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RFK Jr. to Cut 10,000 Full-Time Jobs; Pete Hegseth Under Fire; New Trump Auto Tariffs. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 27, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:59]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Brace for sticker shock. If you are in the market for a car, step on the gas, President Trump's new tariffs about to send prices soaring. The latest on this escalating trade war and how Americans could face the fallout.

Plus: under pressure, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth facing growing concerns over his experience and judgment in the wake of the signal texting scandal. Ahead, CNN's new reporting on what we're hearing from inside the Pentagon.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: And Health Department overhaul, 10,000 jobs on the chopping block. We're going to tell you what we know about this major reorganization and how it could affect services for Americans.

We're following these major developing stories and much more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Hello. I'm Brianna Keilar, with Omar Jimenez in for Boris today.

JIMENEZ: Always good to see you.

KEILAR: Great to have you.

And the price that you pay for a car could soon skyrocket by thousands of dollars after President Trump put a new 25 percent tariff on all imported vehicles. It's a significant escalation in his global trade war, with the policy set to take effect in a week.

Today, Trump threatened additional large-scale levies on Canada and the E.U. if he says they team up to -- quote -- "do economic harm to the U.S."

JIMENEZ: Now, world leaders are lashing out in response. Canada's prime minister called the levies a direct attack and says he's looking into possible retaliatory measures. The European Commission president said tariffs are taxes, bad for business, worse for consumers in the United States and the European Union.

But the head of the United Auto Workers union is applauding the effort and praised Trump for -- quote -- "stepping up to end the free trade disaster." I'm going to bring in CNN's Alayna Treene, who is live at the White House for us.

So, Alayna, what is the administration saying about this right now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Brianna and Omar, they have given a few different reasons trying to justify these tariffs. One, of course, is that the president argues that this will bring manufacturing back to the United States.

But we have also heard arguments that this will help pay in revenue, particularly for some of the big other priorities, I should say, that the president wants to do, for example, a revival, I guess, of his tax cuts from 2017. They need a way to pay for that. These tariffs could help bring in revenue for that. They also want to reduce the deficit. So that's an argument they're making.

But then we also heard this from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt this morning. She argued, really, that the United States has been taken advantage of too long, kind of going back to Trump's America first, buy American, hire American rhetoric. Listen to how she put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We're going to make sure that American workers are put first and we're ending the unfair trade practices that have been hollowing out our middle class for decades.

And I would just like to emphasize these auto tariffs yesterday are a big deal for autoworkers in the industry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, you heard her there say at the end it's a big deal for autoworkers in the industry.

I do want to point out, though, Boris and Brianna, that there's no such thing as an all-American-made car. We know that even from the ones who do have plants in the United States that do most of their manufacturing domestically, they still get a lot of their parts from both Canada and Mexico.

And we actually saw last month top different representatives from the Big Three car companies in the United States met with the president and tried to lobby him to give them exemptions on that, particularly for trade that happens with Canada and Mexico that falls under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement, a trade agreement, I should note, that the president himself did negotiate.

But it's very clear that the president is moving forward with these, that he believes in tariffs. We have also heard just a White House official this week say that no one should be surprised by these, because it's something he talked about so heavily, the president, on the campaign trail. So they don't go in effect until next week. This is actually kind of

just part one of a broader tariff package we're going to hear him announce on April 2, but definitely some concerns, and we're seeing some of that in the markets as well today.

[13:05:05]

JIMENEZ: Yes, trying to read what may happen next.

Alayna Treene live at the White House, really appreciate it.

Let's talk more about this with Aaron Klein, who was the deputy assistant secretary for the Treasury Department. He's now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute.

Thanks for being here.

I want to start with where we left off with Alayna there. Several economists have told us they expect, many economists, I should say, they expect car prices to rise for manufacturers and customers pretty quickly. Do you agree? And what specifically are you keeping an eye on most as potentially the most significant impact of these tariffs.

AARON KLEIN, FORMER U.S. DEPUTY ASSISTANT TREASURY SECRETARY: Yes.

So, I mean, look, car prices will rise, particularly for imports, particularly for European imports, if these things go into effect. And you will also find that a lot of cars you think are made in America because they're sold by one of the Big Three aren't as much made in America as you might think.

One company that probably will benefit from this on a competitive basis is Tesla, who tends to manufacture more in the United States. They haven't had a global supply chain and a legacy like some of the many other Big Three and European and Asian cars. But when prices rise for imports, domestic ones usually follow suit.

So I would expect a price of new cars to rise if these tariffs go into effect.

JIMENEZ: Yes, and Tesla among the top of their of parts being made actually in the United States, but it's still not close to 100 percent.

Now, look, President Trump has said these tariffs are aimed at boosting U.S. manufacturing by sending buyers to American-made cars. But as we have talked about, there's really at this point no such thing as a fully American-made car.

But how much would boosted U.S. manufacturing, for example, actually make a dent in any of the percentages for cars made that we have seen to this point? Again, none that we have seen are even close to 100 percent.

KLEIN: Yes, so, look, in the long run, if these tariffs go in and stay in, then manufacturers will adjust. They will change their processes, just like from NAFTA and other things that brought more global trade into the automotive situation, where the cars are -- parts are being shipped back and forth between Windsor and Detroit.

So in the long run, there will be a reshoring of U.S. jobs and everybody will pay for that with higher car prices. And that's a different trade-off. What strikes me as odd is the focus on autos, where we're trading primarily with our allies, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Korea, as opposed to other things, where we're trading more with China, cheap electronics, flat-screen TVs, those types of things.

It's weird to me that Trump is picking trade war fights with our allies, as opposed to China or Russia or more countries that are more adversarial.

JIMENEZ: And, initially, it seemed to be, at least in some parts, a bargaining move to try and step up enforcement at the southern border. This is a different aspect of potential tariff implementation that we're seeing here.

And to your point there look, it's impossible to fully know, but President Trump has said these auto tariffs will be in place at least through his current term. I know you talked about manufacturers being able to adjust, but from an economic standpoint what does that adjustment look like when it potentially becomes a long-term policy, as opposed to a temporary one that maybe goes on and goes off?

How do you expect automakers to adjust?

KLEIN: Well, look, first of all, it's hard to trust Trump because he says one thing and does another all the time. The tariffs go on, they go off.

And second point, if you do assume they're going to be there for a long time, then you adjust by making more things in America, which probably you pay your workers and -- a little more and everything's a little more expensive, but there are more jobs in the United States.

And in the long run, BMWs are going to be more expensive relative to Cadillacs. The price adjustment of different brands will alter and consumers will change their behavior accordingly. But the people that will pay the tariff are predominantly American consumers who are buying cars.

It is not this idea that Trump keeps floating that the foreigners pay the tariff. The U.S. buyer of cars is the one paying the tariff for the higher prices. So, it's just a different form of taxation.

(CROSSTALK)

JIMENEZ: Yes.

And I was just going to say one auto industry executive who spoke to CNN said there are not a lot of levers they can pull in the short term to immediately create a good situation if these tariffs get put in place.

Aaron Klein, I got to leave it there, but really appreciate you being here. Thanks for the time and perspective.

KLEIN: Thanks.

JIMENEZ: All right, meanwhile, today, a federal judge in Washington is set to hold an emergency hearing on whether Trump's top national security officials violated federal law by using a Signal group chat to discuss U.S. attack plans in Yemen.

Now, the administration is being accused of flouting federal record- keeping laws by using the testing app that can be set to automatically delete messages.

[13:10:02]

KEILAR: Scrutiny over the Signal chat incident is also intensifying on Capitol Hill, with the top Republican and Democrat on a key committee now officially requesting an inspector general probe into what happened.

And we now have some brand-new CNN reporting on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth facing doubts about his leadership from inside the Pentagon and in wider national security circles.

Let's begin there with CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel.

Jamie, tell us what you're learning.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So, look, there were a lot of questions about Pete Hegseth when he was nominated. There was a lot of concern about his experience and his background.

What we are hearing from inside the Pentagon, outside the Pentagon, national security officials, they're really raising greater and greater concern about his judgment, his demeanor and his experience.

And this Signal chat really is amplifying that, because, even though National Security Adviser Mike Waltz set it up, the most startling things -- and I really recommend people go to CNN.com and read the texts, we have them up there -- came from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

And the details are highly sensitive. At one point, he writes, this is when the first bombs will drop. So senior intelligence and military officials are just pointing out again and again writing things like this on a platform that is not secure is -- it's the cardinal rule at the Pentagon. You would never put this out before a combat operation.

One quote from a former very senior intelligence official -- quote -- "The egregious actor here is Hegseth. He's in the bullseye now because he puts all this out on a Signal chat." The word that keeps coming up over and over again is amateur.

JIMENEZ: And this -- I mean, those texts came hours before this operation actually was carried out in Yemen.

And look, throughout all of this, Secretary Hegseth hasn't been hiding. He's been out and about.

GANGEL: Right.

JIMENEZ: He's put out many public statements defending the actions of what happened in the Signal group. He seems to be projecting confidence through this.

GANGEL: Yes, he is certainly like President Donald Trump. He is forceful. He -- but the reality is that, if you think about former secretaries of defense and the normal process you go through, the deliberation, being forceful and doubling down on these things is not what these sources say makes a great secretary of defense.

Sources called it reckless, hubris to put this kind of information on the Signal text chain. One said -- quote -- "He's a TV personality. A general officer makes a recommendation and he's like, yes, yes, yes, go do it. Former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would never be like, yes, yes, yes, go do it. He'd be like, we will take it under consideration."

Very different personalities from not just Lloyd Austin, but going back and looking at other secretary of defenses. We have never seen anything quite like it.

KEILAR: Yes, a more serious demeanor is what you would expect.

GANGEL: Correct. Correct.

KEILAR: Jamie, thank you for the great insights.

GANGEL: Sure.

KEILAR: We really appreciate it.

And with us now is retired Naval Commander Kirk Lippold. He was the commanding officer of the USS Cole when it was bombed while it was docked just off the coast of Yemen. He also wrote the book "Front Burner: Al Qaeda's Attack on the USS Cole."

And it's so great, Commander, to have you here, because you have heard there's so much rhetoric going on about what has happened here, but it's not academic for you, the safety and the lives of American troops. So I'm very curious from your perspective, as someone who's been through what you have been through, what concerns you most about the Signal chat when it comes to protecting service members?

KIRK LIPPOLD, FORMER COMMANDER, USS COLE: I think, Brianna, the number one thing we have to look at is, this was a clear violation of operational security.

And while many in the administration and throughout those that participated in the group chat, whether it was the director of the CIA, the national security adviser, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, all of them argued that nothing classified was put out there.

That may be true in a point of fact. However, comma, like anything else dealing with operational security, loose lips sink ships. And while each individual piece may not have been classified, the aggregate of what was put together and discussed on that chat in its whole would probably be classified, and at a very high level.

[13:15:00]

KEILAR: Explain that, because I think people, they have a hard time with this. Like, is classified on a piece of paper stamped top secret? Is it information that would be in something that is stamped top secret, and then that information is then put in another channel? It's a hard thing, I think, for folks to understand.

LIPPOLD: I think what a lot of Americans would need to understand is that intelligence created means that we ask people around the world to provide information to us, that we then have -- we get data. And from that data, we analyze it.

And when we analyze it, we synthesize it, put it together. That's what creates intelligence. How we get that, what they call the sources and methods, all those put together determine the level of classification, from confidential up to top secret, and then beyond that into compartmented information.

When you pull all that together, and while those little individual pieces may not seem classified, over time, that's what allows our enemies to build out an understanding of how we put together a strike plan, how we put together a war plan. All those things together are what, if leaked, could endanger U.S. troops, Navy ships, et cetera.

KEILAR: I think, in this modern day, we have become so used to the convenience of having a device in our hands, right?

But when it comes to handling sensitive or classified information, there are other considerations besides convenience. And that sometimes means you need to be in a secure place, you need to be on something a little more clunky.

Did this need to happen in something that was such a convenient way, but maybe insecure way? Did these folks need to be getting that information exactly when they got it?

LIPPOLD: I think they may have needed to get it when they got it. How they got it was absolutely wrong.

I mean, clearly, using something like Signal -- and I don't care whether a previous administration or this administration has authorized its use. At the end of the day, clearly, there's an issue with the Federal Records Act, because Signal does not preserve those conversations.

The question you have to go back and look at now, and I think an investigation is going to still unearth some of the facts, is, was there a system in the U.S. government that was authorized for those kinds of discussions that could have been used?

Did any of those people, while they may be high-level appointees, did they get an operational security brief once they were confirmed by the Senate, assumed their position and started working?

Did they really understand what was available to them, where it was available, and how, rather than doing that meeting via something via text on a handheld and doing it somewhere, should have been done in their office or in a facility that could have handled those conversations securely, preserve the records about it, even if it were classified, and then be able to let the American people know, this is how this administration is working to safeguard U.S. national security interests around the world?

KEILAR: This isn't just about Yemen or the Houthis, right? This is about other foreign actors, adversaries, foreign adversaries, even terrorist groups who may be looking at how these top officials conduct themselves.

What do you think they have taken away from how they have been communicating that is of interest to American foes?

LIPPOLD: I think the main thing they're going to watch is how we do business, because how you handle classified information, how you run your daily routine, how your discussions go on a phone, which we know they try to adapt, how we do things on unclassified networks, all those little things put together, oftentimes, they will insert themselves, as we know in the cyber world, they insert themselves and do nothing.

They sit and watch and listen and learn. And I think what this is teaching us is that we cannot afford to use unclassified networks that may be secure. Maybe that entire conversation got dumped and nobody's ever going to know about it. That's not the point. The point is, it was outside of a system that is normally certified by the National Security Agency as being secure enough to handle unclassified through top secret, compartmented information discussions.

And that's where this group should have held those talks.

KEILAR: Might be a great house. The foundation has to be solid, right, or it doesn't matter.

LIPPOLD: Well, at this point, if DOGE has saved billions of dollars, here's a good application and point to use it on that would be helpful to the American people.

KEILAR: All right, Commander Lippold, thank you so much. Really appreciate your perspective and your service. Thank you.

LIPPOLD: Thank you.

KEILAR: And still ahead: the Department of Health and Human Services planning to slash 10,000 jobs. Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. says he believes the overhaul is a win-win for Americans. We will be taking a look at the potential impacts.

JIMENEZ: Plus, Attorney General Pam Bondi announces the arrest of an alleged top member of the gang MS-13. We're going to have new details on his capture. And are we any closer to learning what led to the deadly crash between

a commercial jet and a military helicopter over Washington, D.C.? Transportation officials face questions from lawmakers.

We're going to tell you what we're learning about their investigation coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[13:24:25]

KEILAR: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just announced a plan to cut 10,000 full-time jobs from federal health agencies.

Kennedy says the layoffs will reduce what he calls bureaucratic sprawl, while reprioritizing how the country combats chronic diseases.

JIMENEZ: Now, the affected agencies include workers from the FDA, CDC, NIH, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. These cuts are in addition to the roughly 10,000 employees who've left voluntarily.

CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell is here with more.

So, Meg, how significant is this expected to be? What more are you learning?

[13:25:02]

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Omar. I mean, this is a massive cut to health agencies, about 25 percent of the work force in those two 10,000-worker groups you mentioned.

The new 10,000 cuts, which we're hearing from an e-mail sent to union leaders, people will be hearing about potentially as early as tomorrow, and these may take effect really at the end of May. So that's on top of 10,000 people they say, HHS says has already voluntarily left.

They say this will save $1.8 billion per year, and it consolidates 28 divisions into 15. And, as part of this, they're also creating a new health agency. Here's how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We're going to eliminate an entire alphabet soup of departments and agencies, while preserving their core functions, by merging them into a new organization called the Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA.

We have two goals. The first is obvious, to save the taxpayer money by making our department more efficient. And the second is to radically improve our quality of service.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIRRELL: So, AHA, guys, obviously sounds a lot like MAHA, Make America Healthy Again, Kennedy's slogan.

And this new agency is going to encapsulate five different agencies from across HHS, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, so folks looking for more details on what that's going to do exactly.

KEILAR: So talk about essential health services and what the impact there might be.

TIRRELL: Yes, so the HHS is trying to be clear that certain things like Medicare and Medicaid services are not going to be affected by this.

They also say, at FDA, reviewers working on drugs, medical devices and food, and inspectors at the FDA won't be affected. But people in the public health world that we're talking with say that cuts this deep and this sudden, it's impossible for them not to affect health services that people rely on the federal government for.

So, whether that's making these services slower, changing the ways people do their jobs or the efficiency with which they do their jobs, that is what people are very, very concerned about. And we're starting to hear from Democrats in Congress who say they're going to fight this.

JIMENEZ: Meg Tirrell, really appreciate the report and good to see you.

All right, we want to bring you all to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour, North Carolina, for example. Firefighters made progress last night containing two of the largest wildfires burning in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but warned there is still a high risk of fire danger from the dry and windy conditions.

In South Carolina, two raging wildfires have nearly doubled. Hundreds of people in both states have been asked to leave their homes to be safe.

KEILAR: Also, a doctor in Hawaii has been charged with attempted murder in the second degree after allegedly trying to kill his wife. Police say the 46-year-old anesthesiologist tried to push her off a hiking trail near a cliff and then bashed her in the head repeatedly with a rock. She was treated after the assault and transported to a local E.R. in serious condition.

JIMENEZ: And, this morning, federal officers captured an alleged top major member of the MS-13 gang just about a half-an-hour outside of Washington, D.C. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she was there for the raid in Virginia and alleges that the 24-year-old man was the leader for the East Coast.

Now, the arrest is part of the Trump administration's task force to crack down on foreign gang members living in the United States.

KEILAR: Up next: A university grad student with a valid U.S. visa is in a Louisiana detention facility after being seized off the street by masked federal agents. We will have the latest in her case.

JIMENEZ: We will show you more of that video too.

Plus: Lawmakers grill the CEOs of NPR and PBS, as calls grow from the GOP to defund the networks, the scene mirroring that of Mister Rogers as he protested cuts to public media decades ago. Mr. Rogers' nephew is going to join us ahead.

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