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Trump to Announce Major Trade Deal with the U.K.; Interview with Ron Wyden (D-OR): Trump's Trade Deals, CIA Cuts, Reorganization; Black Smoke Billows as Third Round of Voting Brings No New Pope; United Airline CEO: We are Finally Going to Get Air Traffic Modernized and Fixed. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired May 08, 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]

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And they had told the CERT team, which was the Massachusetts State and Rescue Team, the most important team, and the commander was there, look for a shoe. And they also found pieces of the taillight close to the street, close to the car, six to seven red to white pieces, white plastic. And there they are, right there.

They were shown to the jury, too. And those were found in the later -- around 5:15, 5:30 of the day it all happened, when the car was being towed to the sally port.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, seeing that evidence is always very powerful for a jury, and for anyone watching, really, because it gives you a sense of maybe what happened, and you have it physically where you can almost touch it. Thank you so much, Jean Casarez. Thank you for watching this trial for us. We appreciate it.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A major deal, just a major headline, or both? President Trump touting the announcement of a trade agreement coming at a news conference shortly. What we are learning about the details, namely, if there will be any.

And with major complications plaguing one of the country's busiest airports, we are standing by for an announcement on an overhaul of the U.S. air traffic control system.

And happening right now. Cardinals could very well be cutting deals, politicking behind closed doors. Three votes with no hope at the conclave. When will we see the white smoke?

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner.

This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: Breaking news this morning. At long last, a trade deal is in sight, but not with China. President Trump is teasing a major Oval Office announcement about an agreement with the U.K. The first agreement the U.S. has cut since his tariffs sent global markets reeling last month. The details set to be revealed at a 10 a.m. news conference, so in just a bit here.

Trump has been under pressure to announce a deal to show that his tariffs have been worth the chaos and confusion for American consumers and business owners. A live look at stock futures right now.

The major indexes taking a look all in the green, all up ahead of today's announcements. Trump unveiled his so-called reciprocal tariffs on April 2nd but later paused them for 90 days on every country except China.

But the U.K. is still subject to a 10 percent baseline tariff and a 25 percent tariff on steel, aluminum and automobiles. CNN's Alayna Treene joining us now live from the White House. What do we know about this announcement this morning, obviously involving the U.K.?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, look, we're going to see the president and some U.K. officials in the Oval Office at 10 a.m. I would, you know, he's trying to dub it as a news conference. It'll likely be a couple of questions with a select few reporters. But hopefully we'll get some of the real details of this, because as of now, we don't have many.

And it's interesting as well that the first trade agreement that this Trump administration is striking is with the U.K., because, really, Trump's top economic officials have been saying that they believed the first few deals would actually be with some of the United States' allies in Asia, like India, Japan, South Korea. And so having this be with the U.K., of course, a strong ally of the United States, is a welcome development, I think, for a lot of people abroad, particularly in Europe.

But look, as you mentioned, this is very much welcome news not only to global markets but to the White House itself. There's been mounting pressure behind the scenes for them to announce any sort of progress on trade deals to show that his tariffs, you know, are going to actually amount to something. I know that behind closed doors a lot of anxiety had been building, with the need to them to really give good news to the American public on some of this.

Now, we did hear the president this morning. He has been posting a lot ahead of this 10 a.m. announcement. I want to read for you one of his posts.

He said, quote, The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come. Because of our long time history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United Kingdom as our first announcement.

It went on to say that more negotiations, more deals will follow.

Now, one thing I do want to be clear about is he's saying that this is going to be a full and comprehensive deal. But we know that complex trade negotiations often take sometimes years to hash out, particularly when you account for the fact that they are having these negotiations with other countries as well. So what we are likely to see today, Sara, is some of the parameters of this, some details, but likely this is going to be expanded down the line as they continue to hash out some of the core details and the language here.

Now, we also heard from the U.K. prime minister, Keir Starmer, someone who has really worked on having a good relationship with the president.

[08:05:00]

He spoke this morning confirming that he will have a statement on some of this trade agreement and what's in it. But one part of this was actually really interesting in his statement.

He said, quote, Make no mistake, I will always act in our national interest, for workers, businesses and families, to deliver security and renewal for our country.

I think it's clear here that he's trying to let the people of the U.K. know that he's not necessarily going to be giving in to everything that the Trump administration has been pushing for, something we know that President Trump on his side is trying to argue that everyone else is bowing down to the United States.

And so all to say we should have more details of what this is exactly going to look like at 10 a.m. And, you know, we'll see if they make any other news during that Oval Office meeting -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and we should be clear that the trade with the U.K. It looks very different than the trade with, say, Canada or China. So we will see what these details are and how big of an impact they may make. Alayna Treene, it's always a pleasure. Thank you so much, live there from the White House for us -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about this. Joining us right now is Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. He's the top Democrat on Senate Finance. He's also been leading the effort in the Senate to try to stop the president from unilaterally being able to impose these tariffs. Senator, thanks for coming in.

A trade deal with the U.K. Have you heard anything about it over there on the Hill yet this morning?

SEN. RON WYDEN (D-OR): Not much. And about 2 percent of our imports, Kate, come from Great Britain. So put me down as kind of skeptical that there is much there there.

I can tell you at home in Oregon, our farmers are hurting, our small businesses are hurting. People are concerned about their 401ks. I don't think this is going to do much for that.

BOLDUAN: The Financial Times this week reported a little bit on what is potentially in it, that the U.K. deal would exempt the U.S. from some non-tariff trade barriers like the U.K.'s 2 percent digital tax on tech companies. And in exchange, then the U.S. may ease the tariff burden on the U.K., perhaps reducing or exempting the country from the 25 percent on aluminum, steel and autos. If that's what this deal is, would you call it a good deal?

WYDEN: It's not much. The digital taxes, for example, are something that we've worked on for years and years. In terms of the companies, I can tell you you saw the headlines this morning.

We have companies that after a couple of months are hemorrhaging profits. I can tell you when I talk to the Oregon farmers, the wheat folks, they tell me that prices are down, input costs are up, and they're just literally begging for some predictability and some sense that the chaos is going to subside. And my sense is we're going to get more of it in July when the pause stops.

BOLDUAN: Really, finally on this one, if it's not a finalized deal, instead it's an announcement of negotiations or an announcement of a framework to be negotiated over coming months, because context is it often takes years to negotiate big trade deals, what do you think the impact of that is?

WYDEN: I don't think it's going to be much. And I think your earlier comment said we're looking for leadership, particularly in Asia. And it just looks to me like things are pretty stalled out. Now that's where we really need the relief.

BOLDUAN: So CNN also has some new reporting that House Republicans are struggling to find consensus amongst themselves around the budget bill, in part because of potential Medicaid cuts. Speaker Johnson yesterday said that any changes, though, after leaving a meeting in the White House, any changes limiting Medicaid the way he put it would affect a very small number of people and also said that overhauling federal contributions to state-run Medicaid programs is off the table. He and other Republicans say that Democrats are trying to use scare tactics around this. You say what?

WYDEN: Well, let's talk about the facts. We have the Congressional Budget Office, which is really the gold standard of objectivity, saying that 100 percent of the cost savings in the Republican proposal come from terminating coverage, cutting benefits like home care, or reducing payments to providers. I don't think that's a prescription for much good in America.

BOLDUAN: But if that one element that I was reading through that CBO report that you had asked for, the one element when it comes to the federal contributions to state Medicaid programs, if that's off the table, do you think there could be some consensus in reforming Medicaid that you could sign on to as part of these negotiations?

WYDEN: Well, there are plenty of ways to cut health care costs. We're going to be out with a letter today dealing with upcoding. This is something where insurance companies basically say people are sicker than they actually are, and you waste a tremendous amount of money.

So it's not as if it's impossible to generate cost savings, but you don't do it by hurting people.

[08:10:00]

And these are seniors. These are disabled folks. These are people in nursing homes. This is not a place we ought to be looking to cut.

BOLDUAN: There is definitely a split within the Republican Party right now in trying to figure out the right way to navigate this, so we'll stand by on this.

Finally, you also said on the Senate Intel and CNN has this new reporting that the CIA director, I'm going to read you a piece of the reporting, Senator, that Director Radcliffe's plans at the CIA include shrinking the agency's workforce by about 1,200 personnel over the next several years. That's according to a source familiar.

In total, the planned cuts will affect between 5 percent to 6 percent of the CIA's total workforce. And it also basically involves a reorganization that elevates covert ops by hiring more officers to go in the field and fewer analysts to sit behind computer screens and analyze that data. What do you think of that?

WYDEN: My big concern over at the intelligence field, and I'm a member of the intelligence committee, is weaponizing data, politicizing it. That's been my concern, that we wouldn't be making intelligence decisions on the merits, but, for example, somebody who Donald Trump doesn't agree with. We ought to be concentrating on Russia and China. This seems to me to be a possibility that they're going in a different direction.

BOLDUAN: Senator Ron Wyden, thanks for coming in, Senator -- John.

WYDEN: Thanks for having me, Kate.

BERMAN: All right, Russia is, quote, asking for too much. The new message from Vice President J.D. Vance as the Russian leader has a key meeting this morning.

And then after major safety concerns, we're standing by for the Department of Transportation to announce an overhaul of the air traffic control system. We will hear what the CEO of United Airlines thinks about it.

And a traffic stop ends with a raccoon getting busted in the driver's seat holding a meth pipe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The raccoon has her meth pipe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her meth pipe. He's playing with the meth pipe right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning, black smoke rising above the Sistine Chapel, disappointing thousands of people who are waiting in St. Peter's Square to hear news of a new pope. Cardinals voting this morning but failing to come to a consensus on who they want to lead. This newly released image from inside shows them seated below Michelangelo's The Last Judgment.

CNN's Ben Wedeman has been following the vote out in the crowds. I noticed you talked to some great believers there who were having such a good time, but also really wanting to know the answer as to who the new pope is. How is the crowd reaction to the black smoke this morning?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, about two hours and 15 minutes ago, just before noon Rome time, there were hundreds, perhaps over a thousand people gathered just behind the barriers, behind me, waiting to see what kind of smoke would come out of the chimney installed in the roof of the Sistine Chapel, and what they saw was black smoke. And there was definitely an audible sigh or groan of disappointment.

But this means that there have been, at this point, since yesterday evening, three votes in the Sistine Chapel. No conclusion yet. Nobody was really under the impression that perhaps they would come to a decision quite that early. Keeping in mind, back in 2013, it took five votes to bring Francis to the pontificate, and back in 2005, it took four to bring Benedict into popedom, so to speak.

So it's still early in a sense. But many people have come here to Rome on vacations that they had planned long before, and they're hoping that they can be here for that magic moment when the white smoke comes out of that chimney. And I think people are taking it in stride, hoping that they'll be here, but understanding that perhaps they won't.

But those who are here certainly seem to savor the historic nature of this event. It doesn't happen very often. They're happy to be here, and like us, hoping to see the white smoke as soon, Sara, as possible.

SIDNER: Yes, and as you mentioned, it took four for Benedict, five for Francis. This could be the day there is another vote that's going to happen, Ben Wedeman, grazie.

Thank you so much for all of your reporting there in Rome -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: We are standing by today for a major announcement from the Department of Transportation on their plans to now overhaul the country's air traffic control system.

And a lead crisis is playing out in Milwaukee schools. Several schools now forced to close as old paint has left children exposed.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BOLDUAN: Happening today, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he's going to lay out his plans to overhaul and fix the country's air traffic control system. This comes now 11 days into the mess that's still unfolding at Newark Airport. It was last Monday that air traffic control lost communication for 90 seconds with planes in the air.

The incident has led to five air traffic controllers taking a special government trauma leave from work over the stress and chaos that ensued.

And there's also new CNN reporting in today. A CNN investigation finding the controllers at Newark have been sounding the alarm for months over the situation.

One air traffic controller who works at the Newark Airport describes the current state of safety there as like, quote, playing Russian roulette.

CNN's Pete Muntean is at Reagan National Airport outside D.C. with Scott Kirby, the CEO of United Airlines, who has been speaking out and calling on the FAA to act --Pete.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Kate, this has had a disproportionate impact. This Newark air traffic control meltdown and staffing shortage on United Airlines and United CEO Scott Kirby. I just want you to bring me up to speed on what the status of things are at Newark right now and what is the message to passengers who are going through Newark, you guys are canceling about 35 round trips every day, who are sort of caught in the middle of all this right now.

[08:25:04]

SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: Well, first I want to start and say air travel is safe everywhere in the country, including at Newark. What happens when there are staffing shortages or technology outages? We train for those, but really what we do is we slow down the airline.

We have fewer departures at every airport so that we maintain the margin of safety everywhere that we fly. And today is actually a historic day, I think, for the FAA and the United States air traffic control system. The bill that Secretary Duffy is signing that he's going to introduce later today really leaves me the most optimistic I've been in my entire career, that we're finally going to get air traffic control modernized and fixed.

As for Newark, you know, it is always safe. What we've done proactively, there's more flights scheduled than the airport can handle right now. And so we've proactively reduced 35 flights.

What that means is on a day like yesterday, the airport was 83 percent on time with only one flight cancellation because we've pulled the capacity down. It's the other thing that needs to be done is to limit the number of flights at a constrained airport like Newark. It's what every large airport in the world does, with the exception of Newark.

And we've asked the government to reinstall what's called Level 3 slot controls at Newark to permanently fix the situation. In the short term, the actions we've taken have actually got the airport operating reliably.

MUNTEAN: Let me key in a bit on safety because I've spoken to controllers who were in the TRACON at the time of this meltdown. And you at one point characterized what they did as a walkout. They said they took trauma leave because this is really rattling.

Would you change your rhetoric now, knowing what you know? And do you regret saying that?

KIRBY: Well, so the air traffic controllers are some of the most, obviously, most important critical safety jobs. They do an amazing job. People around the country work really hard. They work long -- and they have short staff. They work really long hours. When there's weather, they stay overtime and work.

And I and everyone in the air traffic control system appreciate what they do. And they always keep safety number one as critical. They always keep safety number one. That does lead to delays sometimes, but safety is always paramount and number one.

The biggest thing that we can do for the air traffic controllers is get them technology that works and get them fully staffed. And that's why today is such a historic day, I think, for the FAA.

Because for the first time in my career, we actually have a plan to get this fixed and get the foundation so that the United States has the best air traffic control system in the world, which is what we deserve.

MUNTEAN: This is not the first time that you and I have talked about this. And you've been pretty sharply critical of the FAA, especially when it comes to Newark. Do you worry that this is sort of a microcosm for what could happen at other air traffic control facilities? Like, is Newark alone here?

KIRBY: Well, there are air traffic control delays around the country. And I have been critical in the past. And what I've been wanting for really my entire career is exactly what's happening today.

Fix the infrastructure. Get the staffing up to full speed. Get the technology and get the facilities modernized. We're going to do those three things now. And I also think Secretary Duffy coming in is different, action-oriented. Like, the things that are happening here with Newark.

You know, I texted him over the weekend and talked to him over the weekend. We're going to have meetings later today, also with other airlines, about how to manage Newark. The reality is, Newark is a crown jewel for the country.

It's, you know, the United Airlines international operation there is the largest long-haul international operation of any airline in the U.S. It's a great crown jewel for United. But we just need to keep the number of flights equal to the capacity of the airport. There's 77 operations per hour, theoretical. When you get scheduled at 86 or more, it falls apart.

And so what we need -- and the government's the only one that has the authority to do it. We just need the government to do that.

But I'm really encouraged that the secretary understands this, and also the next FAA administrator, Brian Bedford, is an action-oriented doer who comes from business. He knows how to get this stuff done.

MUNTEAN: I'm sensing a lot of closeness here between the airline and the Trump administration. But today, obviously, they're going to try and blame this on the previous administration. Who is really to blame here for the shortage of air traffic controllers?

We're talking 3,000 air traffic controllers short and maybe netting only something in the dozens every year. So, I mean, can you pin this on the previous administration? Or can you pin it on something else?

KIRBY: This is decades in the making. And so there's plenty of people to take the blame. I don't care who takes the blame. All I care about is getting it fixed and moving forward. And getting us -- and getting our customers the world-class air traffic control system that the people of the United States deserve.

MUNTEAN: How long is this going to take to fix this? Because Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sort of doubled down on this notion that this could be done in three or four years. I'm sort of of the thinking that it could be decades to fix major things at the pace of government.

So, what is your take here?

KIRBY: Well, I'm a lot closer to where Secretary Duffy is than the normal pace of government. And the reason is because the people are different. Secretary Duffy is action-oriented.

Like, when I texted him over the weekend, I immediately got a call back and got a response. And he's working on the issue. The team is working on the issue. They're bringing in Brian Bedford to run the FAA. He comes from business. He ran an airline. He built all kinds of infrastructure to run the airline. He knows how to do it. And so, having people that know how to get stuff done instead of just talk about policy, I think is going to be the key.

And I'm not sure of the timing, but I think it's going to be a lot faster than the normal pace of government just because of the people involved.

MUNTEAN: United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, thanks for being with us.

KIRBY: Thanks, Pete.

MUNTEAN: A pretty newsworthy interview here ahead of this 1:30 announcement by Transportation Secretary Duffy.

[08:30:00]