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Trump Again Slams Fed Chief After He Warns Tariffs Could Damage Economy; At Least Six Hurt, Suspect in Custody After Mass Shooting at FSU; Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Arguments on Birthright Citizenship; Trump Hosts Italian Prime Minister at White House. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired April 17, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- Interest rates should be down now. They should be coming down. In Europe, as you know, they reduced them seven times. It looks like they are going to reduce them again and again and again. But our guy wants to play cute. But interest rates are pretty much even. Maybe they went up just a slight bit, but that's the only thing. But that's because of the Federal Reserve, because they're not very smart people.

Go ahead. Yes, sir. Please. Go ahead, please.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you regret nominating him, Jerome Powell?

TRUMP: Look, in the first four years, we had the greatest economy in the history of our country. Stock market went up 88 points. I think he's terrible, but I can't complain because we had the most successful administration economically in the history of our country. I think we're going to do even better this time because you will see that the numbers that we're taking in are astronomical. We're taking in tremendous amounts of money with the tariffs.

We were treated very unfairly on trade. And countries are having a hard time getting used to the fact that they can't do that to us anymore because we have a real president. We have a president that understands what it's all about. We had presidents that, in some cases, were smart but they didn't understand business, or they didn't like business, or it wasn't like a priority. And then you had like the last administration, the only thing they were good at was cheating in elections. That's about all they could do. They couldn't do anything, they were useless. They were incompetent.

Worst administration in the history of our country, worse than Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter died a happy man. You know why? Because he wasn't the worst president, Joe Biden was. So, I think you're going to see some fantastic numbers when this all happens. It's happening now. I mean, everybody wants to make a deal and if they don't want to make a deal, we'll make the deal for them because that's what's going to happen. We'll just say, this is what it is. But we want to listen to everybody. And --

I think -- I think I can -- I think I can say for Scott and the other people that are working on it that we're listening and we're going to be very fair to people. But, we are the one that really sets the deal and that's what we'll be doing.

Go ahead, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, our prime minister --

TRUMP: Oh, you have a great prime minister, you are so lucky. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Italian.

TRUMP: Yes, that's right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure they are delivering.

(LAUGH)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: [Foreign Language].

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We've been listening to President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office. The president there taking questions from reporters talking about immigration and trade, all of this coming as we're continuing to track the breaking news, a mass shooting on the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. Let's go now live to Jeff Zeleny, who's at the White House for us.

Jeff, I found most interesting the comments that Trump made about Fed Chair Jerome Powell, saying that he's never been a big fan of his, saying that he's playing politics, urging Powell to cut interest rates the way that the European Central Bank has.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Boris, that certainly was striking and timely as well. The market, of course, watches every word and listens to every word that president says, particularly about the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, of course. This is the latest in a string of back and forth between the president and the Federal Reserve. But yesterday, of course, in Chicago, Jerome Powell gave a speech and he just quite simply laid out the fact that he believes there will be economic fallout from the Trump administration's tariff policies.

So the president was asked if he's going to, essentially, keep him around? And he said, if I ask him to leave, he'll be out. If I want him out, he'll be out of there. That very much is an open question because, of course, the Federal Reserve is very much an independent body. However, we do not know. It has not been tested. The Federal Reserve is one of the agencies -- the government agencies that the Trump administration has tried to rein in. So the Supreme Court would likely, ultimately, decide that.

But it is clear, the president has the chairman of the Federal Reserve in his sights. Nevermind the fact that Jerome Powell was appointed by this president in his first term. And the president also talked about that. He said he's playing politics. He said, I think he's terrible, but I can't complain too much and he went on to talk about the strong economy in the first term. So a variety of questions and answers there from the president.

But he started it out by saying that he had been briefed on that shooting at Florida State University. He called it horrible. He called it a shame. And the administration is keeping a very close eye on Tallahassee.

[14:05:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Yeah, absolutely. Jeff, appreciate it. Thank you. And in terms of that shooting in Tallahassee, a mass shooting, now we have learned at least six people are hurt. There is a suspect in custody. Following this event earlier today at Florida State University, among the six who were injured, all are gunshot wounds we are told. One person is in critical condition, the other five in serious condition. We have been hearing from students on campus who are sheltering in place. Here's some of what they've told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARRETT HARVEY, STUDENT, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY (via telephone): We're being evacuated right now. So if I turn my phone away, you'll hear nothing.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

HILL: We understand. So you're -- you were moved into this one space. You were in a different space, moved into another building, which we're not naming. You're now being moved to another space in that same building? Or do you know if you're being brought to a different building?

HARVEY: We do not know. It could be that we're leaving, but I'm not going to speculate.

SANCHEZ: Sure, sure. And Garrett, talk to us about this area --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you guys have parents or loved ones who decide to --

SANCHEZ: Let's actually listen for that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- pick you up right now, your phones probably aren't going to work real well because everybody's on their phone. If you get lost, you need a ride, you need to find your friends because you're not sure where they're at, we're trying to get everybody to the Civic Center. Does everyone got that? All right. So if you're confused, ask an officer and we'll do our best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's get to CNN's Ryan Young, because Ryan, you've just learned that there are confirmed fatalities as a result of this shooting.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we have. We -- talking to a source, they believe two are dead so far. There may be more. These numbers are changing, so we want to be very cautious about how we present this. I've also learned from a source that a shotgun, a handgun was found, another gun was found in the car. So from what I was told, handgun was found on the shooter, shotgun found in the Union. Another gun was found in what they believe is the shooter's car.

So this is something that we're all obviously working through right now. This is one of those things that we have to, obviously, be careful with as we pay attention to these numbers and as they're coming out slowly. So obviously, we're trying to wait for the updates from the authorities as well and that is the part that is very tough here.

You heard in that phone call that you guys had where they were talking about unifying folks at the Civic Center. So that is something that we also had learned before. The Civic Center is, obviously, where the Florida State men's basketball team plays and the women's basketball team plays. This is pretty close. And then what they're going to do is move all the students who need to be reunified with family members or other students to that location as they clear these rooms.

And you heard the officer say, you might be dazed, you might be confused. We're going to work our way through that. And so, that is the part that they're working through right now to try to figure this part out. Obviously, a very tense situation. You know some of these students are just not only heartbroken, but scared, they're terrified.

HILL: Yeah.

YOUNG: And that's something that we all have to really -- the human toll of this is the fact that especially in Florida, we know about the other school shootings that have happened in the state of Florida before. We know the school shooting that's happened at this campus before. So you understand how rattled people are.

And this is a very big campus. It's wide open. I've said it before, it's gorgeous. And so, what we've seen from the social media videos is the folks running around. And as we dig more into it, you can see the officers with the long guns arriving on campus. And this is disheartening for so many people. People don't see law enforcement in action like this all the time.

The first thing that I thought about when I saw the students with their arms up was the Columbine massacre. And we all remember how they were being led from that school with their hands up, especially when law enforcement is trying to figure out the particulars of all this. So of course, now we're just trying to figure out the next parts of this.

But the law enforcement got there very quickly. Two of the sources that I talked to who were on the scene, you could hear the students thanking them for clearing it. And it was, I think they took that to heart as well, that they feel very good that law enforcement is there and the heavy presence they are. But as we continue to work this, let's not forget, this all started around 12:02 with a tweet from Florida State, an alert that said there was an active shooter at the Student Union.

The whole campus went on lockdown. Classes have been canceled. We know six injured people have been taken to the hospital -- one in critical, the rest in serious condition. And then of course, the source telling me that they say, two are dead right now. So this is something that we're still working through. The numbers are probably going to change again. We are still working all the way through this and trying to figure it all out. Guys?

HILL: Yeah, absolutely. Definitely a fluid situation. Ryan, appreciate it. You know, as Ryan mentioned how the students must be feeling. So Boris and I have spoken to a couple of them. One who's a senior set to graduate in two weeks telling us he was terrified, that he has a calm (ph) fear. We spoke with a sophomore who said this is all traumatizing. And when he spoke with us, he's on lockdown in his dorm. He said his arms are shaking.

[14:10:00]

Also with us right now on the phone is Tallahassee City Commissioner, Jack Porter. We appreciate you joining us. Could you just walk us through what you're hearing in this moment? I would imagine there may be some scrambling for some sort of an emergency meeting, but everybody in the city must be dealing with this, whether they were on campus or not.

JACK PORTER, TALLAHASSEE CITY COMMISSIONER (via telephone): Yeah, definitely. It's just incredibly tragic and I think the main priority right now is to secure the area, to secure the campus, to make sure that there is no longer a threat. I know that the main suspect is in custody. And so, we -- multiple law enforcement agencies are on site, responded immediately and are working together to secure the area. So that's the priority right now, first and foremost.

HILL: And is there -- I don't know if you've heard, but in terms of securing that area, the things Boris and I were just talking about is how large that campus is, how open that campus is, the number of different buildings, the types of buildings that will need to be checked and secured. Is it your understanding that there is any concern about areas outside of the campus?

PORTER: I have not heard that, but I know that, as a precaution, Leon County schools shut down, or we're taking protective measures. So I think the whole community is on high alert right now, making sure that every school, every area is as secure as possible.

SANCHEZ: To that point, commissioner, to be as precise as possible, you described a main suspect in custody. Did you have any indication that there was potentially more than one person involved in this shooting?

PORTER: I really don't know that. I know that I've heard people wondering that. And I think it's just that it's taking, because it is such a large campus, we're doing everything we can to secure the campus. But I, as far as I know, it hasn't been confirmed whether there was only one shooter or whether there was more people involved.

SANCHEZ: Commissioner, I was wondering, we -- our reporter who has been tracking this, Ryan Young, is a graduate of Florida State University and he was describing that about 10 years ago or so, there was a shooting there in which three people were killed. I'm wondering if you were familiar with any steps that may have been taken on campus to improve security, whether those safeguards were in place today.

PORTER: No, I was actually a student when that shooting took place in 2014 and heard the gunshots. I lived very close to the library, in fact, had just left the library. So, that -- being a student, I was really involved and terrified just like the students today I'm sure are as well. There were measures put in place. There were also certain legislation that took place. And I'm not sure what measures were still in place today. I just don't know, but I know that the security is the utmost priority at FSU and in Tallahassee. And so, I just -- I can't speak more specifically to that, unfortunately.

SANCHEZ: And Commissioner, are you familiar at all with what the gun laws are surrounding campus? Can you give us an idea of what's legal and what's not there? If there's any rules around campus regarding open carry, for example.

PORTER: So I know that the legislature took action, especially after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting. And actually in this session, legislation has been filed that would extend concealed carry rights to Florida colleges and universities. And so, I'm not up to date on exactly where that bill is at this moment. But I know that, that legislation is working its way through the House and Senate right now. And that is not something that I support or believe makes our school safe, or our community safe.

SANCHEZ: So Commissioner, obviously, given what you endured as a student enrolled at FSU and watching this today, I wonder what your reaction is to hearing President Trump describe a situation like this as a thing that happens when so many have been calling for there to be some kind of legislation to prevent mass shootings over the years, including in his first administration.

PORTER: You know, these acts of violence just, they cannot continue to define our campuses. They cannot continue to define what it is to be a student in America, or a person in America.

[14:15:00]

We know that these acts of violence do not take place at the rate they take place in this country, in other countries. We have to come together as a community, as a country to take meaningful steps to protect our schools and pass common sense gun regulation. This is just -- it's just -- this should not be something that becomes normal, that we accept as just a part of our lives, and I don't believe that it has to be. SANCHEZ: Tallahassee City Commissioner Jack Porter, we very much appreciate you joining us, sharing your perspective and your experience.

PORTER: Thank you.

HILL: And as we do learn more about what has happened on the campus today, we're hearing from witnesses, including some of those moments about what it was like in the Student Union. I want to play some of that for you now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People started rushing to the back and everyone just started running out of the Student Union. So I made my way back out where the old bookstore is. About a minute later, we heard about eight to 10 gunshots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then, you mentioned that you saw someone that appeared to have been shot next to you, or (inaudible)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, so there was another gentleman that was running away and he was -- looks like he was shot in the pelvic area and he laid down and he got help and assistance from the police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then you just made your way across the street? How long was it until you thought (inaudible)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was there for probably about 45 minutes until they started clearing all around the -- around the Student Union. And then I had to walk around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was going through your head through the whole entire thing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just surreal. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. Just being in here at college campus, everything was really quiet, then all chaotic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Also joining us now, John Miller is with us. So John, as we look at all this, and as we're slowly getting these details, what we have learned from folks who are just joining us, we do know six people have been taken to the hospital. One of them is in critical condition, five in serious condition. CNN is reporting that all of those are gunshot wounds. This is in fact a mass shooting at Florida State.

We were initially told it was in the area of the Student Union and some of the newer reporting is that three guns were found. So there's one suspect in custody. That person had a handgun on them. But a shotgun at the Union, John, and also a third gun in a car that may perhaps belong to this person in custody. What are officials working through in this moment?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST (via telephone): Erica, this is part of a process. And Ryan described some of this when he was talking to you earlier, but unfortunately, we've become too experienced at this in local law enforcement and on college campuses. But starting off with, first, they communicated to the campus the shelter in place order, which goes out to every student's phone. We follow them on Twitter. We could see that happening in real time. And that's over an hour ago now.

And that gets everybody locked down. Dealing with the shooter, so they have one shooter in custody. Here's what we don't know, the shooter that they have in custody, is this someone they encountered and someone who was shot in an encounter with police, is he one of those who was taken to the hospital? Or is this someone who they just caught and surrendered? We're still waiting for that information.

But the search for, are there other shooters is combined with the search for there are people when they hear the shots or see the notice, who will run and hide wherever they are, and that's different from sheltering in place in your dorm room or in another building. So, those tactical teams are not just looking for, is there another suspect, but they're also looking for that person who is hiding in a closet, hiding in an empty room under a desk, hiding somewhere waiting to know is this over? Are they safe?

So, that's why these incidents tend to start up at breakneck speed and then slow down where they go through this methodical process of clearing the building that they know the incident occurred in, but also other buildings around it. They are relatively confident at this time that there is no second shooter based on the preliminary search they've done. They believe the individual they have in custody is that shooter.

But as you pointed out, Erica, the presence of a shotgun in the Student Union, a pistol on the suspect who's in custody, and a car with another gun in it helped raise that specter of was this person acting alone.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. A lot of questions still to be answered. John Miller, please stand by. The latest news out of Tallahassee, Florida, at least two confirmed dead. Six injured, the suspect involved in this mass shooting on the campus of Florida State University now in custody. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back to bring you the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:24:32]

SANCHEZ: We're tracking a lot of breaking news this afternoon to CNN, now from the Supreme Court concerning birthright citizenship.

HILL: Paula Reid is following all of this for us. So Paula, what can you tell us? Where do things stand now with the Supreme Court?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So, we got this decision in from the Supreme Court and here they are deferring a request from President Trump that would've allowed him to immediately enforce his plan to end birthright citizenship.

[14:25:00]

As you know, this was a promise that he made on the campaign trail, but also a policy that many of his advisors have said they don't believe will likely survive scrutiny at the high court. But here, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments about his request to limit the ability of lower court judges to issue sweeping nationwide injunctions. As you know, this has been a pet peeve for President Trump and for his Republican allies.

They are frustrated that when the president or the administration puts forth policies that they have been blocked by a single judge somewhere in the U.S. for the entire country. So it appears that that issue will be the center of these arguments on May 15th.

SANCHEZ: And Paula, taking a step back, walk us through the arguments here over birthright citizenship because the Trump administration is effectively trying to say that people who are born in the United States whose parents do not have some kind of legal or protected status, should not receive automatic citizenship. Right?

REID: That's exactly right. I mean, this is something that has been recognized in the Constitution for over a hundred years. Now, the administration has put forth some arguments about abuse of the system. They argue that wealthy people sometimes send their pregnant spouses here to the U.S. to give birth so their children will have citizenship. They've also argued some national security concerns about foreign adversaries sending people here to have children, so they'll have citizenship.

They've raised some novel arguments, but even Trump's closest advisors have conceded that it is an uphill battle to have the Supreme Court overturn something that has been recognized for so long. And instead, the proper place to change this may be Congress. But again, it appears that this argument will focus not necessarily on the issue of birthright citizenship, but on the fact that here you have lower court judges who can issue nationwide injunction. So block a policy for the entire country while it is litigated all the way up, in some cases, to the Supreme Court. This is something that has been very frustrating for President Trump. It has also frustrated other presidents before him, but that appears to really be the issue that the justices are going to be focused on.

HILL: And that is, I mean, to your point about the frustrations that we've heard from President Trump and others about that, this is something that increasingly as a number of President Trump's initiatives have made their way into the courts that we are hearing more and more is a frustration with those lower courts. I mean, is this a larger question about how it could impact, ultimately, the overall judicial system in this country, Paula?

REID: Well, look, the question of nationwide injunctions is, should a single judge somewhere in this country be able to block a policy for the entire country while it is litigated. Now, judges and advocates who believe that should be the case want uniform policy for the entire country and they also argue that judges should be able to temporarily pause policies while their constitutional validity is assessed.

But that is not necessarily the view for everyone. And recently, Trump's Republican allies in Congress now have been pushing to limit the power of judges to issue these nationwide injunctions. So, this is something that has vexed pretty much every modern American president, but none more so than President Trump because of course, he has issued a record number of executive orders. He's often testing the limits of constitutional power, especially when it comes to immigration.

And look, his lawyers fully expected they would face these nationwide injunctions, but eventually a lot of these policies would prevail at the Supreme Court. And that is what we've seen over the past several months. I mean, ultimately when these issues, these questions, preliminary questions get to the Supreme Court, Trump has had a pretty good record. But again, this case appears that these oral arguments will be focused more on the question of nationwide injunctions, not necessarily just on the constitutional question of birthright citizenship.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Trump's allies have called for some judges who have made decisions against his policies to even be impeached. So, this is obviously a case that they will be watching closely. Paula Reid, thank you so much for the update there.

We're continuing to follow this breaking news out of Tallahassee, at least six people hurt, a suspect in custody after a mass shooting at Florida State University. We have new sound to share with you from a student about what he heard during class.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I was in my Economics of the Middle East class. We were giving our final presentations on a research paper we were doing. And so, one of my classmates was presenting and someone close to the window had said they saw people running past Bellamy and someone got a text, and then we kind of all realized something was going on. So we got the desks and started piling them up against the door. We tried to get the bigger desk, the main desk, the presenter's podium against the door. But, we tried to rip some wires out of the wall. So it was pretty hectic. But --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ever hear the gunshots?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I did not. But I did hear ambulances or, I mean, what I thought was --