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Seven People Dead After Medical Jet Crashes In Philadelphia; Recovery Efforts Underway After 67 Killed In Midair Crash; Trump Set To Hit key Trading Partners With Tariffs; DOJ Demands List Of FBI Agents Who Worked On Jan 6 Investigation, Other Trump-Related Cases By Tuesday; Democrats Pick Ken Martin Of Minnesota As DNC Chair; Dual U.S. Citizen Among 3 Hostages Released From Gaza; 183 Palestinians Freed In Latest Round Of Hostage Releases. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 01, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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


[16:00:00]

DR. JESSICA MCCOUN, ANESTHESIOLOGIST: So rhinoplasty, orthopedics, they even had some nonsurgical indications about 13 percent of them.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right. While it's FDA approved, still don't know when it's going to be available on the market, prescribed, et cetera.

MCCOUN: Correct. I don't have any information, but I'm sure Vertex will be happy to get out there as soon as they can.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. Jessica McCoun, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

MCCOUN: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: Great to see you.

MCCOUN: You as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Five years after the death of Kobe Bryant his legacy continues. The CNN Original Series, "KOBE, THE MAKING OF A LEGEND" continues tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

And thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. NEWSROOM with Jessica Dean starts right now.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in Washington. And we're following multiple breaking news stories this hour.

Any moment now, President Trump is set to hit America's neighbors and largest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, with new tariffs. Tariffs also set to go into effect for China. We'll talk about how those measures could drive up the prices you pay on food, gas, cars, and more.

Also, two deadly aviation accidents within 48 hours. We're getting new details tonight on the medevac jet that crashed in Philadelphia killing seven people there. Our first look at the field of debris strewn across several city blocks.

And in the nation's capital, the NTSB will soon update us on the investigation into Wednesday's deadly collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter. Black boxes from both aircraft now recovered and being analyzed. We're going to take you to the scene live.

Let's start first, though, with that deadly plane crash in Philadelphia. Officials there warning the death toll in that could rise after a medevac jet crashed into a densely populated neighborhood last night. At least one person was killed on the ground who was in their car, 19 others injured when that plane went down. No one on the plane survived.

CNN's Danny Freeman is there following the latest.

And, Danny, there is a large crash scene around you. What's happening there today?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An incredibly large crash scene around us and behind us, Jessica. This is an area you know well, and it's absolutely a heartbreaking day for Philadelphia. Like you noted, seven people now confirmed dead, 19 injuries at least. And there's genuine fear from public officials here in Philadelphia that that fatality number could rise.

And part of it, Jessica, specifically because that plane crashed right on Cottman Avenue behind me. This is a very well populated area. There was likely traffic that evening and a pedestrian, for example, could have been in that area and not -- and been hit by a plane and not be known by first responders just yet. Just because there's so much debris in that particular area.

But I want to talk about, Jessica, exactly what we know at this point when it comes to what happened. This accident took place just after 6:00 p.m. There was this medevac jet that was flying out of northeast international airport here in Philadelphia. It's the smaller of the two major airports in Philadelphia. It was heading to Missouri, ultimately on its way to Mexico. It had six people on that plane. Two pilots, a doctor, a paramedic, and then a pediatric patient and her mother.

That pediatric patient was here in Philadelphia at Shriner's Children's Hospital receiving treatment, and they were all heading back to Mexico, where everyone on this plane was from. But then, of course, the horror happened as that plane darted out of the sky and fell down here in northeast Philadelphia.

That plane, Jessica, only in the air for about 40 seconds before it fell down, causing those massive fireball images that we've seen.

I want you to take a listen to just how seriously the local officials here, Jessica, are taking the prospect of potentially more casualties. This is how the managing director of the city put the need for people to call in if they have missing people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM THIEL, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CITY OF PHILADELPHIA: If you haven't seen somebody, you think somebody might have been in this area, there's a -- if you have a relative in this area and you haven't seen or heard from them, and you're concerned, call 911 and we will take it from there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: The other thing, Jessica, that I'll note, we've seen a number of investigators out on the scene today. NTSB, of course, leading the investigation. We've seen local crime scene officials, also the FBI on the ground. Everyone is scouring the area for evidence basically in this crash. And there's debris, frankly, all around, even as far as here.

The mayor of Philadelphia encouraging people to not come to this area if they do not have to, just because there is debris all around this area, but also saying if you live anywhere between here and the airport here in the northeast, which is a couple miles away, keep an eye out because there might be debris even that far, miles away from where this crash happened. All of this could help in the investigation to determine what went wrong here -- Jessica.

DEAN: Just incredible images from there. Danny Freeman in Philadelphia, thanks so much for that reporting.

And back here in Washington, we're expecting an update from the NTSB this evening on the investigation of the deadly crash involving an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk helicopter, including possible data recovered from those aircrafts' black boxes.

[16:05:09]

Right now, crews are searching the icy waters of the Potomac River. So far, 41 bodies have been recovered from that site.

CNN's Brian Todd is at Reagan National Airport.

Brian, we are now into Saturday, several days after this crash. What's the latest on the recovery efforts today?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, we've been anticipating two critical developments in the investigation today that could come really at any time. One, you mentioned the information from the black boxes, from those voice and flight data recorders that have been recovered from the water. According to a source familiar with the investigation investigators could provide some high level readouts possibly today of the information from those black boxes.

And that's going to be critical because that could tell us about the altitude of both the aircrafts at the time of the collision. Specifically it could tell us whether the Black Hawk helicopter was flying at the prescribed height or possibly flying above that height. That height is 200 feet above the ground. According to the rules helicopters in that helicopter corridor that's just east of the airport here are supposed to fly either at or below 200 feet.

We did report in the last couple of days, CNN reported that initial data, flight tracking data, shows that the helicopter may have been flying as high as 100 feet above that prescribed height and possibly veering off course. But again, that information from the black boxes is going to be very, very critical and hopefully we can get that today.

Also, at the actual point of the recovery on the Potomac River, we can actually put up a live picture that we're able to show you of the area of the fuselage. There are -- we've just noticed now that there are three vessels that are right around the fuselage. Two of them are tethered together. These vessels are tethered together, right, basically at the point where the fuselage is. And there's a third boat that's come into the picture.

What we're really anticipating, though, Jessica, is the arrival of cranes and barges. Those are coming up from Virginia Beach, and they've been on their way. They're anticipated to get here possibly today. That's going to be critical because as we know, 41 bodies have been recovered. That means 26 bodies have yet to be recovered. And officials have said they may not be able to get those bodies out until the fuselage is actually physically lifted off of the riverbed and out of the water.

That's how complicated and dangerous this recovery operation is. In order to get that fuselage out, they have to get the cranes and barges in place to actually physically pick it up in shallow water. That's what you have to use, cranes and barges, and those are on the way now -- Jessica.

DEAN: And Brian, as we mentioned, we are going to hear from the NTSB a little bit -- in just a couple of hours. What are you hearing about what we might learn?

TODD: Well, there's all sorts of things that we could learn, Jessica. We could learn, of course, about the assets that they're bringing, those cranes and barges that we spoke of. Hopefully they'll be able to give us maybe some information from those black boxes. What did the recordings say? What were the communications like between the air traffic controller here at Reagan National Airport and the two aircraft? What was said between the two?

We also hopefully will get some more information about the actual air traffic controller that was on duty at the time because that is an issue as well. We have been reporting, we've learned that there are usually two air traffic controllers on duty, one handling helicopter traffic and one handling plane traffic. Well, at the time of the collision, we have learned there was just one person, one air traffic controller handling both of those duties in the tower at the time.

Now we are told that that is not an uncommon practice. We are told that a supervisor can actually make that call, and that a supervisor of the air traffic controllers did make that call shortly before the accident, to have just one person handling it, because the volume of air traffic might have been a little lower at that time. So again, it's not uncommon. But we also have heard from officials and aviation experts that probably under normal circumstances you'd have two people there, but there was just one air traffic controller there at the time.

DEAN: All right. Brian Todd, with the latest from Reagan National Airport. Thank you very much for that.

And joining us now is former senior investigator at the NTSB, Greg Feith.

Greg, thank you so much for being here with us. We just got that reporting from our colleague Brian Todd, and we are learning that at this press conference, there could be what they describe as high level readouts as soon as today from these black box recorders. What might that be? What is that?

GREG FEITH, FORMER SENIOR NTSB INVESTIGATOR: Jessica, when the NTSB starts releasing this preliminary data, of course it is just data. It's going to be factual. It'll be vetted based on what the NTSB pulls off of the flight data recorder, and the flight deck, the cockpit voice recorder from both aircraft. You're not going to have any kind of analysis. You're not going to have really any kind of context other than here are the transmissions that were made by the regional jet pilots to the air traffic controller.

[16:10:05]

Here are the communications between the Black Hawk pilots and the air traffic controller. But the board is not going to try and put it in context or build a story line. They're just going to provide this, you know, higher level view of here's the data, it's good data, and this is what we know at this point.

DEAN: And as an investigator, at this stage, what questions are you asking? Where do you feel like there are the most questions right now?

FEITH: I think right now the answers that I would like to hear are to the questions that we had two days ago, and that is, what altitude was the Black Hawk helicopter actually flying at, and they should get some good data from the flight data recorder off of that helicopter. And then really, what were the actual communications between the air traffic controller and the Black Hawk helicopter pilots, as it refers to what traffic the air traffic controller was telling them about.

He made a statement saying, do you have the RJ in sight? Well, there were three other aircraft, including another RJ in that particular vicinity. So when he transmitted it, did he actually identify an exact location of the RJ he was referring to? Typically you'll hear an air traffic controller say you have traffic at 1:00, two miles. That gives at least a direction and location of that traffic rather than, do you have an RJ?

Because when the air traffic or when the Black Hawk pilots responded, whoever was doing the radio calls said we have the aircraft in sight. They didn't respond, saying, we have the RJ, we have the aircraft in sight. So it's terminology, it's phraseology. And of course it is communication, and whether or not it was misunderstood, what was transpiring between the Black Hawk pilots and the air traffic controller regarding the traffic.

DEAN: Yes, just critical information there. And we do know that the NTSB has begun those initial interviews with the air traffic control personnel to get their piece of all of that. What specifically do they need to learn from them? I would assume, based on what you're saying, a lot of it goes into communication and what exactly was said when and how.

FEITH: Correct. And when you talk to the air traffic controller, you want to understand not only some background information about the controller. We typically look at a 72-hour look back, you know, how are you feeling? Are you fatigued? You know, did you, you know, have any kind of ailments? Because we want to know what their physical state was because fatigue is always been an issue and it's been a concern, especially with this pilot shortage.

And a lot of people have talked recently that you have air traffic controllers working a lot of overtime. This combined position, while it is normal, it is not unusual because when traffic load goes down, they may combine a position. There's nothing dangerous about it unless the person who has the responsibility gets distracted, is doing other duties. The workload is actually higher than was anticipated.

We saw this in the Comair accident in Lexington, Kentucky, where you had one controller handling multiple positions didn't follow the aircraft taxiing out. And when Comair 5191 took off, they took off on the wrong runway. That's the kind of information the board wants to understand. What were you doing during this period of time? Were you looking at the screen the whole time, the radar screen?

Were you doing something else? Were you looking at a piece of paper? Did you turn your back? They want to know that to see if there was a collision alert that was given to the air traffic controller and the tower cap, and he may have been distracted. They're going to try and ferret that kind of information out.

DEAN: And I think a lot of people out there are watching, and they're thinking to themselves, we've had these two deadly crashes within days of each other, obviously very, very different circumstances. But it has rattled people. So what is your message to people who might be afraid or concerned to fly now?

FEITH: There is always that concern. And we saw that back in 1996 with ValuJet, and then we had TWA 800. We saw multiple accidents in 1994. And it does rattle the flying public and even the non-flying public because these accidents, one, are prominent, two, one of them happened in a very populated area. The fact is, is that aviation here in the United States is very, very safe. We have systems, we have policies, procedures and as long as operational discipline is maintained, that system works. We have to understand where the flaws, where the failures in the system happened.

[16:15:03] With the Potomac accident, it is operational discipline and procedures. That's what's going to be understood. As far as the Philadelphia accident, was there a mechanical malfunction or failure of the aircraft shortly after takeoff that either inhibited or prevented the flight crew from maintaining control of the aircraft?

It's very obvious the aircraft was out of control at a high speed, resulting in a high energy impact. That's going to be incumbent upon the board to see, is that a mechanical malfunction or failure, or was that some sort of pilot issue that resulted in that accident?

DEAN: All right, Greg Feith, thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it.

FEITH: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: Could America be on the verge of a trade war with its two neighbors and closest allies? The White House is expected to announce new tariffs on Canada and Mexico tonight. But will they have the desired effect?

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[16:20:37]

DEAN: Tonight's tonight President Trump says he will keep his promises to hit some of America's biggest trading partners with aggressive new tariffs. An additional 10 percent on Chinese imports and a 25 percent tariffs on good coming into America from Canada and also from Mexico.

Most economists believe this will lead to higher prices for Americans. "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board calling it, quote, "the dumbest trade war in history."

CNN's Alayna Treene is live in West Palm Beach, Florida, with more on this.

And Alayna, obviously, we're still waiting for more details in all of this. What are you hearing from the White House on details and timing of these tariffs?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as for timing, Jessica, I am told that we should expect these tariffs imminently, that the president is expected to sign them at any moment now, back at his resort at Mar-a-Lago behind me on that island, behind me over there. But look, I think his vow to carry through and follow through on his threat to impose steep tariffs on the United States' neighbors is not something that anyone should be surprised about.

This, of course, has been a key pillar of Donald Trump's economic plan. He touted it repeatedly on the campaign trail, specifically in the final weeks leading up to the election. But it's also something that the president believes he used effectively during his first administration. Now, of course, despite that, we have seen many different entities, like people on Capitol Hill to Wall Street, to Ottawa and Mexico City all really holding out hope even in the final hours leading up to these tariffs being signed that Donald Trump would change his mind.

However, we heard him say yesterday specifically that countries shouldn't bother, that there's nothing they can do at this moment to change his mind. Now, to get to your point about how, you know, a lot of experts and economists are warning that this will directly impact America's wallets, it's actually something we heard the president acknowledge yesterday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, 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 VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Jessica, one thing as well I would like to point out is tariffs is actually a rare policy that Donald Trump has for years, even going back to his real estate days, been a supportive of. He used to refer to it on the campaign trail, as well as one of the most beautiful words in the dictionary. And apart from the economic impact of this, as he addressed in that sound that you just heard, he also believes that it is a good negotiating tactic.

And we really saw that play out last weekend when he used the threat of tariffs in retaliation to Colombia, when they were trying to push back and prevent American military aircraft from carrying migrants back to their country. So this is something Donald Trump is very much committed to. And again, we should see these tariffs 25 percent on all goods from Canada and Mexico and 10 percent on China to come any moment now.

DEAN: All right. Alayna Treene, stay with us. We will see you shortly. Whenever that comes, we will, of course, get back to you. Thank you so much for that reporting.

The big question here for a lot of Americans, what could these tariffs mean for your wallet?

Let's bring in CNN's Matt Egan to help break it down for us.

Matt, Mexico was America's largest trading partner last year. And it was interesting, that clip that Alayna just played, the president acknowledging there's temporary short-term disruption. But he says people will understand. And that's the big question, right? Will people understand if prices go higher. So walk us through what kind of prices could go up because of this?

MATT EGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, I mean, there really could be significant consequences from these tariffs. Higher prices, slower economic growth. You could see a temper tantrum on Wall Street and maybe even just this full blown trade war where all these countries are trading tariffs with each other.

I do want to stress, though, there's still a lot we don't know in terms of the precise timing of when these tariffs would get implemented, what would be hit and how other countries are going to respond. But it is really important to stress that these tariffs represent a far more aggressive use of Trump's favorite economic weapon than anything he did during the first term, right?

[16:25:00]

We're talking about hitting around $1.4 trillion of imports with tariffs. That is more than triple what was done during the first term. And the president loves tariffs because, as Alayna was just saying, they create leverage. He feels that they're necessary to try to reach a deal on legal immigration and the flow of drugs into the U.S. But Mary lovely, she's a researcher at the Peterson Institute, she told me that this is a huge gamble. She said it's a recipe for slowing down the economy and increasing inflation.

She told me that she's very confident that these tariffs will increase consumer prices. Maybe not overnight, but most noticeably at the grocery store, because when you look at U.S. imports of food, we do import a lot from Mexico and from Canada. Mexico was the number one source of agricultural goods coming into the U.S., including number one from fruit and vegetable. Mexico and Canada were also one and two when you look at grains that are imported into the U.S. So there is the potential that these tariffs could increase prices at the grocery store.

We know that is a major frustration for consumers. That's just one example, though. That's just food. Theres also car prices that could go up because the auto industry is very closely linked together in North America. Energy, too. The U.S. imports a lot of oil from Mexico and from Canada. That's why analysts have said that a 25 percent tariff would likely increase gas prices, especially in the Midwest and around the Great Lakes.

And so, look, that's why we are starting to hear increasing concern from people in the business community, from trade experts, from economists. You mentioned that "Wall Street Journal" scathing op-ed that was published in today's paper. The title was "The Dumbest Trade War in History." "The Journal" argued that, OK, tariffs on China is one thing, but to hit our closest neighbors with tariffs, they say, makes no sense.

And so, Jessica, I do think if these tariffs go into effect and if prices start to go significantly higher, I think we're going to hear even more criticism from the business community because this is something that would create real risk to the economy -- Jessica.

DEAN: Right. Because just to remind everyone, the tariff is on the export, which is then brought into the United States, they have to pay it. The people that are getting that product to then sell to us here in America, and then Americans also are going to be paying the higher prices. That's just how it works. And we know Americans are deeply concerned about high prices right now. So this is going to be interesting.

Matt Egan, thanks so much. Thousands of FBI agents could be fired in the next few days. More than

a dozen Justice Department prosecutors have been shown the door and the common thread for all of them, their work on January 6th and investigating that and the Trump investigation.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:32:28]

DEAN: The Trump administration is now demanding the names of thousands of FBI agents who worked on the January 6th capitol attack, or any Trump-related investigations.

The Justice Department wants those names by Tuesday and specified that that list should include all employees who, quote, "at any time, worked on the January 6th investigations." That's according to an email obtained by CNN.

And the people who will find themselves on that list face potential removal. The request is just the latest in President Trump's promise to strike back at the Justice Department and the FBI, which he claims has been weaponized against him.

Retired FBI special agent, Daniel Brunner, is joining us now.

Daniel, thanks for being here.

Axios put it this way this morning. They said, "America has never witnessed so many people purged or punished by an incoming president so quickly."

What is your initial reaction to what we're learning?

DANIEL BRUNNER, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Listen, my initial reaction to this is -- is concerning. I just retired about two years ago, and I will be the first person to say the FBI is in need of change. There needs to be change in the leadership and the management positions at FBI headquarters.

So I applaud President Trump's move to change a lot of those leaders. And many of them I worked for. Many of them I know.

But this move, to go after the prosecutors and now the line agents, the street agents who conducted -- and not to mention you're talking about intelligence analysts, special operations specialists, people that had done the research to go after them just because they worked on an investigation, I think is irresponsible. And I think it's very, very dangerous.

Deputy -- Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove made -- sent a letter to Acting Director Driscoll on Friday. And there was one section of that letter which really concerned me.

He states, "I do not believe that the current leadership of the Justice Department can trust these FBI employees to assist in implementing the president's agenda faithfully."

That right there, the last few words, "president's agenda faithfully," the FBI agents that I work with and that I've worked with for so many years, they're not there to affect and impose the president's agenda.

They're there to affect the agenda of the U.S. Constitution, the laws of the Constitution, uphold and defend the Constitution. That's what we swear to on day one at the FBI academy is uphold the constitution of the United States and the laws set forth by Congress.

They are not there to put forward the president's agenda. The president is the leader of the country, and he sets the tone. But the independence of the FBI is what was at stake here.

[16:35:07]

And removing a lot of these line agents, who had nothing to do other than just conducting a part of the investigation, is concerning.

And we're looking at 10 percent, 15 percent of the -- of the agent force, which will be decimated if they follow through with this, with these changes. Which I would be very concerned about in how they're going to replenish and how they're going to be able to recoup from this.

DEAN: Right. And because what you're saying, and from what I understand, essentially those line agents that you're talking about that are just responsible for doing their job, are potentially getting fired for doing their job.

BRUNNER: Correct. They -- all they were doing is they were following instructions.

Now, whether those -- those orders may have come down from a leadership position, which President Trump finds as unjust, that's between President Trump and the attorney generals at the Department of Justice and those leaders, whether they be at the Department of Justice or the FBI, whether he agrees or disagrees.

But there are squads in Dallas and the Washington field office, which were working January 6th investigations. I know many agents in Newark Division that worked these this investigation, conducting interviews because they were ordered to do it. They were ordered to conduct these.

And these are hard-working, good individuals at the FBI that were just following the orders given to them.

Now, those orders may have been unjust, and that's to be determined, I think, from an investigation, whether they investigate whether the president -- but just to blankly just with a broad brush fire all these leaders and all these members of the FBI, many of them extremely experienced, is -- is reverberating and it's causing a problem.

I know many senior agents at the FBI who have nothing to do with January 6th, and nothing to do with any investigation that's concerning, are seriously considering putting in their papers and retiring because of the culture that may be coming into the FBI when they replace these 1,000, 1,500 agents. It's going to change the FBI to its core.

And I know there are a lot of people out there that are going to take that and listen to it and say, that's exactly what we need. It's not the line agents that we need to change.

It's the leadership of the FBI. There's many senior leaders who needed to be removed. And I'm the first person to say that there were dangerous and just controversial leaders that need to be removed.

But it's not the line agents. They're not the ones at fault. They're just upholding the Constitution of the United States.

DEAN: You make a really important and, I think, nuance in this day and age is important too. And let's all let's all hear it because you're differentiating very clearly between the line agents and leadership.

And I hear you saying you believe the FBI does need that leadership change. Kash Patel, of course, has been nominated to run the FBI. He said over and over again there will be no retaliation. He told that to Senators just this week.

Do you believe him? And is he the right person to lead this agency?

BRUNNER: That is yet to be determined. I have -- I find it very hard to believe that he was not, since this -- these this movement, these letters were set into action as soon as his hearings were conducted and completed. So I find it hard to believe that he wasn't a part of these -- these conversations.

That, like I said, is between him and the Senate to determine whether he was telling the truth when Senator Booker asked him that very question.

Whether Kash Patel can come in and set a new tone will yet to be determined. I think that Mr. Patel can bring change to -- to the FBI. He can bring the good changes and he needs to. But he needs to come in and listen to agents who are experienced.

And I know that there are some retired agents that have been moved into the seventh floor leadership at headquarters now in the past few weeks. And I hope he sits there and listens to them and -- and has a change.

And he does follow through with a lot of things that he said at the hearing that he's here to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the laws set forth by Congress and follow the laws and follow the rules and follow legal orders given to him and given to his people under him.

So that's what I hope. He comes in with an open mind and listens to his people.

DEAN: Yes. As you know, FBI agents pledge allegiance to the Constitution, not one particular president.

Agent -- Agent Daniel Brunner, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

BRUNNER: My pleasure.

[16:43:27]

DEAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: In their first big move since a bruising election loss in November, Democrats have chosen a new party chair, Ken Martin.

Martin was the leader of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He beat out a crowded field of contenders, including former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and Wisconsin party chair, Ben Wikler.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is joining us now.

Arlette, this all played out over the last couple of days, with the votes coming -- coming just -- just a short bit ago. What more can you tell us?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, Democrats selected Ken Martin, the leader of the Minnesota State Democratic Party, as the next chair of the DNC.

Really amounting to Democrat's first major decision in the Trump era, as they are charting the course for their party going forward.

Now, Martin won the majority of votes that were cast here today, followed by Ben Wikler, who was the state party chair in Wisconsin.

[16:45:00]

And it comes as Democrats are really facing this period where they're trying to figure out how to challenge Trump going forward and also recover from those November losses in the presidential election.

Martin said that is a part of their goals going forward, is taking on Donald Trump, but also organizing for the elections to come.

And here is the message that he had directly for President Trump, saying that "the party is ready to take on a much more aggressive tone in challenging him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN MARTIN, NEWLY ELECTED DNC CHAIR: We're coming. This is a new Democratic Party. We're taking the gloves off.

I've always viewed my role as a chair of the Democratic Party to take the low road so my candidates and elected officials can take the high road. Meaning I'm going to throw a punch.

So Donald Trump, Republican Party, this is a new DNC. We are not going to sit back and not take you on when you fail the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now it comes as Democrats have really been questioning or talking about in the past two weeks how best to take on Trump in these coming years.

You saw Democrats really emerge with some messages pushing back on Trump this week when it pertains to the federal freeze on federal grants and loans.

That is one area where they have been willing to challenge him on. And it's something that Martin says the Democratic Party plans to do going forward.

He also talked about the need for the party to combat misinformation, saying that they will ramp up their Democratic war room, but also try to meet voters where they are going to other types of platforms to try to communicate to them directly.

Now, in addition to that, they also need to focus on building, organizing the party for the elections to come, both in this year's off elections as well as 2026 and 2028.

But Martin said that there will also be a period of introspection, that he does plan to have a formal review of what happened in the 2024 race that led to those Democratic losses, and he did pledge to making those public.

All of these are some of the challenges that he will be facing as the Democrats chart their path forward in the coming years -- Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Arlette Saenz, in Maryland for us, thank you very much for that.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:47]

DEAN: In the Middle East today, three more hostages were freed after being held for 15 months by Hamas. It is the latest round of hostage release as part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

As CNN's Jeremy Diamond explains, 65-year-old Israeli-American Keith Seigel was among those who finally returned home today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CROSSTALK)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Keith Seigel's children have waited too long for this moment. For 51 days, their mother was held hostage by Hamas. It took another 433 days for their father, a dual American-Israeli citizen, to come home. In Kibbutz Kfar Aza, friends and family began the day huddled together

watching the news, anxiously waiting for his release.

STEVE BURNSTEIN, RABBI: Excited, scared, anxious, hopeful. And just praying that --

(CROSSTALK)

BURNSTEIN: -- that soon we see Keith coming home.

DIAMOND: The moment Keith emerges from the Hamas vehicle, the room goes silent. And then, as he steps onto the stage, gasps.

BURNSTEIN: Whoa, whoa.

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DIAMOND: Followed by a pressure-valve release.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

DIAMOND: And then come tears, hugs and joy.

LEORA SCHWARTZ, KEITH SIEGEL'S RELATIVE: Relief. I'm so relieved that he's back and feeling that we - I can breathe again, you know? Like relief, big relief and happiness.

And yet, it's also, you know, we still have to fight for the rest of the hostages.

DIAMOND: Ofer Kalderon, a father of four, also finally embracing his children.

For the family of Yarden Bibas, the sweetness of reunion also tinged with what his release may mean for the fate of his wife and two children, the youngest Israeli hostages.

Hamas has said they were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israeli officials will only say that they are gravely concerned about their fate.

(CHEERING)

DIAMOND: In the wake of these chaotic scenes from Thursday's hostage release Saturday, unfolding seamlessly after Israel demanded an orderly handover.

Israel, now responding in kind, releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners within an hour of the hostages return.

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DIAMOND: Emotional and cheerful crowds in Ramallah welcomed 40 prisoners arriving in a Red Cross bus, nearly half of whom had been serving life sentences.

(SHOUTING)

DIAMOND: And in Gaza, over 100 freed Palestinians, including several minors, arrived back in Khan Younis. All were detained during the war in Gaza, where Israeli troops have carried out mass detentions.

Saturday's exchange also clearing the way for 50 sick and wounded Palestinian civilians to be evacuated to Egypt via the Rafah crossing. It is the first time patients have been evacuated through the crossing since May.

For May Hadar Samore (ph), a moment of relief. Her son, Mutassim, has been battling a life-threatening immune disorder since October. Gaza's decimated health care system cannot save him.

[16:54:59]

"Thank God, today, our pleas have finally succeeded. After a long and painful struggle," she says. "I pray that his journey leads to successful treatment."

That same day, Mutassim and others arrive in Egypt. Life-saving treatment now finally within reach.

(on camera): And questions now looming about the next phases of this ceasefire agreement as Israel and Hamas are set to resume negotiations next week about whether or not they can actually extend this six-week ceasefire and end the war in Gaza and lead to the release of all the remaining Israeli hostages.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, set to travel to Washington next week to meet with President Trump to discuss those next phases of the ceasefire and much more in the region.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Jeremy, thank you.

At any minute, President Trump could announce tariffs across a wide load of products from America's biggest trading partners and neighbors. What will happen then? We're going to talk about it.

And tonight on CNN, five years after his tragic death, remembering the legacy of the man behind Black Mamba. The new CNN original series, "KOBE: THE MAKING OF A LEGEND," premieres tonight at 9:00 on CNN.

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