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At Least 7 Killed, 19 Injured In Medevac Jet Crash In Philadelphia; Hamas Releases 3 Hostages From Gaza, Including Israeli- American; Key Group Of Arab Nations Reject Trump's Call To Relocate Gazans; Today: Trump To Impose Tariffs On Mexico, Canada And China. Officials: Crews Recover 41 Bodies From Site, 28 Identified; Gabbard Won't Say If NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Is A Traitor; Right Now: Dems Meeting To Pick New DNC Chair. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired February 01, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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


[12:00:00]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: Bill Irwin?

BILL IRWIN, ACTOR, "EUREKA DAY": As we've been talking about, we've hit the curve of history so that since the play was written, the pandemic gripped the world, the social justice reckoning moment when George Floyd was killed, and election results. Things that -- like I said earlier, we were a little fearful we might fall behind the curve of history. It's actually a very current conversation.

AMANPOUR: And that is all we have time for. Don't forget, you can find all our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio, and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London, thanks for watching and see you again next week.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin today in Philadelphia where investigators are on the scene after a medical jet carrying six people crashed into a neighborhood. A warning, this video may be disturbing to some viewers.

The jet had taken off from a northeast Philadelphia airport carrying a child patient, her mother, along with four crew members, a pilot, co- pilot, doctor, and paramedic. Stunning doorbell cam video of the moment. Witnesses saw the small jet burst into flames and right there and then plunge.

And today the debris from the crash is scattered in parking lots, on the streets, throughout neighborhoods. A crater can be seen alongside burned out cars. We learned from a press conference moments ago that seven people have died.

CNN's Danny Freeman is in Philadelphia. Danny, what more are you learning? DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, that was the big headline that fatality count is up to seven. The six people who were on board that plane that crashed in that horrific ball of fire that we've been seeing over and over again, and then a seventh person who was on the ground in a car, that's according to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker.

We also learned that 19 people were injured once this plane came down. And I just want to describe the troubling nature of that press conference, Fred, because while we learned these new numbers, these were figures that we did not know before, the local officials here in Philadelphia were very clear that that number may rise.

Both the fatalities may rise and also the injuries may rise as well. And part of the reason, Fred, according to the local officials who just spoke in that press conference, is because the plane came down with such force and in the middle of a busy street behind me, Cottman Avenue, that they may not know who actually was on the street at the time of the impact.

And they're encouraging, if anyone is feared that someone is missing after last night, to call 911 and to get in touch with authorities in order to help this investigation. Another part of this investigation that we just learned about, Fred, is that, as you noted, the debris field from this crash is pretty massive.

We're a few blocks away from where that crash happened behind me. A local council member just pointed out that the diner on the other side of the camera, right behind my photographer here, there was a piece of shrapnel essentially from the plane that flew through the diner window and actually hit one of the patrons having dinner last night in the 6:00 hour. That's how wide this debris field may be.

And local officials are encouraging the residents of Northeast Philadelphia to, if you're outside and you see something that might look like it may have come from a plane, please call 911 because it may all help with this investigation.

Fred, I just want to run through some of the things that we know at this point. Again, this all happened just after 6:00 p.m. This plane, this medical transport jet was heading from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, only a couple of miles from where we are right here.

It was heading to Missouri, but the ultimate destination was going to be Mexico. Mexican nationals aboard that flight. There were two pilots, as you noted, a doctor, a paramedic, and then so heartbreaking, a child and her mother as well.

The child, the patient at Shriners Children's Hospital getting a treatment, and then they were going back home to Mexico on that plane. But then something, as you can tell from the video that we keep showing, went horribly, horribly wrong.

We understand, Fred, that the plane was only in the air for about 40 seconds before it came tumbling to the ground here in Northeast Philadelphia. A lot of concern for residents in the area whose homes may have been impacted because of fires, but, of course, still thinking about those who are injured and hoping that that fatality number stays where it is right now. But we don't know if that will increase at this moment.

The NTSB, meanwhile, they're going to be the ones leading this investigation. We're still waiting for more updates from that federal agency as to what went horribly wrong here in this crash, Fred.

WHITFIELD: It's incredible. And so, Danny, while they didn't make reference to, you know, the cause of this in that press conference, and you just mentioned NTSB is, you know, spearheading the investigation, one of the officials at least went as far as to say, you know, something happened with that aircraft.

Is there any --

FREEMAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: -- reporting or information that's coming out of any kind of radio traffic, you know, conversations between the pilot, you know, and the tower before this happened?

[12:05:32]

FREEMAN: Here's what I'll say, Fred, is that you're right. The NTSB is the one leading this investigation, but the local officials on the ground did basically infer that there may have been distress on that plane prior to it making that nosedive. And that was one of the reasons why they said, even if you're not in this immediate area, even if you're closer to the airport, and you may still find something that may be relevant to this investigation.

Pete Muntean, our aviation correspondent, he noted last night while looking at some of the video that at times it may have seen like there might have been something like a fire on board the plane. It might've been spinning when it was coming down to the ground. But again, at this point, it's all really too soon to tell.

We heard some of that air traffic controller chatter, but the main thing that we heard from them was concern that they had lost a flight. And remember again, Fred, 40 seconds that flight was in the air before it came crashing down. Still so many questions to be answered.

WHITFIELD: Yes, certainly not enough time.

All right. Thank you so much, Danny Freeman. Appreciate that.

All right, now to the Middle East where three more hostages were released after being held for 15 months by Hamas, including 65-year- old Israeli American Keith Siegel, who was kidnapped from his home in the October 7th attack. As you see him right there moving very slowly and frailly. All three were taken to the hospital to be checked and reunited with their loved ones.

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(Speaking in Foreign Language)

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WHITFIELD: Also today as part of this round of the ceasefire agreement, Israel released almost 200 Palestinian prisoners. Let's go get more now on today's developments with Aaron David Miller, former State Department Middle East negotiator. He's now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Great to see you. So, you know, after warnings from Israel, today's hostage transfer from Hamas was -- seemed like it went relatively smooth, a little different than some of the previous ones. So what do you make of what's happening here? Are you encouraged by what is now this phase one of this ceasefire agreement?

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPT. MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: I am encouraged, Fred, and thanks for having me. You know, it's not an agreement between the United States and Great Britain. It's an agreement between two combatants, both of which have tried literally to destroy one another and to inflict as much pain as possible on one another over the last 15 months.

And frankly, under the circumstances, no trust, no confidence, negotiations were indirect and they're phased. It's gone remarkably well. I think the real challenge, though, lie in the weeks ahead when we begin to move from phase one, which will end roughly in another three weeks, to the implementation of phase two.

And those negotiations will probably start on the same day or a day before Prime Minister Netanyahu sits down with President Trump to be his first foreign meeting since taking office next week.

WHITFIELD: And with that meeting happening in a few days between Netanyahu and President Trump, why do you see what comes from that meeting or what transpires in that meeting to make an impact on that upcoming second phase of this agreement?

MILLER: You know, it's really a great question. Right now, it's hard for me to see how they square the circle. Phase two calls for Hamas to release all the remaining hostages. That's roughly 65 Israeli soldiers, half of whom the Israelis believe are no longer alive, in return for ending the war and withdrawing all Israeli forces from Gaza.

Hard to see, Fred, how Israel's right-wing government. One party's already split, the other is threatening to do so, if Mr. Netanyahu doesn't resume the war when phase one ends. Maybe President Trump can persuade him, pressure him, maybe he can tempt him. But that's the real question.

And right now, I don't see a way around it. It'll be a very fascinating meeting to see exactly how the two of them get along. Optics will be good, but I think they'll mask a lot of difficult decisions by both sides.

WHITFIELD: OK. And also, as part of this phase one, humanitarian aid is supposed to be getting through.

[12:10:05]

Is it getting through at the levels that this agreement expects it to? And who is in charge or, you know, of the gateways, opening the gateways for the humanitarian aid to come in?

MILLER: ?Yes, it's a critically important part of tragedy of the last 15 months. The absence of humanitarian assistance, the absence of active hospitals and clinics. A lack of proper sanitation and food and water. For a long suffering civilian population that Hamas has put at great risk by launching their October 7 attack, I think that the levels of deliveries of trucks have now perhaps surpassed the pre- October 7 level.

But again, until there is a prolonged period of security, it goes beyond weeks, Fred. And that's going to require an agreement for the future of Gaza. It's going to be very tough to get to the Gazan people, sorts of assistance they -- let alone to begin the traumatic and painful process of reconstruction, which could take years.

WHITFIELD: And of course, you heard President Trump use, you know, language about, you know, Gaza, just clearing it out. And, you know, why wouldn't neighbors like Egypt and Jordan take the 1 million Palestinians so as to, you know, so that they wouldn't be returning to Gaza.

President Trump spoke with the Egyptian President, El-Sisi, today about that idea, the future of the ceasefire agreement. You know, Egypt has, you know, rejected the idea of the relocating of these 1 million Palestinians in Gaza. What do you think is happening here?

MILLER: You know, President Trump's singing with the mindset of an opportunistic real estate developer. His special envoy who was in Gaza this past week talked about -- well, the President actually mentioned the fact that Gaza is a demolition zone, which would be a sort of take if you wanted to redevelop a piece of property.

But the intricacies and complications of Middle East politics, I think, suggest the President is going to run into very heavy lifting with both Egypt and Jordan. Both of them are not going to be willing to accept large numbers of Palestinians.

There are so many reasons that pertain to Jordanian security, Egyptian security, not to mention the notion of forcing, pushing Palestinians who have been -- some of whom have been located and relocated four or five times, of course, of the last 15 months out of an area, however destroyed it may be, that they call home.

Sentiment about wanting thing -- wanting a better life, security, prosperity for Palestinians in Gaza is right on the money, but I can't imagine that sort of arrangement being acceptable. And the Saudis and others have issued a very strong statement today, or yesterday, indicating their opposition to the President's ideas.

WHITFIELD: All right. Aaron David Miller, good to see you. Thank you so much.

MILLER: You too, Fred. Thanks.

WHITFIELD: President Trump's promised tariffs on goods for Mexico and Canada will go into effect today, according to the White House. What this means for the prices that you're paying at the grocery store and the gas station?

Plus, why CDC data on HIV, youth health, and safety during pregnancy have been removed from its website?

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[12:18:17]

WHITFIELD: President Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China are expected to go into effect today. The move amounts to a 25 percent tax on goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as 10 percent on China. Trump says the tariffs are aimed at curbing the influx of undocumented migrants and fentanyl across the U.S. borders.

Last night, he told reporters there was nothing the countries could do to stop him from imposing these steep tariffs.

We've got team coverage of these developments. Matt Egan will break down how these tariffs might increase prices for American consumers. But let's begin with Alayna Treene. Alayna, what can you tell us about the timing, the reasons behind these tariffs?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Fred, I am told that we should expect Donald Trump to sign the directive ordering and really putting these tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as China any moment now. He's expected to do so at some point this afternoon. And of course, he is down here in West Palm Beach, what he calls the winter White House.

We should expect some of that activity to be happening over at his private resort at Mar-a-Lago. But, look, after vowing to do this throughout his time on the campaign trail, it should really come as no surprise that Donald Trump is going to follow through on this promise.

This was really a pillar of his economic plan, again, something he touted repeatedly on the campaign trail, particularly in the final weeks leading up to the election. But it's also something that he believes he used effectively during his first term.

Still, though, we do know that many on Capitol Hill and on Wall Street and not to mention in Ottawa and Mexico City, a lot of them were hoping that Donald Trump would change his mind. So much so that we actually know that several people came to Washington, D.C. as part of a Canadian delegation, including Canada's foreign minister to meet with different Trump officials, including Donald Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, to see if they could, you know, find some sort of way to push these tariffs off.

[12:20:18] However, as you mentioned, Fred, the President essentially said yesterday that there is nothing these countries could do to stop these tariffs from going forward. We also heard him address some of the concerns we know that people have that potentially this could be impacting Americans' wallets. Take a listen to what he told reporters yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There could be some temporary short-term disruption, and people will understand that. But the tariffs are going to make us very rich and very strong, and we're going to treat other countries very fairly.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

TREENE: Now, Fred, one thing to keep in mind here as well is the broader impact these tariffs will have. They're likely to set off a broader trade war with other countries. And I'd remind you as well, this is not necessarily about the economic impact.

A lot of the reason Donald Trump is imposing these tariffs on our neighbors is because he believes they haven't done enough on politics and policies like stopping immigration and drugs from flowing into the United States. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you so much.

Matt, to you now. I think most Americans are now expecting that they are going to be paying more for goods, but really the key question is when. If these tariffs go into effect today, when are you going to see a difference when you go to the grocery store or fill up your gas tank?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Fredricka, it is easy to see how these sweeping tariffs on America's three biggest trading partners could cause prices to go higher at the grocery store, at the gas pump, at the car dealership, at restaurants. But there is still a lot we don't really know here.

We don't know exactly how this is going to play out or, frankly, if these tariffs are definitely coming. We don't know how long they're going to be kept in place. That's pretty important. We don't know how companies are going to react or, as Alayna was just saying, how other countries are going to respond.

But we do know that these are import taxes. They are paid by U.S. firms when they import stuff in from overseas. And at that point, they have a choice, right? They could either eat the cost of the tariff, but that might mean paying workers less or hiring fewer workers, or they can pass along the cost to consumers in the form of higher prices.

And that is what they have done in the past. And it's just really important to stress that what President Trump is on the verge of doing here is far larger in size and scope than what he did during the first term. We're talking about tariffs on roughly $1.4 trillion of goods that we could be hearing about at any moment. That is triple what President Trump did during his first term.

And we're obviously in a very different environment today. Consumers, investors, the Federal Reserve, everyone's much more sensitive to price increases right now. And the auto industry could be particularly hit hard because they treat North America like it's really just one economy, not three.

We see parts that can go across the border multiple times before a car ends up at a dealership. And so that's why Wolfe Research has estimated that the cost of a typical car sold in the United States could increase by $3,000 all because of these tariffs.

And it's obviously not just cars, right? For Mexico, that's the number one foreign source of vegetables and fruit into the U.S., including tomatoes and avocado. From Canada, we get minerals, foreign oil, we get wood and cement. And the U.S. imports 4 million barrels of oil every single day from Canada, 4 million. That's four times what the U.S. gets from OPEC.

And analysts have warned that you could quickly see an impact to gas prices, particularly in the Great Lakes region, Rocky Mountain, Midwest, because without that Canadian oil, we could see gas prices go higher. And so that's probably why President Trump last night said that the Canadian tariffs on oil would only be 10 percent instead of 25 percent. It's an acknowledgement of the risk here around prices.

And so, Fredricka, now we wait for details here and we wait to see if Trump can go big on tariffs without causing a big increase to prices.

WHITFIELD: Well, either way, that list that you just gave, that impacts Americans every day. Something on that list impacts your life.

EGAN: Absolutely. And I think in particular, we're talking about the grocery store. That was --

WHITFIELD: Yes.

EGAN: -- just a major frustration this election. And yet there's just so many goods that we get, agricultural goods from both Canada and from Mexico. Once you think about the amount of money that you're paying at the grocery store or at restaurants, there is the possibility that you're going to see an increase because of these tariffs. Fredricka?

[12:25:07]

WHITFIELD: All right, Matt Egan, we'll leave it there. Matt, thank you so much. Alayna Treene, to you as well. Thank you.

All right, salvage operations are underway in Washington, D.C. after that deadly collision between an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk helicopter. What investigators are hoping to learn from the black boxes that have now been recovered?

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WHITFIELD: As officials work their investigation into Wednesday's deadly midair collision, authorities say they now have black boxes from both the American Airlines regional jet and the Black Hawk helicopter. Crews have also recovered 41 bodies from the collision site right there in the Potomac River. Officials say 28 have been identified. The jet had been flying to D.C. from Wichita, Kansas, with 64 people on board. The Black Hawk, meanwhile, had three soldiers on board the helicopter. All 67 are presumed dead. CNN's Brian Todd joins us live from Reagan National Airport. Brian, what's the latest from what you're hearing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, this is still a very complicated and difficult recovery operation on the Potomac River. You mentioned 41 bodies have been recovered. That means 26 bodies have yet to be recovered, and it's still very difficult. You know, when people hear that this aircraft is only in about 8 feet of water, that's a little bit misleading as far as, you know, trying to figure out how difficult this recovery operation is because, frankly, much of the plane very likely kind of plunged deep into the riverbed.

So what they're doing now is they've got cranes and barges on the way from Virginia Beach. They're going to be arriving in the next couple of days. They say they really cannot recover the rest of the bodies until the fuselage is lifted out of the water. That's how difficult this operation is. So those cranes and barges, when they get here, are going to be critical to lifting that fuselage out of the water to recover the rest of the bodies, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And then what -- what are we hearing about the staffing at the time of the collision? Have investigators spoken with them?

TODD: They have, Fredricka. The NTSB said that investigators have spoken to the one air traffic controller that was manning two different positions in the tower at the time of the accident. Now, normally there's one controller handling helicopter traffic and another handling plane traffic. But on Wednesday night, one controller was handling both sets of traffic.

Now, experts and former controllers say that is not an abnormal situation. It's not necessarily how it's supposed to be, but they can do this. And this decision was made, according to a source by the supervisor shortly before the accident happened to have one controller handle both sets of aircraft. So they have interviewed that controller. They're going to continue to do that. They're going to go over every single, you know, second, you know, along the way of, you know, the seconds before this happened and then right after talking to that controller to get more answers. But that's what we do know is that one controller was manning two different positions at the time.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And there's so much videotape that everyone has seen from so many angles. But of course, getting more information from those black boxes is really going to help complete the picture for these investigators.

TODD: Right. BLACKWELL: Brian Todd at Reagan National Airport, thank you so much.

For more perspective, I'm joined now by CNN aviation analyst and former managing director of the NTSB, Peter Goelz. Peter, great to see you. So help elaborate now further on what is the kind of information that they will be able to glean from these black boxes and now the black box being retrieved from the Black Hawk helicopter as well.

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, the critical turn was discovering the black box from the Black Hawk that it had audio track in it. You want to know what that flight crew was up to in the minutes leading up to the crash. Did they actually see the plane? The air traffic controller warned him twice to be on the alert for the PSA for the regional jet. Were they looking at the regional jet? Were they looking at another jet?

And then you'll get a further look into -- into the totality of the mission. As you go back in time. You see were these guys performing their checklists? Were they performing, you know, was this a tight mission? And that will help give the investigators a picture of -- of the Black Hawk's behavior. And the -- the black box from the PSA plane is likely not to be very instructive because they were locked in final approach.

The flying pilot had his hand -- had his eyes on the runway. The co- pilot, the non-flying pilot was handling the flaps and communications. I don't think you'll get much out of that. They got hit blindsided and it'll just be a tragic end.

WHITFIELD: So -- so the approach of the American Airlines jet, that will likely be very standard. But, you know, when you say the checklist that they'll be evaluating for the Black Hawk, so is that audible? They'll be able to hear that from the black box, that -- the audible recording?

GOELZ: They were on a training mission so they had certain things they had to accomplish during this mission. They'll go back and see whether they were accomplishing those missions in a timely manner. Were they paying attention to their environment? They will get a picture of how that flight was being accomplished.

[12:35:11]

WHITFIELD: And then back to the point about the aircraft, you know, the visual sighting of it, you know, how do you assess the reporting, you know, about, you know, the Reagan transmission showing that the helicopter was alerted twice about the inbound American Airlines jet? The first warning issued two minutes before the dreadful impact. So it almost sounds as though, just based on that, that perhaps, you know, that visual on the American Airlines jet, I guess they may have been looking at another one, the other approaching jet behind that American Airlines jet.

GOELZ: That's right. That's the speculation. And that really underscores the very risky, you know, convergence of the helicopter corridor and the approach pattern for Runway 33. And, you know, it's such a narrow safety margin, 300 feet separation that is too narrow for such a busy airport. That whole corridor needs to be evaluated. And I think we replaced.

WHITFIELD: OK. Let's talk about that medevac flight crashing in Philadelphia.

GOELZ: Yes.

WHITFIELD: I mean, extraordinary. Forty seconds into flight, this medevac, you know, falls from the air. Is that enough time, 40 seconds in flight, is that enough time for the pilots to know that there's a problem, be able to radio, say there's a mayday? What do you think ultimately, you know, happened here in terms of, is this just the -- the -- the failure of -- of the jet itself? Is there enough time for pilots to be able to -- to radio in that there's a problem in 40 seconds?

GOELZ: Well, it does not appear as though there was any mayday call made by the jet. I mean, this was an awful sudden event. And I am fearful, Fredricka, that they are going to have, the NTSB is going to have a very difficult time figuring out exactly what -- what happened in this accident. The -- the aircraft was an older model Lear. It did not have a voice recorder. It did not have a cockpit, a data recorder. There is -- while there is some videotape, it's not particularly clear.

And the impact was so devastating. I think they're going to have their hands full. Now, the only tip off might be if something came off the plane earlier and is a little further down the flight track that might help indicate it, what -- what happened, because the first piece off is the most important. But I'm not sure they're going to find that. It's -- it's a very disturbing and perplexing accident.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And we learned in that press conference the debris field is between four and six blocks wide.

GOELZ: Right.

WHITFIELD: But like you said, there may be pieces that fell off far earlier than that. And reconstructing this flight to help figure out what happened. I mean, that too might be compromised simply because of the circumstances.

GOELZ: Right.

WHITFIELD: All right.

GOELZ: And, you know, the -- the -- the discussion about -- about oxygen within the plane, that's always a dangerous thing when you have oxygen containers. But it's going to be very difficult to figure out was there a fire in advance? We don't -- I don't think we'll know.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right. Peter Goelz, thank you so much for your expertise.

GOELZ: Thank you. [12:38:49]

WHITFIELD: All right. Tomorrow there will be a special episode of The Whole Story. Anderson Cooper has a deeper look into the safety of our skies. The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper airing tomorrow night, 7:00 right here on CNN. And tomorrow on CNN's State of the Union, Jake Tapper talks with new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, 9:00 a.m. right here on CNN.

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WHITFIELD: The CDC is in the process of removing several websites and data sets as it seeks to comply with the President's executive orders. Sites related to HIV, LGBTQ and youth health data on sexual behaviors, violence, bullying, obesity and suicide all went dark on Friday. An official says Trump's order to eliminate federal DEI programs and the requirement for the government to recognize two sexes prompted these changes.

Officials say the removal of certain language on these sites will take time, so sites have now gone dark to make the adjustments. It's unclear when the websites will return. CNN has reached out to the White House for more information.

All right, two weeks into the Trump administration and some of the President's nominees for key posts endured tough tests on Capitol Hill. The nominee for Health and Human Services director, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Director of National Intelligence nominee, Tulsi Gabbard, and FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, each facing bipartisan scrutiny during Senate hearings this week.

[12:45:01]

Joining me right now, congressional reporter for the Associated Press, Farnoush Amiri is with us now. Farnoush, great to see you. So, Tulsi Gabbard, let's talk about her first. She was asked repeatedly about past comments she made calling on the federal government to drop all charges against Edward Snowden. In 2013, he revealed the existence of the NSA's phone record collection before fleeing to Russia. Here's how Gabbard responded to questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America? That is not a hard question to answer when the stakes are this high.

TULSI GABBARD, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE NOMINEE: Senator, as someone who has served --

BENNET: Your answer, yes or no, is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?

GABBARD: As someone who has one of uniform --

BENNET: I'll go on to my question. SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Was Edward Snowden a traitor?

GABBARD: Senator, my heart is with my commitment to our Constitution and our nation's security.

LANKFORD: Was he a traitor at the time when he took America's secrets released them in public, and then ran to China and became a Russian citizen?

GABBARD: Senator, I'm focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So, Farnoush, does Gabbard have the votes right now to become the director of National Intelligence?

FARNOUSH AMIRI, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, AP.ORG: Yes, I mean, she is one of the few nominees that went in with more support and left with less. I mean, it is really stunning. You saw the clips you just made. Republican and Democrats were trying to help her make clear where she stands on this issue, which is obviously very important to members of Congress, obviously a very controversial issue.

But she continuously refused to say the words that Edward Snowden is a traitor. And she left with many more Republicans who obviously, you know, Democrats, it would be in addition, if she gets those, that's great. She needs every single Republican, not only on that committee but on the floor to be able to pass. I mean, she can only lose three or four people. And she left Susan Collins walked into that hearing very concerned about her, but she seemed to walk out feeling better. But then you saw someone like James Lankford who walked out and told us, you know, and several other people that he wasn't sure that he really tried to help her, you know, get this on the record, that she believes Edward Snowden is a traitor and she refused to say so.

WHITFIELD: So it's now been, you know, more than a week since the White House put a sudden 90-day freeze on almost all foreign aid. Several non-governmental organizations who spoke to CNN say that they haven't gotten answers about which funding has been suspended. You've reported that programs include the president's emergency relief plans for aids relief, refugee and resettlement services. So what are some of the other programs that are being impacted by this freeze?

AMIRI: I mean, it -- it's kind of runs the gamut, right? I think most people do not know the scope and breadth of U.S. foreign aid and the corners of the world that it touches. I mean, we're talking about, as you mentioned, HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. You know, the presidential PEPFAR program, which has gone through several administrations, Republican and Democrat, and has broad bipartisan and support, is now, you know, there's millions of dollars of HIV medication in warehouses that the U.S. has already paid for and that cannot go out and be administered to individuals who are high risk for this disease.

I mean, it goes through soup kitchens, it goes through developmental aid for children. It goes to, you know, a myriad of things. And it's what is so difficult and from sources I've talked to is that they don't even actually know how far this stock work order touches. They -- I think the implications of what this freeze would do is a question to many of the people on the ground who are doing this work.

WHITFIELD: Including even assistance going to Ukraine, and people are not able to receive it.

AMIRI: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right, Farnoush Amiri, thank you so much.

AMIRI: Thank you.

[12:49:07]

WHITFIELD: All right. Right now Democrats are voting on who will lead the DNC for President Trump's second term. We'll go there live.

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WHITFIELD: In its battle to win back political power, members of the Democratic National Committee are gathering right now in Maryland. Among the big items as they meet picking a new DNC chair who can help rebrand the party through the next four years. Whoever takes on the job will also have to help fellow Democrats rebound from November's stinging losses. CNN's Arlette Saenz joins us now from Oxon Hill, Maryland. Arlette, good to see you. So how soon might we know who might be picked for the job?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, we actually could find out any minute now. DNC officials right now are behind the scene tallying up the votes of the first ballot that was conducted in this race for who will lead the Democratic National Committee.

Now, in order to win this first ballot, a candidate will need the majority of support. There are 450 voting members of the DNC. The majority will depend that exact figure on how many were here present voting today. But there were eight candidates heading into today's chair race. That includes some of the leading candidates were considered to Ben Wikler of the State Party of Wisconsin as well as Ken Martin, who leads Minnesota's state party and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.

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Two of the candidates that were running today actually dropped out of this race during their nominating speeches and threw their support behind Ken Martin. That included Marianne Williamson and Nate Snyder. So we will see whether Democrats select a chair on this first ballot. If they do not reach that majority, then this will continue on to further ballots.

But there really major challenges that the Democratic Party is facing in this moment and that is what the DNC chair will have to really chart out in the coming years. They are trying to rebound from those devastating losses to Republicans which led to the return of Donald Trump to the White House in November. And then they are still grappling with how exactly to respond to Trump in this new era in his return to the White House.

You saw Democrats really this week starting to gain their footing a bit in pushing back against some of Trump's policies when it related to the freeze on federal funding for grants and other initiatives. But these are all major questions that the DNC chair will face as they are expected to come into office. They will have to focus on fundraising, trying to build organizing across the straight -- states and trying to take that Democratic message to voters that in the last election did not exactly help and where the party had some major losses, especially in that presidential race. So we'll see maybe in a few minutes if we have answer of who that DNC chair will be.

WHITFIELD: All right, let us know. Arlette Saenz, thanks so much.

All right. And we have this breaking news into CNN. President Donald Trump says he has ordered precision military airstrikes in Somalia. We have details next.

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