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Trump Meets With Salvadoran President Amid Court Battle Over Mistakenly Deported Maryland Man; Trump Open to Deporting Homegrown Criminals to El Salvador; Trump Says He is Looking Into Tariff Exemptions for Car Companies, as Well as Pharma; China Cuts Off Critical Rare Earth Minerals to U.S.; Suspect Arrested in Arson Attack on Pennsylvania Governor's Residence. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired April 14, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A warning from President Trump that no one is "off the hook from electronics tariffs." But the mixed messages are confusing investors, and there are new warnings today about a possible recession in the U.S.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Plus, we have new details from the investigation into arson at the Pennsylvania governor's residence, a suspect in custody accused of attempted murder, the governor and his family asleep at the time in bed, how they were able to safely get out. And a CNN Exclusive, a thriving black market on Facebook. How anyone may be able to buy their way into being an Uber driver, even criminals. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

Breaking News right now, President Trump is wrapping up a meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele at the White House. The Central American leader has quickly become a close ally of President Trump's, after taking in hundreds of alleged gang members from the U.S. and putting them in a notorious mega prison. One of the people detained at CECOT Prison is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration.

The Supreme Court recently ordered the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return, but stopped short of requiring the government to bring him back to the U.S. Here's El Salvador's president indicating he's not planning to send him back either.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAYIB BUKELE, PRESIDENT OF EL SALVADOR: How can I smuggle? How can I return him to the United States like I smuggle him into the United States? Or what do I do? Of course, I'm not going to do it. It's like, I mean, the question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist to the United States? I don't have the power to return him to the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Let's go now to CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who's at the White House. Jeff, they took questions for a little bit there. We learned a lot, including that big headline there that the El Salvadoran President does not intend on sending him back. But what more came out of the Oval Office today?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, that meeting in the Oval Office showed that neither president, the U.S. President nor the El Salvador president, showing any interest in trying to return the Maryland father who was wrongly deported. And as we've been following this for the last several weeks, the Trump administration admitted to an administrative error and that led him to be wrongfully deported. Well, there was a zero sign that either a leader or the U.S. government believes he should be returned. And now, the Secretary of State and other White House officials are saying it's a matter of a foreign policy and the Supreme Court cannot weigh on this at all. But it was something else that the U.S. president, said about that, the infamous prison in El Salvador. He said for the first time that homegrown criminals, that means American citizens should also be sent there. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'd like to go a step further. I mean, I say, I said it to Pam. I don't know what the laws are. We always have to obey the laws, but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they're not looking, that are absolute monsters. I'd like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: So, pretty extraordinary words there, the U.S. President saying that he would like to use homegrown criminals as well. We are now seeing pictures right here of President Bukele departing. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUKELE: Yeah, thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So departing after his lunch with the president and members of his delegation, have been meeting for a couple hours or so. But one of the biggest headlines, of course, is how central to the Trump administration's immigration plans the, prison in El Salvador has become. And clearly, Trump has an ally in President Bukele. The smiles all around certainly made clear of that, Jessica.

DEAN: Yeah, no doubt about that. Jeff Zeleny at the White House, thank you so much for that reporting. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's dig into this case with former U.S. attorney, Harry Litman. Harry, thanks so much for being with us. First, I want to get your interpretation of the Supreme Court's decision because the administration and the judge in this case are interpreting it in diametrically opposed ways. So, what exactly did the Supreme Court decide? How does it line up with what we heard from President Trump and his officials today?

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: The Supreme Court decided that the administration must, is obligated to correct its own constitutional error, to facilitate -- I'll get back to that in a moment -- Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador.

[14:05:00]

I emphasize that Boris, because they mangled it in their submission to suggest the Supreme Court just said, return him to the United States. That's wrong. Their job is in fact necessarily to go as far as they can into El Salvador to release him. Now, the facilitate, effectuate dynamic obviously is a recognition that if push comes to shove, if we needed to declare war to go into El Salvador, that there would be some limit based on Article II powers you couldn't push the administration around, but not simple moves to repair their own constitutional violations.

And this seems like today, as you've just described, it really a travesty because Bukele makes it seem as if he has no power. That's preposterous to use his own words. Clearly, this is done by a contract to them. All we have to do is, I think, lift our finger and say return Abrego Garcia please. And I think it's implausible that anything happened other than a choreographed discussion in the Oval Office where he could take that stance to aid his ally, Donald Trump, to try to stonewall the Supreme Court and ignore their own constitutional transgression.

SANCHEZ: So Harry, you don't buy the argument that administration officials are putting forward, like Stephen Miller for example, when he says that a court cannot determine the foreign policy of the United States.

LITMAN: Look, it's all in the details. Of course, Boris, what he's trying to reference is cases where you can't ultimately say go to war, tell us where the troops are. This is, you have a contract and you must, there's no argument about the facilitate part. You must facilitate his release from custody in El Salvador to remedy your own constitutional violation. Obviously, that involves some communication with El Salvador, some request which would be very easy, of course in our contractual relationship. So to the extent he is saying that the mere mention of another country means you must be hands off, yes, that's wrong and contradicted by the Supreme Court's express holding last week and much other law.

SANCHEZ: What about his argument that Abrego Garcia was not mistakenly deported? He says, 'When you have a withholding order to be clear, that is not pause your deportation." What do you make of that explanation?

LITMAN: It is monstrous. That was what the order said is, you may -- whatever you do with this guy, don't send him to El Salvador where he's going to be subject to gang violence. That's a lawful order. And the attempt by the president to just say, well, I say otherwise. You can't say otherwise, that's the whole point, unless a court determines it and Abrego Garcia has a chance to contest it. And the only thing they've even pointed to is a stray remark by confidential informant that really was discredited. So it's not simply false, but a real contradiction of the rights of due process before that determination, which could cost Abrego Garcia his life is made (ph). It is not to Donald Trump to now say ex post facto, ah, he is a terrorist after all, don't worry about it.

SANCHEZ: Well, what about this indication from President Trump that he would be consider -- that he would consider sending U.S. citizens described as homegrown criminals to El Salvador? Can he legally do that?

LITMAN: Of course not. What he's saying is we'll have a constitution free zone. It does -- yes, there are terrible criminals here, but that doesn't mean you can torture them, for example. That's an Eighth Amendment violation. That doesn't mean you can violate all the rights, and that's exactly what he's suggesting. We'll do a constitution free zone where they -- we send them to our buddies to torture them, and nobody can contest it in the United States. It's pernicious. This is really, even in this case, an abomination of a day with both those suggestions, Boris. I know you can hear it from my tone, but it is way, way beyond the pale and just contempt for the constitution and rule of law.

SANCHEZ: Harry Litman, appreciate you joining us.

LITMAN: Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jessica?

DEAN: Also today, some new tariff talk from President Trump as his trade war with China deepens. Just a short time ago, the president said he's now weighing a short-term tariff exemption for car companies. He also said this about pharmaceuticals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Pharmaceuticals, we're going to do -- we have -- we don't make our own drugs, our own pharmaceuticals.

[14:10:00]

We don't make our own drugs anymore. The drug companies are in Ireland and they're in lots of other places, China. And all I have to do is impose a tariff that's going to be like we have on cars. We have, as you know, a 25 percent tariff on cars. We have a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum, and that's what that category fits right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So the timing on those pharmaceutical tariffs and on some of the biggest tech products remains unclear. Right now, things like smartphones, laptops, hard drives are exempt from Trump's steepest tariffs on China as the world watches and waits for what the president will do next. And there we're going to bring in CNN Business Editor at Large, Richard Quest.

Richard, we heard a lot of news from his remarks there in the Oval Office earlier today. I think a lot of people continue to try to track what is an uncertain financial world right now. What stood out to you?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: We're still as confused as ever. We've known that pharmaceuticals were on the way, and we've known that semiconductors for the reasons you just said. Basically, they are set -- they are known as sectoral tariffs because they just address a specific area like the auto tariffs did. But the reality, is we are no wiser about the direction of travel.

So let's just take electronics. We had the 145 percent. Then over the weekend we thought that they'd gone completely. And then they clarified, no, you've still got the 20 percent which was the original tariffs, and that seems to be where we are. And then the commerce secretary said, well, there would -- this, the exemption was just going to be temporary. And then Stephen Miller said, oh, no, no, there are no exemptions. And so, we move on to the point where, frankly, I do not know anyone who will authoritatively tell you, A, what the current position is other than we think it is 20 percent, and B, what we think the next move is going to be. This is exactly what the critics say is wrong with the policy. No one knows where they stand.

DEAN: And that makes it very hard to do business this -- in the domestic economy and globally.

QUEST: Yes, because what happens is you don't do anything at all. You protect yourself for what you've got, i.e., things that are on the high seas, things that are needed to be ordered next week or next month. And you make no further investment decisions because you simply are not sure. And then by the way, we have the rare earth minerals, the Chinese saying that they are going to restrict exports to the U.S. and China and others of rare earth minerals and magnets, which are essential for the manufacturer, plate (ph) things like high-end electronics in automobiles, which might be one of the reasons why the president has done another vault fast this morning.

But, look, I'll be honest, I can't, I can't tell you where we are because nobody has the faintest idea of what the actual numbers are at the moment and what they're likely to be next week.

DEAN: All right. A very honest assessment there. Richard Quest, thank you so much. Boris?

SANCHEZ: With us now to discuss is Natasha Sarin. She's the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy, also served as a Counselor to Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Natasha, appreciate you joining us this afternoon. What do you think the tech world is making of all these moves by the Trump administration?

NATASHA SARIN, ECONOMIST AND FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR ECONOMIC POLICY: Well, I think it's a little bit what Richard was just describing, which is the challenge isn't just that we're talking about tariff rates that we haven't seen in the last century. The challenge, frankly, is that there's so much uncertainty, and I don't even think it's right to call this a policy process. It's sort of an incredibly chaotic moment with respect to understanding what goods are exempted, what the tariff rates are, how are they going to apply today, let alone two days from now, let alone two weeks from now.

And I think the challenge for the tech industry is the challenge for industry in general, which is it is really difficult to predict the direction of travel. And when it is really difficult to predict the direction of travel, the market kind of starts to be nervous about what the world is going to look like. And that's why you have people like Jamie Dimon, like Larry Fink saying the probability of a recession in their mind has edged way over 50 percent. And just to give you some contexts for that way over 50 percent, when the Trump administration came into office, recession probabilities were more like 15 percent. So this is an entirely manmade, chaotic economic policy moment that's having massive repercussions for American households.

[14:15:00]

SANCHEZ: And how likely is the administration's desired outcome? How realistic is it that we're going to see chips and semiconductors manufactured in the United States in the near term as a result of these tariffs?

SARIN: Well, one thing that's important to sort of note is it is frankly unclear and different members of the administration will say different things about what the desired outcome is here. Is the desired outcome to raise a bunch of revenue to be able to pay for additional tax cuts? Well, in that case, we need tariff rates at very high levels permanently. Is the desired outcome, as you're describing, to be able to say that we're going to be manufacturing more chips in the United States, which I actually think is incredibly important from a national security perspective.

The challenge is this administration has attacked the CHIPS Act, which was exactly about making those kind of investments in being able to do more of that production and create supply chain resiliency here in the United States. So I think part of the difficulty in evaluating the policy and predicting the direction in which we're going to travel is we don't entirely understand, and frankly, nor does the market entirely understand what exactly it is the administration is trying to accomplish, and how even to start to evaluate how likely it's going to be able to be successful in those efforts.

SANCHEZ: It certainly seems like a moving target. Natasha Sarin, thank you so much for joining us.

SARIN: Thanks so much for having me.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Still to come, we have new details on the arson at the Pennsylvania governor's residence, how the suspect was able to get inside. Plus, the helicopter tour company involved in last week's fatal crash over the Hudson is shutting down. We have details on that. And new research showing that using social media, smartphones and other high tech gadgets may actually help keep your brain sharp as you age. "CNN News Central" returns in just minutes.

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[14:21:43]

DEAN: We are learning new details about the man police say started a fire after breaking into the Pennsylvania governor's residence. Investigators say Cody Balmer turned himself in and confessed to starting the fire that left a large portion of the home charred and burned. Police say he admitted he was prepared to beat Governor Shapiro with a hammer. The governor and his family were fast asleep when that fire started early Sunday morning.

Some of Balmer's social media posts are now coming to light as well, showing a long history of disdain for Democrats and former President Joe Biden. CNN's Josh Campbell has new reporting on all of this. Josh, I think a lot of people in this situation want to know what was the motive? Why would someone do something like this? What are you learning?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is the big question as this investigation continues. As you mentioned, 38 years, Cody Balmer is his name. He is now in police custody. He has been charged with various offenses including attempted murder as well as terrorism. That after he's accused of setting fire to the governor's residence, while he and his family were sleeping in the early morning hours yesterday.

Now, in talking to sources and looking at court records, we have started to piece together this timeline. Around 1:30 a.m., he scales the fence at the governor's residence and (inaudible) from a source that he was on the compound for several minutes before he then goes to a window, breaks it, throws a Molotov cocktail inside. He then goes to another window, uses a hammer to break through, and then sets another fire. About 2:00 a.m., the governor's security detail, they start banging on the door alerting the governor and his family.

They were able to, thankfully, get everyone out to safety. But as you mentioned, there was significant damage done to the home by the fire. According to a criminal affidavit, police were told by Balmer that if he came in contact with Shapiro, he planned to assault him. As you mentioned, the big question right now, the motive. It's unclear right now. We do know, based on the information about his past social media history, that he had made those anti-Biden, anti-Democratic comments. Authorities say they're still trying to get to the specific motive. I'm told, that authorities believe that mental health issues may have played a role here. One source said that officials were struck by just how casual and relaxed he appeared as this unfolded, Jessica.

DEAN: And listen, yesterday, the governor did say that he had full confidence in Pennsylvania State Police to keep him safe. That being said, there are a lot of questions about how this man was able to jump over this fence, get inside the governor's residence, et cetera. And you're hearing that some within Pennsylvania State Police are viewing this as a security failure. CAMPBELL: That's right. I mean, two things can be true at the same time. On one hand, you have a group of officers who heroically go into a burning building and rescue the governor and his family. But then there's also this major question about how this occurred in the first place in a compound that's protected around the clock by security officials. I'm told from a source that there were numerous cameras with motion detection software around the compound. There's a question, were they being monitored? Were authorities alerted and then started investigating? Or were they taken completely by surprise?

One person noted specifically that there have been past incidents where they got so-called false positives, and that's when squirrels or cats were near the facility and that then tripped off some of these sensors. So again, a big question was this complacency? Is this a larger institutional question?

]14:25:00]

Does the governor's security detail simply need more people? Senior officials say that they are going to conduct a review to see how this occurred. But again, just so close to this, you know, potentially being even a bigger tragedy with the loss of life or an injured governor, just a really harrowing situation.

DEAN: Yeah, indeed. Josh Campbell, thank you so much for that reporting. We appreciate it. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. Fire investigators in Texas are trying to figure out what caused this house explosion in an Austin neighborhood that injured at least six people and damaged two other homes. The blast Sunday morning was so powerful witnesses heard it 20 miles away. Austin fire officials say they don't believe there will be a criminal investigation. Our affiliate, KEYE reports that there was no gas service connected to the house.

Meantime, the FAA said the tour company whose sightseeing chopper crashed Thursday killing everyone on board is shutting down. New York Helicopter Tours was previously involved in two safety incidents, investigated by federal officials back in 2013 and 2015. In video captured by onlookers, the rotor was seen separating from the helicopter, which plunged into the Hudson. A Siemens executive, his wife and three young children were on board along with a pilot who received his helicopter certification in 2023.

And finally, a positive study on using smart devices. Researchers say that after analyzing 57 studies of more than 411,000 adults, they found that technology use was associated with a 42 percent lower risk of cognitive impairment. Those findings were just published today in the Journal Nature Human Behavior. The study looked at the use of computers, smartphones, internet, email, and social media. Though experts do point out the study did not endorse mindless scrolling, but it argued that there are some positive benefits from using technology, especially if you use it to watch "CNN News Central" in the afternoons, 1:00 through 4:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. Still to come, a federal court is going to decide if Mark Zuckerberg has been running a social media monopoly, what this could mean for your Facebook and Instagram feeds. And a small business owner caught in the middle of the tariff war between the U.S. and China, we're going to speak to a young entrepreneur trying to keep her successful enterprise afloat. That and much more coming your way next.

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