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Supreme Court Tread Carefully Amid Legal Challenges; Bill Nye is Interviewed about NOAA Firings; Segun Oduolowu is Interviewed About the Oscars. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 03, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: I mean at some point, though, the tariffs will do economic damage, right, because they'll cost American jobs. You know, especially if other countries respond and retaliate and raise their own tariffs and impose their own trade restrictions, which is what they did - certainly what China did back in President Trump's first term. That will hurt American companies, manufacturers, transportation, distribution, construction, cost American jobs.

And then ultimately, you know, that will weigh on inflation. But the first initial effects will be about higher inflation and then down the road we'll get weaker economic growth. So, it's a combination of higher inflation and higher interest rates and weaker economic growth. As you can tell, I'm not a fan of broad-based tariffs. I just don't think they're going to work.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I was going to say, so I'm going to not - I'm going to mark you down as not a fan of the direction things are headed here.

ZANDI: Not a fan.

BOLDUAN: But add up what you were kind of just laying out, right. Consumer confidence is down. Consumer spending, dropping. Layoffs ticking up. GDP forecast turning negative. Do you see this as a momentary blip, or could this really be something - the beginning of something bigger?

ZANDI: Well, I'm worried. You know, I think the uncertainty here - uncertainty around economic policy, and we talked about tariffs but, you know, there's the DOGE cuts, there's what's going on with immigration and deportation, what's going on in Congress around tax and spending. You know, there's a looming government shutdown a couple of weeks away. We've got the treasury debt limit. I can go on and on and on. I think, you know, the uncertainty that that's creating for business people and for consumers, like you and me. I mean if you see all this and you don't understand what it means, I don't think it means you cut back on your spending, but it certainly makes you more cautious in your spending.

So, you add that all up, you know, I - it feels like the economy's gagging on the uncertainty. And, you know, the longer the uncertainty hangs around, the more likely the economy's going to start choking. And, yes, I think it's going to do a lot of damage.

So, you know, I'm hopeful that we can get some clarity here soon around policy and allow businesses and people to get back to the business of doing business.

BOLDUAN: It's clarity but also is it - when you're talking about uncertainty is it also consistency? You know, because like, there being some kind of like through line here because every industry and every company, large or small, they are not planning their production, if you will, you know, two days out. They're planning years out for their growth and their expectations, right?

ZANDI: Absolutely. Yes, I mean, think about it. You know, say you're in the business of - of processing food. You're putting tuna into cans to deliver to American consumers. And, you know, we're thinking about building another plant or expanding an existing one or, you know, refurbishing one. You know, that investment that you're making, that's an investment not for just next month, next quarter, or next year, that's an investment you're going to make over the next years. You know, the next decade or two. And if you don't have clarity, if you don't have confidence as to what the rules of the game are, and tariffs are a key part of that, right, then you're just not going to invest.

Now again, I don't know that that means you pull back. I don't know that means you start firing people. But it certainly means you don't invest. You wait and see.

And, by the way, that's what the Fed said that they're doing, right? The Federal Reserve is now on hold. They had been cutting interest rates. They stopped cutting interest rates and say they - they say they're on hold. They're not going to cut them because they don't know what economic policy is going to be here in the months ahead. And that's just an example of the, you know, I don't - if you don't know what's going to happen, you kind of freeze it. You put your - you start sitting on your hands. And it feels like that's what's happening to the broader economy.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And we still are, you know, it's a fluid situation, as the commerce secretary says. Let us see what the next two hours bring in this fluidity.

It's good to see you, Mark. Thank you very much for coming in.

A programming note on just that. The commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, will be a guest on "THE SITUATION ROOM" in its new time slot. Starting today you can catch Wolf Blitzer, Pamela Brown, weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to noon Eastern.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning, new reporting that Supreme Court justices are privately nervous about the cases against the Trump administration that are making their way through the court system.

CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid is with us now with this new reporting.

Paula, what are you hearing?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, look, it's clear the Trump White House, and the Supreme Court, they are on a collision course. We know there are dozens of lawsuits challenging President Trump's use of executive power, his efforts to cull the power of the federal government. In fact, the Supreme Court is currently actively considering two of these lawsuits.

And this was widely expected. The Trump lawyers expected this. I'm sure the court expected this. But one of the big questions outstanding is whether the Trump administration would follow an order that does not go their way, even if it comes from the Supreme Court. Some officials have left that an open question. So, our colleague John Fritze, he reports that there is a self-consciousness on the part of the court not wanting to sort of antagonize President Trump.

Now, the State of the Union provides really this unique opportunity, because it's one of the rare times where the president of the United States comes in contact with some of the justices.

[09:35:10]

Now, I also want to note that the Supreme Court has not always consistently sided with Trump. Yes, they gave him that enormous victory in the immunity case related to the Jack Smith prosecution, which made it impossible for Smith to bring a trial before the election. But they've also sided against Trump when it comes to allowing his hush money trial sentencing to proceed. They even recently allowed a watch dog that he fired to remain in the job.

So, what we're looking at right now is, when is going to be the first time that the Supreme Court really weighs in on the merits of this larger question of Trump's power. And I think we could see that in the coming days over a question about foreign aid. Not only is the question, what will they decide, but will Trump and other administration officials follow that order? We'll see.

John.

BERMAN: A lot of implications concerning how they handle it and what they ultimately decide.

Paula Reid, thank you very much for that.

All right, one of the lowest grossing best pictures in Oscar history. Just one of the pieces of history made overnight. What were all the moments and maybe all the movies you may have missed?

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:40:36]

BOLDUAN: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA as it is known, is the latest federal agency now facing a massive set of layoffs coming from the president and Elon Musk's purge efforts. Sources say as many as 800 employees were fired there. One of those employees spoke with John just earlier this morning, laying out what he fears these cuts are going to lead to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM DI LIBERTO, FORMER NOAA PUBLIC AFFAIRS SPECIALIST AND CLIMATE SCIENTIST: A ton of people got fired. That's basically going to lead to a short, staffed agency, that was already short staffed, now trying to do more with less. And that is just asking for a disaster to happen. We know extreme weather is going to happen. Hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms. And now we're asking an agency to basically try and forecast these, make the public aware of the impacts, but do it with less people. You're just asking for a mistake to happen. You're asking for burnout to occur. And it's just pointless when you look at the - the - the importance of what NOAA does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now for his take is Bill Nye "The Science Guy" joining us here.

It's good to see you.

The entire federal government is getting hit by this. What - and you just heard that from that former - now former employee of NOAA. What impacts do you see coming from these cuts?

BILL NYE, "THE SCIENCE GUY": Well, first of all, everybody, let's understand, I think what happened. Elon Musk and his guys were revving up. And, you know, I'm an engineer. We love engineering. I used - I used to work on failure effects and modes analysis for airplanes. So, these guys found what they thought was the vulnerable part of the U.S. government, which is this digital services office. So, they got in there and changed all the passwords and messed everything up as fast as they could. And then along that line, people, the system was not set up for it.

But understand what's going on. By firing people at NOAA, NOAA has a lot of satellites, and that's how these weather predictions are made. You know, when I was young, when I was a kid, if a hurricane path was predicted within 50, 60, 70 nautical miles, everybody would - that was amazing. Well, now its within 5 or 6 nautical miles because of the - the efficacy or the quality of the software and the satellites that do the weather analysis, and the people who work on it.

Well, Mr. Musk has this company, Starlink, and he's proposing that NOAA be supplanted by a private company. And just to the young guys that have gone to work on this, that have gone into the digital services office to destroy or mess up our electronic systems, keep in mind that this is fundamental corruption. This is - it's just corruption when you're trying to monopolize a government service. And say what you will about Woodrow Wilson back in the old days. He was a big anti-monopoly guy. This is trying to undo the robber barons.

And so, if you read the book about Elon Musk and so on, he - there's a whole section on his unrealistic goal setting. So, he found this weak part, this weakness in the U.S. government, exploited it as fast as he could, and now for - it's - one thing's leading to another and he's trying to undo a public service and supplant it with one of his. And this is - it's just good old corruption. So, sooner or later, I believe, the court system will catch up with these guys. And so it's just going to be - it's just - I talk about efficiency, destroying a system that was working, and then trying to replace it later is inefficient.

Back to you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we heard - we heard from that - we heard from that employee, Bill, who said, it's like asking for a disaster to happen.

What concerns do you have on that front, given the valuable service that NAA provides?

NYE: Well, the other thing everybody, the climate is changing. You can say to yourself it's not and you can take campaign financing from the fossil fuel industry, and you can pretend it's - the climate's not changing and hurricanes aren't becoming more frequent and flooding isn't more. There's - there's forest fires - wildfires in - in the Carolinas? That didn't used to be a thing, everybody. This is because weather patterns have changed and things dried out in an extraordinary fashion that they didn't use to.

[09:45:05]

You can pretend that's not happening, but it is. And this is where NOAA's service helped us prepare and deal with that. And it certainly informs where to apply whatever limited resources you have to disaster relief.

So, it's just everybody - the reason you have, the reason you have public service is to serve the public. And by dismantling this public service, you are not serving the public. And I understand where this came from. This engineer who looked for the weakness, found the weakness, exploited the weakness as fast as he unrealistically could. And now we have a system that's broken in many ways that has to be rebuilt. So, yes, this is in nobody's best interest.

BOLDUAN: And it's playing out still. And we'll see how far and deep these cuts - these cuts really do hit in this agency and others.

Bill Nye, good to see you. Thank you for coming in.

NYE: Well, the other - another thing is, those employees are losing their health insurance. And somebody's going to pay for that too. It's just not efficient.

BOLDUAN: Yes, the - the trickle effects - the trickle effects are vast.

It's good to see you. Thank you.

NYE: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, Oscar's night had a lot going on. Big wins, big upsets, big emotion.

We'll be right back.

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[09:50:55]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY CRYSTAL, ACTOR: And the Oscar goes to - are they playing us off?

MEG RYAN, ACTRESS: No.

CRYSTAL: No.

RYAN: Well, maybe. Oh, "Anora."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, "Anora" won big at the Oscars overnight. And I saw it. And I'm one of the very few people who can say that, apparently.

BOLDUAN: Wait, you stayed up and watched the Oscars last night?

BERMAN: No, no, I saw "Anora."

BOLDUAN: Oh, OK.

BERMAN: I didn't see the Oscars. It's on very, very late. But "Anora" is this film that won best picture.

BOLDUAN: What?

BERMAN: And is one of the lowest grossing best pictures in Hollywood history. So, I contributed to that.

BOLDUAN: OK. You are contributing -

BERMAN: I am a contributing factor.

BOLDUAN: You're a contributing man.

BERMAN: Joining us now, live from Los Angeles, to talk about this night, entertainment journalist Segun Oduolowu.

Segun, great to see you. Thank you so much for being with us.

Look, as I was joking, only sort of, I did see "Anora," which puts me in the minority of Americans. I did like it. What did you think about its big, big night and the historic night for its director?

SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Yes, it was the engine that could that turned into a steamroller. It -four - four Oscars for the director, Sean - Sean Baker. And then, when you think about just upsetting Demi Moore for best actress, like "Anora" was - look, lowest grossing film. Say whatever you want about it. It - it is the little indie that could. It went - went home with the most Oscars of the night. So, hats off to them. As you can see from my outfit, it's early morning in L.A., but I never took my tux off because we still up here partying in Hollywood.

BOLDUAN: What - what - what made it - what do you think was so captivating about it? What do you think - or - if it's so low grossing and so unknown, what - what - and it was the little engine that became a steam - steam train, what made it so great?

ODUOLOWU: Well, I think that it's the fact that it was indie. It was the way it was put together. The - the small cast of not relatively unknowns, but it didn't have the big budget push. It just kept delivering great work.

And you kind of saw in the lead up to the Oscars and some of the other, Director's Guild, Writer's Guild, "Anora" was winning. And other movies started to drop off. Other movies weren't as interesting. And if you could sit through "The Brutalist," good luck with that. So, "Anora" was this - was this movie that people were talking about. You know, was it porn? Was it safe to even talk about at work? Didn't matter. On Hollywood's biggest night, it was the only thing we were talking about.

BERMAN: What surprised you most last night, or for you a few hours ago?

ODUOLOWU: Biggest surprise for me was Demi Moore not winning. I thought that she was a shoo in. The most slam dunk, I thought, was Zoe Saldana. And her speech was word perfect. I love everything that she had to say. Being the first Dominican - or first actor - or actress of Dominican descent to - to go home with a gold statue.

But I was sad for people that I wanted to see go up there. I wanted to see Colman Domingo win for "Sing Sing." I wanted - I wanted it to be a livelier event. I wish - I wish Conan was funnier. So, that - I guess that wasn't really a surprise. But I didn't find Conan to be all that engaging and entertaining. Although keeping the Drake-Kendrick beat alive with that one-liner, I credit for that. You know, chef's kiss for keeping rap beef still thrilling (ph), but I just didn't find the entire Oscars to be that compelling.

BOLDUAN: But, Segun, you were - I'm looking - I was looking at other headlines - I'm always interested kind of on the take of the host because it is the most thankless job in like all of Hollywood. You're - you are going - going against the grain on this one. "Time" said that Conan "nailed the Oscars hosting job simply by being Conan."

[09:55:02]

"Atlantic" said, "Conan O'Brien understood the assignment." And Segun says, absolutely not.

ODUOLOWU: Yes, it - look, it was a - maybe it's a case of two Americas. But for me, that open that we're showing right now with Demi Moore, I found it disturbing. I didn't think of it - I mean we've got the Blake Lively-Baldoni case going on right now where women are fighting to be seen in Hollywood. And the opening of the Oscars basically makes her an object that Conan crawls out of. I found that really distasteful and bothersome. And it kind of set the tone for me for the entire Oscars.

It wasn't an Oscars that was heavy on speeches where people were, you know, decrying political statements, which you see a lot. But that - that opening didn't do it for me. That - that's not entertaining. That was kind of creepy.

BERMAN: The substance a little bit like that, too, though, to be fair.

Segun Oduolowu, great to have you. Great to share this morning with you. Get some sleep when it's appropriate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you all so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown is next.

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