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Trade War, Market Chaos, Government Reshape Define Trump's First 100 Days; Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Sanctuary Cities; Commerce Secretary Lutnick Signals that Trump Will Ease Auto Tariffs. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired April 29, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Argue the defense that it was planted after the fact and there was no movement because he left it down while he was partying with his friends. There's a lot that's going on.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: However, the temperature kept going down on the phone as the night went on.

JACKSON: That's true, that's a big deal.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, defense, prosecution over here, even though she's also a reporter, she's objective, but she's looking at it from all sides. Thank you both so much. Really appreciate it.

New Hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Fear and pessimism. What a majority of Americans say they feel this morning, marking President Trump's first 100 days in office. Breaking overnight, what analysts call one of the biggest polling reversals in political history anywhere.

Stunning election results from Canada, unintended consequences of Donald Trump calling for that country to be the 51st state.

And a car crashes through an after school camp, killing four people, including children. The youngest believed to be just four years old. This morning, we have new details on the police investigation.

I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: All right, here we go. New this morning, President Trump marking a milestone 100 days in office or as his critics are keeping count, more than 1,300 days to go. And we have brand new CNN polling numbers showing exactly how Americans are feeling after 100 days of Trump rapidly reshaping the federal government in his vision.

More than half say they're afraid or pessimistic about his second term. The president is preparing to celebrate his 100 day benchmark with a rally in Michigan, the heart of the American auto industry.

And moments from now, we're expecting to hear from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the White House. It comes as the administration signals Trump is ready to soften the tariffs that have been putting the squeeze on car makers and everyone else.

CNN senior political analyst Mark Preston joining us now. Let us get right to the brand new polling out this morning.

What can you tell us about what it says about Americans' faith, for example, with their lawmakers on Capitol Hill?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Sara, it's not only just the anniversary of our first 100 days for the president, but it's also for Congress. Look at these numbers right here. If you are looking for friends, do not become a member of Congress.

Do not run for Congress. I mean, these are just dismal numbers right here. These are your neighbors not liking you at all.

Republicans do a little bit better than Democrats right now when it comes to that. But still, this is pretty tough company to be in at this point, Sara.

SIDNER: It's really interesting because when you talk to people about their Congress member, they usually say they like their Congress member, but they don't like anyone else's Congress member. But these numbers are abysmal. All right.

Still, for all this chaos, the GOP seems more unified and they're supportive of their leaders than the Democrats. Correct?

PRESTON: This is why these numbers are so interesting. Let's take a look at these numbers right here. Republicans, more than 7 in 10, are pretty happy with their Republican leadership right now.

Democrats, though, less than 4 in 10 are happy with their Democratic leadership. So let's break this down. Why are Republicans happy with them?

Because they are really doing what President Trump wants them to do as far as legislatively go. So Republicans who are, by and large, still incredibly supportive of President Trump are happy that Republicans are doing that.

Democrats, on the other hand, well, they're at a loss. We haven't seen their leadership do anything that has been really effective in trying to stop the Trump agenda. And this spells problems for the likes of Hakeem Jeffries, who's the Democratic leader in the House, and especially for Chuck Schumer, who is the Democratic leader over the United States Senate. There's calls for him potentially to step aside. So we'll see how that goes over the year develops.

But I will say this. These are not good numbers for Chuck Schumer because this means that people all across the country are weighing in on Chuck Schumer.

SIDNER: You know, it's interesting to note that, you know, the president's numbers are underwater, but the Republican Party is still very much in support of him. Can you give us some sense of how Americans are feeling about politics in general?

PRESTON: All right. Well, let's just assume on Tuesday we went to a Democratic House, a friend of ours. Let's look at these numbers right here.

And there was a bunch of Democrats there. Well, guess what? If you're a Democrat, you're frustrated, you're disappointed, and you are angry.

Now, the next night we went over to our friends who were Republicans. They tend to be optimistic, fired up, proud and inspired. However, if you really look at those numbers really, really closely, though, it shows the divide in the Republican Party because they are not nearly as inspired or proud or fired up as you would expect them to be, you know, marking this 100 days, given the fact that Donald Trump has done everything he said he's going to do when he came into the office.

[08:05:04]

But again, it shows the divide between the old guard and the MAGA Republicans that we now see who have taken over the party -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and it'll be important to see who those all important independents and what they think as well, because they usually are the ones that make the needle move. Mark Preston, thank you so much for all your great reporting this morning -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us right now is David Urban, our CNN senior political commentator and Democratic strategist Matt Bennett. Good morning, gentlemen. Happy 100 days.

David, 100 days in, what's the high point and what's the low point for this president?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, so, Kate, I think, look, there's a lot of high points that this president -- this first 100 days has probably been the most consequential first 100 days of any presidency. As Mark said in the previous segment, look, this president has come in with ruthless efficiency to reshape and reform and break, right, lots of things in the federal government that the that the electorate wanted to see done.

So in terms of, you know, his promises, made promises, kept on the woke portion of things, you know, routing out antisemitism on college campuses, cutting waste and fraud and abuse in the federal government programs -- A plus.

The tariffs -- his tariffs, as you as you said, people at home, even though the economy is is pretty stable. I just read a fact March data on from the Federal Reserve Bank says that inflation, core inflation is at its lowest since March of 2021. Gas prices are down 50 cents over a year ago.

So, you know, real people at home sitting there, they they're not feeling the impact as of yet. But I think the messaging from Wall Street, who hates this fair trade notion, this tariff policy that Trump campaign has put in -- excuse me, the Trump administration has put in has been a little bit rocky. So I think the fixing the woke, A plus. Fixing the broke needs a little bit of work to go.

But listen, Kate, the good news is we still have 1,361 days to go.

BOLDUAN: And who's counting? Matt, here's what the White House is saying about this on 100 days speaking to Axios.

Karoline Levitt says in his first 100 days, President Trump has delivered on hundreds of promises and already accomplished his two most important campaign goals. The border is secure and inflation is ending.

Inflation isn't ending, but they are trying to say promises made, promises kept.

MATT BENNETT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I guess so. But I got to say, I agree only with David on the on the idea that this has been a consequential 100 days. There's no doubt about that.

Trump is coming to office, having promised to restore order and has just created unbelievable chaos, chaos everywhere, chaos in global trade, chaos in our government, chaos with our allies, chaos in the world stage. It has been an absolute catastrophe. And if he's looking at March numbers, David might be whistling past the graveyard because Amazon today announced they're going to start putting tariff tax numbers on every item that they list.

People are going to know precisely what this president is doing to them for no reason on purpose. Stores shelves are going to be empty. Prices are going to double or more if the Chinese 145 percent tariffs stay in place and the global tariffs across the board stay in place.

And we're going to see American businesses shuddering and American workers hurt. So the idea that this is -- that any of this is good is not.

He is you know, he promised to reform the government. He's vandalizing the government. He's firing people that nobody wanted fired. Did anyone vote to fire people working on cancer research or the people like cleaning the bathrooms in the national parks or veterans helping other veterans?

All of this is lunacy. And it is going to -- history is going to judge this very harshly.

BOLDUAN: The reaction from businesses, big and small, though, to the to the trade war is something that is definitely showing in these poll numbers that are rough for the president on the economy. I mean, even a Republican member of Congress was just on with me, David, acknowledged that these are warning signs that you're seeing in these numbers.

But I want to play for you what one business owner told us yesterday. He owns a children's toy company called Learning Resources, and he says tariffs are going -- are crushing him already. And he is suing the government for it.

Listen to what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK WOLDENBERG, CEO, LEARNING RESOURCES: I think the end is near. So like, what am I more afraid of? I'm more afraid of doing nothing.

[08:10:00]

Honestly, I think the emperor has no clothes here. Strategic uncertainty is the same way of saying we have no plan. Honest to God, somebody needs to stand up and call nonsense here or use a stronger word. We just can't go on like this. They're going to asphyxiate us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: He literally says it like he's his fourth generation company. He has no idea what the future is going to hold. I mean, should the White House be listening to this and more concerned than they show that they are?

URBAN: Yes, it's OK. Look, I hear Mark when he says -- excuse me, Matt, when he says that there are no -- there are no reason for these tariffs. Well, there are reasons that the administration is trying to reshore jobs. They're trying to bring back manufacturing to this country. They have over seven billion dollars in commitments to build new factories and bring things back. TSMC has pledged $100 billion to build five new chip plants.

And so I hear the gentleman there talking and I, you know, obviously I'm sympathetic to his cause. But a lot of this has been taking place over years and years.

Remember Ross Perot, that giant sucking sound. He was talking about jobs going overseas. How many years ago was that?

And so every administration -- again, to Matt's point -- is whistled past the graveyard, watching our jobs, high paying, good jobs go overseas.

Everybody can't work in the gig economy. Everybody can't do, you know, be an influencer working from home, doing something. So this country, this president, this administration is looking to reshore jobs, bring back American manufacturing. It's a top priority.

I was remiss -- I was remiss in not mentioning that the Laken Riley Act is probably one of the one of the proudest moments of this administration in the first 100 days. And I should have mentioned that earlier.

BOLDUAN: But one thing, and when you say that you're bringing jobs back and lots of commitments to build lots of things, here's the thing, is this this man that I just played for you, he might not have a company left in order to wait around for all those jobs to be brought back. And that's the big question is, is this administration ready to hold -- ready to feel that kind of pain? And they haven't yet answered that question. David, Matt, thank you -- John.

BERMAN: All right, no deals, but new concessions. Reports that President Trump is reducing some tariffs again.

And what's the top Google search on Donald Trump this term? The answer might surprise you, and it reveals a great deal about feelings on his first term so far.

And this morning, an investigation now underway after a driver crashes through an afterschool center, killing several people, including children.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: A key focus of President Trump's first 100 days is his immigration crackdown. And this morning, there is a growing showdown between his administration and cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Trump yesterday directed the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to identify what they consider sanctuary cities.

His executive order states that areas that do not comply with federal law may lose federal funding, and they will face legal action.

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig is with us this morning. Elie, it has been a minute. How dare you be gone for so long? But now that you're back, I got a lot of questions. So, is his executive order legal?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So Sara, the only accurate answer to that question at this point is we don't know. However, we do have some important indicators because Trump has issued similar executive orders saying that federal funding will be withheld from state or local jurisdictions if they don't comply on his immigration policies, both during his first term and earlier in this second term. Those orders have met with mixed results in the courts.

Now, some judges have struck down those prior orders. They said, first of all, spending is up to Congress and withholding spending is up to Congress, not the executive branch. And they've cited other constitutional infirmities.

But on the other hand, other federal courts have upheld the prior orders because they've said as long as it's a legitimate federal policy and enforcing immigration law is a legitimate federal policy and the executive order is specific and narrow to that policy, it's OK.

And that, I think, Sara, is one of the problems that we're going to see legally with this new executive order. It's so vague. It just says this term sanctuary city, sanctuary jurisdiction does not define what that does or does not mean. And I think that's going to cause a real problem in the courts. SIDNER: I hear the word Supreme Court coming up in the ether, but we will we will see what happens once this goes forward, if it goes forward the way that he intends it.

All right, we have also seen the arrest of a couple of judges recently from Wisconsin and New Mexico along -- when you look at this and you look at what the Trump administration is doing, I mean, can we expect to see more arrest of state authorities when you see this executive order saying you're not working with us, you are required to work with us, according to Donald Trump? Does this mean that more arrests might be on the way of different state authorities?

HONIG: So there's a really important distinction that I want to draw here. It is not a crime to do nothing. It is not a crime for state or local officials or any person to say we decline to help you, immigration authorities.

So state and local officials do not have to, for example, share their databases with the feds. They do not, for example, have to give advance notice to the feds of if they have somebody who's wanted in custody.

However, those cases involving the judges, to me, crossed a different line. There you get into judges taking if they have somebody who's wanted in custody. However, those cases involving the judges, to me, crossed a different line. There you get into judges taking affirmative acts to get in the way of investigations.

In New Mexico, the judge physically destroyed a cell phone that contained evidence that is obstruction under any definition. And in Wisconsin, you have a judge who, according to the complaint, which was signed by a federal magistrate judge, that state judge basically redirected somebody who was wanted by the feds out a side door in order to help that person escape from the arrest. And in fact, that person did escape and there was a foot chase outside the courthouse as a result.

So there's a distinction, a very important distinction between not helping the feds on one hand, which is not a crime, and obstructing the feds affirmatively, which can be a crime.

SIDNER: Yes, actively sort of breaking the laws. That is something, but not doing anything that is something that you cannot prosecute. All right.

So we have these cases, several cases of minors, one of whom had stage four cancer, who have been deported without court proceedings. However, their mothers, the court said there was, you know, that they were allowed to be deported. They were on the deportation list. How does this work?

HONIG: Yes, these are really unfortunate and unusual circumstances. So the first thing to know is U.S. citizens cannot be deported, period. However, of course, U.S. citizens can choose to leave the country here. Now, these circumstances are so unusual because what you have is non-citizen parents and then young children who are citizens because of birthright citizenship, which essentially says that any person born on U.S. soil is automatically a citizen.

And the dilemma here is, well, what process does there need to be before these young children are removed from the country? Now, the administration has said, well, the parents wanted to take them, which is fine, but courts have paused this, including, by the way, a Trump- appointed judge because they've said, well, how do we know?

How do we know there's not a more complicated situation? It could be that one parent wants to take the child out of the United States, but the other does not. It could be that there's some other guardian in the United States who could take custody of this young child.

And so what the courts have said, again, including a Trump-appointed judge is, hang on, executive branch, at least come into court. Let's at least hash this out in court. Again, it's a common theme. Let's at least have some due process before we make these precipitous decisions.

SIDNER: Especially because it is involving American citizens. And I know in one case, the attorneys for one of the mothers said that she was not aware that she had a choice to be able to leave her baby back with her husband who was still in the country. So there's a lot of confusion being meted out here.

And we will see, Elie, because I know you will come back on and sort it all out for us like you always do. Elie Honig, thank you so much.

HONIG: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: Kate.

BOLDUAN: This morning, President Trump seems poised to give automakers a break when it comes to auto tariffs. Is he backtracking? Is it softening? Is it course correcting again? We are waiting for new details.

Plus, right now an investigation is underway into that massive power outage that left millions in Spain and Portugal just stranded and clearly in the dark. How did such a massive blackout happen all at once? We'll be right back.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, you're looking at live pictures from the White House briefing room. We are standing by to hear from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Now, we don't know if he's making some kind of announcement or whether this is just to tout what he sees as the accomplishments, perhaps plural, of the president's first 100 days. So we're standing by and monitoring that closely. It does come as the Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Trump is backing off some of his auto tariffs for the time being. Now, he had imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, as well as 25 percent tariffs on imported cars, also tariffs on car parts that would kick in soon. Now, reportedly, these two tariffs you're looking at right there won't stack. In other words, you won't pay both at the same time, effectively reducing the tariff burden.

With us now is CNN Global Economic Analyst Rana Foroohar. She's also the Global Business Columnist and Associate Editor of the Financial Times. And Rana, I don't want to talk about the specifics of what the Journal and others are reporting about the auto tariffs, but I want to report and ask you about the fact of the fact that once again, the president seems to be backing off here for nothing in return.

This is not like Canada or Mexico or in other countries giving the U.S. something back. This is just the United States saying, hey, we're going less than we said before. What do you think the impact of that is?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Well, I think let's talk about why we're here and why the president is backing off. He's been hearing from business leaders across the board, not just in the auto industry, although particularly in the auto industry, that, look, these tariffs are going to destroy business. They're destroying confidence.

The White House didn't do a lot of analysis before they, you know, have Liberation Day about when you're building a car, what are your inputs? What are your outputs? You know there are hundreds of parts that go into something like an automobile.

You know, I could give you the same story for any number of other kinds of goods where there are tariffs. That kind of analysis needs to be done before you say we're going to have blanket tariffs. Otherwise, you're destroying the business models of entire industries and in this case, very politically important industries.

So what the president is trying to do, having been advised by folks like Scott Bessent, by CEOs, is walk back some of the most extreme proposals and get to a place where business is at least more comfortable about investing and running their day-to-day business than they are now.

BERMAN: Of course, the tariffs won't be gone completely and they will add some cost to the cars domestically is what all the automakers are saying.

[08:30:00]