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Tariffs On Imported Auto Parts Now In Effect; Buffett Criticizes Trump's Tariffs: "Trade Can Be An Act Of War"; Trump Says Economy Would Be "OK" If There's Short-Term Recession; Australia's PM Retains Power In A Test Of Anti-Trump Sentiment; Judge Permanently Blocks "Unconstitutional" Trump Order Targeting Law Firm Perkins Coie; Trump: Government Will Revoke Harvard's Tax-Exempt Status; Intense Diplomatic Efforts Underway To Cool Pakistan-India Tensions. Pakistan Conducts Missile Test As Tensions With India Intensify; Major Delays At Newark Airport Roll Into Sixth Day; Voice Of America To Begin "Phased Return" Next Week. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired May 03, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: -- remains a fierce advocate of human rights, women's rights too. Make sure to tune in this time next week for more of our conversation, where I'll ask her about living in an America, that's Rolling Up the Welcome Mat.

That's all we have time for now, though. Don't forget, you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms.

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

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

All right, starting today, a new round of Trump auto tariffs go into effect. And these new tax hikes could sharply raise the price of every car made, sold, and repaired in the U.S. This one involves a 25 percent tariff on imported auto parts, which are used in every car made in the U.S., and could upend the auto industry.

The CEO of General Motors told CNN the tariffs would cost the company between $4 to $5 billion this year. While consumers may not see any price hikes in the short term, experts estimate that the added cost of the tariffs could average to about $4,000 per vehicle.

We have a team of correspondents covering these developments. CNN's Alayna Treene will have more on President Trump downplaying how these tariffs will impact the economy. But let's first get with CNN Business Writer Samantha Delouya, and how these new tariffs will impact consumers.

Good morning to you, Samantha. So, walk us through what we know about these new tariffs. SAMANTHA DELOUYA, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, hi Fredricka. A new round of tariffs on auto parts went into effect overnight at 12:01 a.m., and no car is completely spared from these auto tariffs. That's because there is no car that is currently made today in the U.S. at all that is made 100 percent with U.S. auto parts.

So, last week, President Trump signed an executive order giving a short-term reprieve to U.S. automakers. They can partially offset the cost of these tariffs for the first two years. But even with that partial offset, experts predict that these auto tariffs will hit automakers pretty hard and add tens of billions of dollars to their cost.

And as you mentioned, that cost will eventually trickle down to the U.S. consumer. People, as you say, experts estimate it will be about $4,000 on average added to a new car purchase in the U.S.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then Samantha, what about investors? What are they saying?

DELOUYA: Yes. So, you know, the stock market investors have been digesting this tariff news over the past month, and the market has been incredibly volatile as a result. But yesterday, actually, the market ended up closing higher. That's because the U.S. economy was showing signs of strength.

The U.S. jobs number is still holding up. At least it was for April. But, you know, a lot of experts estimate that the full effects of these tariffs have not yet been felt and are still making their way through the economy. Take a listen to what America -- one of America's most famous investors, Warren Buffett, said this morning about a brewing trade war at his annual investor conference.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

WARREN BUFFETT, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: There's no question that trade can be an act of war. And I think it's led to bad things. Just the attitudes it's brought out in the United States, I mean, we should be looking to trade with the rest of the world and we should do what we do best and they should do what they do best.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

DELOUYA: So there you have it, Fredricka. Some pretty stark words from Warren Buffett, one of America's most famous investors, calling trade a potential act of war.

WHITFIELD: When he speaks, people do listen. Samantha Delouya, thank you so much.

Let's go now to Alayna Treene in West Palm Beach, near the president's Florida home. So, Alayna, good morning to you. Why is the president and his team so optimistic about these tariffs?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Look, I mean, they continue to say that they're optimistic, mainly because they think in the long run that his economic strategy is going to pan out. And this is something I consistently hear in my conversations with senior White House officials, is that his economic strategy is a mid to long term strategy.

And in the short term, as we've heard from the president himself now many times, he does acknowledge that there may be some pain, particularly over his tariff policy as they wait to really do what his, you know, see how his larger goal with the economy works, which is to try and break the global economic order. And that's what he's trying to do with these tariffs.

[12:05:04]

But look, Fredricka, we did hear the president. He sat down for an interview yesterday with NBC's Meet the Press. We're going to have the full interview, of course. We'll see that air tomorrow. But we did get a clip.

And one of his comments during that clip, it's starting to cause a little about concern, I would argue, or stir in the media, because he was asked specifically about the, you know, outlook of a potential recession. Listen to how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

(END VIDEOCLIP)

TREENE: Sorry, I'm not sure if we had -- I don't think we had the sound there. I'll just read for you what he said. Essentially, Kristen Welker, the anchor there, said, "Is it OK in the short term to have a recession?" The president replied, "Look, yes, everything's OK. What we are, I said, and this is a transition period. I think we're going to do fantastically".

Essentially, he's saying, look, yes, acknowledging that there could be a recession in the short term, but again, trying to give that longer- term optimism. But this does come, Fredricka, I have to be, you know, very clear here, that a lot of people inside the White House internally are getting anxious about some of these tariffs.

And that's why you've seen really many of his top economic advisers come out and try to talk about how a deal on these tariffs with other countries are near. Specifically, you heard, you know, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, all of them saying a deal with India is close.

I'd note we ended this week when many people thought a deal might be announced without any sort of announcement on a deal. So there's a lot of pressure right now on this administration to try and announce any sort of good news for Americans who are very worried about the economic turmoil they've been seeing. And they're worried about high prices at the grocery stores and the potential of more inflation.

And so it is a concern that many people within the White House, many Trump administration officials do recognize they need to try and solve for more quickly rather than later. But again, when you look at the broad picture, they really are trying to argue that in the long term they think this plan will work.

WHITFIELD: All right. All right, real palpable worries from consumers to investors, for sure.

Alayna Treene, Samantha Delouya, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

All right. And now this breaking news on an election watched around the world. Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has secured a second term in office after his center-left Labor Party scored a decisive victory over his Conservative rivals. The election seen as a test of anti-Trump sentiment in the country as voters chose stability over change against a backdrop of global turmoil from Trump's policies and beyond.

Nine News Reporter Massilia Aili reports from the Labor Party's headquarters in Sydney.

MASSILIA AILI, NINE NEWS REPORTER: Well, there you have it. Anthony Albanese has become the first Labor leader to win a second term in more than a decade in what's already been dubbed a landslide victory. The election was called in his favor around an hour and a half after the counting started.

Just take a look here behind me at the Labor HQ. People still celebrating. His Labor faithful have been here for hours and will no doubt be here for several hours to come.

Now, we have heard from Mr. Albanese here tonight. Take a listen to some of his speech.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: In this time of global uncertainty, Australians have chosen optimism and determination.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

AILI: Opposition leader Peter Dutton has also come out and spoken to his party faithful. He has apologized to those who came out to support him and taken full responsibility for the loss. It's also important to note that Peter Dutton has actually also lost his seat of Dixon in Queensland to Labor.

Take a listen to Peter Dutton's speech.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

PETTER DUTTON, OPPOSITION LEADER: Now, we didn't do well enough during this campaign. And that much is obvious tonight and I accept full responsibility for that.

Earlier on, I called the Prime Minister to congratulate him on his success tonight. It's an historic occasion for the Labor Party and we recognize that.

(END VIDEOCLIP) AILI: The most likely outcome was a hung parliament but that's certainly not how this election went. It was a swift win for Labor and the Prime Minister has already promised to begin work tomorrow.

WHITFIELD: Massilia Aili, thank you so much.

All right, still ahead, a major legal blow for the Trump administration. A federal judge striking down an executive order targeting a prominent law firm for good.

Plus, escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. Pakistan flexing their military might today as the U.S. pushes for restraint and calm.

And major delays plaguing Newark International Airport for the sixth day now in a row. Why the FAA says staffing issues are to blame.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:14:46]

WHITFIELD: A significant legal defeat for President Trump. Friday night, a federal judge ruled an executive order he signed that targeted security clearances for law firm Perkins Coie is unconstitutional. The firm represented Hillary Clinton in 2016 and was involved in voting rights litigation that Trump opposed.

[12:15:06]

Judge Beryl Howell, permanently blocking the president from enforcing the order saying it, quote, "targeted plaintiff because the firm expressed support for employment policies the president does not like, represented clients the president does not like, represented seeking litigation results the president does not like, and represented clients challenging some of the president's actions, which he also does not like. That is unconstitutional retaliation and viewpoint discrimination, plain and simple", end quote.

With us now, University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School, Laurence Tribe. Professor, great to see you.

So --

LAURENCE TRIBE, HARVARD CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSOR: Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: -- let's talk about this first. You know, Judge Howell didn't mince words there. Did she get it right?

TRIBE: She certainly did. This was an executive order that challenged the very foundations of our whole legal system. If lawyers who take positions that those in power don't like can be punished and can be driven out of business, then the idea of any of us being protected by law from the government, which is, after all, the potential source of all kinds of violations of our rights, goes out the window.

So she was completely right, and I am confident that unlike a number of more complicated rulings, this simple decision will be upheld all the way on appeal. And I think the very fact that she wrote this clear and compelling 102-page opinion will send signals throughout the country. Law firms and others who have caved in to coercive threats by President Trump will reconsider.

They gained nothing by their cowardice. He's come back for more. His deals with them are unenforceable because they were secured at the point of a gun, essentially. And if they have any sense, all of these other law firms are going to turn around and sue the president just the way Perkins Coie did, and they should have equal success.

WHITFIELD: OK. I want to shift gears with you now, and let's talk about your own university. President Trump is threatening to strip Harvard's tax-exempt status, saying in a Truth Social post, it's what they deserve. A university spokesperson telling CNN, "There is no legal basis to rescind Harvard's tax-exempt status. Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission," end quote.

So what would it mean, in your view, if Harvard were to acquiesce to the White House demands, including changing its policy, which the university has said it's not going to do?

TRIBE: It is not and it should not for universities to simply allow the president to install himself at the top of their entire process to determine what they can teach, how they can teach, whom they can hire, which students they can admit, would be basically to turn the reins of education over to those in power.

That's completely inconsistent with our system of government. And the idea of further threatening Harvard by telling the IRS to strip Harvard of its historic tax exemption is dead on arrival. The IRS has no authority to do what the president threatens to demand, because Congress, which has the power of the person, decides who has exemptions and who does not, has said that charitable and educational institutions get exemptions unless they engage in certain precise kinds of misconduct.

Harvard has not been accused of engaging in such misconduct, except by the sweeping and phony claim that Harvard is not sufficiently energetic in fighting anti-Semitism, which has nothing to do with the basis for this tax exemption. So this is not going to succeed either. And I'm glad it isn't, because other universities, having seen Harvard sue the president for his other threats to withhold funds from research and so on, they're beginning to follow suit.

So all it takes is a little courage, and then other people join in. And when there is a wall of solidarity opposing these steps toward complete takeover and tyranny, we will finally begin to see light at the end of this dark tunnel.

[12:20:15]

WHITFIELD: So this threat from the president about the tax-exempt status exemption potential is a consequence of Harvard not changing its policies to the president's likings. And I wonder, you know, this is a month of graduations at campuses across the country. Harvard College's commencement ceremony is taking place May 29th.

I'm wondering how you see this lesson that Harvard perhaps is sending to the White House might be woven into the commencement addresses and what the staff, faculty and students are feeling on campus right now as a result of Harvard standing its ground.

TRIBE: Well, I think they're feeling enormous pride. There was a sense of worry and fear when it wasn't clear that Harvard would stand up. Now I sense joy throughout the campus. And the fact that these threats are going to make life difficult for a while is accepted as the cost of pushing back against tyranny.

I don't know whether commencement speakers are going to have time to revise their remarks to take account of this mood, but whether they do or not, I think it will be the message between the lines. There is hope in every commencement because commencements not only celebrate the past, they anticipate a better future.

And I think what Harvard has done, what President Garber, the current president of Harvard, has done makes that hope more realistic.

WHITFIELD: Harvard, the oldest university in the United States, has an endowment of -- you know, valued in the area of $50 billion. I mean, that's pretty impressive. But can it afford to keep up, whether it's research, whether it's outreach for the student body? Can it carry on as it has for decades now with tax-exempt status removed?

TRIBE: Well, first of all, I don't think it can be successfully removed. If it were removed, the pain to Harvard and to people who get medical treatment at the research hospitals that the federal assistance provides and that the tax exemption makes possible through earnings on the endowment, they would suffer. There's no doubt about it.

But Judge Burroughs, the federal district judge before whom Harvard has sued the president, has scheduled a determinative hearing for July 21st in the middle of the summer. And I think there's a very good chance that this is not going to be a long-term problem for Harvard. But whatever it is, we simply cannot afford to cave in because that doesn't solve the problem either.

As Judge Howell said in her opinion, the law firms that bent the knee hoping that they could persuade the president to keep his promises have been sorely disappointed. So we are doing what must be done.

WHITFIELD: Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe, a pleasure having you. Thank you so much.

TRIBE: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now also serving as the interim national security adviser, the interim head of USAID, and even interim head of National Archives.

Up next, we'll ask a former senior State Department official if he thinks one person can do all of these jobs effectively. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:28:39]

WHITFIELD: All right, new today, Pakistan's military conducting a new missile test. The test came just hours after Pakistan conducted military exercises. Tensions between India and Pakistan have been intensifying in recent weeks.

CNN's Nic Robertson reports efforts are underway to try to bring the temperature down between the two nuclear powers.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There's been this intense diplomacy over the last few days. Saudi, UAE, Kuwaiti diplomats all talking to Pakistani officials. The foreign minister talking about de-escalation, cooperation, not inflaming the situation. The United States, in a huge way, has played a big public role in diplomacy here.

Not just Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaking with the Pakistan Prime Minister, his opposite number in India. Pete Hegseth on the phone with his Indian counterpart. JD Vance also speaking to both sides publicly by saying, do not or try to find a way to avoid escalating this regionally.

The diplomacy may be going on in the background, but in the foreground, it looks and feels very different. The tensions remain. Pakistani officials still believe that India is poised to make a strike.

That test firing of the Ababeel missile today, 450 kilometer range, that's about 280 miles, surfaced the air missile, they say it's got advanced functionality and maneuverability. So I spoke with a senior security official today about this and I said, is this test firing of the missile a message to India? And he said, look, just look at the title of this military exercise, exercise Indus, which refers to the Indus water treaty that India has decided to withhold from, which feeds water from three major rivers into Pakistan, which is vitally needed for power and agriculture.

Absolute fundamental to the relationship and tensions in the region. The message this security source says to India, don't touch it. These countries are still poised in a position that they are ready to respond to whatever the other does. And the perception in Pakistan is that the Indian military will do more. What is -- what India has done today, they've announced a ban on the input of all goods from Pakistan, trade across the border. They've banned all Pakistani ships from entering Indian ports and have also cut the postal service from Pakistan as well. It points to the tensions still at a very, very high level.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Nic Robertson, thanks so much.

All right, let's continue the conversation now with us is Joel Rubin. He is a former deputy assistant secretary of state and author of The Briefing Book on Substack. Joel, good to see you. So -- JOEL RUBIN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT, SECRETARY OF STATE: Good to see you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: -- what's with these tensions between India and Pakistan right now boiling over like this?

RUBIN: Yes, you know, Fred, the miscalculation risk, as Nic points out, is incredibly high. This has been a simmering conflict and tension between these two countries goes back decades. I remember when I served earlier at the State Department of Military Affairs, when there was a near conflagration in 2002 up to the line of control when India and Dick Armitage, then our deputy secretary of state, flew out to Pakistan and -- and tried to -- to cool -- cool the -- the nerves a little bit there. And I think that's what we need right now.

We need more aggressive American diplomacy. We need American leadership to lean in. We have turmoil right now, unfortunately, at our National Security Council. It doesn't make it any easier, but this could always explode into a nuclear exchange. And that's the big fear, is that these two countries, they have between them several hundred nuclear weapons. And if they were to -- to unleash them, it could be devastating, not just for them, but globally.

WHITFIELD: So you say the U.S. ought to be concerned about the rift between the two countries, but then how concerned does the U.S. need to be about any kind of political instability, particularly inside Pakistan?

RUBIN: Well, without a doubt, that -- that is a -- that's fueling much of the extremism we -- we see. And, you know, there's a long history of -- of terrorist groups coming out of Pakistan, going into Afghanistan, going into India, of course. And the military and the intelligence services of Pakistan as well have been very allied with groups like -- like al-Qaida in the past and the Taliban.

And so that is fueling much of -- of the moment that we're experiencing right now. But again, if the United States, if we don't work with our allies aggressively and publicly and try to get our ally Pakistan as well to calm their internal political situation, these kinds of back and forths are going to continue incessantly.

Remember, we have a deep relationship with Pakistan despite detention, as well as with India. We should be able to turn them back from the brink.

WHITFIELD: All right. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now --

RUBIN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: -- also the interim national security advisor after Mike Waltz was removed from the job. Is this a reflection of Trump's confidence in Rubio that he now has really four titles? There are three other interim jobs in addition to him being secretary of state.

RUBIN: Yes, I hope he doesn't get any more because his plate is beyond full. You know, Marco Rubio, he's clearly talented and clearly has the confidence of the president. But this is just too much. We need a national security council that's run by another individual who coordinates all of the agencies, the Treasury Department, Justice, Defense, State to get the best national security advice to the President.

My fear with what we're watching right now, however, is a downsizing of the NSC, the National Security Council, which will actually make it much more dangerous for us in the world. Marco Rubio, he has the State Department bureaucracy to manage. But we need all aspects of American power dealing with international crises. And if we get rid of the NSC or weaken it to the point where it's not coordinating, it's going to be very dangerous for our ability to -- to protect power around the world.

WHITFIELD: That graphic showing he's wearing a lot of hats, so to speak, with those many job titles.

RUBIN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Can he effectively do that? I mean, you know, can you make an impact if not in one area, but in all simultaneously?

[12:35:07]

RUBIN: I -- I think it's incredibly challenging to do that. We've had this experience once before in the 70s with Henry Kissinger. He was national security advisor, but it was a totally different environment back then.

WHITFIELD: He's now doing more than, yes, Henry Kissinger.

RUBIN: Yes, I mean, Henry Kissinger was advising the very skeleton staff. Now the National Security Council, it's like an agency. And so running two major agencies, essentially cabinet level agencies simultaneously, that's just not right. That's bad management. That's not going to give the advice to the president or inside these agencies on how to do their job effectively. And so I think for Secretary Rubio, he's clearly talented, but this is not going to maximize his skill set at all. And it's going to harm the nation as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk about the Iran nuclear talks. They were supposed to happen today, but now it's been postponed.

RUBIN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: How concerned are you about that?

RUBIN: You know, I -- I -- I think this is a really tricky bouncing ball to try to understand what President Trump's policy is. One day it's maximum pressure. The next day he's going to have talks and he's going to make economic cooperation with Iran. He -- he opposed the Barack Obama's nuclear deal, got rid of it, pulled us out of it. And now it looks like he wants to negotiate an identical one to that.

I just don't know what the vision is. I think he's scaring the Israelis, our allies in Israel. The region does not want another war, but it does not want an Iranian nuclear weapon. We need some clarity on what the goals are for this diplomacy. If it's to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon, great. But let's see what that looks like. And let's also deal with other issues that Iran is engaged in around the region, like support for terrorism and -- and other miss, you know, bad activity. I just don't know what the policy is. And I think that's really concerning right now.

WHITFIELD: All right. Joel Rubin, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

RUBIN: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, an army helicopter forcing two commercial planes to abort their landings at Reagan National Airport. The NTSB now investigating.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:41:42]

WHITFIELD: Travelers flying through Newark International Airport this weekend are experiencing the sixth day of delays. The FAA imposed the ground delays, some lasting for more than two hours because of shortages in air traffic control staffing. United Airlines said it will cancel 35 round trip flights each day starting this weekend. CNN correspondent Leigh Waldman is following the latest from Newark Liberty Airport. So, Leigh, how are wait times affecting passengers' moods today and experiences?

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, this terminal that we're in, it's not too busy. People are kind of coming in in waves. No one really frustrated here, but we are in an unprecedented situation. For the sixth day now in a row, the FAA has issued a ground delay program here at Newark International Airport because of air traffic control staffing issues of delays people are experiencing for those flights roughly two hours long. According to the flight tracking website, FlightAware nearly or just over 160 flights have been delayed so far today here.

Nearly 70 have been canceled altogether. This problem has risen to a level that you mentioned United is canceling 35 of their round trip flights from Newark starting this weekend. The CEO of United, Scott Kirby, said in a statement, this has been an issue plaguing the control facility for years now.

He went on to explain that nearly 20 percent of the FAA controllers here at Newark have walked off the job. As a whole, across the entire country, we are 3,000 air traffic controllers short. The union representing them has issued a statement saying that this shortage is nearly the worst that they've seen in 30 years and they estimate to fix this problem. It'll take eight to 10 years.

We heard from the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy this week talking about this specific issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEAN DUFFY, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: We're about 3,000 air traffic controllers short right now. Now, we do have enough controllers to control the airspace. There's a lot of overtime. As Nick will tell you, there's a lot of stress on the controllers. So we need more air traffic controllers to come into this -- this profession.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN: And Fred, you heard him here mentioning that need to incentivize people to join this profession. They're trying to roll out some of those incentives. Now, most of the monetary incentives offering a $5,000 bonus for people who enter into the academy to become air traffic controllers and as well as bonuses for getting people to stay longer until that retirement age. And Fred, we're also expecting weather to move into this area later on today. So we're expecting those delays to increase and passenger here are surely going to feel it.

WHITFIELD: Oh, they are indeed feeling it more. All right, Leigh Waldman, thank you so much.

[12:44:36]

All right. This breaking news into CNN, the DOJ announcing that Voice of America could come back on the air as soon as next week. How did this happen? Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. In the CNN original series, My Happy Place, your favorite stars are taking you to their favorite places this week. Join Taraji P. Henson on a spiritual culinary and cultural journey to Bali, Indonesia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TARAJI P. HENSON, ACTRESS: I figured I'm here. I might as well overcome this fear. Not feeling any bolder, though.

OK, well, I'm ready to go be tortured.

Maybe I won't scream this time. Yes, you don't have to push me hard like that. A little. You remember.

[12:50:08]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

HENSON: One, two, three.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please hold all the time, yes.

HENSON: Hold all the time. Absolutely. I'm never going to lean back a little bit. OK. No, no, that's enough. That's enough. That's enough. A little bit. A little bit more. OK. No, no, no. So elegant. Did you see me smile on the camera?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: She's trying to enjoy it there. We're laughing with her. All right, be sure to tune in a new episode of My Happy Place with actress Taraji P. Henson starts tomorrow, airs tomorrow. I should say 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

All right. This breaking news out of Washington, D.C., the Justice Department says that Voice of America, the U.S. government backed news outlet broadcast globally, can begin broadcasting again starting next week. The VOA have been shut down since March after an executive order by President Trump.

With us now, CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter. Brian, welcome. How did this come about? And by the way, all these staffers get to start going back to work next week, right?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: That's what I'm told. I've been talking with these staffers today. Some of them are skeptical, but excited by this news. It comes because of a court order. So this is one of those examples of the Trump administration taking a wrecking ball approach to government, doing some damage, in this case, silencing Voice of America. But now, seven weeks after that Trump order came down, these staffers are being told they are allowed back to work.

That's the result of a court battle that happened for most of the month of April. Voice of America staffers who were sidelined, wondering if they'd ever be allowed back to their jobs again, filed suit in federal court. There were a pair of lawsuits. And the judge in the case ruled very clearly that the Trump administration had probably violated the law, and thus these staffers, these journalists, should be allowed back to work.

There was an appeals process a couple of days ago. The appeals court decided not to support the Trump administration. So basically, the DOJ said, hey, we have to let these employees back to work. We have to turn these networks back on the air. VOA is not well known in the U.S., but it's well known in other countries because it broadcasts news and exports democratic values all around the world.

VOA employees have been concerned that while it's been off the air, sidelined, silenced, other countries like China and Russia have tried to fill the void with foreign propaganda. So this is a win for those journalists who want to get back to work, and it's a setback for the Trump administration that has been trying to shut these networks down.

I remember seven weeks ago, Kari Lake, Trump's appointee to this agency, she said the agency was unsalvageable, but now she is tasked with actually bringing it back online. So we'll see what they try to do next to the VOA, but for now, the Voice of America will be heard again.

WHITFIELD: OK. And now let's talk about another news or information related outlet kind of effort by the Trump administration to silence it. President Trump taking steps to pull the plug on the nation's primary public broadcasters, NPR and PBS, signing an executive order this week, instructing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to end their funding.

So in a statement, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting president's CEO said this, CPB is not a federal executive agency subjected to the presents -- the President's authority. Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government in creating CPB. Congress expressly forbade any department, agency, officer or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision or control over educational television or radio broadcasting or over CPB or any of its guarantees -- grantees or contractors.

So this all helps underscore the question as does the White House even have the legal authority to cut funding?

STELTER: I've studied this matter. I don't see any legal authority for Trump to do this. But as in so many of the cases we've been covering for the past hundred plus days, Trump takes action and then it's determined later that he's doing something unlawfully.

In some cases, the courts intervene and Trump pulls back. In other cases, he presses forward. We don't know what's going to happen in this case with PBS and NPR. What I do know is that PBS and NPR are preparing lawsuits. They will likely go to court in the coming days to try to get a judge to affirm what you just said, to affirm that Congress set this system up and that Trump can't just shut it down. This is a battle, though, that Trump wants to have.

[12:55:01]

He wants to be seen as a fighter. And this is part of a broader effort to try to squash independent media all around the country in lots of different ways, whether it's the FCC probing Comcast and Disney, whether it's efforts to defund NPR or PBS, or an important move at the Justice Department just the other day, making it easier for prosecutors to secretly obtain reporters records and notes. The Biden administration tried to make it harder to target journalists.

Now the Trump administration rolling back those rules and making it easier to secretly pursue reporters information in leak investigations. We have to keep an eye on all these different moves because even if Trump doesn't prevail in some of them, it creates a chilling effect for journalists more broadly. Today happens to be World Press Freedom Day.

In the U.S., we enjoy so many freedoms so that everybody can know what's going on. But there are these efforts to try to -- to chill or try to quash some of those freedoms. And that's, I think, some of what we're seeing out of Washington this weekend, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

STELTER: And the notable thing is that when the VOA case happens, we see that sometimes, yes, press freedom prevails, at least in the case of VOA, those journalists going back to work in the coming days.

WHITFIELD: All right. Look forward to that. All right. Thank you so much, Brian Stelter. Appreciate it.

All right. Still ahead, new tariffs on auto parts are now in effect. How this could impact car prices, next.

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