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Markets Open Amid Better Sales Report; AG Sues Maine over Transgender Sports; U.K. Court Defines Woman; New Report Shows Depression Rates are Up; More on Gene Hackman and His Wife's Deaths. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 16, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:51]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking moments ago, the - let's look at it, markets are open and they're opening just down right now. That's coming from Wall Street. Wall Street had been on track all morning to open lower on warnings coming from AI chip heavyweight Nvidia about new export controls coming from the Trump administration in the escalating trade war with China.

Let's bring in CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich now with a look at what is happening today and what is driving it.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so these are the non-tariff measures that President Trump has forecasted about basically clamping down on other countries, bad actors, as he said, in terms of our trading partners. And what Nvidia is reporting is that essentially the U.S. government is limiting the sales of these chips to China. And so they're saying that they're taking a massive financial hit. And that is why largely you are seeing markets reacting lower today.

This is just one sort of bump in the road. We probably are going to be hearing more about these non-traditional or non sort of tariff- oriented measures. But this is the first big one that we're hearing. We know that Nvidia is investing certainly in the United States, building chips here. But they are a major exporter also to China, one of the major trading partners that's obviously getting hit right now.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, a major company with - now seeing those export controls.

YURKEVICH: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Add into the picture the retail sales report out this morning.

YURKEVICH: Yes, you have to read between the lines. But reading between the lines is a little bit clear right now because we have a lot of economists sort of forecasting what we just saw. So, retail sales, wow, gangbusters, up 1.4 percent in March. But that was largely expected because economists were forecasting that many Americans were going to go out and shop, and shop aggressively on particularly big ticket items. And you see the annual rate right there, up 4.6 percent.

But the - sort of the biggest ticket item that people we saw buying cars.

BOLDUAN: They were? OK.

YURKEVICH: We know that Ford reported in their earnings that they saw gangbusters sales in the month of March. So, car sales up - were up 1.8 percent on the month, and annually up 8.8 percent. That's actually the biggest sort of annual increase that we've seen since February of 2022. And that's more than pre-pandemic levels.

Also worth noting that a lot of people went out and bought furniture and clothing. These are other items that we know are going to be hit, presumably, tariffed at higher rates.

BOLDUAN: Sure.

YURKEVICH: We know that a lot of furniture, a lot of clothing comes right out of China, and they are being hit with that 145 percent tariff. Furniture sales year over year up 7.7 percent. And clothing up 5.4 percent.

Also interesting, though, in this report, we saw that people were actually spending discretionary. People were using money, saving money, but going out to restaurants and bars. That was a little bit unusual in this report, only because we thought people would be clamping down on that discretionary spending. But people seem to be wanting to have a little fun before the tariffs -

BOLDUAN: I was going to say, it's called end of day spending. We're never - I'm just kidding.

YURKEVICH: People want to have a little bit of fun before they really have to start saving. But it just shows the strength of the U.S. consumer right now.

BOLDUAN: For sure.

It's great to see you, Vanessa. Thank you so much.

YURKEVICH: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Still ahead for us, the U.K.'s supreme court with a big decision just out on the legal definition of a woman.

And George Clooney is speaking out for the first time to CNN about his "New York Times" op-ed last summer that helped shake up the presidential race when he called for President Biden to drop out of the race.

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GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: Well, I don't know if it was brave. It was - it was a civic duty because I found that people on my side of the street, you know, I'm a Democrat. I was a Democrat in Kentucky. So, I - I get it. When I saw people on my side of the street not telling the truth, I thought that was time to -

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Are people still mad at you for that?

CLOONEY: Some people. Sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: You can see Jake Tapper sat down with George Clooney. And you can see Jake's full interview with Clooney today at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on "THE LEAD."

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[09:39:32]

BOLDUAN: All right, this just in. Attorney General Pam Bondi suing the state of Maine over refusing to comply with a ban on trans athletes in high school sports.

CNN's Paula Reid has all the details and is just coming in now at the Justice Department for us.

Paula, what did the attorney general say and what happens now?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, this follows that high profile confrontation between Maine's governor and President Trump earlier this year, where the governor made it clear she did not intend to comply with his executive order banning transgender athletes from girls sports.

[09:40:08]

And she said, see you in court. Well, now that is a reality. But this also seemed like the natural next step in this ongoing controversy because shortly after that confrontation in the White House, the state of Maine faced a barrage of federal retaliation. Multiple agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and the Department of Justice threatened federal funding. The attorney general, back in February, sent Maine a letter saying that it had to comply. So, it's not surprising that we're here two months later filing this lawsuit.

Here's what the attorney general said about her effort today. Let's take a listen.

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PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: This is about sports. This is also about these young women's personal safety. I met many of these women throughout the past weeks and months, and what they have been through is horrific.

We have exhausted every other remedy. We tried to get Maine to comply. We don't like standing up here and filing lawsuits. We want to get states to comply with us. That's what this is about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Now, the state of Maine says there are only two transgender athletes participating in girls' sports at this time. So, look, there are legitimate questions here about whether the fact that this governor stood up to President Trump in a very public way resulted in almost the full force of the federal government being used against that state. But look, this is an issue that has played out across the country. And the attorney general signaled today she may file lawsuits against other states.

BOLDUAN: And the attorney general also speaking today more about the case of the Maryland man who is mistakenly deported to El Salvador. What she's saying?

REID: Yes, our colleague from Fox News asked her whether the government would present evidence that Mr. Abrego Garcia was connected to MS-13. He pressed her, why not make that evidence public? She made no commitment to make that public. And it's clear at this time the Justice Department has no intention of bringing him back.

Notably, she was also asked about why the Justice Department has prioritized acts of violence at Tesla dealerships and whether it will do the same for the recent arson attack at the governor of Pennsylvania's home. Now, she did say that they're working alongside our state partners, but did not appear to commit to the idea that that was any form of domestic terrorism or a full-blown federal investigation.

So, again, the attorney general, she's done a lot of press conferences, and it was good that she took questions on a variety of topics.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Paula Reid, great to see you. Thank you so much.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning, the United Kingdom's highest court has made a landmark ruling, deciding that the legal definition of a woman does not include trans women.

With us now, CNN's Salma Abdelaziz.

What specifically did this court rule on? What does it mean going forward?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very good question.

So, the U.K.'s highest court, the U.K.'s supreme court, was interpreting the definition of a woman as it pertains to the country's equality laws. And within that context, it rules that trans women are excluded from the definition of a woman and, quote, "that the concept of sex is binary. A person is either a woman or a man," end quote, when it comes to the application of equality laws in this country. Now the ruling also says that trans people will be protected from discrimination, but potentially it would be under other grounds.

And the judges wanted to caution people against reading this as a victory for one side or the other.

Take a listen.

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LORD PATRICK HODGE, DEPUTY PRESIDENT, U.K. SUPREME COURT: Counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now, this case came to the court through a campaign group which was seen outside the courtroom, of course, celebrating called For Women for Scotland. And this campaign group was challenging Scotland's guidance that trans women would be - have sex protection laws essentially, like the equality laws of this country, applied to trans women. They challenged that in court. They have been victorious in that today.

This is a group that, I have to note, is also backed, supported and donated by J.K. Rowling, of course the author of "Harry Potter." Someone who's very outspoken on this issue. It has raised alarm, of course, among people who are trans rights activists that fear that this could lead to human rights violations, lead to greater discrimination. But other trans groups are also saying, take a breath, take a beat, give us a chance to interpret, to read through this 88- page document. Regardless, this will have a huge impact going forward on how equality legislation is applied in the U.K.

[09:45:06]

BERMAN: Salma Abdelaziz in London for us this morning. Thank you for sharing your reporting on this, Salma.

All right, investigators releasing new body camera video from inside the home of Gene Hackman as a new report reveals what his wife was searching online in the days before their deaths.

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BOLDUAN: A new report from the CDC shows depression rates are soaring in the United States. The report shedding some light on how many people are using therapy and medications to get help for that depression.

[09:50:04]

CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more.

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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: These numbers are really shocking. The newest data from the CDC shows that the prevalence of depression increased 60 percent in the past decade. That's among adolescents and adults here in the United States. The prevalence was higher among women, with 16 percent reported as depressed, compared with men who were at 10 percent. The prevalence was also higher among adolescents ages 12 to 19, where they had a prevalence of 19 percent compared with adults 60 and older who had a prevalence of about 9 percent. But based on data from August 2021 to August 2023, fewer than half of people with depression received counseling or therapy from a health professional in the previous year. So, we're talking about 43 percent of the women and girls, and 33 percent of men and boys received counseling or therapy in the previous year. And in 2023, about 11 percent of U.S. adults took prescription medication for depression. That's slightly more than one in 10.

So, the new study, it really highlights how more work can be done to connect people with the therapies or treatments they may need once they receive a depression diagnosis.

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BERMAN: All right, our thanks to Jacqueline Howard for that.

New this morning, authorities in New Mexico have released a lengthy report offering new detail on the final days before legendary actor Gene Hackman and his wife died in their home. Now included in these last emails, phone calls and internet searches by Hackman's wife, possibly giving new insight into health issues that they were facing. What I should have said is that included in all of this are emails and phone calls that give new insight. Authorities say Hackman's wife died of a rare rodent-borne disease. Hackman is believed to have died about a week later.

CNN's Veronica Miracle has all the new reporting on this.

Veronica, what are you learning? What's in all this communication?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, authorities released hours of video. They also released more than 700 photos of the scene, which really paint a picture of the final moments of the Hackmans right before they died.

We do want to warn you that these images are disturbing, though the bodies have been blurred.

When the deputies first arrive on scene, they encounter Betsy Hackman Arakawa's body. They also - you see this heartbreaking image of one of their two living dogs guarding her body. They spend a lot of time trying to coax that dog away.

Then they make their way through the house. They eventually find Gene Hackman's body in another part of the home.

We now know, based on the autopsy results, that Betsy Arakawa Hackman died from the hantavirus. And she likely died days before Gene Hackman did. We also know that she was his caretaker. And so, when she died, authorities say that Gene Hackman was unable to care for himself. He had advanced Alzheimer's according to the autopsy report, as well as heart disease. A dead dog was also found in a crate and likely died from dehydration.

Now, hantavirus, the disease that Arakawa died from, is a rare disease that humans can get from contact with rodents. According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms include flu-like illnesses, as well as respiratory complications and headaches. And according to this trove of data released by investigators, Betsy was actually looking on her computer for Covid and flu-like symptoms. She also apparently was looking for medical services on the morning of February 12th, which authorities believe is the day that she died.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, and hantavirus can create symptoms like that. So, obviously, you know, she was - or presumably, I should say, she was feeling something like that when she was searching along those lines.

MIRACLE: Right. It's - it's likely that she was not feeling well. We also understand, according to her emails, that Gene Hackman, she tested him for Covid, and he tested negative, but apparently he wasn't feeling well. And according to a health risk assessment of the property that the New Mexico Department of Health conducted a week after the Hackman died, they actually found that the residence, the primary residence, was clean. However, eight outbuildings, including two guest houses, garages and sheds, had rats nests, as well as dead rats. And there were rats in the outbuildings on those - on the property. And according to the CDC, it's any kind of exposure to rodents, their feces or saliva that can become airborne, and that's how the hantavirus can be contracted. And so just a dire warning here to certainly be very well protected if you are entering areas that have any kind of rodents and you are attempting to clean that area up.

John.

[09:55:02]

BOLDUAN: But, Veronica - Veronica, it's Kate. I was just wondering, with this lengthy report that's put out from authorities, is this now the conclusion of their investigation and look into what happened to the legendary actor and his wife?

MIRACLE: Yes, absolutely. This is the information that, you know, we had certainly been waiting for. The initial press conference where they released the cause of death based on the autopsy results really did give the full picture. However, the body camera results, the body camera images that we're seeing and the photos and the videos really give us further detail into how they died.

Kate.

BERMAN: Veronica Miracle, thank you so much for sharing all this new reporting. Appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: And thank you all so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.

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