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Trump Calls Group Chat Fallout a Witch Hunt; Trump Announces New Auto Tariffs in Trade War Escalation; Timeshare Dispute Lands Michigan Couple in Mexican Prison. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 27, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refusing to take reporters' questions as questions swirl about his judgment and ability to do the job after sharing military attack plans on an unsecure signal group, chat President Trump now trying to label the fallout a witch hunt. But even some Republicans are now demanding an investigation.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A move that could increase car prices by thousands of dollars. The president announces new steep tariffs. One Canadian leader says he will look to inflict as much pain on Americans as possible.

And masked federal agent sees a grad student right off the streets, a student here with a valid visa. Now, the question is, was it something she wrote for the school paper?

Sara is out this morning. I'm John Berman with Kate Baldwin. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: Some moments ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived in the Philippines facing serious fallout, still back at home under pressure from a growing number of Democrats now, calling on him to resign over the signal leak days after one of the most remarkable national security breaches in recent memory.

The Trump administration story is still changing and evolving. First, they said the information was not classified. Some of them still say that today. Then they turned to blame the journalist, personally attacking him, even nodding toward conspiracy theory, even though it was they who accidentally added him to the group chat.

Now, President Trump is falling back on a familiar refrain calling it, yes, a witch hunt and also standing by Pete Hegseth saying the president -- the Pentagon chief is doing a great job, and that he had, quote, nothing to do with all of this. That's despite a second round of receipts published by The Atlantic appearing to show Hegseth sharing specific military attack plans, when and how they were going to attack the Houthis in Yemen.

And as for the information as for whether the information that Hegseth shared was classified, well, now the president seems less sure. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think it's a witch hunt. I wasn't involved with it. I don't -- I wasn't there.

REPORTER: Do you still believe nothing classified was shared?

TRUMP: Well, that's what I've heard. I don't know. I'm not sure. You'll have to ask the various people involved. I really don't know.

Who's responsible?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike Waltz says that he's responsible.

TRUMP: Well, yes, Mike Waltz, I guess he said he claimed responsibility, I would imagine had nothing to do with anyone else. It was Mike, I guess. I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I don't know. This morning, calls are growing louder for someone to face accountability for what happened. Now, Democrats are questioning whether the nation's top intelligence chief who's testified before them that they may have lied under oath when they insisted the signal chat included no classified information.

CNN's Kevin Liptak starting us off from the White House this morning. Kevin, good morning. What now?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I think it's an open question. We may hear from the president again today on this. We have heard from him the last two days very clear that he wants to address this himself after his team has struggled to establish a coherent narrative about what exactly happened here.

It is evident that the president is just trying to move on, pending blame squarely on his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, but in other ways, I think confusing things. Just yesterday, for example, the president saying that the Signal app may be defective. That was hours after his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that this was an approved app for secure and efficient communication.

You also heard the president yesterday in the Oval Office allowing at least for the possibility that there could have been classified information contained in this app, saying that he just didn't know and saying that he would ask Pete Hegseth to investigate, essentially, to investigate himself whether he put this classified information into a commercial app.

So, I think a lot of confused messages coming out of the White House. This is all generating a lot of frustration among Republicans on Capitol Hill, who at the very least say that this was sensitive information that should not have been placed in the Signal app.

[07:05:02] You heard yesterday from the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker, who said that he was calling for an independent inspectors general investigation into this incident. Of course, the inspector general at the Pentagon has been fired, so it's not exactly clear who will conduct that going forward.

You also have been hearing from other administration officials who were part of this app who are sounding a much graver concern about what exactly happened. For example, Marco Rubio said yesterday that someone made a big mistake. That was a lot more candid than some of the other officials we've been hearing from, including the top intelligence chiefs who are on Capitol Hill, repeatedly declining to say whether this information was even classified. That's led to a number of Democrats saying that they may have actually perjured themselves in their sworn testimony.

Listen to what Michael Bennet, the Colorado Democrat, said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): If this stuff is classified, I don't -- isn't classified, I don't know what is classified.

We rarely hear anything as secret as the stuff that these guys were talking about.

And I know every single one of them understands that about this too, which is what makes it so agonizing.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: So, you believe they lied?

BENNET: I think they're just lying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now the big question in all of this is whether anyone here at the White House will lose their job over this incident. Of course, this is still playing out. President Trump is someone who very much monitors how the reaction has been going over time. Yesterday, the White House press secretary asked directly whether anyone would be fired, said that Trump continues to have confidence in his national security team. Kate?

BOLDUAN: If past this prologue though, that can cha, that can change the matter of weeks, as we saw from the first administration.

LIPTAK: Yes, a matter of hours.

BOLDUAN: Yes, exactly. Thank you so much, Kevin. John?

BERMAN: All right. This morning, at least one source inside the defense department tells CNN they saw documents sent within the Pentagon with the same information from those on the text chain and those documents were marked as classified. One defense official told CNN, quote, it is safe to say that anybody in uniform would be court- martialed for this. Let's get right to CNN's Katie Bo Lillis for the latest. What are you learning, Katie?

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, John, look, we heard over and over from top members of Trump's national security team yesterday, nothing in this thread was classified, no sensitive information was -- no classified information was shared. But, of course, that directly contradicts what we are hearing from defense officials inside the Pentagon who saw this information, as you mentioned, that are saying, no, this was absolutely classified.

Now, it is true that the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, does have the authority as the classification authority for the Defense Department to downgrade this information, to declassify this information. But what we hear from current and former U.S. officials is it just doesn't make sense that he would do that before an operation even began because of the risk to American service members if that information were to get out and there's no indication that he did. He's been repeatedly pressed on that question and has not answered it directly.

Look, to a certain degree, the debate over whether or not this information was classified is a semantic one, according to former and current U.S. officials. Look, if information about the timing, the sequencing of these attacks, the kind of weapons that were going to be used, if that information had gotten out in the two hours in advance of the attacks that these text messages were being sent, if they'd fallen into the hands of the Houthis, for example, they would have allowed Houthis leaders to, at the very least as one member of the House Intelligence Committee put it yesterday, duck and potentially even to move their anti-aircraft capabilities, which the Houthis do have in place to be able to try to counter the American fighter jets that were dropping some of this ordinance.

And so what you were hearing consistently both from defense officials who are quietly very, very upset about this as well as well as members of Congress is these text messages from the defense secretary could have potentially put American service members' lives in danger if they had been exposed.

So, again, was it classified, was it not classified? I think you're going to continue to see that debate play out, but the concern about the potential operational impact on American service members' lives, that's going to be the sort of major issue that people are going to continue to hone in on.

BERMAN: Yes, maybe less important, what you call it, more important what it actually said.

Katie Bo Lillis, thank you very much for your reporting this morning. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Also new reporting this morning after a string of executive orders threatening their businesses, law firms in D.C. are facing a tough choice, push back publicly against President Trump or stay quiet and hope to avoid his wrath. What they're deciding. And doctors treating measles patients in Texas have discovered a disturbing trend, signs of toxic levels of Vitamin A, raising new concerns about HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and where he's putting his priorities and also raising serious concerns about the spread of misinformation.

[07:10:04]

And the price of new cars is about to go up by thousands of dollars, some estimates say, after President Trump leans into auto tariffs once again, and how America's biggest trading partners are now promising to retaliate.

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BOLDUAN: Leaders of some of America's biggest trading partners, said another way, some of America's closest allies, are reacting and preparing to retaliate this morning now after President Trump announced 25 percent tariffs coming next week on all cars shipped to the United States.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich joining us right now. And this applies to cars and car parts, which is an important aspect of this.

[07:15:00]

What are you learning?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: It's absolutely critical because every car maker is going to be impacted and every consumer --

BOLDUAN: Yes. That's a better -- that's a completely -- that's a much better way of even saying it, exactly.

YURKEVICH: And every consumer who's eventually going to be looking for a new car will be impacted by this 25 percent tariff on all foreign imports of cars and parts.

Just look at the amount of carmakers that are going to be impacted. You see foreign carmakers, domestic car makers, and they're all on the same screen together because many of the foreign car makers actually have assembly plants right here in the U.S. However, they use foreign car parts. Of all the 10.4 million cars produced and assembled here in the U.S., 50 percent were made with foreign car parts and 50 percent with American car parts. That's in one vehicle. And that's critical because that's where you're going to start seeing these taxes on these car parts.

We have been hearing from leaders around the world reacting to this and sort of foreshadowing what their retaliation might look like. Take a listen to the Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney and what he said just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: This is a direct attack, to be clear, a direct attack.

We will defend our workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country. And we'll defend it together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: And you're also hearing from the Prime Minister of Japan who is saying that they are going to retaliate in some way. You're also hearing from a Tesla owner Elon Musk, who is saying that Tesla will not emerge unscathed from this. It will have a significant impact on Tesla.

But what about the U.S. consumer, what can we all expect eventually? Well, if this tariff goes into effect, stays in effect, the estimate is that the cost of production for vehicles could cost anywhere per vehicle $3,500 to $12,000 more.

The key thing here is that this tariff has to stay in effect in order for U.S. carmakers in particular to do what President Trump wants them to do, produce and assemble all cars here in the U.S.

BOLDUAN: For like a long time.

YURKEVICH: Exactly, a couple years, it'll take a couple years to do that. By then, Trump may be out of office. So, really, the uncertainty here, you're seeing it play out with automakers trying to understand, is this going to happen on April 2nd? How long it will be in effect, because that'll determine what they're going to do for the future of their car manufacturers.

BOLDUAN: And they've made clear that goes to consumers. That does not eat -- eaten up by our foreign trading partners as they're sending it,

YURKEVICH: they are not going to want to absorb all of this. It ultimately gets passed down, unfortunately.

BOLDUAN: Vanessa, thank you so much. A lot to come from this and its impact on the broader economy now as well. Thank you so much.

So, a Michigan couple traveled to Cancun for a vacation and they ended up in a maximum security prison over a timeshare dispute.

And surveillance video showing the moments a Tufts University student is taken into custody arrested by plain clothed federal agents. The accusations she is facing now and what her attorney is saying this morning and how they responded.

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[07:20:00]

BERMAN: This morning, an American couple is inside a Mexican jail, a jail their lawyer calls a hellhole. Paul Akio and his wife, Christy, were arrested the minute they set foot in Cancun. A hospitality company accuses them of fraud over a timeshare dispute the couple says they thought was settled years ago. Family members are begging the U.S. government to intervene and bring them home.

Let's get right to CNN's Polo Sandoval for the latest on this. What are you learning?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, we have heard about timeshare cautionary tales and this really just takes it to a completely different level as this couple is still in a Mexican prison with no idea when they may potentially be released or even on bond.

And we're going to get you more about what the company, that timeshare company has to say in just a second. But here's a quick background on this. According to the attorneys representing the family, and some of the family members who I had chance to speak to, they believe that this all stems back to 2021 when the Akeos entered into a contract agreement with Palace Resorts, basically an 11-year contract, and it was about months into this contract when they considered themselves unsatisfied customers. They say that they were not able to use their time at the resort as promised.

So, they turned to American Express, which was the credit card they used for the deposit on this timeshare, saying that they were unsatisfied with the services from this vendor. American Express, according to the attorneys, investigated and they cited with the couples, saying that they are not liable for nearly $117,000 in payments.

So, they refunded that money. They thought it was over, as you point out, John. However, the company ended up filing a criminal complaint there in Quintana Roo, which is the, the, the state where Cancun is. A judge then issuing an arrest warrant and this scene that you see here in video that was provided by state prosecutors is what played out earlier this month as they landed after departing Michigan, landed in Cancun for what they thought was going to be an issue, free vacation, instead were detained by authorities and said that they were suspected of fraud.

I want to get you straight to what this company has to say in response to a request for comment from CNN. They said the Palace Company subsidiary, Palace Elite, filed a criminal complaint with Mexican authorities after Paul and Christy Akeo fraudulently disputed legitimate credit card charges and publicly encouraged others to do the same. They go on to write that Mexican prosecutors reviewed the evidence and following, failed attempts to serve, notice obtained court approved arrest warrants.

Now, Lindsey Hull, who I want you to hear from in just a moment, the daughter of the couple, told me that at no point to her knowledge was she ever contacted by Interpol or authorities from Mexico.

[07:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY HULL, PARENTS ARRESTED IN MEXICO: My mom maybe gets a phone call a day. It's very short, usually less than five minutes. There're certain things that she won't even share with me and my brother because I don't think she wants us to even know. Now that I have kids of my own I understand like wanting to protect your kids from certain things. And I think that that's what she's trying to do and she's trying to stay really strong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Lindsey Hull reaching out even all the way to the White House hoping for a response. The State Department telling CNN that they are aware of two U.S. citizens that are currently detained. They are currently in Mexican custody, but they couldn't share more because of privacy reasons. They've also contacted their congressmen there in out of Michigan. They said that they're doing everything possible to try to bring this to a quick and safe resolution.

But, again, days it wreaks into this and still no idea when this couple will be released, even on bond.

BERMAN: Got to be traumatic for that family.

Polo Sandoval, thank you very much for that report.

All right, just moments ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took no questions on the attack plans he posted in a group chat as there are signs the president might be taking his side over National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. New reporting on who is up and who is down.

The Red Sox are tied for first place. The Yankees stuck in last, a glorious moment for all. Happy opening day for those who observed.

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