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Sources: Trump Preparing To Sign Order Dismantling Education Department; Interview with Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI); Republicans Meet With Musk, Push For Control Over DOGE Cuts; Trump Says He Will Delay Auto Tariffs For One Month; Judge: Cuts To Health Research Funding Likely Unlawful; Defense In Idaho Murder Case Wants New DNA Evidence Thrown Out. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 06, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:10]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Breaking this morning, an executive order obtained by "The Wall Street Journal" and "Washington Post" shows President Trump will tell newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to, quote, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department based on the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.

With us now is Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan.

Congresswoman, thank you so much. And our reporting is that executive order could come as soon as today. How do you feel about that?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Well, good morning, John.

We've been actually hearing this for weeks. So it is not something that is unexpected. People have been preparing for it.

And what I think people need to understand that there are very important functions inside of the Department of Education that are going to have to continue, things from the IDEA Program, which helps schools across the country with people that have disabilities or slow learning problems. There is support for schools across the country from a number of education programs, Title IX.

So they're not going to be able to eliminate programs that are within DOE. I don't think it's a great decision, but we'll have to see what's in the executive order and we'll be making sure the programs that have to exist must exist for the young people of our country continue to exist.

BERMAN: On the subject of cuts, yesterday, we learned that the Department of Veterans Affairs, the V.A., could cut as many as 70,000 jobs from its workforce.

I know you've been fighting for staffing levels at one particular V.A. hospital, the John Dingell V.A. Hospital in your district. What do you think of cuts that size at the V.A.?

DINGELL: I'm very, very worried about it, John. I am somebody that spends a great deal of time in two veterans' hospitals, the one you just mentioned and the Ann Arbor V.A.

And the John Dingell V.A. Hospital, I went, it had problems. People died. The director there was fired.

To be perfectly frank, there was an inspector general study. It's been understaffed. They brought in a new director whose job is to try to staff it up to.

We have a moral commitment to our veterans to take care of them. They've had too long a wait times. It took us too long. We have, I have and know Vietnam vets, mayors (ph) of my town, who were exposed to Agent Orange and died.

We just passed the PACT Act. We have a moral obligation to our young men and women who now are maybe not so young, who fought in the Vietnam War, Iraq and Afghanistan, were exposed to chemicals, to burn pits.

We can't back off in the PACT Act now. It's wrong. And I will fight tooth and nail to deliver to our veterans what they earned in protecting us.

BERMAN: I feel like so much of the news right now is affecting the sixth district of Michigan, your district, very directly right now.

I want to ask you about these tariffs, the auto tariffs where President Trump is now pausing the tariffs insofar as they relate to automakers for a month.

The press secretary says the automakers should use that month to move production, all of it to the United States.

Can the automakers do that in one month?

DINGELL: So, John, I'm actually somebody who probably is more on the Trump side than many of my Republican colleagues, in the sense that I do believe that tariffs are a tool in the toolbox and that we need to be playing on a level playing field.

I think the way that they have been implemented across the board is causing problems, and that the auto manufacturers do need time to adjust production schedules, to -- to look at how they're going to manufacture these things.

And, you know, the other thing they're going to be looking at is that they did cite plants under the USMCA, which, by the way, I think needs to be amended quickly. I think we need trade policy.

So we need to bring manufacturing home. We need to bring supply chains home. But we had to do it in a way that doesn't harm and the way that it was done could potentially damage the domestic auto industry. Some say it's already happened.

And I don't believe -- I hope that's not the intent of the policy of this administration. And I want to work with them.

And I'm going to tell you something else that people don't understand. Those union workers, the UAW workers in those union halls, are really happy to see somebody fighting for 'em, trying to bring those jobs back home.

We need to bring them home. And we not only need to bring car and steel production and supply chains home, how about bringing pharmaceutical manufacturing back, where 80 to 90 percent of our medicines are made offshore in China and India? That's not only an economic security issue, that's a national security issue.

BERMAN: I want to quickly ask you what happened Tuesday night. There are a lot of reports over the last two days that some Democrats are unhappy with what other Democrats did on the House floor during the president's speech.

"Punchbowl" is just one of the places reporting this morning. Multiple House Democrats complained to us that their leadership isn't providing sufficient guidance on key issues.

[07:35:05]

This situation reared its head on Tuesday when moderate Democrats were surprised and dismayed at the tone and scale of their colleagues' protests.

What did you think of what happened?

DINGELL: So, look, I'm not going to lie. I don't think anybody looked good on Tuesday night. It's a very challenging situation.

The -- you know, the House of Representatives is a representative body. Both caucuses have many people with different feelings.

I do think that leadership tried to tell people that there should not be props. I think we all have to, again, take a look and talk to each other about what is the most effective way to be fighting back.

People out -- there are people throughout this country -- I have people of all kinds in my district who are very angry, want to see Democrats fighting back. They're trying to show -- we have Democratic members that are really -- we all are -- about what is happening and who's being hurt, as I just talked about on the veterans, and what's the most effective way to fight back.

I don't think Tuesday night was our best moment. We've got to continue to get together. Our leadership needs to be talking to people.

But I got a message for everybody: circular firing squads don't help anybody either.

BERMAN: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell from Michigan, nice to see you this morning. Thanks for your time.

Kate?

DINGELL: Good to see you. Thank you.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, a new legal roadblock for President Trump's efforts to slash and purge the government. A federal judge ruling the cuts to federal funding for public health research is likely illegal, citing as a key reason the potential loss of life that could come if cuts were put into place and medical trials were to end.

Today, President Trump's pick to lead the FDA is on the hill one day after his pick to lead NIH was grilled by lawmakers.

CNN's Meg Tirrell tracking all of this for us and joins us now.

Meg, let's start with NIH. What stood out from the NIH testimony?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, of course, NIH is a $48 billion agency. It's the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. President Trump's nominee is Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who's a Stanford professor and really came to prominence during COVID for being sort of a contrarian.

He coauthored this thing called the Great Barrington Declaration, which got a lot of attention. This came out before vaccines were available and recommended protecting the vulnerable, but really letting everybody else just kind of live their lives and achieve herd immunity through natural infection, essentially.

And so, there were a lot of lines about COVID in this hearing yesterday. He laid out his goals. And number one, he said, was fighting chronic diseases with NIH resources, which, of course, is President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s stated Make America Healthy Again goal. There was a lot of talk about vaccines, of course, with what's going on with measles in Texas.

Senator Cassidy out of the gate grilling him on whether he planned to spend NIH resources looking into the debunked link between the MMR, measles, mumps, rubella vaccine and autism. And he wouldn't commit to not spending more money, which really disappointed Cassidy, who said that is a lost opportunity to invest in things we really need answers to.

But then, of course, there was also a lot of focus on these cuts we've seen across the federal government and health agencies in particular, and cuts to funding. He was grilled on that, too. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-WA): Do you support the recent researcher firings and grant freezes that have been implemented by Trump and DOGE?

DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA, NIH DIRECTOR NOMINEE: Senator, I was not involved in those decisions. I might, if I'm confirmed as NIH director, I fully commit to making sure that all the scientists at the NIH and the scientists that the NIH supports have the resources they need to meet the mission of the NIH, which is to make America -- do research to make America healthy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIRRELL: Up today, we've got FDA nominee, Dr. Marty Makary, who is a surgeon from Johns Hopkins, another sort of COVID contrarian voice. We're going to be listening closely to his answers about vaccines as well, particularly as we saw that a key vaccine advisory committee to the FDA meeting was canceled for March that was designed to pick flu strains. So that will be a key thing.

But also, guys, well be listening for anything he says about medication abortion, because that's under the purview of FDA. And of course, there's been a huge issue that we've heard a lot less about lately -- guys.

BOLDUAN: Meg, thank you so much for tracking that. Interested to hear what comes of the hearing today, for sure.

Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Al right. Thank you, Kate.

This morning, the consequences of president Trump and Elon Musk's decision to gut U.S. aid is hitting home. U.S. farmers say they are suffering of the consequences of those freezes of money.

The Supreme Court yesterday rejected the funding freeze. But when the money flows again, no one knows.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz went to the heartland to talk with farmers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BOYD JR., FOUNDER, NATIONAL BLACK FARMERS ASSOCIATION: You asked me why I do it, why? We feed people, and that's a good feeling. What I produce here, I stand behind my crop. I don't produce anything on my farm that I wouldn't eat. Matter of fact, I'll show you, I'll chew some soybeans first.

[07:40:02]

Man, it tastes good. I'm growing (ph) right here on my farm.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: What does it taste like?

BOYD: It tastes like McDonald's hamburger.

PROKUPECZ: No.

BOYD: Yeah, that's what's in them.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): John Boy, Jr. is a fourth generation farmer. He grows wheat, corn, and soybeans here on this thousand acre farm in southern Virginia. He also founded the National Black Farmers Association, and he's no fan of President Donald Trump.

BOYD: The president cast a net of uncertainty. Every time he makes one of these wild announcements that he -- people are saying, yay, tariffs on China, tariffs on Mexico, tariffs on Canada, about USAID, it is over, it is done.

Every time he makes those type of drastic announcements, he affects America's farmers.

PROKUPECZ: Within days of taking office, President Trump dismantled the USAID, a humanitarian program that's been a lifeline for the most vulnerable around the world, and a critical source of income for U.S. farmers, paying them hundreds of millions of dollars a year for their crops. He also froze some funding for farmers and rattled trade markets.

BOYD: We take it totally, totally for granted. And what we're doing in this country right now, we're gambling with all that.

PROKUPECZ: Gambling with farmers?

BOYD: Gambling with farmers' lives. They are gambling with my life, they are gambling with my livelihood, man.

PROKUPECZ: Farmers like Boyd rely on loans to plant for the upcoming season with the hope that the harvest will pay it off and bring home some profit. In fact, about a million American farmers rely on the USDA for financial assistance every year. But just days before planning season starts, Boyd says he hasn't been able to get a loan yet and he says he's not the only one.

BOYD: They want to hear -- they want you to show him on paper how you're good for that operating loan and how you're going to pay it back. I can't pay it back with $8 beans and $6 beans and $3 corn.

PROKUPECZ: The majority of grain exported from the United States is stored in grain elevators. In Kansas alone, one grain elevator can export millions of dollars of goods.

This is in Pawnee County in Kansas. This is a grain elevator site. This is where farmers will bring their grain, stuff that they've harvested, like milo and wheat and soybean and corn. It is stored in these bins, these large concrete bins, and then sold to exporters, companies who are willing to buy that.

And right now, it is very difficult to move some of this stuff.

KIM BARNES, CFO, PAWNEE COUNTY COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION: They could come in and sell wheat for $5.58 cents. It was down $0.14 today.

PROKUPECZ: Kim Barnes has been buying and selling each year's harvest for Kansas farmers for over 50 years.

BARNES: All these bins are full, and they're full of milo. PROKUPECZ: That's $5 million worth of grain, Barnes says. Grain that countries like Ethiopia and others depend on for food aid.

PROKUPECZ: And so, what's going on with the milo? Why do you have so much of that right now? What are you seeing in the market?

BARNES: Just -- we just don't have any market for it. There's nobody wanting to buy it.

PROKUPECZ: Five months ago. Barnes says, USAID bought over 200 million metric tons of milo from American farmers. Today, with no market for that grain, he's desperate. One potential lifeline, a proposal in Washington for the USDA to continue USAID's food distribution program.

PROKUPECZ: You're optimistic that the USAID stuff will get moved into USDA and the program will get --

BARNES: And will go on.

PROKUPECZ: But John Boyd doesn't share that optimism. He's not just worried about the future of farming, but for the future of his own farm.

BOYD: I have four children and I know that my kids have watched me scuffle throughout my career, and they're not going to want to do this if this administration continues to make it more difficult than it already is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Shimon for that.

All right. New this morning, new DNA evidence in the Idaho quadruple murder case. A court filing reveals investigators found a mixture of unknown DNA from three people under one of the victims' fingernails. And this morning, attorneys for the man facing four counts of first degree murder in the case, Bryan Kohberger, want this new evidence thrown out.

CNN's Jean Casarez is here.

Why? Why do they want it out?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They don't want this to come before the jury because they feel it will be confusing to the jury. And this -- this motion right here, there's a bit redacted, but there are inconsistencies in this.

Now, first I want to tell you that it is not uncommon at all that when a crime victim autopsy takes place, that they do cut the nails of the victim, the clippings, because, John, when -- and I'm not talking about this case, but in general -- when a crime victim is attacked, they can reach out with their hands and their nails, and some of the perpetrators' DNA can be under nails.

[07:45:04]

Now with this, there was a mixture of three people. So I think we have a shot of what the testing they did. They did a working scientific hypothesis in this case. And first of all, they determined that Madison Mogen, because that is the victim who had that mixture of DNA under her left hand, nail clippings.

They determined that her DNA would be there. It's her nail bed, right? Of course.

And so then they went on to say, K.G. Well, who's K.G.? Kaylee Goncalves is who her body was found next to on a bed that morning after when authorities arrived there, and then an unknown DNA. Then they did another working hypothesis of Maddie Mogen and two unidentified DNAs.

Now, it does have statistics for Bryan Kohberger, but they're redacted. It hints that it was inconclusive for him, but it does not come out and say it. The defense is saying it was inconclusive to him. They are saying they did their own independent testing of the DNA under the nails, and it excluded Bryan Kohberger.

So here we have alleged inconsistency from the forensics lab in Idaho, meaning you can't rule it in, you can't rule it out, versus the defense saying he was ruled out. So they want this out.

But here's what's interesting. The prosecutor used this evidence before the grand jury when they were trying to get an indictment. Interesting, right?

Defense says they were trying to help Bryan to have some -- some inculpatory evidence there, exculpatory to help him. But we'll see what the prosecution response is. And normally it comes in.

BERMAN: I got to say, you did such a good job explaining this, seeing the investigation play out almost in parallel to the legal filings really shines a light on it.

CASAREZ: Because the trial is getting close. It's in August and now they're going to determine what goes before the jury. What is -- does not come into the trial.

BERMAN: Thank you so much for helping us understand what we're seeing here. Jean Casarez, thank you.

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump's takeover -- takeover of the Kennedy Center in Washington coming with a new price. The Broadway blockbuster "Hamilton" now backing out of its upcoming run at the historic performing arts center.

And a training operation goes horribly wrong in South Korea. Fighter jets accidentally bombed civilian homes, injuring 15 people.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:52:13]

BOLDUAN: A new season of the CNN original series, "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL WITH JAKE TAPPER", kicks off this Sunday. The premiere episode, taking you inside Abscam, the elaborate FBI sting operation in the late '70s that targeted some of the top members of the U.S. government at the time.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't investigate and convict criminals with angels.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: So the FBI takes a gamble. They'll let this con man try to earn his freedom by conducting stings on white collar criminals. But they had no idea how far that would go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It started in a very humble way. The object was only to recover stolen art and securities. And to everyone's amazement, who was involved in the investigation, three years later, it resulted in the conviction of six United States congressmen and a United States senator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The one, the only, Jake Tapper, is here.

TAPPER: Mobsters (ph), right?

BOLDUAN: I mean, when you look at it, it's like corrupt politicians, real mobsters, a fake Middle Eastern sheik, oil art -- I mean, what more could a scandal show desire?

TAPPER: It's crazy. Like, just think about the fact that they had, like, FBI agents, just white guys pretending to be Arab sheiks. They didn't -- they didn't speak Arabic. They had no credentials. And yet these seven --

BOLDUAN: Dumb politicians are from (INAUDIBLE).

TAPPER: And yet these seven members of the House and Senate went to, you know, got in trouble, went to jail.

BOLDUAN: I mean, like, it's hard. I was thinking like, what's the wildest aspect of this operation?

TAPPER: The white guys pretending to be Arab sheiks, without question. Like completely unbelievable. And, you know, I'm sure offensive also in a way, although I wasn't there. So I can't be offended, but --

BOLDUAN: Oh, really?

TAPPER: Yeah. BOLDUAN: You were there at the time. Okay, so you've got all.

TAPPER: Well, I shouldn't say I wasn't there, but my congressman was one of them, of --

BOLDUAN: What?

TAPPER: Yeah. Yeah. In Philly, Ozzie Myers, our illustrious congressman, Democrat from Pennsylvania, was one of the -- was one of the seven that got in trouble. And I remember it. I remember Abscam at the time.

We wanted to interview him for this show. He's still alive, but he was in prison for a different thing.

BOLDUAN: Wait --

TAPPER: True. True story for about for stuffing ballot boxes. It's true.

BOLDUAN: Illustrious, doing a lot of work on that one.

Okay, so --

TAPPER: Welcome to Philly.

BOLDUAN: Well, no. Be nice. Go Birds.

So this plays out in the late '70s, wake -- in the wake of Watergate and Vietnam.

TAPPER: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: You are one of the bigger political history buffs that I know.

TAPPER: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: How do you -- how did all of that play into how this operation played out, do you think?

TAPPER: Well, I mean, I think the corruption of government, that was -- that so demoralized the United States in the '70s through Watergate and through what happened, the tragedy of Vietnam, with all those presidents lying to the American people as was -- as was shown in the Pentagon Papers.

[07:55:06]

I think Abscam was just on top of that, even more evidence for, you know, a very demoralized public that, oh, my God, these people are just completely corrupt.

And I think we've never recovered as a society from the '70s.

BOLDUAN: Right. The idea of a corrupt politician is like always been part of it, part of the --

TAPPER: Drain the swamp.

BOLDUAN: Always and always, every campaign.

What else can we be excited about this season?

TAPPER: Well, we're widening the aperture. That is -- the Abscam episode is obviously politics, but were widening the aperture a bit. We're doing other segments of our life. We have sports with Lance Armstrong, the Lance Armstrong scandal.

We have society --

BOLDUAN: Where you're like, if he wasn't such a -- in the promo.

TAPPER: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: That's a good one.

TAPPER: The sports with Anna Delvey.

BOLDUAN: And you interview her?

TAPPER: I do interview Anna Delvey.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

TAPPER: Enron -- we do the Enron scandal. We get into the Thomas- Anita Hill hearings.

So there is a lot and it's just -- every time, it's just such a joy as somebody who is a political junkie and also who, look, we -- we have to admit it, when there's a scandal, it's interesting for us to cover and to dive into it with some perspective, getting to talk to the players. And, you know, after the scandal has played out, it's just -- it's a joy.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. The -- the perspective of time and distance is always -- it's like -- it adds a whole fun new layer when you're looking at any, any big moment in history, especially a scandal.

TAPPER: A hundred percent, especially given where we are as a society, given Hunter Biden, given the presidencies of the last decade, it's a -- it's an interesting time.

BOLDUAN: An interesting time. Is this the first time we've had you in studio with us?

TAPPER: Ever? No.

BOLDUAN: No. Right?

TAPPER: But in a while.

BOLDUAN: In a while. Please -- TAPPER: Well, you don't invite me.

(INAUDIBLE)

BERMAN: It's over.

BOLDUAN: Is it? Wait -- the -- the no book, no booking alert has been lifted.

TAPPER: What happened? What? What was the prob -- was it the Eagles winning the Super Bowl again?

BERMAN: We were uncomfortable with -- with it.

TAPPER: Was the Eagles winning the Super Bowl again?

BOLDUAN: We were like, oh, now, we can't ignore him.

TAPPER: It's okay. John --

SIDNER: This is the scandal.

BOLDUAN: What is the scandal?

SIDNER: The scandal is he's never been on CNC set here.

TAPPER: That's that is true. That is true. I've been on the morning show set, but not this show. So -- but that's --

BOLDUAN: I'm sorry. Was there a show before this?

SIDNER: I'm judging.

TAPPER: That is you. That is not -- what am I supposed to be, a party crasher? I don't come in.

BOLDUAN: You are --

SIDNER: I do.

TAPPER: That would -- you are a force of nature. That's a separate issue.

BOLDUAN: A welcome party crasher. And if you noticed --

TAPPER: You can pull it off.

BOLDUAN: -- we cannot have John Berman in the same shot.

SIDNER: No.

BOLDUAN: Stay over there.

SIDNER: Stay over there, Johnny.

BERMAN: That was part of the agreement. BOLDUAN: Yeah, the restraining order remains.

TAPPER: John, thank you so much for all those nice texts after the Eagles won the Super Bowl, I really --

BOLDUAN: Yes.

TAPPER: It was really sweet. Really, really appreciated your happiness for me and my son, who I took to the game was really very touching.

Just joking. He didn't reach out once.

SIDNER: That didn't happen.

BOLDUAN: I'm now going to do a promo, and then I'm going to hand it to you.

And be sure to tune in to a new season of "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL WITH JAKE TAPPER", Sunday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on CNN.

John Berman?

BERMAN: Scandal concerning Jake Tapper.

All right. New reporting this morning that fighter jets in South Korea accidentally bombed homes in a church, injuring at least 15 people. That's according to the military there. This happened during annual drills, including a live fire exercise with the U.S. military. South Korea's defense ministry said initial findings indicate a pilot put in the wrong bombing coordinates.

This morning, the show will not go on for fans of "Hamilton" in Washington, D.C. The musical's producers canceled upcoming performances at the Kennedy Center, citing President Trump's purge of the center's board members and leader.

Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda told "The New York Times", quote, we are not going to be part of it while it is the Trump Kennedy Center. Ric Grenell, the new Trump installed head of the Kennedy Center called the move a publicity stunt that will backfire.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John Berman.

I think we are going to head over to the wild and wacky weather today. More than 3 million people are facing wildfire risks as high winds hit parts of Texas and other southeastern -- western states. And western Texas is under the highest drought level issued by the U.S. drought monitor. That makes conditions ripe for wind driven wildfires. And we know how that ends.

On the other end of the spectrum, extreme snowfall blanketed roads in Wisconsin and Minnesota with whiteout conditions, moving off to the northeast today. Let's get to Allison Chinchar, who is watching all of this.

These are wild pictures. I mean, Wisconsin is known for -- for getting some serious snow, but wowee, that's my mother calling.

ALLISON CHINHCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right, again, we're talking fire and ice basically, for both of these areas. Yes.

So behind me you can see this video. Now this is from two days ago. This was from near San Antonio, Texas. The fires that they had, its going to feel like deja vu all over again for some of these areas in Texas, because we have another threat coming back in for this same area just a few days later in portions of New Mexico, portions of Texas, and even the panhandle of Oklahoma.

Now we're also seeing, finally, that system that you saw the snow with that is finally going to exit the region.

The only thing were really going to see kind of linger is going to be a lot of these gusty winds. You can see portions of the northeast stretching down through the southern Appalachians. You're still looking at those winds.