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Trump Threatens New and Higher Tariffs; Democratic Lawmakers Receive Bomb Threats; Winter Weather Could Snarl Post-Holiday Travel. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired November 29, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, November 29. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

[05:58:22]

He said, she said. Mexico's president refuting Donald Trump's claim that she agreed to close the border.

Then, holiday threats. More lawmakers becoming the targets of bomb threats and swatting incidents. The latest in the investigations.

And beg your pardon? Could some surprising names soon be up for pardons as Trump returns to office?

Plus, holiday season -- holiday shopping season arrives. Black Friday is now here. How the day once defined by stampedes and fistfights is taking on a new role for retailers.

It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast, and here is a live look at the Washington Monument here in our nation's capital.

Good morning, everybody. Thank you so much for being with us this day after Thanksgiving. I'm Audie Cornish in for Kasie Hunt.

Now, there are just 52 days until inauguration day less than two months until Donald Trump once again swears to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries: making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Eight years ago, as Trump stood on the steps of the Capitol and spoke of American carnage, he also railed against trade deals that he said were harming American workers.

And now, before he's even moved into the White House, Trump is once again threatening to levy massive taxes on products from America's neighbors.

On Wednesday, he claimed that his threat of a 25 percent tariff made Mexico, quote, "agree to stop migration through Mexico and into the United States," end quote.

And that turned out to be news to Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said this yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Everyone has their own way of communicating, but I can assure you, I give you the certainty that we would never -- and we would be incapable of it -- propose that we would close the border.

It has never been our approach. And of course, we don't agree with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, that brings us to Thanksgiving. And hear me out. Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends, food and goodwill. For President-elect Trump. That goodwill sounded like this: quote, "Happy Thanksgiving to all, including to the Radical Left Lunatic Lunatics."

As we read that cheery holiday message, we were reminded that Donald Trump actually sat down with CNN 14 years ago for a special Thanksgiving day interview. And as you'll see, the then-businessman Trump's tone was different.

His feelings on tariffs forecast, actually, where we are today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are losing ground rapidly to other countries, in particular, China, but to other countries.

I advocate a 25 percent tax on all Chinese products coming into this country.

Watch what happens. I hope you can rebroadcast this in five years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now to discuss: Meghan Hays, former director of message planning for the Biden White House; Erin Perrine, a Republican strategist and former director of press communications for Trump's 2020 campaign; Errol Louis, CNN political commentator and host of "The Big Deal with Errol Louis" on Spectrum; and Jeff Mason, White House correspondent for Reuters.

Erin, I actually want to start with you, because I think for a long time, we tried to understand what a so-called Trump doctrine is, or what the -- kind of what defines him politically. When it comes to the economy, is it basically tariffs? ERIN PERRINE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, FORMER DIRECTOR OF PRESS

COMMUNICATIONS FOR TRUMP'S 2020 CAMPAIGN: No, it's much more than that. But he's been very clear that he considers this an opening offer in a negotiation. Right? It's the art of the deal. This has kind of always been Donald Trump's ethos.

CORNISH: But he did implement them at one point. Right?

PERRINE: He did.

CORNISH: So, it's not as though it, like, couldn't happen.

PERRINE: No, it's true. He did. And but you've also seen Canada immediately reach out to the -- to President-elect Trump. And him and Trudeau spoke about being able to address the issues coming across the Northern border of the United States.

He's clearly had conversations when Donald Trump levies the threat of tariffs against countries. You have seen them step up and step in to enter the negotiation table with the United States in a way that you haven't seen with other presidents.

CORNISH: Meghan, I want to turn to you, because the Biden administration kind of went in different directions when it comes to tariffs. Can you help us understand kind of what that relationship is with Mexico, so to speak?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING FOR THE BIDEN WHITE HOUSE: Look, I think that, you know, we do have an immigration problem. I think that there have been steps made and bills in Congress to help -- try to help that.

But I also think that that President Biden probably approaches this a little bit differently. I think he understands that tariffs from different countries will hurt the middle class.

I think that the -- Trump's plans, many economists said that it would add $4,000 to working-class families. And so, I think that it was just done a little bit differently.

I don't -- we don't know what's going to happen here. We don't know what the negotiations are going to bring to the table. But I do think that tariffs are going to hurt the middle class. And I think that that will hurt working-class people in a way that I don't know that they necessarily expected when they voted for Donald Trump.

CORNISH: Jeff Mason, I want to bring you into this conversation, because obviously, all of this conversation around immigration and Mexico, in particular, all of this information gets to the idea of what the White House has done in the past when it comes to immigration.

What do we know about this relationship, especially with Sheinbaum, who is a new president?

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: Yes, she is a new president, indeed.

You know, it's -- it's kind of a competing description of the calls. And I think it's interesting and important to know that sometimes President-elect Trump will describe not only his own policies, but also his own calls or his own meetings in a way that other leaders or other people will -- will describe differently.

Clearly, this is a relationship that's going to be key to the Trump administration. And the fact that he actually spoke of it in a positive way would -- would indicate at least a positive start between the two leaders.

But also, the fact that she came out and said something differently about how that call went is instructive, I think, as we -- as we analyze what both sides will do, going forward.

But you're right to note that she's -- that she's new. The relationship is new for the outgoing Biden administration and will be a pivotal one for the incoming Trump administration.

[06:05:10]

CORNISH: Errol, can I bring you into the conversation here just to ask how this can be? I guess, message to the American people who are clearly hearing from a lot of economists and Democrats that this is going to raise prices for them.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Well, good morning, Audie. I -- I don't think there's anything other than cold, hard reality that will, I think, make clear to people what a tariff is or is not.

It is a tax on imported goods. We've seen it before. And look, just from the tweet that the president-elect put out about this, the prospect of this, caused the stock of General Motors to drop by about 10 percent in one day. That's about $5 billion of lost capital for that company. And those who own it or have it in their pension funds and so forth, took a hit.

That level of uncertainty is really a problem. But we're all going to learn.

I mean, a lot of G.M. trucks, it turns out, are made in Mexico. It turns out that 51 percent of fresh fruits and 69 percent of fresh vegetables come from Mexico.

If you think your prices are going to go down because we put taxes on these kinds of goods, it's just not going to happen. And I think people will start to understand that as it all starts to play out.

CORNISH: Erin, I want to come back to you for a second, because now we have this added element of J.D. Vance and his kind of so-called economic populism, which is, as far as I can read, sort of designed to put pressure on corporations, in certain ways, to affect labor choices, et cetera. So, are we going to -- like, how do we make sense of what the economic

policy will be coming out of this White House?

PERRINE: I think it's going to be very clear that Donald Trump will be driving all policy, including the economic policies. This is the Trump administration. J.D. Vance will play the supportive role of vice president.

But I don't necessarily see him moving Trump very far. Trump has been consistent. You just played a clip from almost 15 years ago with the same exact number on the percentage he wants to use on tariffs. Nobody should be confused about where the economic policy is going.

He uses tariffs as a pressure point on companies and on countries to stand up and say, this is the outcome the United States wants.

In this instance, regarding fentanyl and closing the border. He's using these tariffs as a pressure point to try and stem.

What are the two big things the American people expected from him? They expected him to handle the economy. They expected work to be done on tariffs. And they expected work in the first 100 days to be done on immigration, as well.

CORNISH: Yes. Jeff, I want to ask you where you think the pressure points might be between the business community and the incoming Trump administration, which obviously, we all perceive to be quite close.

But now we're going to talk about the potential policies that would affect their bottom line, their labor. Are there any kind of areas of tension you're keeping an eye out for?

MASON: Absolutely. And I think -- I think the question is spot on. The business community will be looking at how President Trump -- President-elect Trump's policies will impact their ability to do business and their ability to hire workers.

If you're a company that relies on immigrants and, in many cases, undocumented immigrants to pick fruit or to do jobs that American workers don't necessarily want to do, what impact will that have?

If -- if the tariff policies impact your ability to do -- to do work in other countries, that -- that then leads to products being imported into the United States, even if you're an American company, including G.M., which was a great example.

That's something that they'll be watching closely.

I also think what we'll be interested in sort of studying is how President-elect Trump's economic advisors shape this policy. It's one thing for the president-elect to use the bully pulpit that he now absolutely has, since he'll be coming into office in January to -- to threaten, to use numbers and threats like the 25 percent tariffs.

It'll be another thing to see if they're implemented or if they're changed or shaped, based on having the Trump protective tariffs (ph) and the incoming treasury secretary and the other economic advisers, who will say, all right, look, yes, let's use that as a way to get to a certain point in a negotiation.

But we also want that stock price to go back up. Or we want these companies to be able to -- to use the -- the labor that they need to do their jobs.

Those are all ifs. Those are all question marks. Those are all factors -- excuse me -- going into -- to President Trump's second term. And -- and -- and some of those questions are just ones we won't be able to answer until we watch how his team works and how he works with his incoming administration.

CORNISH: OK. I want the panel to stay with us. We're going to talk more politics this morning.

[06:10:04]

But straight ahead, we're going to talk about a wave of violent threats. More lawmakers emerge, as targets of bomb threats over the Thanksgiving holiday surface.

Plus, put on notice: how the tech world is reacting to Australia's first-of-its-kind social media ban for children under 16.

And potential allies? How Donald Trump's victory may relieve the mayor of New York City from his own legal woes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I noticed the indictment is very old. It goes back a long time. Well, I have the same thing they got. They went way before the statute of limitations. So, I wish him well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:17]

CORNISH: Multiple Connecticut members of Congress say they were the targets of bomb threats. The threats actually occurred yesterday while they were home celebrating Thanksgiving with family.

Law enforcement determined there was no evidence of any bombs, and members report their families are safe. One of the threats was made against Congressman Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

Himes said in a statement, quote, "There is no place for political violence in this country, and I hope that we may all continue through the holiday season with peace and civility."

Yesterday's flurry of incidents comes just a day after several of Donald Trump's administration picks were also targeted with bomb threats and swatting incidents. Former FBI director and CNN contributor Andrew McCabe says he's not

surprised by the threats, telling CNN earlier this week that they have become commonplace for individuals in high-profile positions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It presents the same challenge to law enforcement each time someone engages in it. They probably know 90 percent sure that these threats, as they come in, are worthless. They are hoax. There's nothing to them.

But they can't take the risk of not responding on the off chance that one real threat gets through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: We're going to bring in my panel now. And Meghan Hays, I want to turn to you, because frankly, this is a bipartisan problem. And in fact, hospitals, celebrities, all kinds of people deal with this. It's basically an instrument of harassment.

But in the political sphere, how has the White House -- or sort of what's your sense of how people think about it in terms of political rhetoric? Or do they see it as part of just a broader problem?

HAYS: I mean, I'm sure it is a broader problem, but it's also gotten so much more attention politically now. And the rhetoric is really heated, as we saw during the campaign, with two assassination attempts and -- and other things that are happening.

I just -- there's just no room for this type of behavior. And -- and acts during -- and to anyone, let alone politicians. These are public servants. They're dedicating their life to public service for the good of the American people. Agree or disagree with where they stand, they are still public servants.

But I also think they are taking valuable resources away from communities that actually are having a problem. What if someone was in a car accident or someone was having a heart attack and -- and needed these services that are now being dedicated for -- for just threats and things that aren't true?

And I just -- I think that communities that are really -- the community members are the ones that are really suffering from these types of incidents, pulling resources, valuable resources away from things that actually need it.

CORNISH: Now, this -- this is not totally related, but it is connected. And, Erin, I want to turn to you.

Elon Musk obviously is tasked to be part of this Department of Government Efficiency, but in the process of his talking it up online, he has noted the names of specific workers in the federal government. I think in this case, maybe four women who deal in the area of climate. And it's not doxing, but it's making people public who aren't high- profile individuals. Kind of what's your sense of this? Is this something we can expect in terms of how this pseudo agency is going to operate?

PERRINE: I certainly hope this isn't what we should expect. It's one thing if you name their job titles, and you talk about the fact that I believe that this is duplicitous role or this is unnecessary, or there's waste. Fine. We can have the arguments about all of that.

But to your point, Audie -- and I think you hit it on the head -- these are just random employees of the federal government.

CORNISH: I mean, talking with some Republicans this weekend, I was hearing, look, it's public information. They are government officials, that this is fair game.

PERRINE: So, I do think there's -- that is all factually correct in the terms that this is publicly available information. You can find these people's names.

However, they are just random, rank-and-file bureaucrats in D.C. To put their names out there in such a heated rhetoric, in such a heightened environment, it just puts a target on people who didn't step into the public sphere.

You know, Meghan and I, and you know this, as well. We're a bit more of public figures. And so, I've received a lot of threats personally. Many threats. The FBI has been involved twice in threats that have come against me.

And it's scary. You wonder if a person in a crowd is somebody who knows you and hates you. Somebody who wants to do that.

We have to be careful with how we talk about each other and to each other, because I can tell you, not only is it scary for communities and -- and everybody involved, when there's a swatting incident or something like any of this.

But it's the family members who are scared, too, who are like, oh, my gosh, my person is now a target. Or there's at least somebody who would consider targeting them.

There's just no place for it anywhere in the world.

CORNISH: Yes.

PERRINE: Especially in the United States. And it's paramount that, at the end of the day -- and, you know, you heard lots of reporting over Thanksgiving of people. I don't want to hang out with you, because you voted for Trump, or you voted for Kamala. Put the armor down. Like, we're all Americans at the end of the day.

CORNISH: Yes.

PERRINE: We lived through 9/11. We remember what it's like to have a very united nation, and it terrifies me. It really does. The heated rhetoric.

CORNISH: Let me bring Errol into this, because what Erin is saying is talking about a kind of atmosphere.

[06:20:07]

And I'm wondering how you're thinking of that, given that we're going into this 50 days before inauguration, which I don't know about you, I have kind of the jitters about, given January 6th. And also, this past year, where there were two assassination attempts on the president- elect.

LOUIS: Yes, we really want to be very careful. I think Erin is exactly right.

We have an open society. If you want to see your member of Congress outside your supermarket on the weekend or coming to a political rally and so forth without a big, elaborate security detail around him or her, we all have to fight for and preserve the right to have an open society: where we have access to our elected officials, where they're not hiding behind security details, where we do circulate the names and addresses.

Frankly, when it comes to nominating petitions and other minutia of -- of electing people, there are moments where public -- you know we make public the information about where our elected leaders live.

So, yes, I think that the -- the authorities need to crack down on this swiftly and maybe quietly and make clear to people that this is just not something we're going to tolerate.

It's the kind of situation that just can't be normalized. It's got to be something that's treated very, very seriously, because it's a crime not just against the person, not just against their family, but against our -- our way of life, against our political system.

CORNISH: All right, friends. Stay with us. Ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, it's not your father's Black Friday anymore. The CEO of Shopify is here to talk about how the critical shopping day has so radically changed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:26:11]

CORNISH: With millions traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, it's soon going to be time to head home.

But some winter weather is moving in, and that could make the trip a little more difficult in some places. We're going to go to meteorologist Allison Chinchar with the latest.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Now traveling by the sky actually should be relatively easy today in most locations. It's roadways that are going to have a little bit more of a concern, especially across the Great Lakes region. And that's because we're really going to start to see the first lake-

effect system of the -- of the season really begin to take shape for the day today.

You can see already some of these bands beginning to cross over the Great Lakes. Those lakes themselves very warm right now. Then we add in some colder air on top of it. And that's what's fuel for a lot of these areas.

You see all these different alerts here in the pinks, the purples, the teals indicating the snow that is anticipated to fall not just today but through the weekend, as well.

And some of them, you're talking pretty substantial amounts. Now, widespread, a lot of these locations, 6 to 12 inches. But there are some spots, especially this location up around Watertown, that could end up seeing 3 to 5 feet of snow -- yes, feet -- by the time we get through the end of the weekend.

But other areas, this portion of Buffalo back down through the Northeastern suburbs of Cleveland, portions of Northern Michigan, also looking at maybe at least a foot, if not more once this system is finally through.

But that cold air that's really helping to fuel the lake effect isn't just going to cause lake-effect snow. It's also just going to bring frigid temperatures to some portions of the Midwestern region of the country.

But those cold temperatures are also going to dip as far South, Audie, as the Gulf Coast.

CORNISH: OK, Allison. Thanks for that update.

Still, coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is facing his own legal woes. Will Donald Trump offer him a way out once in office?

Plus, Australia passes a major piece of legislation that has put tech companies on notice.

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