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Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is Interviewed about Tariffs, Al Green, and Ukraine; Polls on the Economy and Stock Market; Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) is Interviewed about Trump's Speech; Grocery Store Voters Gauge Trump's Economic Promises. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired March 05, 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]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Trillions of dollars that other countries were not paying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: What is he referring to?

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: So, it's not exactly clear what he's talking about when he says the green new scam. The green new deal was a contentious, broad, progressive Democratic congressional resolution. The thing is, though, it was never actually passed. Now, President Biden did, of course, sign a major climate environmental law known as the Inflation Reduction Act, but President Trump has not terminated that. It would take an act of Congress to terminate it. So, while he has reversed some of Biden's environmental policies, I don't know what he means.

And then this claim the Paris Climate Accord was costing us trillions is just not true. The Paris Climate Accord allowed countries to set their own voluntary standards for cutting emissions. So, it didn't impose direct costs on countries that way.

And in terms of direct U.S. spending, well, President Biden said we were going to spend about $11 billion per year, but Congress appropriated only a fraction of that. Even $11 billion wouldn't have been a trillion, but we didn't even get to that level, Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. A lot to go through in a nearly 100-minute speech, for sure. Long night for you, but we really appreciate all of the context this morning. Daniel, thank you.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, in his speech last night before the nation, President Trump did talk about tariffs and acknowledged that Americans may feel some pain.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it's happening. And it will happen rather quickly. There will be a little disturbance, but we're OK with that. It won't be much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, with us now is the Senate minority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer from New York.

Senator, thank you so much for being with us.

You heard the president talking about tariffs last night. What was your takeaway? What do you think will happen in the next few days or weeks?

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Well, good morning, John. It's good to be on with you.

Look, the number one issue that the American people want us to work on is costs, rising costs of food and of housing and of gas and of cars and of everything else. Tariffs will raise the costs. The kind of tariffs the president proposed on Canada, Mexico, China will raise the cost for the average American family by $2,000. So, that is exactly the wrong prescription for what we need. It will raise the cost, not just of a few things, but of things across the board, of food, of gasoline, cars. Forty percent of our car - the materials in our cars are made in Canada. And cars are part of the Midwest economy that's so important. It's the economy in lots of places in the country. And those costs are going to go way up. It's going to be even harder to make cars with these tariffs on Canada.

So, this is an outrageous policy that hurts the American people. And you ask your - the American people are asking, why is he doing this? Well, I'll tell you why he's doing it. They want to give tax breaks to their billionaire buddies, and they're trying to find ways to pay for it. One way is by cutting Medicaid. That's very unpopular. Another way is calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme. That's very unpopular. And so they're looking for tariffs. But it's even worse.

And so, I think this is something the American people will vehemently oppose. And I think there are going to be a lot of Republican senators and congressmen, they've been grumbling under their breath, but who are going to have to come out against this plan, which is unthought out, which doesn't look at the dire consequences to raising the cost of the American people. Also, they can give tax breaks to their billionaire buddies.

BERMAN: One bit of breaking news on the tariff front. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is doing an interview just a few minutes ago with "Bloomberg" where he seemed to back off. Yesterday, he claimed that President Trump may be willing to meet in the middle with Canada and Mexico, maybe retreating now this morning from that, saying, maybe some accommodation could be reached on autos alone. But we'll have to wait and see how that develops a little bit more over the next few minutes.

SCHUMER: Well, but, John, you know what this says.

BERMAN: Go ahead.

SCHUMER: And it's typical of all of Trump's speech. It is so unthought out. It's sloganeering. It's partisan. In many instances it was nasty. You know, you got more truth in Elissa Slotkin's response in five minutes than you got in 100 minutes of Donald Trump's long dialog.

BERMAN: So -

SCHUMER: And so, they don't think these things out. So, they say one thing one day and one thing the next day. But he said he's sticking with tariffs. And that's going to be bad for the pocketbooks of American families.

BERMAN: You called it nasty. It was like four minutes into the speech when Congressman Al Green was yelling at the podium and he was escorted out.

What was going through your head as you heard the congressman yelling?

SCHUMER: Well, look, the bottom line is, lots of people are frustrated. But the best way to protest what Trump is doing is doing what we are doing, and many senators and many congressmen are doing, and that is organizing against these horrible policies of making - of calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme and then cutting, slashing people's Social Security offices (ph). So, here's what we're -

BERMAN: Would you rather - would you rather Congressman Green -

[08:35:04]

SCHUMER: John, here's what we're doing. Let me just say -

BERMAN: Would you rather - would you rather that he not yell?

SCHUMER: Here, let me just say, the best answer, in my judgment, is to organize. So, I - I put a call together last week with our activists. I thought 300, 400 people would get on the phone. Four thousand - 3,000 people got on the phone. And what we all decided was, we're going to focus our energy on the six Republican Congress members from New York, because they hold the key to stopping these horrible policies. As you know, in the House, all you need, one or two. In the Senate you need three or four. We don't have Republican senators in New York, but in other states there are. And the best way to organize and protest is to organize. Organizing is hard, but it's effective. And that's what we're doing.

BERMAN: Well, let me ask a different way. Would you rather see Democrats more in line with what Senator Elissa Slotkin was saying, or more in line with what Congressman Al Green and people holding signs in the audience were doing last night?

SCHUMER: Look, I thought, Elissa Slotkin - I chose her because she is such one of our rising stars from the Midwest, won a race, knows how to talk to average folks, to working families. And she did a great job. And I think, again, the American people got more truth in her five - in her - in five minutes of her speech than with all the lies, with all the misconceptions, with all the things that were departing from reality. When Donald Trump says he's the greatest president, after 30 days of chaos and hurting people since George Washington, give me a break.

BERMAN: The - you, of course, were one of many Democratic senators who voted to confirm Marco Rubio as secretary of state. We just got word this morning that - Jim Sciutto and others are reporting that intelligence sharing was curtailed, at least in part, with Ukraine. CIA Director John Ratcliffe seemed to suggest that it had been curtailed. Maybe now won't be. What's your view of that? And, b, do you regret your vote to confirm Marco Rubio as secretary of state?

SCHUMER: OK. So, first, let me say, what you brought up just portrays one of the many, many problems, huge problems with this administration. They don't even - one day they say one thing, one day they say the next thing. I don't even know if the president knows what these folks are doing. So, they talk about, we're going to cut off intelligence. We're not - it's a huge mistake to cut off intelligence. Huge, huge mistake.

The Ukrainians need it. The collaboration between America and Ukraine has proven to be very, very effective. The one person who's happy that we might cut off intelligence to Ukraine is Vladimir Putin. This bully, this dictator who Donald Trump seems to be interested in finding friendship with, even treating Zelenskyy and the brave Ukrainians poorly.

There again, there are a good number of Republicans who agree with us. And I hope they will join with us. It's on them to curtail the excesses, the horrible things that the Trump administration may be proposing to abandon Ukraine.

BERMAN: "Politico" and others are reporting that you had a meeting last week with former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. "Politico" writes, "Pete Buttigieg met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer last week to discuss a possible Senate bid in Michigan, according to two people familiar with the meeting and granted anonymity to describe private conversations."

How was the meeting?

SCHUMER: I'm not getting into any private meetings I've had like that.

BERMAN: Did a private meeting exist like that?

SCHUMER: I'm not getting into it.

BERMAN: Senator Chuck Schumer from New York, thank you very much. We will interpret that laugh for ages.

SCHUMER: John. John, good to be with you.

BERMAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: John manages to make everyone laugh with his America's little brother grin that he has at times.

All right, how are you feeling about the economy right now after the Trump administration's promise to fix prices on day one?

And the fight against deepfakes. A Texas teen who knows that battle firsthand, now championed by the first lady's platform to protect children online.

Those stories, and more, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:43:20]

SIDNER: President Trump's address to Congress last night was not centered on the economy, and yet that's a big reason voters sent him back to the White House.

CNN chief data reporter Harry Enten joins us now.

What do the numbers say? How do people feel about him? Is he pushing the economy to the top of his agenda enough?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA REPORTER: No. No, no, no, no, no.

SIDNER: There's an answer.

ENTEN: The answer to the question is no. Trump and the economy. He should prioritize here on planet earth, 82 percent say it. It's almost as if Trump is on planet Krypton. Look at this, he is prioritizing the economy, just 36 percent.

My goodness gracious. I don't understand how this mathematical formula works, right? If the economy is the number one issue, if that's what Americans think you should be prioritizing and well less than half think that you are, no wonder Trump is having problems with the economy. Because simply put, he's not putting it to the top of his list the way Americans are.

SIDNER: We all know the stock market doesn't tell you everything about the economy. It is one indicator. But do Americans care a lot about the stock market? It used to be that a lot of Americans weren't in the stock market. That has changed, though, hasn't it?

ENTEN: That has changed tremendously. You know, sometimes I look up numbers and I'm just shocked at them. This, to me, is a shocking number, and it tells you why the stock market is so important to perceptions of the economy.

American adults who have a job currently, at least in January, was 61 percent. The percentage that own a stock either directly or indirectly, perhaps your 401(k) -

SIDNER: Yes.

ENTEN: Sixty-two percent. So, stock - the stock market is as important to economic perceptions in my mind as is the unemployment number given that about the same percentage of Americans, in fact, if you believe it, though, it's within the margin of error, one point more of the American folks actually own stock than actually have a job.

[08:45:01]

And that's why the economy - or the stock market going this way could lead to Donald Trump's approval ratings following along on the roller coaster.

SIDNER: But it does have a lot to do with 401ks because a lot of people, in their jobs, have stocks because of their 401k's. We've gone away from the pension system and into the 401k system.

Let's - let's go now - thank - you're welcome for the financial advice.

ENTEN: Thank you. I was watching my 401k go down yesterday. That's what was going on.

SIDNER: We all were.

What about last night's speech? Did that have any impact on how people feel about Donald Trump?

ENTEN: We will see. But I will just say, color me very skeptical because going back through history, the job approval shift post speech to Congress, the average president goes up, get this, just 0.3 points.

SIDNER: OK.

ENTEN: Trump's average was up 1.6. But that was just a momentary bump. That really isn't going to change the game. Something's going to happen - have to happen with him on the economy and perceptions of him and how he's dealing with the economy if he wants to see his approval rating go up instead of go down, like it currently is.

SIDNER: And the fact that he promised some disturbances may not help him much at all going forward. We'll see.

ENTEN: No. The American folks aren't liking what they're hearing, at least at this moment.

SIDNER: All right, Harry Enten, it is always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

ENTEN: The pleasure was mine.

SIDNER: Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let us talk more about that speech. The president celebrating the sweeping changes he's putting in place, defending those changes with, joining us right now is Republican Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida, who also recently announced his candidacy, now running for governor of Florida.

Thanks so much for coming in, again, Congressman. Appreciate your time.

The president really laid out in that lengthy speech and - his priorities. I heard you in reaction to it right after the speech, you called it a great speech last night. I've heard that from many Republicans.

Focusing in on the economy and tariffs, and when the president said there will be some pain, a little disturbance is how he talked about it in the speech. What that looks like out in the world is, Target and Best Buy have both now just said that price increases and soon are highly likely. A metal manufacturer out of Minnesota I just spoke with on the show said this is - this would put jobs in jeopardy for her company and others.

I know you support his agenda. Are you OK with people in Florida paying higher prices over this trade war?

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): Well, first things first, let's level set. When you talk about a temporary adjustment, what we're saying is, is that, yes, there's going to be some movements in the purchasing system if you're importing goods into the United States. That part is true. But you have to take a broad view of the economy. It's not just tariff policy. It's also deregulation being led by DOGE that members of Congress are going to follow through. It's about a reauthorization of his tax policy, the same tax policy that the Democrats talked about, campaigned against, but when they had power, did not change. We're going to reauthorize that, and we're going to bring new elements to that tax policy. No tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on Medicare - I mean, on - on - on overtime. And then also the other piece we're going to try to do is make sure we have 100 percent expensing for these same businesses.

So, when you take the economic agenda of Donald Trump in totality, it actually works out much better for American business and the American people compared to what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were doing, because they ushered in massive inflation by just being reckless in overspending. We're trying to work with Democrats to get spending under control, to eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse, so you can stabilize prices. So, I know tariffs might cause an adjustment, but when you bring into totality everything that Donald Trump is going to accomplish, and I stress is going to accomplish, it will work out better for the American people and the people of Florida.

BOLDUAN: As I mentioned, you're running for governor of Florida. And I was looking at an analysis, state by state, of what the tariffs could mean. There's - in - in looking at Florida, it said it would have an estimated $5 billion impact on the state, result in an effective increase of 215 percent compared to prior existing tariffs. You say take the broader view. But how do you make that case, you know, in the short term to businesses in Florida, to the people of Florida, when they're still going to the grocery store and they're seeing the prices of eggs? They're going to Target, and they're going to see that they're paying more. DONALDS: Well, you mentioned eggs. Eggs is because there's an avian

flu going through the population. So, that's decreasing egg production. That has nothing to do with tariff policy. So, let's be - let's be intellectually honest about that.

Secondarily, you cannot just -

BOLDUAN: No, I'm just saying, they still see prices elevated.

DONALDS: Well, hold on. Hold on. Kate - Kate, wait a minute. Kate - Kate - Kate -

BOLDUAN: And they're going to see more prices elevated. That's all I'm saying. Keep going.

DONALDS: Kate, wait a minute. Let's - let me - let me be clear on all these points.

Tariff policy is one piece of the economic agenda. The president announced last night that for every one new regulation, he's going to cut ten regulations. So, those same business owners who might be concerned about tariff policy are welcoming a reduction in the regulatory state. Joe Biden added $2 trillion worth of regulations in just four years. Donald Trump wants to slash those regulations. And if you talk to business owners, like I do, like the president does, and so many of my colleagues, if you're going to talk about what matters more, tariffs or cutting the regulatory bureaucracy in Washington, they will tell you, cut the regulations because they're killing us.

[08:50:12]

They are stifling us. They don't allow our businesses to grow. So, this is why I say, whether you're a business in Florida or any business in the country, it's about everything that the president is doing economically, not just tariffs.

Specifically, the tariffs. We cannot live in this Pollyanna view of the world anymore where every other country gets to take advantage of us, our farmers and our business owners. We have to get on a level playing field. That's what the president is trying to accomplish for all of the American people and American business.

BOLDUAN: Another big focus, obviously, with the president in the speech last night and, well, in general is the war in Ukraine and bringing an end to it.

We just heard this just this morning, Congressman, the CIA director actually just said that the U.S. has paused intelligence support to Ukraine. That's in addition to pausing the military support, military aid.

People have said that that intelligence is critical to Ukraine being able to defend against Russian attacks and prepare for them. Chuck Schumer was just on talking to John and called this intelligence pause a huge, huge mistake. What is your view on it? DONALDS: My view is - is very clear. Yes, of course, Ukraine can use

our intelligence to help themselves, but that's not going to end this war. What ends this war is, in part, the economic deal that Donald Trump laid out for Volodymyr Zelenskyy a couple of weeks ago. This is the same Volodymyr Zelenskyy who tried to lecture Donald Trump in the Oval Office, something that we should never tolerate from any leader across the globe no matter what is happening. You don't come into our house and lecture us when we are the ones who have been footing the bill in order to keep the Ukrainians afloat in this conflict.

So, the president announced last night that it looks like Volodymyr Zelenskyy is going to sign on to this mineral rights deal, which is going to be a great deal for Ukraine as it rebuilds from this conflict because they have to rebuild their country. It will help them rebuild. It will help the United States. And that is the pathway to peace. If it means that you have to cut off intelligence or cut off arms sales to arrive at a deal, so be it. But the bloodshed must end. The war must end. We must have peace. Thats what Donald Trump campaigned on. He was very clear about this, and that is what he's delivering.

BOLDUAN: Real quick. That protest from Congressman Al Green last night, and then he was removed from the chamber, do you think he should face censure?

DONALDS: I don't know. We'll see what happens. And, you know, the speaker is going to talk to the members about that.

I will say, we just can't have members on either side of the aisle doing extended disruptions. And what I - what I mean by extended is, Congressman Green didn't even allow the president of the United States to get through the first three minutes of his remarks. We've had members yelling in the - in the crowd, and I know people want to go back to my colleague Joe Wilson several years ago during Barack Obama's presidency. It's happened on both sides of the aisle.

But what happened last night is Congressman Green did not even allow for the president to continue his speech. That's why he had to be removed from the chamber. It was really unfortunate because this was an opportunity for Democrats who, yes, don't agree with some pillars of the Trump agenda, but to be able to celebrate some of the successes, like securing our southern border, like acknowledging a Jocelyn Nungaray who had a wildlife reserve named after her. They couldn't even celebrate that. It was a stark thing to watch in the chamber.

But unfortunately, American politics has gotten very partisan. We're going to be focused on the golden age of America and making our nation great once again.

BOLDUAN: Congressman Byron Donalds, thank you for coming in. Appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, breaking this morning, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying President Trump could back off at least some of his new tariffs as soon as today.

And starting today, one of the country's largest retailers will face a 40-day targeted boycott after they dropped their DEI practices.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:58:12]

SIDNER: One of President Donald Trump's biggest campaign promises was lowering the cost of groceries. But while inflation did cool off, those bills are not going down.

CNN's Danny Freeman has a chat with voters in Pennsylvania to get their read on the state of the nation so far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In many ways, Sprankle's Neighborhood Market was just like any other local grocery store, until the president came to town.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They caused inflation at a number that nobody can believe. We've never seen numbers like this.

FREEMAN (voice over): A month before Election Day, President Trump visited the family owned grocery store in rural Kittanning, Pennsylvania, to drive home a critical campaign promise.

TRUMP: When I win, I will immediately bring prices down starting on day one.

FREEMAN (voice over): Yet, despite the promise, and the visit -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now it's $7.99.

FREEMAN (voice over): Prices have stayed stubbornly high.

RYAN SPRANKLE, OWNER, SPRANKLE'S NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET: Professionally, it was the wildest 37 minutes of my life.

FREEMAN (voice over): Ryan Sprankle, now clean shaven, is the owner of the store. He proudly gave Trump the tour back in September. And Ryan voted for Trump, in large part because he said prices would come down.

FREEMAN: Are you concerned that that hasn't happened yet?

SPRANKLE: I'll be - I'll be honest, yes. No matter who's trying to get your vote, you know, I think there's always a certain amount of overpromising.

FREEMAN (voice over): While the Republican acknowledges prices have remained high, he says they have stopped going up so rapidly.

SPRANKLE: The fact that a lot of the big companies prices have stabilized and aren't increasing at the rates that they've been increasing at, give me hope that, you know, at least it's got somebody's attention.

FREEMAN (voice over): New data from the Commerce Department appears to back up what Ryan's seeing. Inflation did, in fact, cool slightly in January, compared to December. One of the Federal Reserve's go-to inflation gauges rose 2. percent% last month compared to the year before, slowing from December's 2.6 percent annual rate.

[09:00:01]

But that doesn't mean American shoppers are feeling relief yet.

JENNY KLINE, PENNSYLVANIA INDEPENDENT: I think it's going to take some time for that to happen.