Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

PA Police Investigating Suspected Arson Fire At Gov. Shapiro's Home; White House Officials Defend Tariff Exemptions On Electronics; Trump Administration Faces New Lawsuit Over Revoked Student Visas; Interview With Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA); Four Injured In Suspected Home Explosion In Austin, Texas; Coffee Prices Set To Spike As Tariffs Raise Price On Imported Beans; Russian Missiles Strike Ukrainian City At Least 34 People. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired April 13, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:36]

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN HOST: Hello and thank you for joining me. I'm Isabel Rosales in for Fredricka Whitfield.

Breaking news: Pennsylvania state police are investigating a suspected arson fire at the home of Governor Josh Shapiro. Shapiro says he and his family were sleeping at the time and were alerted to the fire by state police, who quickly evacuated them as firefighters battled those flames.

Let's get right to CNN's Danny Freeman, who has been following this story for us. Danny, what are you learning?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Isabel, incredibly scary news out of Pennsylvania's capital overnight. Right now, the latest information that we know is essentially there is a manhunt for an arsonist or arsonists, because, as you noted, Pennsylvania state police confirmed this morning that that fire that broke out overnight at the governor's mansion, the residence in Harrisburg, they believe was intentionally set.

So here's what we know at this particular time.

According to Governor Shapiro and state police, the governor and his family were all at the governor's residence sleeping when they were woken up at around two in the morning by loud bangs on their door. That was first responders telling them that part of the residence was on fire and they had to get out.

Now their entire family was evacuated safely. The fire itself was put out quickly as well, but thankfully no one was ultimately hurt in this incident. I will note, though, that Pennsylvania state police said that there was a significant amount of damage to parts of the governor's residence. And now there is a multi-agency investigation as to what led up to this fire.

Now listen, Isabel. This would be scary and frightening to any governor at any time, but we would be remiss if we didn't note that Governor Shapiro is proud of his Jewish faith. And last night was the first night of the Jewish holiday of Passover.

The governor tweeting earlier in the evening that he had celebrated a Passover Seder with his family at the governor's residence earlier in the evening. So certainly scary and notable that on this night of all nights, what appears to be an arsonist has set fire to the governor's mansion overnight and this evening.

At this point, though, Isabel, police say that there is a $10,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest of any individual or individuals who may have been involved with this.

We're asking Pennsylvania state police a little more information, but at this point, that's the latest that we know about this suspected arson at Governor Shapiro's home in Harrisburg, Isabel.

ROSALES: Yes, certainly a frightening situation there. Danny Freeman, I know that you will stay on top of it. Thank you.

We're also watching how global markets will respond to the tariff whiplash that we've seen from the White House. In just a few hours, Asian markets will open for the first time since the Trump administration said it was exempting many electronics from its sweeping tariffs.

But today, White House officials are now saying that those exemptions are only temporary and could still be subject to their own specific set of tariffs in the near future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: It was always the case in Annex 2, in the Reciprocal Act, that semiconductors were going to not be covered by that action, because there's a 232 action that was announced in the executive order that is going to address it.

And so -- and so I don't think that anything really should be a surprise if people stopped and studied.

PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE TRADE ADVISER: So what Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick is going to do -- is doing it as we speak is an investigation of the chip supply chain. The goal is stability and resilience.

And you will see actions taken based on those investigations on copper. We've already have steel and aluminum. We already have autos. There will be pharmaceuticals and there will be chips.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: CNN's Kevin Liptak is in West Palm Beach, Florida near where the president is spending his weekend. Kevin, certainly a lot of confusion and whiplash from these tariffs. How is the White House explaining this further? KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the way the president's aides are describing it today is that this exclusion on these high-tech products from China, from those high reciprocal tariffs, will essentially be short lived. That it is essentially a technical step as the administration conducts this national security review into semiconductors before applying new tariffs on those products.

[14:04:48]

LIPTAK: Both the semiconductors and the products that contain them, which include things like smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives -- all of those high-tech items that were included in the exclusions that we learned about late Friday night.

Now what Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, says is that these potentially new tariffs could be applied within the next month or two. He said that the administration is also looking into pharmaceuticals as they conduct this review, all in the attempt to try and bring manufacturing of all of these products back into the United States.

Listen to more of what Lutnick said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY: Remember, those products are going to be part of the semiconductor sectoral tariffs, which are coming. So you're going to see this week there'll be a register in the federal registry. There'll be a notice put out. That is different types of work.

So we're going to do that. We did that in autos. The president's going to do it for pharmaceuticals. And he's going to do it for semiconductors.

So all those products are going to come under semiconductors. And they're going to have a special focus type of tariff to make sure that those products get reshored.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, what administration officials are trying to say today is that this is all going to plan, that these exclusions are all part of this broader vision, including this national security review into global trade.

But I don't think you can ignore the sense of chaos that is governing this entire strategy, this back and forth, the applying and then lifting of the tariffs, the adjusting of the rates, saying for weeks that there would be no exclusions, only to learn that, in fact, there are some exclusions on these high-tech products.

I think its creating a sense of chaos, particularly for business owners, big and small, who are trying to decide when and where to invest. The other uncertainty that is governing all of this is whether China

will be willing to engage in trade talks with the United States. Already, you've seen a number of countries approach the White House trying to engage in these trade talks.

But China has essentially gone in the opposite direction. They said overnight that these exclusions on things like smartphones was only a small step in what is already a misguided policy.

What the White House essentially is trying to do is wait by the phone for President Xi Jinping to call up President Trump. Beijing, at this point, does not seem as if they're ready to have this kind of phone call.

What we heard this morning from Lutnick was that there were sort of lower-level conversations underway, what he called softer engagements between officials.

But we heard distinctly from the U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer. There is no conversation between Trump and Xi currently on the books currently planned. That could potentially be a game changer when it happens, but it's not clear that it ever will.

ROSALES: Yes, certainly just makes your head spin; these back and forth changing of the tune seemingly happening by the day.

Kevin Liptak thank you.

For more on all of this, let's bring in CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. Ron, thank you for being on the show.

This electronics exemption essentially came on the heels of Trump's 90-day pause on so-called reciprocal tariffs. And then just days after his administration hammered home the point that he did not intend to give exemptions.

And now you got Trump's commerce secretary, not even 24 hours since the exemption announcement, essentially saying, hey, don't get too excited. That exemption is temporary. Those items, while exempt from reciprocal tariffs, there's now the semiconductor tariff and it's coming soon.

Ron, is this really part of the plan?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. You know, you remember in Trump's first term he described himself as a very stable genius. And if this is stable, it's because he's operating at some level of galactic chess genius that no one else can discern. And to pretty much everyone else, it looks just like chaos and winging it.

You know, its zig, zag, zig which has a cost in itself to business. I mean, in the real world, business has to ultimately make decisions about supply chains that are impossible really to make in this environment.

You know, the bottom line though, is that in the hope of increasing manufacturing jobs, which in the best possible world is something like 2 or 3 million, maybe 4 million at the absolute, you know, outer boundary of success.

Trump's agenda is raising prices on 310 million Americans who own smartphones. 95 percent of Americans own computers. Two-thirds of Americans own -- have prescription drug requirements, which are now also under threat.

He is taking an enormous political risk by increasing costs on virtually all Americans, in the hopes of changing the manufacturing employment prospects for a relatively small number of people.

[14:09:47]

ROSALES: Well, let's talk about that. You know, we have this new information from Yale lab that consumers face an overall effective tariff rate, excuse me, of 27 percent, the highest since 1903.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

ROSALES: So we've heard the White House insist trust Trump, trust Trump. This is part of the plan.

But the stock market has been yoyoing. The bond market is out of whack. Consumer sentiment is lower than even during the Great Depression. At what point does this catch up politically? Midterms?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. No. Well, yes, I think the midterm is where it can be first expressed, but it certainly is catching up politically already.

I mean, if you look at polling, consistently Trump's approval rating on the economy is now routinely weaker than at any point in his first term.

Today, CBS poll, 56 percent of Americans said they disapproved of his handling of the economy. In his first term, he never reached majority disapproval on the economy in any CNN poll. The highest he ever got in disapproval on the economy was once he hit 50 percent disapproval in a CNBC poll.

His approval ratings on inflation are even lower than they are on the economy overall, and it's just important to remember that, you know, more of his voters cited inflation as the critical reason in their vote than any other issue.

I think you can you know, there are obviously other things that contributed. Immigration was important, but voters hired him to solve one problem above all, that the cost of living was out of control.

And initially in his presidency, they viewed him as not focusing on that. Now, if you look at that polling out today and some other recent surveys, I think more Americans are concluding he is not, you know, he is making the problem worse through his policies.

ROSALES: Yes. Let me widen the scope of that a little bit, because the CBS poll is important. First of all, do you think the souring sentiment will actually make a difference? This souring sentiment from voters?

And let's look at these numbers from CBS right here, where 75 percent, the broad majority expects at least short-term price spikes due to the tariffs. 48 percent expect long term increases.

I mean, Ron, he was elected on a promise of lowering prices.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, that was that was the core reason for his victory. You know, look, Trump believes that he has a mandate to fundamentally reshape the global economy as long -- as well as changing the landscape of basic civil rights and civil liberties in the U.S. and our relations with allies.

But he is not the first president who has taken a what was a relatively narrow victory -- he did not reach a majority of the popular vote -- and kind of magnified it in his mind into this all- encompassing mandate.

And I think what you're seeing in polling is exactly what happens when presidents go way beyond what voters, you know, essentially empowered them to do. You know, one thing in that CBS poll that I found really striking was by more than two to one, voters said Trumps policies are hurting rather than helping them.

That kind of finding was an early warning sign for Biden and for Democrats in 2024. And yes, Trump, assuming he does not try somehow to run again for a third term, which you can't entirely rule out, won't be on the ballot. But Republicans from Congress will be on the ballot in 2026. And the trajectory that he's on is one that is obviously dangerous for the party in power.

I mean, you know, approval rating of 45, 46, 47 percent for the incumbent president means the odds are pretty good his party will lose control of the House. And that is the direction that Trump's approval is heading now, dragged down by these economic numbers that provided a floor for him by contrast, in his first term.

ROSALES: Yes. And when I was hitting the roads ahead of the election, I heard from several Independents saying, yes, I voted for him because of the economy, because of the price of eggs. But rest assured, I will be keeping a close eye on whether these prices actually reflect my vote.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

ROSALES: Ron, you have a piece on CNN.com titled "Why Trump's Greatest First Term Strength May Be His Biggest Second Term Weakness".

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

ROSALES: And you found a dramatic reversal. And you touched a little bit on this, on how Americans view his handling of the economy this time around.

A source actually told you this is a red flag for him so early in his second term. Do you agree? BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Yes, absolutely. If you look back, I mean, that was a piece I wrote a few weeks ago when, when these first numbers were starting to come out. If you look at his first term, the economy was, as I said, a floor underneath him.

Every time in CNN or Gallup or CBC polling his approval rating on the economy exceeded his overall approval rating. So whatever else was going on, whatever other controversies were swirling about him, the economy, faith in his management of the economy was something that undergirded him, that lifted him up.

Now, routinely again in that CBS poll today, his approval rating on the economy is lower than his overall approval rating. It is something pushing him down.

And something I would really point out from that CBS poll, reinforcing what we've seen in some others. Look at the numbers among Hispanics because his gains among Hispanic voters in 2024 were his most important improvements.

[14:14:48]

BROWNSTEIN: And there were, you know, many dimensions of that but certainly the view that Biden had mismanaged the economy and their cost of living was out of control was key to that.

He is now looking at extremely negative numbers on his management of the economy, whether his agenda is helping you, whether his agenda is increasing rather than reducing costs for groceries and other daily essentials among Hispanic voters. They are all way below his actual vote in 2024.

And you know, like I said, I mean there are a lot of reasons why Trump was returned to the White House in '24, but certainly above all of them was voters expected him to make their daily economic situation better.

And now, if you look at these numbers on tariffs and the assessments of his overall agenda, they are concluding in many cases precisely the opposite.

ROSALES: Yes, it will be interesting to see when futures open here in just a couple of hours to how the markets are reacting to this back and forth in this weekend alone.

Ron Brownstein, really appreciate your time. Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

ROSALES: Well, still ahead, the Trump administration has revoked more than 500 student visas at 88 universities. Details on a new federal lawsuit looking to stop that.

Plus murdered parents, a payment for explosives and a network of Neo- Nazis. What we're learning about a Wisconsin teen's alleged foiled plot to assassinate President Trump. And Russia striking Ukraine in its deadliest attack this year. How Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is responding to the Palm Sunday killings.

[14:16:18]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSALES: The Trump administration is facing a new federal lawsuit over revoked student visas. An Atlanta law firm specializing in immigration filed the suit seeking to stop federal officials from deporting international students.

CNN's Rafael Romo is here. Rafa, what else did you find in this lawsuit?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot of details that are very interesting, especially when you consider the students that are being targeted.

And Isabel, the federal lawsuit was filed in the U.S. district court of northern Georgia here in Atlanta by Kuck and Baxter, a legal firm specializing in immigration.

The lawsuit seeks to stop federal officials from deporting international students whose visas have already been revoked. Kuck and Baxter also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order seeking to reinstate those visas.

We have obtained copies of the complaint, which was filed Friday night, and the request for a temporary restraining order. The lawsuit's main allegation is that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has abruptly and unlawfully, it says, terminated the students' legal status, stripping them of their ability to pursue their studies and maintain employment in the United States and risking their arrest, detention and deportation.

The lawsuit specifically names three Trump administration officials as defendants, including U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and ICE acting director Todd Lyons.

One of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, says in addition to having their visas revoked, students have also been taken out of the system that allows them to remain in legal status in this country, known as (INAUDIBLE).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUSTIN BAXTER, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: The problem with that is, is that the regulations provide a very limited amount of circumstances where the government can go in and do that. You have to be convicted of certain crimes. You have to stop attending school or somehow violate your status.

These people have not violated their status. They're not deportable from the United States because of any criminal issues. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And we have reached out to both the White House and the Department of Homeland Security for reaction. But we have yet to get a reply.

The original complaint represents 17 international students who were attending colleges here in Georgia and other states. But the attorneys who filed the lawsuit say that an additional 150 to 200 students may be added in the next few days.

And Isabel, some of them are apparently being targeted for minor traffic violations.

ROSALES: Yes, or sometimes nothing at all. We have, from our reporting, over 500 visas revoked.

ROMO: Right.

ROSALES: Rafael Romo, thank you so much.

I want to bring in now, Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia of California. He's also a member of the Homeland Security Committee. Congressman, thank you so much for your time.

You just heard Rafael Romo's reporting here about these students banding together and filing a lawsuit. Is there anything you and the Democratic Party can do to protect these students?

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): Well first, I think this is -- it's both infuriating. And we should all just be angered and upset about what's actually happening right now.

The number is actually now nearing over 800 students that we know of from across the country. Just here at our local university, my own district, there's six students that have been deported. All six, by the way, have no idea why their actual student visas were actually revoked. No clue. Homeland Security won't tell them.

And so this is a huge concern, of course, for us Democrats on Homeland Security, all of us in Congress. We, of course, are trying to push against Secretary Noem.

But at the end of the day, they are doing whatever they want and they could care less what judges are saying, what Congress is saying, and they're acting on what I think is a horrific policy around immigration, especially for students.

And we also know that they're targeting students for free speech. So it's not just a traffic violation or it's not just claiming that they may have done something and giving them no due process to defend themselves, but also other students for free speech.

[14:24:48]

GARCIA: So we should all be incredibly concerned. And we are demanding answers from Homeland Security.

ROSALES: Yes, concern. But what is the Democratic Party doing about it?

GARCIA: Well look, we're obviously finding it tough where we can pushing back. We've asked Secretary Noem to testify in front of Homeland Security. She's refused to do so. We're asking the Trump administration officials to also come in front of us and testify. They're refusing to give us any more information.

So we're working directly with the students, with the universities. And the most important thing we have in front of us are the courts. So we, along with others, are filing numerous lawsuits.

In fact, Democrats have won about half of the legal cases against DOGE and the administration. So we're very hopeful. You heard about one case right before in the segment before.

We're hopeful that and other cases will lead to the students actually coming back to the United States, or at least having some type of due process.

ROSALES: Let me ask you about this. A judge has relaxed a ban on DOGE that at one point prevented them from accessing sensitive Treasury information for millions of Americans.

But now the judge says one DOGE worker can access sensitive payment and data systems if he can complete some training that all Treasury employees typically go through and submit a financial disclosure report. Do you have any concerns regarding that?

GARCIA: Tons of concerns. I mean first, look, the people that have been dismissed or removed from this process have been career civil servants, people that have been working at our agencies, at Treasury and other places for years.

To have someone basically plucked from Elon Musk's special team who had no experience working at Treasury or our departments, actually doing this work and managing this type of data and systems should be very concerning.

The system that you're talking about that was talked about by this judge, is the key system that manages almost all of our flow of federal dollars. And we're going to put someone that has not worked in Treasury plucked from Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet with numerous federal contracts in front of him and in front of all of our agencies, now in charge and having access to people's personal information.

We should all be incredibly concerned about that. And I think that, look, this person, for all we know, may be a very smart person, and that's fine. But having no experience in the government and then letting go the career civil servants that could actually be there as a check and balance, letting go by the way, inspector generals at all of our agencies, that would be -- that would be the check and balance to anything, any malfeasance or abuse that may happen is what concerns all of us across the Congress.

And I would hope that Republicans would join Democrats and stand up and call this out as well.

ROSALES: Let me move on to the elephant in the room -- tariffs. Many of your colleagues are ramping up calls for an investigation into whether the president intentionally manipulated the market when he told Americans to invest right before announcing a 90-day pause on tariffs.

We heard from Senator Cory Booker him saying, there is enough smoke here, but where's the smoke?

GARCIA: Well first, I agree with Senator Booker. I think first and foremost there is so much up and down tariff policy that happened out of the White House. And we have a right to know who knew what and when they knew it.

Why was Marjorie Taylor Greene making and talking about some of her trades in public, making trades that look suspicious? She should be able to answer those questions.

ROSALES: Do you have do you have evidence of that?

(CROSSTALKING)

GARCIA: No. I think she should -- but she should -- she should answer the questions. And the administration has received now numerous letters from members of Congress asking about any sort of manipulation. They should ask -- answer the questions.

And so when you have a trade policy that makes absolutely no sense. One day it's on, one day it's off, one day certain items are on, the next day it's off. And you see that a lot of people made a lot of money on the actual stock market over the last couple of weeks on this information. I think at a minimum, the administration owes it to us to give us the actual facts and information.

As far as members of Congress are concerned--

(CROSSTALKING)

ROSALES: So you're calling for an investigation, Congressman?

GARCIA: Absolutely. And we've called for one. We've sent -- we've asked for information. And in addition, it's another reminder that members of Congress also should not be allowed to individually trade stocks.

I have legislation that I have co-signed on this issue. Members of Congress should not be trading stocks, and I don't care what party that you're in -- period.

(CROSSTALKING)

ROSALES: Yes, we've certainly heard this about, like Nancy Pelosi, for example, over on the Republican side, those concerns from Republicans.

GARCIA: I think no member -- no member of congress, no matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat, should be able to trade individual stocks in the Congress -- period.

And the administration should answer our questions about all of the back-and-forth tariff policy and if anyone had any insider information.

ROSALES: All right. Congressman Robert Garcia, really appreciate your time. Thank you.

GARCIA: Thank you.

ROSALES: Well, coming up, the FBI is accusing this 17-year-old of murdering his parents in a plot to assassinate the president. Details on that investigation next.

[14:29:37]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:33:50]

ROSALES: Right now. An Austin, Texas emergency crews are responding to what appears to be an explosion that reduced a house to a pile of rubble. According to the Austin Fire Department, at least four people were hurt, including a firefighter. This is a developing story.

According to our affiliate KEYE in Austin, one house was completely collapsed. A second house is very much damaged, and the same goes for several nearby homes. Power is out in the area due to damaged power lines. The cause of the blast is still under investigation.

Authorities say a shocking plot to assassinate the president was discovered after a Wisconsin teen was arrested and charged in the shooting deaths of his parents. Investigators allege the 17-year-old Nikita Casap committed the murders for financial means and autonomy in order to carry out his extremist plan to overthrow the U.S. government and, quote, save the white race.

CNN national correspondent Natasha Chen is following the latest on this.

Natasha, what more are you learning about all of these disturbing allegations?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Isabel, what investigators describe as rather elaborate.

[14:35:01]

Like you said, the affidavit shows he allegedly killed his parents for financial means and autonomy in order to kill President Trump.

He was arrested in Kansas for SUV theft and firearm possession. And after authorities got a search warrant, they found material on his phone about the order of the nine angles, which is about a neo-Nazi, racially motivated set of extremist views, according to court documents. Now, the FBI found a three-page document calling for Trump's assassination to create a political revolution and to, quote, save the white race. The document also contained images of Adolf Hitler, along with text praising Hitler and the white race.

Now, Casap faces nine felony charges, including two counts of first degree murder and two counts of hiding a corpse. But that list comprises only the county charges. Investigators are also pursuing three federal charges of presidential assassination, conspiracy and use of weapons of mass destruction, which is beyond the list that you're seeing right there.

Now, authorities actually believe his parents were killed on February 11th, but they weren't found until two and a half weeks later. In between, there were texts sent from his stepfather's phone to the employer claiming the stepfather was ill. Casap's own phone pinged in Iowa, then a welfare check was requested, and that's when the parents were found dead from gunshot wounds in Wisconsin.

Now, Casap was not at home at the time, and police listed his stepfather's SUV as stolen, and that same evening, police in Kansas did a traffic stop on that vehicle found at the wheel. The complaint says, and it also says that inside the car was $14,000 in $100 bills. Jewelry worth more than $14,000, and a 357 magnum revolver purchased by his stepfather.

An affidavit says the 17-year-old's classmate told the sheriff's office that Casap said he planned to kill his parents, but didn't have access to a gun, that maybe he would borrow -- he would steal one. And that classmate said Casap claimed to be in contact with someone in Russia. Now, detectives also found messages indicating Casap planned to leave for Ukraine.

Now, CNN has reached out to his attorney so far, county records show he hasn't entered pleas on any of the state charges yet, and he's scheduled for an arraignment on May 7th -- Isabel.

ROSALES: All of it disturbing.

Natasha Chen, thank you very much.

CHEN: Thanks.

ROSALES: Well, still ahead, President Trump's tariffs are brewing trouble for your cup of coffee. Why your latte could get a little more expensive.

Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:13]

ROSALES: Coffee drinkers, get ready. President Trump's tariffs could soon make a bigger impact on your wallet.

That's because coffee-growing nations are getting hit with that 10 percent universal tariff. Somebody has to make up the difference. And small coffee shop owners are bracing for higher costs.

Matthew Schodorf is one of those owners now bracing. He owns Cafe De Leche in Los Angeles.

Matthew, thank you for being on the show.

We know that you've already lost one of your four shops in the Los Angeles area fires. And now this. How significant are these tariffs for your business?

MATTHEW SCHODORF, OWNER, CAFE DE LECH COFFEE SHOP: It's not going to help. Yeah. You know? It's -- it's -- the uncertainty is actually the most difficult part because it depends on which coffee region. You said 10 percent there.

My understanding is some countries because we source coffee from all parts of the world. We had coffee from Indonesia this year, which is some amazing coffee, and that had tariffs in the 40 percent. I don't know if that's changed.

ROSALES: Yeah.

SCHODORF: It seems like --

ROSALES: And Vietnam, too. Vietnam was the largest amount with 46 percent. We know that those beans are typically used like in cold brews and instant coffee. Those are part of the reciprocal tariffs that were paused for the next 90 days. But kind of goes to show the confusion, too, as things keep changing by the day.

SCHODORF: Yeah, I mean, we source a lot of our coffee from Central America, and Nicaragua in particular was hit with a higher tariff. So, we have some concern about that.

The overall price of green coffee. So unroasted coffee that we buy, we -- we were a small roaster in Los Angeles. Is -- has the green coffee prices have gone up over the past couple of years? Mostly due to weather events in Brazil and Vietnam.

And, you know, we're -- we're a small mom and pop. It's just my wife and I. We don't have investors or anything like that. And so, any major price increases really hit us pretty hard.

ROSALES: You mentioned Brazil in particular. A lot of coffee importers that I spoke with get their beans from there. One -- one told me that his pricing over the past six months had gone up 30 percent because of those unfavorable growing conditions. Even outside of these tariffs.

Have you -- did you mention that you personally saw that, too, in your shop?

SCHODORF: Yeah. I mean, for us, the coffee in Brazil has gone up more than that. I mean, I think that it -- you know, coffee is a commodity. Like a lot of other things. So we're affected by the commodity price. We're in specialty coffee, so we tend to pay a premium over commodity prices anyway.

But we -- there's no other place to really source it U.S.-wise, you know what I mean?

[14:45:02]

Like, it's -- I understand, I think some of the philosophy or the idea that they're trying to do with some of these tariffs is to try to, like, buy American more or less. Right, which I understand, and that like makes sense in a lot of levels. But like there's no option.

I mean, coffee's grown between the Tropics. It's in the tropics, you know, and there's some limited production in Hawaii, in Puerto Rico, but it's really not enough to fill in the gap for like most of the coffees sourced, like you said, in Brazil or in Central America or South America or Africa, you know, and we can't just make it up by, like, growing it in the U.S.

ROSALES: Right. So, you reject that argument, at least with coffee, that you can't just make it or grow it in America, especially considering I spoke with the National Coffee Association, the trade industry, the largest trade industry in the nation. They say that 99 percent of the coffee supply has to be imported. We only source 1 percent here.

To your point about Hawaii and Puerto Rico. So, what message would you tell the administration, at least when it comes to coffee?

SCHODORF: I mean, it's an unfair tax on us, you know? I mean, we -- we are -- we try to always have high quality product which comes from all these, these different regions, but we also want to do it in an affordable price for our, for our guests. And so, we struggle to be in the middle, you know what I mean?

And there is no alternative to sourcing this coffee from other countries. There is no U.S. alternative for it. So, it seems unfair to put a flat tax on, you know, a tax across the board on something that we have no alternative to.

ROSALES: So, can you absorb these costs? I know the margins are very tight in the food and beverage industry. Or is it just a matter of time before you're forced to raise those prices? What would you tell your customers?

SCHODORF: Yeah, I mean, that's where we're at. You know, we've tried -- we haven't raised prices for a while. You know, like I said, the -- the weather in some of these coffee producing countries really affected the price of green coffee.

So, we were hoping that it would go down. It's just like any other commodity. Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down.

So, we've kind of held off on raising prices because were hoping that it comes down a bit in the future, but it hasn't really. They've held pretty high.

And then on top of that, these tariffs, sooner or later you have to you have to pass some of the, costs along to your guests. But nobody ever likes to do that. We -- we hate that, you know?

ROSALES: Do you worry that your customers could be priced out of buying your coffee?

SCHODORF: I mean, everyone's got their limit. You know what I mean? I feel like we will do our best to absorb as much of this and share some of this cost and hope for the best in the future, and hope that these tariffs go away and hope that the cost of green come down, and from these weather-related events.

ROSALES: Matthew Schodorf wishing you the best, sir. Thank you so much.

SCHODORF: Thank you.

ROSALES: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:52:52]

ROSALES: New today, the deadliest attack in Ukraine so far this year. Dozens were killed when Russian missiles struck the northern city of Sumy.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attack, calling it horrifying.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz explains, it happened as people were observing the Palm Sunday holiday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Let me begin with a graphic warning for our viewers, because these images emerging after this attack in the Sumy region are absolutely horrifying. President Zelenskyy says that a Russian ballistic missile struck the region as people were gathering for Palm Sunday prayers. More than 30 people were killed, according to Ukrainian officials. And among those deaths are children. Dozens more were wounded.

Ukrainian officials now saying that this is the deadliest attack on the country since the start of the year by Russia. And it comes, of course, as President Trump is pursuing a peace agreement. He says he wants to see the war end and end quickly. American mediators were negotiating directly with President Putin just a few days ago inside Russia.

But what's happening on the ground in Ukraine is actually an intensification of Russian attacks, particularly in the Sumy region, where Russian troops have been pushing hard to seize more territory. President Zelenskyy saying after this attack and after sharing some of those horrifying videos of the aftermath, saying that Russia is dragging out the war and pushing his partners to put greater pressure on Moscow.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES: New today, an Israeli strike destroyed part of the last fully functioning hospital in Gaza City. Video appears to show heavy damage to the hospital's emergency room. No casualties were reported, but the religious group that runs the hospital says a previously injured boy died in the evacuation shortly before the attack. Israel's military claims the hospital was being used as a command center by Hamas.

We're continuing to follow our breaking news. A manhunt underway for the person who set Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's residence on fire while his family was asleep.

[14:55:00]

The latest on that investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSALES: Hello, and thank you for joining me. I'm Isabel Rosales, in for Fredricka Whitfield.

Breaking news at this hour. Multiple agencies are investigating a suspected arson fire at the home of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Shapiro says he and his family were asleep when loud bangs on the door from the state police woke them after, quote, an arsonist set fire to the house.