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CNN International: Trump Threatens Sanctions On Russia, Hails Ties With Putin; Canada Prepares For Economy With Tariffs, Opposition To U.S.; U.S. Economy Added 151K Jobs In February, Less Than Expected; Officials To Give Update On Case Of Gene Hackman & His Wife; SpaceX Starship Explodes In Second Straight Failure This Year; Trump Offers South African Farmers Expedited Citizenship; Trump Hosts Crypto Leaders At White House. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired March 07, 2025 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:40]
MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London.
This hour, we are expecting the U.S. president to speak from Washington. We'll go to those remarks as soon as they start happening.
But first, mixed messages from the White House about its stance on Russia. President Donald Trump is now threatening new sanctions on Russia that may have marked a major shift in the president's tone compared to his recent pro-Russia statements. But then he appeared to flip flop again, praising his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I actually think he's doing what anybody else would do. I think he's a -- I think he wants to get it stopped and settled, and I think he's hitting him harder than -- than he's been hitting him. And I think probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now. He wants to get it ended.
And I think Ukraine wants to get it ended. But I don't see -- it's crazy. They're taking tremendous punishment. I don't quite get it, but I suspect Michael, he probably wants to get it ended overnight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Overnight, Russia launched a major aerial assault on several regions across Ukraine, targeting its energy system.
Kevin Liptak is at -- is at the White House.
You know, a lot of the language does feel quite sided towards Russia, but when you take the context of how he operates and just trying to find a deal, he clearly feels it's easier to do a deal with the Russian side than the Ukrainian side.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. And he said just that in the Oval Office today, essentially that because he thinks Russia holds all the cards here, that they could be easier to deal with in the end. And so I think it's notable.
It was interesting, the message that he sent out earlier in the day on Truth Social, saying that he was threatening massive new sanctions, including potentially on Russia's banking sector. It was a complete change of tone from the president, who has taken a conciliatory approach towards Moscow, who in a lot of ways has mirrored the Kremlin's own talking points about the war. But that change in tone did not last very long. And you heard him there in the Oval Office.
I think, bottom line, what this is really evidence of is the president's frustration that this war is still going, still going. And you'll remember he promised as a candidate that he would be able to end it in 24 hours. Obviously, that deadline came and went, and now he is really looking for the two sides to come to the table and negotiate an agreement.
He has been waiting on the side of Russia, but I think what you have seen throughout the course of this week is an attempt to try and put the relationship with the Ukrainians back in the right direction after that Oval Office fracas at the end of last week, one week ago today, you heard the message from Zelenskyy that he was regretful for how that carried out. He said that he was ready to go to the negotiating table. And what well see next week in Saudi Arabia is American officials sitting down with their Ukrainian counterparts to try and come up with some kind of agreement to bring the two sides together to make these efforts towards ending the war.
And so we'll see how all of that unfolds. I asked Steve Witkoff yesterday, who's the presidents foreign envoy, whether there was anything the Ukrainians might be able to bring to the table that would allow the United States to resume the weapons shipments, the assistance, the intelligence sharing. He said that there wasn't anything specific, or at least nothing that he described in any great detail. But it is clear that the Americans, at least the president's advisers, do think that this relationship can be repaired and restored going forward.
But that's not to say that the president doesn't feel frustrations with the Ukrainians. He still feels as if they aren't ready to go to the negotiating table. He said again today that the Ukrainians have no cards when it comes to this conflict, which I think gives you an idea of how he sees this war ending, which is probably unfavorable terms to the Russians.
FOSTER: Okay, Kevin, thanks for that.
A Russian government spokesperson said President Donald Trumps threat of new sanctions will not stop Moscow from achieving its goals in Ukraine.
Matthew Chance is in Moscow.
How are they understanding what many see as mixed messages coming from the White House? MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're
right, I think this most recent statement by President Trump suggesting he would put sanctions and tariffs on Russia, sort of, you know, kind of was -- was a big departure from the kind of very positive tones we've been hearing from the White House over the course of the past several weeks.
[15:05:12]
But I don't think it's shaken the Kremlin too much. I mean, I spoke to Maria Zakharova, who's the spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, and she said, look, you know, there's been so many sanctions imposed on us in the past, they've not deterred us from pursuing and achieving our objectives and any new ones aren't going to either. And what she did say, though, is that she actually welcomed the -- the Trump posting on his social media platform, which in which he said, you know, Russia is pounding Ukraine. She said, well, look, that's an acknowledgment that we are actually winning the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine is lost, she said. And the fault of that, she added, is in the previous White House that gave Ukraine, she said, unrealistic expectations.
FOSTER: In terms of Russia doing a deal with Ukraine, the White House being very clear that, you know, he thinks that Russia is willing to do some sort of deal. And obviously conversations have taken place there.
But you know, what's, you know, where is that going from? What are you hearing from the Moscow side of things? Is it similar to what you're hearing from the White House?
CHANCE: Well, I think its certainly true that the Kremlin is prepared to do a deal. They've always said they will. The question has always been, what will that deal look like?
And so far in this, I suppose, behind closed doors negotiation that's been mediated or, you know, by the United States, the Russians have got a lot. I mean, a lot of the cards that they hold have been, you know, to use the phrase of President Trump have been given to them by him. The fact that NATO wont now join NATO, the territorial concessions that have been imposed on Ukraine, the suspension of U.S. military aid, all of these are cards which have been, you know, should have been handed over during a negotiation but seems to have been handed over ahead of time.
And so, you know, Trump is right. The Russians do have the cards. They are prepared to do a deal. Clearly, they've said that all along.
But the terms of that deal look like they are going to be pretty much everything Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin wanted in the outset.
FOSTER: Okay. Matthew Chance in Moscow, thank you.
Back to the White House, then, where President Trump is expected to speak following a crypto summit, cryptocurrency leaders likely discussed the executive order signed by the president on Thursday, creating a strategic bitcoin reserve on the campaign trail.
If you recall, Mr. Trump promised the United States would become the crypto capital of the world, even though he had initially called digital assets a scam.
Allison Morrow from CNN business joins us now.
How would this work?
ALLISON MORROW, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: The reserve is a very controversial concept, but essentially what the president has laid out so far is a situation where we would take the bitcoin that the U.S. already holds, having seized it in various fraud cases and civil forfeitures over the years, there hasn't actually been a good audit of that stockpile that we already have. But the estimate is around $17 billion worth of bitcoin and facing some social media backlash, some -- some real upset people over here. There was talk about using taxpayer money to buy more bitcoin, but that has been pretty much nixed by the administration. Officials are saying we'll only use the bitcoin that we have already and only feed it with more bitcoin that we seize in the future.
FOSTER: Yeah, because there's a lot of concern that money is being used here unnecessarily. Why not invest in real assets or even, you know, reinvest into state services, for example.
MORROW: Right. And I think the other controversy around the reserve is that ultimately it functions as a backstop on the price of bitcoin, which has clear conflict of interest with the people advising the president and the president himself, who has, you know, over the last six months decided he loves bitcoin and shaken off the concerns that he had back in 2019 when he called it a scam. So there's a lot of concern that this is ultimately just a ploy to prop up -- prop up the price of bitcoin.
FOSTER: Yeah, but it has been doing that hasn't it. So there are a lot of very excited investors around the world. I mean you can pretty much guarantee that the price will continue to go up if this goes ahead, right?
MORROW: Absolutely. The price has been fluctuating as it usually does. It's a very volatile asset, but ultimately long term, by having the U.S. be the -- one of the largest bitcoin holders, you create a price floor. And because the U.S. would hold it indefinitely, it also injects a bit of stability and credibility into an asset that's kind of been in the financial wilderness.
[15:10:04]
FOSTER: Okay, Allison Morrow, thank you so much. It's a big departure from how things used to be, but so many things are, aren't they, with this current government.
Still to come, what are the latest U.S. job numbers saying about the economy? We'll have those just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: U.S. President Trump switching gears on tariffs once again today, threatening to hit Canada with a 250 percent tax that will be on dairy products. That's on the heels of Thursday's decision to delay some tariffs on Canada and Mexico after speaking with the leaders of the two neighbors. What kind of an impact is the flurry of activity having on the U.S. economy?
Well, the jobs report released today came in slightly below expectations, 151,000 jobs were added in February. A bit less than the numbers economists had forecast at the end of a very volatile week for markets. The Dow is up half a percent after being significantly down earlier.
All of this back and forth on tariffs, giving Canadians some economic whiplash, as you can imagine. Now they're trying to prepare for seemingly impending tariffs whilst also adjusting to a new and decidedly different relationship with the U.S.
Our John King takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is American steel in Western Canada for custom finishes. One belt is to burn a few notches and drill a few holes, another to weld some angled braces. Soon, back a rail car and back across the border for an office project in Alaska.
It is a partnership that supports 100 jobs here A.I. Industries in Surrey, British Columbia. This is just one piece of nearly $800 billion a year in trade between the United States and Canada.
Now, though, a partnership in peril because of President Trump's insistence on new tariffs.
KARIM WAIJI, CANADIAN RESIDENT: He wants to show that U.S. is strong and because I'm bigger than you are, I can bully you around and this is how I'm going to do it.
[15:15:05]
KING: Trump paused the tariffs Thursday, just two days after imposing them. Another about face. Yes, Waiji prefers no tariffs but he says weeks of threats and contradictions from Trump make it impossible to plan and are already hurting both economies.
WAIJI: Even with the threat of tariffs, prices have gone through the roof and they've gone higher. So, we're seeing right now when we're bidding a job today versus we're bidding it three months ago, our cost has gone up almost 15 percent.
KING: British Columbia is a living postcard. Scenic mountains and gorgeous waters. The importance of trade is everywhere you look. Canadian lumber waiting at rivers edge. Rail cars to carry Canadian crude oil, crops and more. The bustling Pacific rim Port of Vancouver. PETER XOTTA, CEO, VANCOUVER FRASER PORT AUTHORITY: You watch it for eight hours. You'll see on average, we've got ten ships arriving and ten ships leaving. We did about 160 million tons of cargo last year, 75 percent of that is those bulk commodities -- grain, coal, potash, sulfur and other agricultural products, outbound.
KING: Peter Xotta is the port's CEO. He says shippers who normally plan six or nine months out are now taking things a few weeks at a time because Trump is so unpredictable. And he says Trump's threats and his tone leave Canada no choice but to find new markets, new partners.
XOTTA: It's been a wake-up call, right? It's been a wake-up call for Canadians that we need to figure out a way to not be as dependent.
KING: This rift goes beyond what Canadians see as Trump's bad math. They are furious at his bad manners, his constant insults, calling Canada the 51st state and its prime minister, governor.
DARRYL LAMB, CANADIAN RESIDENT: We've been in this together for a long time. We fought wars together. We went to Afghanistan. We did all this stuff together. Why? What are you doing here?
KING: Daryl Lamb is the brand manager at Legacy Liquors. Yes, this, too, is a front in the new trade war.
LAMB: There's a Yellow Rose right there from Texas -- right there.
KING: So, is it popular?
LAMB: It is and if this goes into effect --
KING: You can't sell this.
LAMB: It'll be off the shelf. It's gone.
KING: Tito's Vodka too, also from Texas.
Diagram of a trade war.
The premier of British Columbia says if Trump imposes tariffs, he will ban sales of alcohol from States that Trump won that also have a Republican governor.
LAMB: We've gone through this before with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We were asked to remove all Russian products from our shelves.
KING: Lamb says some customers rushed to stockpile American favorites, but others want all American products off the shelves.
KING: So mad at Trump for what he's saying about Canada that they're saying, get it out of here.
LAMB: Hundred percent, absolutely. I'm just worried about this eternal relationship that we've had for 200-plus years being soured for four. KING: Vikram Vinayak is a short haul truck driver. Carrying berries destined for the United States on this run.
What are other loads that are pretty typical?
VIKRAM VINAYAK, CANADIAN RESIDENT: Nursery, trees, auto parts, and produce. Sometimes we pick frozen fish.
KING: How much of your work or products that you know are going to end up in the United States?
VINAYAK: More than 80 to 90 percent of our loads are going to U.S.
KING: As many as five runs a day, 40 to 50 hours a week. But tariffs will cut shipments to the United States and cut Vinayak's hours.
You have a wife and two daughters?
VINAYAK: Yes.
KING: And so what does that mean about planning? Thinking maybe we won't make a vacation or maybe we won't buy something, what is it?
VINAYAK: No, no, just planning is nothing. The main thing is how to get out of this situation by finding another job.
KING: Does that make you mad? You might have to find another job. Do you like this job?
VINAYAK: Yes, I love this job.
KING: One of many jobs now at risk because of a U.S.-Canada relationship, Trump just shifted into reverse.
John King, CNN, Surrey, British Columbia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Justin Wolfers is a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan. He joins us now. He's going to explain all of this for us.
It's so horribly complex for, you know, Canadians, Americans and people around the world to understand what these tariffs are actually doing. But what evidence is there out there that it's making a difference to peoples lives?
JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: The tariffs -- well, we actually have, even before Trump became president, they started affecting things. So we recently got some trade numbers. And what you saw was that imports from the into the U.S. rose sharply in January. Now you might say, why is that? It's because people understood that there would be tariffs coming, and it would be a lot more expensive in the future.
So they were bringing stuff in in January and likely February that they would otherwise have bought in March and April. So the trade data is the first place you'd look, but you're also seeing inflation had been declining quite rapidly. But if people see the price hikes are coming in the future and the consumers don't have as many choices as they once had, you're already seeing some evidence that that slowdown in inflation is not quite coming. And then you can turn to the stock market.
[15:20:01]
The stock market is where people are betting on the future profitability of America's firms. The stock market has fallen 4.5 percent over the past week due to this -- all of these tariff shenanigans, that's about a $2 trillion, about $6,000 per American.
And so, Trump may think he's helping American business, but the stock market is saying, no thanks, this is hurting.
FOSTER: But what he's doing is so extraordinary. And, you know, the markets aren't crashing, are they? And if you look at these job numbers today, they're pretty positive. They really reflect a very strong economy. Is it just that none of these policies have actually set in yet? But, you know, markets are really not expecting them to be that bad.
WOLFERS: Well, this is actually where you do need to look very carefully at backward, backward looking indicators versus forward looking ones. So what we knew yesterday was that the economy was in pretty good shape. Unemployment was 4 percent and we had pretty good momentum. We got a jobs report today that confirmed that was even true through the first two weeks of the Trump administration as well.
That's not where you'd expect to see effects up front. You'd want to think about forward looking indicators. And that's why I emphasize the financial markets. In a few months, I'll be able to talk to you about what's happening around people's kitchen tables.
But I think taking 5 percent off the net present value of future corporate earnings, that is a very strong vote of no confidence in the Trump administration. And then you look at what's going on with consumer confidence, which has plummeted over the past couple of weeks, and also business confidence as well.
The big question is whether people are just unhappy or whether that unhappiness is going to lead them to adjust their behavior. That's what were going to have to keep a close eye on over the next couple of months.
FOSTER: He's also shown hell modify things, hasn't he? He's adjusted on the tariffs under pressure from U.S. industry. Let's just listen to what he said about that today because it may give us some insight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But there will always be some modifications. I mean, if you have a wall in front of you, sometimes you have to go around the wall instead of through it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: That's actually really positive news, isn't it? To the markets that, you know, these extreme measures. He -- you know, he's not necessarily going to follow through. He does actually listen sometimes.
WOLFERS: Look, I -- you're really looking for me to be optimistic here. Which is to say when you have a leader who has stupid ideas, it's a really good that he'll listen and sometimes reverse course. You know what's better than doing something dumb and reversing, not doing something dumb altogether.
And that's actually become quite paralyzing here in the United States. This is an administration that is picking out individual companies, picking out individual universities, picking out individual government departments, picking out individual law firms and punishing them. And so it means that instead of getting down to real work, folks have got their eyes very much focused on Washington, D.C.
They feel tremendous anxiety. We've seen most measures of uncertainty just about as high as we've ever seen in our lifetimes. And so, yes, it might feel comforting to -- to President Trump that he is the main character right now in a well-functioning economy, we get to ignore what's happening in the nation's capital, and we focus instead on our customers.
FOSTER: Justin Wolfers, as ever, thank you so much for laying it out for us there.
Still to come, we are waiting to hear more about the death of actor Gene Hackman and his wife. An update is due to come up. We'll bring that to you.
We'll also, you know, look at what we actually know. It seems to be a complete mystery.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:27:04]
FOSTER: We are awaiting an update on the death of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa. That's going to come from the Santa Fe County sheriff's office. The couple found dead in their New Mexico home last month.
The death of the cause of their deaths an utter mystery. The gas company has ruled out the potential of carbon monoxide poisoning, which was an early theory. Several questions remain. Why were the bodies of the couple found in different rooms? How long had they been dead?
CNN's Veronica Miracle is in Santa Fe, where the press conference is about to begin.
I bet you never imagined this story would go on for as long as it has done, really, in this mystery to unfold. I mean, is there any indication what they're going to announce today?
VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Max, yeah, definitely. We are hoping for more answers today. We just got the speaker list for the press conference, which is expected to start in about a half an hour. Here, a veterinarian is on that list, so it will be the first time that were hearing from a vet.
Hopefully, that will give us some more answers onto exactly how the dog died, what happened there and how that plays into the bigger investigation in terms of the deaths of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa. We'll also be hearing from the chief medical investigator, whose office has been handling the autopsies of Gene and Betsy, as well as the Santa Fe County sheriff.
Matt, in terms of what's going to be revealed today, they're saying tight lipped until this press conference starts. We were told at the beginning of this week that body camera video is not going to be released for at least a couple of weeks because they have ten deputies, body cameras that they have to go through and redact footage. So we're not expecting body camera footage today. It is possible that it comes out, but we're still waiting for answers on that.
But what we do know at this point is you mentioned carbon monoxide poisoning, natural gas poisoning that's been ruled out by the natural gas company, as well as the preliminary autopsy results.
The bodies did not have any signs of external trauma, so foul play is not considered to be a factor in this. And data from Gene Hackman's pacemaker was last reported nine days before the bodies were discovered. So perhaps the timing of that that information will play into some of the answers.
I did speak with a forensics expert earlier this week who told me that sometimes autopsies are not able to provide exact time of death, exact cause. So it's possible that well know a general sense of what happened in their deaths. But we may not get all of the answers. We are still awaiting that press conference, so as soon as we have more information, we'll bring it to you -- Max.
FOSTER: Thank you so much, Veronica.
Let's speak now to private investigator T.J. Ward.
Because, like everyone else, you've been utterly mystified by this case, I'm sure. We've just heard that there's going to be a veterinarian appearing at this press conference, which is pretty unprecedented.
TJ WARD JR. PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Yes, this is a pretty bizarre situation here. And I guess we can't say this is a mystery, or is it a criminal case or a civil case? There's no physical evidence.
And so we have to start from following up with the autopsy and hopefully some from the toxicology will be a great answer to some of the questions. [15:25:09]
But law enforcement needs to go through the physical evidence. The cell phones, computers, anything that may be accessed, even the vehicles going to the vehicles and checking the vehicles and see if there's any evidence that may lead to this.
But anyway, this is a big mystery, and there may be foul play, may not or this may be a murder suicide. We don't know. I know that she was in there in the bathroom with pills all over the floor. And, of course, the -- the dog being dead, too, and maybe take consideration of doing an autopsy on the -- on the animal, too, and see if it may have been a food poisoning or -- or somebody who may be involved with this indirectly or directly.
FOSTER: We wouldn't get those toxicology reports, though so soon, would we? So they're going to announce something else, presumably, or just give a general update. What do you think?
WARD: Well, the autopsy report -- from the autopsy and the and the toxicology reports, it may be with the publicity this case is getting and the unknowns, they may, you know, try to accelerate getting the autopsy because normally toxicology is usually probably 3 to 6 months trying to get it. So hopefully, they'll expedite this information so we can lead to knowing and you know, another unknown unrelated mystery so we can figure out what happened to Gene Hackman and his wife.
FOSTER: Presumably they're going to be looking for if there was anyone else in the house. How hard is that to investigate?
WARD: Well, we need to look some of the things that they need to do. And I understand they didn't have cameras in the house or around the house, but looking for cameras that may be elsewhere with neighbors, or if they had a -- a guard entrance coming into their subdivision, being able to establish who may have come in there or unknown person that may be identified to look in all avenues and tag numbers, persons that may have been logged in to go into the subdivision.
You're going to have to look at everything. It's a wide range of things that have to be looked at in regards to trying to find the mystery in this case.
FOSTER: The clearly pretty private people as well, weren't they, in the end, because being dead for so many days without it being reported suggests that they weren't in contact with a lot of people.
WARD: Well, apparently not. You would think family members or friends or somebody would have had contact with them and -- and wouldn't have been so much of a mystery, or as long as it was, was eight or nine days that they its been established they were deceased, but nevertheless trying to follow up with any computer data, any cell phone data that may be that may lead them to something they may not know at this point in time.
FOSTER: Okay. TJ Ward, really appreciate you. We will bring you any updates from the police as we get them. Now, train services, meanwhile, at Paris Gare du Nord are starting to
resume. Travelers will be glad to hear after the shocking discovery and now disposal of an unexploded World War II bomb. The device was found early on Friday on the tracks leading into Frances busiest railway station.
CNN's Melissa bell has our report from Gare du Nord.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A day of travel misery for anyone hoping to get in and out of Paris's Gare du Nord this Friday, after authorities found in the early hours of this morning a huge World War II bomb, 500 kilos of it, 200 of those sheer explosives.
Now, it's not unusual that these kinds of unexploded ordnance from World War II should be found. After all, this is a part of the world, northern France, that was so bitterly fought over in World War II. What's unusual is that this huge bomb should have been found in the middle of railway tracks, and some of those closest to Paris, just a couple of miles out of Paris, on some of the busiest tracks the ones that lead to London.
This bomb had lain for 80 years undisturbed. It was a works that allowed it to be found. And of course, once it was found, a huge demining operation that has caused chaos and misery for thousands.
National, regional and international train services disrupted, huge parts of the motorway, also closed off as they dealt with this huge bomb. But essentially what's most surprising is that for 80 years this thing had lain undisturbed in such a hugely populated part of Paris and beneath some of its busiest tracks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Melissa Bell there, outside Gare du Nord, now back to normal, hopefully.
SpaceX trying to figure out what went wrong on its Starship spacecraft exploded shortly after lifting off from Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa. Deerfield Beach. Whoa!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:35:01]
FOSTER: Well, the company says the unmanned spacecraft experienced engine troubles less than ten minutes into flight. The explosion was visible over Florida and parts of the Caribbean, as you can see.
The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily stopped flights into multiple Florida airports because of the falling debris. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just had the rocket launch and it blew up. If you guys are closer to the debris and need to deviate, let us know if you're just seeing it, that's okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attention all aircraft, due to a space vehicle mishap, a debris response has been activated, pretty much from the Orlando area, south.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you guys do see any falling debris from that Starship explosion, let us know.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
FOSTER: The FAA also ordered an investigation into the mishap. Now, the second loss of a -- in a row of Starship spacecrafts.
Donald Trump now inviting South African farmers to seek expedited U.S. citizenship. Elon Musk may have influenced his decision. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: President Donald Trump repeated claims of land confiscation in South Africa, posting on social media, quote, any farmer with family from South Africa seeking to flee that country for reasons of safety will be invited to the U.S. with a rapid pathway to citizenship. His post is a reference to a long debated law signed by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, seeking to -- seeking to right some of the wrongs of apartheid by allowing the government to take land and redistribute it. It's seen as disproportionately impacting white South Africans by some. It's seen -- it's been a cause celebre for Elon Musk on X for several weeks, underlining the influence of South African born billionaire has over Donald Trump.
White House reporter for "Politico", Megan Messerly, joins us live from the White House.
Just explain how this came about because it's, you know, it's a very -- I was speaking to a South African MP recently. It's such a complex issue. And it's been simplified to an extraordinary degree by Elon Musk.
MEGAN MESSERLY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: You know, it really -- it really is. It's been fascinating to see the relationship between President Trump and Elon Musk evolve over the last several months, right, going from, you know, when Musk hadn't even endorsed the president, he endorsed him right after the Butler shooting assassination attempt on the president's life, to, you know, pouring significant sums of money into his campaign. And now, obviously, just being this constant presence in the White House, in the Oval Office, in the policy-making of his administration.
And so, I think we've seen that he has this very important relationship with the president, and he has his ear. And that obviously is going to result in some policy movement, right? And so I think that's exactly what you're seeing here.
FOSTER: He's obviously had a free reign, it feels like, Elon Musk to go around cutting jobs, cutting budgets. You know, directly speaking to employees and telling them to go. But there are reports that, you know, Donald Trump is railing back a bit on his power by saying he has to work with the department heads a bit more. Apparently, there was a discussion which got pretty heated with Marco Rubio, with Elon Musk.
I'm just going to play a sound bite that president just gave, actually, speaking to a "New York Times" report that there was basically an argument between those two members of his team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Mr. President, since you last spoke about it yesterday, some details have come out about your cabinet meeting with Elon Musk and some clashes., potentially through Secretary Rubio, and secretary --
TRUMP: No clash. I was there. You're just a troublemaker and you're not supposed to be asking that question because we're talking about the World Cup. Elon gets along great with Marco and they're both doing a fantastic job. There is no clash.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: Who are you with? Who are you with?
REPORTER: NBC.
TRUMP: No wonder, that's enough. NBC --
REPORTER: Who has more authority --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: He's totally dismissing the idea that there was an argument between the two. But there would have been tension, surely, wouldn't there, between Elon Musk and department heads who, you know are, you know, being undercut effectively.
MESSERLY: We've been hearing this for weeks. Some of this tension brewing from cabinet secretaries, even from folks on Capitol Hill, right, who are, you know, a little bit uncomfortable with the role that Elon Musk has taken here, or at least uncertain about exactly where he fits into these government cuts and this decision making that's happening. And so I think we've what were seeing now is, is the president sort of trying to -- to strike an accord between Elon Musk and between his cabinet, you know, clarify some of those, you know, previously confusing questions about who is in charge saying, you know, no, it is these cabinet secretaries, not Elon Musk, who has the final decision making power, you know?
And some of the president's allies who I've been talking to about this today, you know, they -- they told me that they see this as sort of like the natural evolution of Elon Musk's work, right? He came in when many of these cabinet secretaries were not confirmed. They were not in place.
Now they are and they are taking over this work, and it will be up to them to decide whether they want to enact these cuts that, you know, Elon Musk and those affiliated with his DOGE mission are recommending.
FOSTER: These are two -- you know, very powerful people, Musk and Trump. They've used to getting things their own way. You know, Musk in the commercial world, Trump in the political world.
Do you think you can have a situation where you have two such powerful figures and them not fall out at some point?
MESSERLY: This has been the speculation, you know, for -- for months, actually, that there would be some kind of falling out that Elon Musk would, would go too far. But I think what we've seen is that the president really has given Elon Musk this quite long leash to accomplish his work. You know, he's been happy to let Elon Musk be the sledge hammer to the federal government.
And so, we have not seen Elon Musk reach the end of his leash. In fact, we've seen them, you know, do media appearances together sort of telegraphing that that all is well here. So despite the magnitude of both of their personalities as -- as you point out, we really have not seen that clash or that friction result in a way that you might, might have expected, just given who Elon Musk is, given his sort of singular personality, and given that he really has been allowed to communicate, you know, on his platform directly to the public through X sort of almost independent of the administration's message in conjunction with it, obviously, but he really has a unique voice in a way that a lot of other folks in the administration don't.
FOSTER: It's fascinating, isn't it? You must be -- well, we've got another -- we're hearing from Trump a bit later on, so he's going to keep you busy. But thank you so much for joining us, Megan.
Now, as we mentioned earlier, Russia saying President Trumps threat of new sanctions will stop it from achieving its goals in Ukraine.
[15:45:01]
In fact, a top rated show in Russia has begun talking about a new great troika on the world stage, as Matthew Chance reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CHANCE (voice-over): It's a sign of the times that even the Kremlin's old propagandists are rapidly changing their tune. Dmitry Kiselev is the state mouthpiece who once boasted how Russia could reduce America to nuclear ash.
DMITRY KISELEV, RUSSIAN TV HOST: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CHANCE: Now he's talking about a great troika: the U.S., Russia and China forming the new structure of the world. And Ukraine is where that structure is being forged. Trump administration's hard line on Kyiv, including the suspension of U.S. military aid, has been greeted with glee in the Kremlin, with Russian officials now berating Europe while flip-flopping on Washington's historical role.
(SERGEY LAVROV SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CHANCE: All of the tragedies of the world originated in Europe, claims the foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. "Colonization, wars, the Crimean War, Napoleon, World War I, Hitler. If we look at history in retrospect," he says, "Americans played no instigating or even inflammatory role."
It's extraordinary revisionism in extraordinary times.
TRUMP: You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Not playing cards. We are serious.
TRUMP: Right now, you don't -- you're playing cards.
CHANCE: This was the moment that underlined how everything had changed. The humiliation in the Oval Office of the Kremlin's sworn enemy took even Russians aback, with Kremlin channels struggling to make sense of Washington's seismic shift.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CHANCE: Trump speaks about peace, and those around him talk about Ukraine's success, says this reporter on state television. But it looks like he's giving Russia all the cards to achieve success on the battlefield, he adds.
TRUMP: So, Vladimir, thank you very much.
CHANCE: And it's far more than that. The strange Trump- Putin bond is now threatening Western unity. In exchange, all Putin has done is offer potentially lucrative business deals. Trump's kryptonite, according to one Russian commentator.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CHANCE: Trump is like Superman, and our president, Putin, has found his weakness, he tells state TV. As soon as Trump hears the words "rare earth metals", he's ready to accept any terms, he adds.
Little wonder the Kremlin's propagandists are now falling over themselves to praise the United States. They may have changed their tune, but America has, too.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: Now a man convicted of a double murder in South Carolina is set to be executed by firing squad tonight. He chose the method over two other approved ones, lethal injection and electric chair. It's not been used in the U.S. in almost 15 years and never in the state.
Sixty-seven-year-old Brad Sigmon was sentenced for kidnapping his ex- girlfriend at gunpoint and killing her parents in 2001.
CNN's Ryan Young is in Columbia, South Carolina, where the execution is due to take place.
And the question is why did he choose it, Ryan?
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Max. A lot of people might be questioning this, but he feels that this might be the quickest way to end his own life. This is an execution that will take place. You talked about the crime back in 2001. Apparently, Brad Sigmon used a bat, went from room to room and killed his ex-girlfriend's parents.
He then kidnapped her at gunpoint. She was able to escape. He took a shot at her, and during the time he confessed to all of this, he said, if I can't have her, no one else can.
I've talked to his attorney. Since then, he has really fallen in love with Jesus. He has a bible. He goes to you know, church all the time.
But at the end of the day, he was asked a question how he wanted to die.
The last time they had an execution here, and they used the electric chair. It was horrifying. In fact, that person who was executed had their eyes pop out of their head, so they felt like this was the easiest way to do it. And we'll show you this picture. The picture is of the room where the execution will happen, the chair that's in the corner, not the one that's covered, but the chair that's in the corner is where he'll be strapped into.
They'll put a hood over his head. They'll put a target on his chest. Three men with rifles will then train their weapon on that target. They will open fire, all having live rounds, and then the execution will be over.
There will be witnesses to this. And this will all take place around 6:00 here in South Carolina. But obviously, so many questions, Max Foster, about how a state could move forward with this. But again, after talking to the attorney for Brad Sigmon, he thought this was the quickest way for his life to be ended.
FOSTER: Ryan Young, thank you.
[15:50:00]
We'll be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Well, this is a first, a crypto summit at the White House. Donald Trump going very big on the -- on the currency.
Let's have a listen in to hear what he has to say about the matter, and to industry leaders.
TRUMP: -- of the new reserve. Unfortunately, in recent years, the U.S. government has foolishly sold tens of thousands of additional bitcoin that were worth billions and billions of dollars had they not sold them. But they did sell them mostly during the Biden administration, and not a good -- not a good thing to have done.
From this day on, America will follow the rule that every bitcoin knows very well. Never sell your bitcoin. That's a little phrase that they have. I don't know if that's right or not. Who the hell knows, right?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Who knows? Who knows? But so far, it's been right. And let's keep it that way.
The Treasury and Commerce Departments will also explore new pathways to accumulate additional bitcoin holdings for the reserve, provided it's done at no cost to the taxpayers. We don't want any cost to the taxpayers.
In addition, my order directs federal agencies to conduct an inventory of all crypto assets currently held by the U.S. government and determine how they can be transferred easily to the Treasury. Non- bitcoin digital assets will be held in a new U.S. digital asset stockpile, where they will be managed properly.
My administration also is working to end the federal bureaucracy's war on crypto, which was really going on pretty wildly during Biden until the election came about -- about five months before the election. He became a big fan because he heard how many people were in favor of it and how many people love it and respect it.
But I guess it didn't work out too well for him. People -- people understood what was going on and paved the way for groundbreaking innovations and institutional finance. Under the bitcoin administration, regulators strong arm banks. I mean, they really did. They strong armed banks into closing the accounts of crypto businesses and entrepreneurs, effectively blocking some money transfers to and from exchanges. And they weaponized government against the entire industry.
But I know that feeling also maybe better than you do.
[15:55:03]
All of that will soon be over, and we are ending operation choke .2.0.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Now, some people really suffered. It was ridiculous what they were doing, but in the end they came around, but they came around for the wrong reasons. They came around only because they wanted votes and they saw that tens of millions of people are, you know, were against them because of what they were doing.
I also want to express my strong support for the efforts of lawmakers in Congress as they work on bills to provide regulatory certainty for dollar-backed stable coins and the digital assets market. They're working very hard on that.
This is a tremendous opportunity for economic growth and innovation in our financial sector, and will really go a long way. I think there's going to be a tremendous -- a tremendous -- we feel like pioneers in a way, of tremendous method of growth and things are very much tied, and we want to keep it that way, the U.S. dollar, long into the future, we're going to keep it that way.
I hope lawmakers will send that legislation to my desk before the August recess, if they can. And they're very much working with you, and, you know, a lot of them and a lot of them were committed right from the very beginning. So I just want to congratulate you all for being at the White House today. And a man who knows more about bitcoin and A.I. and just about everything else and anybody, David Sacks.
And I'd like to have you say a few words. David.
DAVID SACKS, CRYPTO CZAR: Thank you, Mr. President. We're all here today because of your leadership, your vision and your generosity. And I really want to thank you for that.
We're also here because of your desire to make America great and to introduce a golden age in America, including for digital assets. And we're here because of your love of -- of innovators, or, as you might say, high IQ people. We know you love high IQ people.
And we have -- we have about 30 of them here in the room today. These are the top people in the -- in the digital asset industry.
And one other thing that I think that you love is, is legal fairness. This is an industry that was subjected to prosecution and persecution for the last four years. Horrible lawfare and nobody knows what that feels like better than you do.
So we really appreciate the fact that you understand legal fairness and that you're always willing to fight for the right, for the right thing, for legal fairness. You never back down. You stand defiant, even in the face of an assassin's bullet.
It's an inspiration to everyone in this room, I think. So it's an honor --
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you.
SACKS: So I just want to say it's -- it's an honor to work for you. It's an honor to work for a president who -- who works every day to get so much done on behalf of the American people. Your administration is moving at tech speed. It's really amazing.
It's actually faster than any startup that I've been part of, is that your administration moves even faster.
So I just want to say thank you for having me be a part of it. I've enjoyed every minute of it. I love working for you and thank you again for this opportunity.
TRUMP: Thank you, David, very much. Appreciate it.
SACKS: And -- and now I just want to pass the ball to Secretary Bessent.
TRUMP: Scott?
SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: David.
So the today when president Trump has signed the executive order to establish the strategic bitcoin reserve and stockpile, we're going to position the United States as a leader among nations in the digital asset strategy. It's important for the United States to recognize this fact and get ahead of the other nations in the digital age. I -- we applaud the president's direction to use the digital assets already in possession of the nation, and we are going to establish this bitcoin reserve.
We will use this authority to augment the asset side of the United States balance sheet. As I've said many times, President Trump is creating assets for the American people, while most past presidents have created debt, and a large part of this asset program can be in digital assets. We are going to end the regulatory weaponization against digital assets. The Biden administrations actions did nothing other than punish -- and punish innovators. And that all of you have made it here today is really a testament to your fortitude.
Much of Treasury's responsibility in this order relates to the tax code and determinations around risk weightings. And I'm here to assure you that we are going to work with the comptroller of the currency, the IRS, and we're going to rescind and amend all applicable previous guidance. And we are going to put a lot of thought into the stable coin regime.
