle in its mouth. The video has sparked some laughs, some thanking the alligator for carrying the turtle safely across the street. That's actually really funny. But as much as we would like to believe that it was a kind gesture, alligators do think turtles are a tasty treat. So, we don't know. We didn't follow - the camera didn't follow this end result, John, maybe for the better.

BERMAN: Why did the alligator cross the road? To eat the turtle. I love that joke.

All right, new CNN reporting this morning shows a problem with President Trump's vision of energy independence. According to the president, unleashing U.S. drilling would reduce gas prices, reduce American's cost of living, and increase the nation's energy independence.

CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir is here. And the issue, as you report, is drilling for what exactly?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, have you noticed the president leaves facts out sometimes when he makes these grand statements about how we could just get off of all the foreign oil that comes from Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, these places. One huge problem. Not all oil is created equally. Let's talk about the basics. It's everything from sweet, light crude, which is like the champagne of oil, down to heavy sour, which is more like wet coffee grounds, right?

This stuff is light and easier to process, and the U.S. pumps a lot of it. We - we use it to export, and it goes into kerosene and gasoline. The problem is, the country was built on sticky coffee grounds over the years, and so our U.S. refineries are set up to process the heavy, dense stuff. The Alberta's tar sands. The clue's in the name. It looks like sandy tar. And it is processed this way. Meanwhile, along the Gulf of Mexico, a lot of these refineries can deal with more of the lighter campaign stuff.

And here's the big problem, John. We produce a lot more champagne than coffee grounds, exporting about 13 million barrels a day of the light, sweet stuff, while importing about half that much from these other countries.

So again, the idea that we could shut off imports from Canada and not feel the ramifications, it would completely upend the refinery system and would drive gas prices through the ceiling.

BERMAN: It's just not what we're built for.

WEIR: Exactly. Exactly.

BERMAN: The infrastructure's not here.

And how do the oil companies feel about these calls to drill, drill, drill more? Do they feel like they can?

WEIR: Well, it all comes down to economics. The price of a barrel of oil, the projections. You know, it takes ten years sometimes to get a well operating. And so they're looking over at China, where almost half of the new cars sold are electric. They're looking at oil demands around the world, how they might sink. Petrochemicals, plastics, all of those calculations are going into how they do this. So, there's not a huge demand. There's not sort of, you know, he was - these oil CEOs were promised complete carte blanche deregulation, but they're not - they're not exactly chomping at the bit to open new wells.

BERMAN: And we're talking about wells, we're not talking about shale, or are we talking about both?

WEIR: Shale - shale oil, big fracking boom has led to a massive spike in natural gas, which is a different kind of fuel, of course. And a lot more of the sweet, light champagne that comes out of those fracking wells.

BERMAN: All right, you've made me thirsty.

Bill Weir, thank you very much for all of that.

WEIR: But no, I have to say that every barrel of this stuff that gets pumped and burns moves us closer to a climate crisis. And the alternatives now are cheaper than the petrochemicals. So, something to keep in mind.

BERMAN: So, there's that too, in addition to everything else.

Bill Weir, thank you very much.

WEIR: You bet.

BERMAN: Brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

BOLDUAN: This morning, President Trump and French President Macron are meeting at the White House, as Europe fights for a place in the Ukraine-Russia peace talks. Today marks three years since Russia invaded.

Federal workers are facing a deadline. Justify your job in five bullet points or lose that job. Now, as Trump's own agency heads are telling employees to ignore that, Elon Musk pops up to say he's not joking.

Plus, comedy and politics mixing it up at the SAG Awards last night.

[09:00:01]

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