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BlackRock CEO: I Heard the Economy is Weakening as We Speak; Interview with Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY): European Union Slaps 50 Percent Tariff on American Whiskey; TASS: U.S. Special Envoy Witkoff Arrives in Moscow; American Lucas Hunter Wrongfully Detained in Venezuela for 65 Days. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired March 13, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Six months in the American economy are going to be extremely bumpy. He predicts that inflation will rise as the Trump administration moves to deport many illegal workers. He also says that the spending by consumers and businesses is going to keep pulling back amid this uncertainty.

He says the stock market pullback is normal after years of growing. But when I asked him about the collective impact of all of the Trump administration's policies on the economy, here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY FINK, CEO BLACKROCK: People are pausing. They're pulling back. Talking to CEOs throughout the economy, I hear the economy is weakening as we speak.

So your whole question -- and I think that's a natural response because we're uncertain. We're uncertain what will the tariffs have the impact on our company.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: Larry Fink is someone that not only the markets listen to because of just the sheer amount of money that his firm manages, but he's also someone that presidents listen to because of his economic stature. In particular, President Trump and Larry Fink know each other well. BlackRock managed Trump's own money for a time, and Trump has praised the job that Larry Fink has done.

So I asked him when he has a direct line into the White House how he is advising the president. And here's what Fink told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FINK: I believe that some of the long-term policies of President Trump can be very productive for the United States. I do believe some of the policies in the short run are going to create this uncertainty, and this is what the market is looking at. Right now the president is focusing on tariffs, but when he talks

about reciprocal tariffs, actually that may bring down tariffs over the long run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAUSCHE: So there's a key condition here from not only Fink, but also many CEOs. They believe that the tariffs are inherently creating uncertainty in the economy, but they say it will all be worth it if it ends up with a better trading system with the U.S. and its trading partners, and also if taxes overall go lower later this year -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we will have to wait and see sort of what happens over time, but the question is whether Americans are OK with dealing with some of this pain. And we just had CNN polling out 71 percent of people bought fewer groceries, 67 percent of people polled said they cut back on non-essential spending. So that kind of links up with what Fink has been saying.

Thank you so much, Kayla Tausche. That was really interesting.

All right, sending it over to you, Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us right now is Democratic Congressman Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky to talk much more about this. Thanks so much for coming in, Congressman. Let's talk about these tariffs.

I was looking -- one thing that the EU announced it's raising tariffs on is American whiskey to 50 percent. You're the co-chair of the Bourbon Caucus in the House. How devastating is this blow potentially to the industry?

REP. MORGAN MCGARVEY (D-KY): It's completely devastating. I just heard Larry Fink use fancy words to say that, oh, people are uncertain right now. No, we are certain these tariffs are disastrous for the bourbon industry.

And how? We know what happens. During Trump's first presidency, when there was a 25 percent retaliatory tariff put on by the EU, it cut our exports in half. It was hundreds of millions of dollars to the bourbon industry. Now they're talking about 50 percent tariffs on American whiskey.

And this is -- this is not just cost. This is jobs. You know, in my state, in Kentucky, we make 95 percent of the world's bourbon. This is going to impact everybody from the farmers who put the corn in the ground to the coopers who put it in the barrel to the union workers who put it in the bottle to the people who drive it to the stores to sell it.

This is going to impact -- I think everybody in Kentucky knows somebody who works in the bourbon industry. This is going to have a devastating impact.

BOLDUAN: Canada is also slapping on tariffs and have made and has made a kind of a public show of pulling American whiskey from store shelves. The CEO of Jack Daniels parent company said last week this about pulling the alcohol, saying that's worse than a tariff because it's literally taking your sales away.

What are you hearing back home in Kentucky? When do you think the pain sets in? When do you think they really start feeling, as you've just described, this devastating impact?

MCGARVEY: The pain is setting in now. I've talked to the union guys who work in the bourbon companies and I've talked to some of the executives as well. The pain is setting in now because they don't know -- they know this is going to be a devastating impact.

When does that start? Well, it starts with people literally ripping the bourbon off the shelves. I mean, I talked to one of the companies in my district. They stand to lose 40 to 50 million dollars in Ontario province alone on the loss of sales this year. So I think the pain is setting in now. And again, and for what?

What is Donald Trump's long-term strategy of placing these big, broad tariffs on our allies?

[07:35:00]

We need to see that because it's certainly not lowering costs right now for Americans and it's not helping jobs.

BOLDUAN: That's the very same question I would say the head of the EU, the leaders in Canada, the leaders in Mexico and elsewhere are asking as well right now.

Let me also ask you about Veterans Affairs. You're on the Veterans Affairs Committee. The Secretary of the VA came out yesterday and accused Democrats of trying to scare vets, veterans over the changes restructuring and the firings that they are putting into place. Let me play you what the secretary said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG COLLINS, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: For Senator Blumenthal, Senator Duckworth, all these senators and others, even on the approach committee up there who actually say that we're going to cut disability benefits and we're going to cut health care to veterans. All I will say to you is quit scaring my veterans. Quit scaring my employees. Don't talk in things that you know are not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What do you say to that? I mean, have you actually seen benefits health care to veterans disrupted or slashed by this yet?

MCGARVEY: What I would tell the secretary is stop that. Seriously, you know what? The Veterans Committee is one of the most bipartisan places in Congress because we get together for our mission every single day and determine how do we take care of the very men and women who put on a uniform and willing to sacrifice everything for our safety and freedom?

How do we honor the promise we made to them for their service? And the reality is that when you look at this budget, when you look at the fact they're trying to keep the government open, but they are zeroing out all future funding for any veteran exposed to toxic substances, that is not the way we have done things. That is not how we have honored our promise to our veterans.

So you are taking one of the areas of Washington where we actually do find agreement. Do we need to do better? Yes, we have to do better by our veterans.

But having a secretary say that when when he knows what's in the budget and he knows what's at stake for our veterans, that's not productive.

BOLDUAN: Let me ask you about what's happening right now. I mean, you voted against the Republican stopgap bill to keep the government keep the government funded for six months, keep the government from shutting down. You voted against that. So did so many Democrats.

Now, Senate Democrats, they're saying they're also going to vote against it in the Senate. Republicans need them over there. So they're effectively blocking it. Do you want -- given that this now appears to be a binary choice of vote for it and go along with it or the government shuts down, do you want Senate Democrats to vote for it or shut the government down?

MCGARVEY: Well, first of all, let's talk about what the House Republicans passed. It's not a stopgap measure. It's a really crappy budget.

They want to call it a continuing resolution, which is sort of fancy Washington speak for we'll just keep spending at last year's levels. But to do that, it took them 100 pages. And there's a lot of other stuff in there which is really bad, like we talked about for our veterans. We have always included future funding so we don't run out of funds for taking care of our veterans.

BOLDUAN: Given that, given that it did pass the House and the House did what very effectively jammed the Senate is the way we talk about it. And it is Thursday. What do you want Senate Democrats to do?

MCGARVEY: I'd like to see Republicans work with us on a responsible way to do this, because what passed the House is not.

BOLDUAN: Are you ready for Democrats to accept the blame to face blame for a shutdown if it happens?

MCGARVEY: I don't think there's any way you can you can blame this. Donald Trump goes around right now saying constantly, I have a mandate. I have a mandate.

Listen to Speaker Johnson. He says we have a mandate. Listen to the Senate Republicans. They talk about the mandate they have. You know, Democrats have always been willing to work with the

Republicans on a budget, on making sure that we keep the government open and protecting the American people. They're the ones right now saying we have a mandate. We don't need any help.

Look, you know, that is we're going to continue to work. We're going to continue to be available to work to make sure that we have a responsible budget that takes care of the needs of the American people.

BOLDUAN: And that might also include at least some days of Democrats facing some real blame if the government does shut down, just because of the reality of what you're what Democrats are facing today. Let's see what happens in the coming 24-48. Thank you so much, Congressman, for coming in. I really appreciate your time -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate. Right now in Russia, Russian state media reports U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has arrived in Moscow, where he's expected to brief Russian officials on the American ceasefire proposal accepted by Ukraine on Tuesday. The trip comes as the Kremlin claims that the Russian military is in the final stages of ousting Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk region, a key focus in their war efforts.

[07:40:00]

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is on the ground live for us in Moscow with the very latest on this. Fred, President Trump says the ball is now in Russia's court. Are they any closer to accepting the ceasefire that is on the table that Ukraine has already accepted?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, the president says that the ball's in Russia's court, but it certainly seems as though the Russians are saying they're going to play that ball any way that they want to. I mean, all the signals that we're getting here from Moscow appear to be that the Russians either are not going to sign on to the ceasefire deal or are going to have major preconditions if they decide to do so.

It's been interesting, some of the messaging that we've seen, like for instance Vladimir Putin yesterday being in the Kursk region in a battle command place with one of his top generals there talking about further military action and creating a buffer zone between Russia and Ukraine, which obviously would mean a lot more fighting to continue rather than a ceasefire that would be imminent.

It's also quite interesting that we do have the Russians say Steve Witkoff on the ground here obviously to brief the Russians about all this. But one of the other things, Sara, that we've actually picked up on is that apparently yesterday there was a call between Mike Waltz, a national security advisor, and a senior Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, and Yuri Ushakov came out on Russian TV actually just a couple of minutes before we went to air, and he was asked whether or not the Russians are in favor of signing on to the ceasefire agreement.

And he then said that he believes that the Kremlin thinks that a temporary ceasefire would only give respite to the Ukrainian army, as he put it, and that no one, especially not the Russians, need a temporary ceasefire. So right now it seems as though there's sort of a shadow cast on whether or not the Russians would sign up to this.

One of the things that we're monitoring for you guys actually is there's a press conference that's set to happen fairly soon between the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and the Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the Russians have already said that in that press conference Russian leader Vladimir Putin might comment on the ceasefire proposal and whether or not the Russians would potentially be willing to sign off on it. But we also don't know whether or not those top meetings with Steve Witkoff have happened just yet as well -- Sara.

SIDNER: And from those comments that you heard, it is not looking good that they will sign on to this. We will see, though, what happens with Witkoff there. Fred Pleitgen, it's a pleasure. Thank you so much. Appreciate you.

All right, new this morning, two astronauts stuck in space for nine months are going to have to wait a little bit longer to get back to Earth. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams trip has been postponed to come home after NASA and SpaceX had to scrub yesterday's launch of the Dragon capsule that's going to be their ride. NASA is now aiming to launch that crew mission tomorrow night.

CNN Space and Defense Analyst Kristin Fisher is joining us now. Oh, my goodness. What happened now?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, what's a 48 hour delay when you've been up at the space station for about nine months now? Right. So the issue yesterday was with a hydraulic system on the ground side of things. So not a problem with the rocket itself.

Specifically, if we want to get into the really technical stuff, it was with the clamp that clamps onto the rocket and literally holds it down on the launch pad and releases it at the right time. So pretty important stuff.

But it also sounds like it's a relatively simple thing in rocket science to fix. So they're going to try again on Friday. And I just have to stress, Sara, that, you know, scrubs are super common, especially when it comes to human spaceflight and people are on the top of that rocket.

SIDNER: Yes. I mean, does this look like something that you said? It seems like a simple fix that they can fix in the next 24 to 48 hours.

FISHER: Yes, I think so or else they wouldn't have set this launch date. And so right now, the next window is around 7:00 p.m. Eastern time on Friday. And what that would mean, if all goes according to plan and if the splashdown weather looks good as well.

Remember, when you're returning to Earth, the sea conditions also have to be good because the capsule is going to land in the ocean and you need to be able to have boats go and rescue the crew.

So if all of that looks good, you're looking at Butch and Suni finally returning to Earth, likely, you know, early to middle of next week if this Friday launch happens.

SIDNER: It was supposed to be a few days and now it's been more about 280 days in space. What does this mean for them? Because it's a very different scenario just spending a few days in space and then spending nine months in space.

FISHER: Sure. And I'm sure it was a transition to go from that that original eight day mission to what was now nine months. But if you have to -- we can't speculate here, right? Like, we have to go off the words that Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have said.

And what Butch Wilmore said in his last post-flight press conference was, look, we planned for an eight day mission, but we were prepared to stay for longer. And both of them said that, you know, they were enjoying this time up in space. This may be their very last mission.

And look, they're astronauts, they're professional astronauts. They like being in space.

[07:45:00]

So, you know, the thing that's normally said is it's a lot harder on the families who are left behind back on Earth than it is on the flyers who actually get to go into space.

SIDNER: Yes, there are things to do that must be done at home and they're not there to help, but they're also worried about making sure that they get home safely. So there's a lot on the families on the ground. They may be enjoying being scientists up in space as long as they can.

Kristen, thank you so much for your great reporting. We really appreciate it -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, an American surfer detained in Venezuela for 65 days. His family hasn't heard from him in weeks. His sister is our guest.

And details of the first of its kind bill that requires app stores to verify users' ages and ask for parental consent before minors can download apps on their devices.

[07:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: New this morning. A family is fighting for the release of an American citizen. Lucas Hunter, after he was wrongfully detained in Venezuela more than two months ago. Hunter planned a trip to Colombia with his sister last December to kite surf, to enjoy himself. It was supposed to be a two and a half week vacation. But his sister Sophie hasn't seen or heard from him in two months now. Sophie was unable to go on the trip but stayed in constant

communication with Lucas until he sent her a message that he had been, and this is a quote, abducted by Venezuelan military forces near the Colombian border and taken into Venezuela.

On January 8th, Lucas told Sophie, I think it's fine. I should be out soon. That was the last time she heard from him.

And Sophie Hunter joins us now. Thank you so much for coming on. I know this is a really difficult time for you. Can you give me a sense -- because he talks about being taken into Venezuela. Had he accidentally crossed the border? Or was he on the other side and somehow they came over the border and snatched him?

SOPHIE HUNTER, SISTER OF LUCAS HUNTER, AMERICAN DETAINED IN VENEZUELA: Well, thank you so much for having me on the show. It's really a great opportunity. I'm really pleased to be able to share exactly what happened to Lucas.

So what he told me in a voice note, you know, so we have direct evidence of what happened. What he told me is that he was in Colombia and then he saw a checkpoint from far and then he reversed. So he was in Colombia and then he told me, Venezuelan military forces arrested me, grabbed me, kidnapped me, took me across the border. This is my pin location. Please help me. I'm in Venezuela.

This is what happened.

SIDNER: Wow. Are you getting any communication with Venezuela about what happened? Are they responding to requests? Who is involved in trying to help you figure out where your brother is?

HUNTER: So I'm in touch with the U.S. Embassy in Bogota with the U.S. State Department. What's great is that Lucas has been designated as a wrongful detainee just last week. And so it means he has top presidential priority.

But we have not heard back from the Venezuelan authorities. The U.S. is really trying to find information. We have no proof of life. So it's a very stressful situation.

SIDNER: The last time that you heard from him was that the voice-mail or the voice message that he sent to you and in it telling you that he's being taken, basically?

HUNTER: Yes, exactly.

SIDNER: What would you like to say, since you have the platform to the Venezuelan authorities right now, about your brother and your needs?

HUNTER: I would like to tell them that he was in Colombia. He did not even try to enter. I was supposed to go on holidays with him. So I know that there was no intention to try to go to Venezuela.

So I would say just release him. He's innocent. We want him back. And just bring him home. You know, he was in Colombia. SIDNER: Can you tell me a little bit about your brother? He was there to have fun. He was there to enjoy himself in Colombia. And now he finds himself in this situation. How would you imagine he deals with this stressful situation that he is now in under Venezuelan rule?

HUNTER: So, obviously, he's my older brother. So we are four. I'm his baby sister. And I know that when he sent me that voice note, he was worried, but he did not want me to be worried. So he said, look, this is what happened. I don't want you to be worried.

But for me, that meant that he was extremely worried. And so that's why I immediately realized that it was a very scary situation to be in. He's a very -- you know, he can be a bit shy, but he can also really stand up to the situation.

Once we went surfing on holidays in Bali and I nearly died because of dengue. And he was really, really there for me. He was really there to lift me up. He even made up balloons out of the rubber gloves of nurses and drew faces on them so that, you know, I could keep my spirit up when I was dying. So he's just an incredible person.

SIDNER: Sophie, I'm sorry that you and your family are going through this. Hopefully, we will hear something very soon.

[07:55:00]

Please stay in touch with us so that we can find out exactly what the situation is with your brother, who says he has been taken by Venezuelan authorities and you haven't heard from him for two months.

I really appreciate you taking the time this morning.

HUNTER: Thank you so much for this opportunity. My family really appreciates it.

SIDNER: All right, over to you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: In the other headlines that we're watching right now, there are new details this morning about who was on the beach when an American college student went missing in the Dominican Republic now one week ago. Investigators now may have some more leads to follow as they believe 20-year-old Sadiq Shah Kunanki may have come into contact with multiple people in addition to the young man that they originally believed was last with her before she went missing. They think multiple people were on the beach at the time.

At first, Kunanki's disappearance was being investigated as a drowning, and now the local police say they're looking into whether her disappearance could extend beyond a possible accident, how they're describing it.

So classes have been canceled at Texas Tech University for the rest of the week after an explosion in a manhole set off fires and power outages. I mean, look at this. I don't understand why the fire is green and yellow. That's one of my first questions. The Lubbock Fire Department says they responded to a possible gas leak

on campus last night and found multiple manhole covers spewing fire and smoke. No injuries were reported, thankfully. It's not clear what caused this, but power will need to be shut down for the entire campus while repairs are underway and they investigate what is going on there.

An American tourist is in trouble with Australian authorities after she was filmed picking up and running off with a wild baby wombat. The video of the incident went viral. Officials say that they are looking into whether -- now looking into whether she violated conditions of her visa with this. In the video, you can see the wombat is just -- the wombat's distressed mother chasing after the tourist, Sam Jones.

Jones reportedly said that she held the baby wombat for just one minute, then returned it to its mother. Australia's prime minister called the incident an outrage and suggested Jones was trying to take a -- suggested Jones tried taking a baby crocodile and see how that might turn out that from the prime minister -- took a turn there. But still, that video. What?

OK, then now look at this video out of New Hampshire. A snowboarder narrowly escaped an avalanche on Mount Washington's Tucker Ravine, literally outrunning it.

The snowboarder managed to race ahead by just a few seconds and escaped injury. You see that little, little dot we're highlighting there. That is a snowboarder. And you can imagine what the snowboarder is saying the whole way down. The video was caught on camera -- on the cameras at Mount Washington Observatory. But thank God they got out of there. That is remarkable.

Then there is this. This morning, a new bill in the state of Washington will require app stores to get parental consent and verify the ages of its youngest users.

Now, for years, social media companies like Meta have faced increasing pressure to do more to protect kids from harm on these apps. They've argued that it should be left up to the app stores. But apps or companies like Apple and Google say it raises privacy and First Amendment concerns.

But still, we are here today and this is a big step. CNN's Clare Duffy has much more on this. Talk to me about what is happening in Utah.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes. So this is a bill in Utah that really is taking Mark Zuckerberg's advice here. Zuckerberg, in a congressional hearing last year, raised this idea that app stores should be responsible for validating users' ages.

This was the same hearing where he apologized to families who said their children had been hurt by social media platforms. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARK ZUCKERBERG, META CEO: I don't think that parents should have to upload an ID or prove that they're the parent of a child in every single app that their children use. I think the right place to do this and a place where it would be actually very easy for it to work is within the app stores themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: So Utah has now passed this bill, the App Store Accountability Act, whereby app stores would have to verify users' ages. They would have to share user age categories with app developers. And they would also have to seek parental consent any time a user, a minor user, tries to download or make a purchase in an app.

And the idea here really is to have sort of a central clearinghouse for verifying users' ages so that apps can create more safe experiences for young users. There are now eight other states that are considering similar legislation. And this bill in Utah is just awaiting the governor's signature.

BOLDUAN: Oh, very interesting. How are like the app stores, the Apples and the Googles, responding?

DUFFY: The app stores are saying essentially that there are privacy concerns here, that every user, not just children, but adult users too, would have to submit information to verify their ages. And that not every app requires age verification. Here's what Apple said in a white paper last week.

They said, while only a fraction of apps on the app store may require age verification, all users would have to hand over their sensitive, personally identifying information to us. Regardless of whether they actually want to use one of these limited set of apps, that's not in the interest of user safety or privacy.