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Uncertainty, Anxiety Over Federal Aid Freeze Across U.S.; Oklahoma School Board Wants Parents to Prove Citizenship; Caroline Kennedy Calls RFK Jr. a Predator Before Hearing; New Hope for Answers in JonBenet Ramsey Murder Mystery. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 29, 2025 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. Here are some of the top stories we're following today.
In India, hospital sources say at least 14 people were killed in a crowd crush today at the world's largest religious gathering. In a social media post, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the incident, quote, extremely sad. 400 million people are expected to attend the festival over six weeks.
Officials are investigating what caused a passenger plane in Busan, South Korea, to catch fire as it was preparing for its flight to Hong Kong. You can see crews here working on the burned out fuselage of the Airbus jet belonging to the budget airline Air Busan. All 169 passengers and seven crew members were evacuated.
An extreme cold has hit Niagara Falls in upstate New York. Thick ice and snow surrounded the iconic landmark that belongs to both the U.S. and Canada. Park officials say the falls never actually fully freeze. Even in extreme cold, water continues to flow beneath the surface.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: The Trump administration trying to clarify its move to freeze all federal aid and disbursements. Donald Trump's press secretary explained it's not a blanket pause, but a chance to ensure any federal funding is in line with the president's agenda. CNN's Kaitlan Collins pressed her on the legality of the president's order.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Who advised the president on the legality of telling government agencies that they don't have to spend money that was already appropriated by Congress?
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, as the OMB memo states, this is certainly within the confines of the law. So White House Counsel's Office believes that this is within the president's power to do it, and therefore he's doing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Programs dependent on federal aid are continuing to operate as usual, though they're unsure about the future. CNN's Brian Todd spoke with volunteers in Maryland about how the potential loss of funds would affect them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anthony Velasquez, a chef at this Meals on Wheels facility in Takoma Park, Maryland preps for tomorrow's deliveries. This is one of 5,000 Meals on Wheels programs across the U.S. serving more than 2 million elderly and homebound people which have been worried that they could be affected by the federal freeze on grants and loans.
RUTH MASTERSON, MEALS ON WHEELS OF TAKOMA PARK, MARYLAND: The memo that came out from the White House is causing a great deal of anxiety and confusion and chaos. It puts a lot of our programs at threat and at risk.
TODD (voice-over): The White House later tried to clarify implying that Meals on Wheels may not be at risk but Meals on Wheels does get much of its funding from a grant and the freeze does affect grants.
JOAN ALKER, CENTER FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: There are many, many programs serving infants, toddlers, mothers, families all across the country that are being affected today.
[04:35:00]
Head Start programs, childcare funds, maternal and infant home visiting programs. There are seniors impacted by this, people living with chronic disease.
TODD (voice-over): The Trump administration later tried to clarify that. Social Security and Medicare are supposed to be exempt. Also said not to be affected, Pell Grants, Head Start, funds for small businesses, farmers, rental assistance, and other similar programs.
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: People who are receiving individual assistance, you will continue to receive that.
TODD (voice-over): But still uncertainty about Medicaid and other grant programs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No individual now on Medicaid would see a cutoff because of the policy.
LEAVITT: I'll check back on that and get back to you.
TODD (voice-over): Non-profit advocates tell CNN school meal programs, programs to combat domestic violence, and suicide prevention hotlines are also at risk. As is the home heating assistance program that helps people pay their heating bills.
MARK WOLFE, NATIONAL ENERGY ASSISTANCE DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION: The timing's terrible. You know, this is a very, very cold winter. It's also an expensive winter. About a million and a half families have yet to apply. Those families -- if the freeze continues -- we won't be able to help.
TODD (voice-over): The uncertainty over what's affected taking a toll.
ALKER: We're already hearing of panic spreading across the country, particularly in programs that are serving moms and babies.
TODD: Tell me what your clients have called and what are they saying?
MASTERSON: Clients are afraid that they're not going to be receiving their meals.
TODD (voice-over): Other organizations and agencies quick to feel the pinch.
ALKER: These programs, they have very small operating margins. They can't manage without funding. Even for a short pause of two weeks, this will create chaos in the lives of many families.
TODD: What would a pause in funding for maybe just a day or a few days really mean? Well, Ruth Masterson of this Meals on Wheels program says here it would have a ripple effect. Not only would people go without meals for that period, but a lot of this food being prepped would go bad. So they would have to use their volunteers to throw out rotten food rather than serve people meals.
Brian Todd, CNN, Takoma Park, Maryland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MACFARLANE: Now the U.S. military is working to reinforce the country's border with Mexico.
FOSTER: Yes, this video released by the U.S. Marine Corps shows troops reinforcing the border barrier between the U.S. and Mexico in Southern California. The Department of Defense says the Marines are working with the Department of Homeland Security to add additional security that'll help, quote, curtail illegal border crossings.
MACFARLANE: Meanwhile, education and immigration advocates are worried that a new proposal in Oklahoma will make immigrant families feel afraid and unwelcome at public schools. CNN's Veronica Miracle has this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As protesters gathered outside, the decision was swift inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Item passes.
WILD (voice-over): In a six to zero vote, the Oklahoma Board of Education approved a new rule requiring parents and legal guardians to show their citizenship or immigration status when enrolling kids in school. Supporters of the rule insist citizenship data and information is critical for officials to figure out how to allocate resources.
RYAN WALTERS, OKLAHOMA STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION: Our rule around illegal immigration accounting is simply that. It is to account for how many students of illegal immigrants are in our schools.
WILD (voice-over): Skeptics worry the state will capture identifying information. That fear was confirmed during Tuesday's hearing.
KATIE QUEBEDEAUX, BOARD MEMBER: Will you be able to go and look and say, this child is legal, this child is not, or is it anonymous?
WALTERS: We would be able to gather the information.
WILD: In an interview with CNN, Superintendent Ryan Walters made clear this is also an effort to help the Trump administration find families in the U.S. illegally.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR, NEWS CENTRAL: So which is it, educational resources or enforcement of immigration policies?
WALTERS: Oh, it's absolutely both. I've been crystal clear on that. I'm saying that we are going to work with the Trump administration to enforce their anti-illegal immigration policy that includes giving them information about students in our schools, families enrolled in our schools, so they can make the decisions on how to deport families together and how to identify criminals in our school system.
WILD: Walters would not rule out raids in schools.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
KEILAR: Do you think that would be traumatic for students in schools? And I'm talking about all students.
WALTERS: What my big concern is, is what illegal immigration has done to our education system.
TASNEEM AL-MICHAEL, BORN IN BRUNEI: The idea here is to keep as many young people and to keep as many undocumented people out of public education.
WILD (voice-over): Tasneem Al-Michael was born in Brunei, came to the U.S. as a baby, and says for years he was an undocumented student in Oklahoma.
WILD: What are you most afraid of?
AL-MICHAEL: I mean, you said it yourself, afraid. The key term here is instilling fear in the hearts of immigrant children, in the hearts of immigrant parents. It does create a sense of anxiety, chronic and constant anxiety about, am I safe?
You know, schools are supposed to be the safest place for a kid to be able to exist.
WILD: This is not a done deal yet. The rule now goes to the Oklahoma legislature.
Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[04:40:00]
FOSTER: First, the two Senate confirmation hearings set to begin in the coming hours of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but his cousin, Caroline Kennedy, is urging senators to vote against Trump's nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary.
MACFARLANE: Yes, the daughter of the late U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, says RFK Jr. is, quote, addicted to attention and power. In a social media post, she accused him of hypocritical views and went on to say he's completely unqualified for the job.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROLINE KENNEDY, COUSIN OF ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: We grew up together. It's no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because Bobby himself is a predator. I watched his younger brothers and cousins follow him down the path of drug addiction.
His basement, his garage, his dorm room were always the center of the action, where drugs were available, and he enjoyed showing off how he put baby chickens and mice in a blender to feed to his hawks. It was often a perverse scene of despair and violence.
Bobby is addicted to attention and power. Bobby preys on the desperation of parents of sick children, vaccinating his own kids while building a following, hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs.
He lacks any relevant government, financial, management, or medical experience. His views on vaccines are dangerous and willfully misinformed. These facts alone should be disqualifying.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Caroline Kenley also accused RFK Jr. of financially benefiting from some of his anti-vaccine views.
The U.N. says many dead bodies are in the streets of Goma as Rwanda- backed M23 rebels continue their advance in the largest city in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. South Africa says four more of its soldiers on a peacekeeping mission there have died just days after nine others were killed in the fighting. Aid agencies say hospitals were overwhelmed.
MACFARLANE: The unrest has spread to the DRC's capital, Kinshasa, where protesters angry over foreign intervention have lit fires outside some Western and African embassies, including Rwanda's. The Rwandan president denies his government is backing the rebels. Officials from the DRC and Rwanda are due to meet in the coming hours to discuss the violence.
Now, rescuers in Japan are well into their second day trying to save a 74-year-old man trapped in a truck that was swallowed by a large sinkhole near Tokyo. And amid those efforts, a second sinkhole opened up earlier today.
FOSTER: Broadcaster NHK says the second hole formed after crews lifted the truck's bed out with a large crane, but the driver's cab is still stuck. And the rising water levels are making the rescue efforts more difficult. He's now been trapped since early on Tuesday and has reportedly become unresponsive.
Now, the killing of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey has been shrouded in mystery for decades, but her father still believes the case can be solved. His exclusive interview with CNN next.
[04:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACFARLANE: Hi, welcome back. The unsolved murder of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey in Colorado nearly 30 years ago has been the subject of several documentaries.
FOSTER: For years, questions swirled around the case and a cloud of suspicions hung over her parents, but no one has ever been charged. In a CNN exclusive, Ramsey's father speaks to CNN's Jean Casarez about his renewed hope for answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN RAMSEY, FATHER OF JONBENET RAMSEY: The killer took away my desire to live for a while. The police, because of their actions and accusations, took away my ability to live. I lost my job. We lost our life savings. We pretty much got down to -- we lived in a trailer for three years.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 81-year-old John Ramsey says he is on a mission to convince Boulder law enforcement to solve his daughter's 1996 murder using cutting edge DNA technology, genetic genealogy.
RAMSEY: I think it's the only way this case will be solved. The technology's there. We know back in early '97 they sent a number of items to the lab for sampling. A number of them were returned unsampled. We don't know why they weren't tested.
CASAREZ: What were those items?
RAMSEY: Well, the garrote, the suitcase that was propped up under the window that had to have been moved there. There was a rope left in one of the bedrooms that wasn't ours. There was a backpack that was left in the bedroom, same bedroom that was not ours.
CASAREZ: What was in that backpack?
RAMSEY: Don't know. I -- that was -- I didn't know it was there. I just saw pictures taken at the crime scene and I said, well, that's not ours. CASAREZ (voice-over): Ramsey says he and his late wife, Patsy, were not given a lot of information about the investigation because for years, they were the suspects until being formally cleared and apologized to in 2008. Ramsey says forensics found on the very day that JonBenet's body was located in the family's basement needs to be tested or retested.
RAMSEY: They found an unidentified palm print that's never been tied to anybody. It was on the door, a little door leading to that room that I found JonBenet's body in.
[04:50:00]
CASAREZ (voice-over): But to Ramsey, it is one hair that could be critical.
RAMSEY: We have an unidentified pubic hair that was found in the blanket that was wrapped around JonBenet. We know that for a fact. That, to me, offers a huge hope for a solid DNA result that could be put in the right format and do genealogy research. That's perhaps the most important piece of evidence we have.
CASAREZ (voice-over): John Ramsey has a message if someone out there is holding information.
RAMSEY: Please help us. I'm not vindictive. I just want an answer.
CASAREZ: If Patsy could talk to investigators right now, what would she say?
RAMSEY: Patsy was probably the kindest person I've ever known, but she was strong and she'd have, you know, been pointing fingers to say, do this, do this now.
CASAREZ: You also represent JonBenet, the victim. Victims deserve justice.
RAMSEY: Yes, they do. And the victim's family deserves that. This affects my 9-year-old son at the time, Burke, who's now an adult. He's been -- he continues to be accused by the internet crazies that he's the killer. He's got to be the killer. Everybody knows it. And that bothers him.
It's not going to change my life at this point, but it will change the life of my kids. That's why I want to get it solved.
CASAREZ: John Ramsey told me that six to eight months ago, he gave a very specific list to law enforcement of what he believes should be tested and retested. Now, he tells me following this meeting, he believes officials are committed to this investigation. Boulder's police chief recently said there are approximately 2,500 pieces of evidence.
Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE) MACFARLANE: 2,500 pieces of evidence. It does feel like they need to reopen this investigation, doesn't it?
FOSTER: The whole world was engaged in that story at the time. I mean, lots of people want answers beyond the parents.
MACFARLANE: Yes, 30 years on, but still very raw, of course, for her father.
FOSTER: Now it's time to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Meanwhile, say goodbye to the year of the dragon. Welcome to the year of the --
MACFARLANE: Snake.
FOSTER: The snake.
MACFARLANE: More on those festivities ahead.
Plus, the Mona Lisa is getting a new home. We'll explain where to next.
FOSTER: Where to.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:55:48]
FOSTER: The famed Mona Lisa painting getting its own dedicated room at the famous Louvre Museum in Paris.
MACFARLANE: Probably about time, isn't it? According to the Associated Press, the new room will be part of a major renovation that could cost more than $800 million and last up to 10 years. The project will include a new entrance near the River Seine and new underground rooms.
FOSTER: I hope it's big enough, because the crowds are insane when you try and see it.
MACFARLANE: Probably the reason.
FOSTER: Asian communities around the world celebrating the Lunar New Year and the beginning of the Year of the Snake. In Sydney, Australia, they brought in the new year with the traditional lion dance. Celebrations include giving gifts and visiting friends and neighbors.
MACFARLANE: Beijing residents started the Year of the Snake with prayers at the Lama Temple. Lunar New Year festivities last for 15 days, ending with the Lantern Festival.
Now, animals at a wildlife-themed park near London got to enjoy a spa day. That meant hoof pedicures for these giraffes and a soothing salve for the rhino's horns to keep them clean and healthy. Look at that. They do this every year, apparently, for all 1,000 animals at the Chessington World of Adventures. Zookeepers explain why the work is so vital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUCY, ZOOKEEPER: So today we've been doing hoof trimming, which means we just pick up the hoof and we look through to see if there's any misgrowing hoof horn or any potential grit, stones, anything that shouldn't be digging into their hooves to make them uncomfortable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: You've got a spa weekend coming up, haven't you?
MACFARLANE: I'm just thinking about checking myself into Chessington.
FOSTER: Check your hooves.
Penguins and flamingos at the park were checked over and given special treats as well. The workers say it's all meant to set them up for a healthy year ahead.
MACFARLANE: Oh, don't we all need that? I think I will be checking it.
FOSTER: What's with the plane crash in the middle of the penguin enclosure?
MACFARLANE: Meanwhile --
FOSTER: Meanwhile.
MACFARLANE: Meanwhile, Scotland's Shetland Islands were aglow on Tuesday night. People marched with burning torches alongside a replica Viking ship as part of the annual Up Helly Aa Festival, a tradition dating back more than 140 years.
FOSTER: It's slightly Wicker Man-ish.
MACFARLANE: I know.
FOSTER: This is your culture.
MACFARLANE: I've actually been part of this and it's really fun and interesting.
FOSTER: Thousands of visitors gathering to watch the procession dragged the galley to a burning site where it's set on fire. Of course, just burn everything, why not? The festival, which is held every year on the last Tuesday of January, run entirely by volunteers and planned nearly a year in advance.
MACFARLANE: It's because there's so much Viking culture in that part of the UK.
FOSTER: Are you into health and safety at all, you know?
MACFARLANE: Oh, I love a good fire. Who doesn't love a good burning fire for reasons I don't fully understand?
Anyway, that's it for here for us at CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for joining us. I'm Christina Macfarlane.
FOSTER: I am Max Foster. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after the break.
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