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Trump Terminates CBP One App, Migrant Caravans Stranded; Trump Orders Release Of Proud Boys, Oath Keepers In Prison; Ohio State Holds Off Notre Dame To Win CFP Title. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired January 21, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, it is 5:29 here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at New Orleans where it is 4:29 a.m. Apparently, they're expecting some snow in New Orleans, which is -- we think it's unusual here in Washington, D.C. It's even more unusual there.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
President Trump launching his second term in the White House with a series of sweeping executive actions on immigration. On day one he declared a national emergency at the southern border. He immediately ended the use of an app called "CBP One." That allows migrants to enter the U.S. legally. And he attempted to end birthright citizenship. The challenge there is that is a right guaranteed by the Constitution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I made it my number one issue. They all said inflation was the number one issue. I said I disagree. I think people coming into our country from prisons and from mental institutions is a bigger issue for the people that I know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: The actions by the president having an immediate impact on thousands of migrants that are currently making the trek to the southern border. Some people arriving on Monday opened only to find that their hopes of seeking asylum and their previously set immigration appointments were gone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGIO DOMINGUEZ, CUBAN MIGRANT (through translator): It was a very hard announcement because it means that our hopes to be able to achieve our dreams right now are over. In other words, with this closure it was the only way we had a way to legally reach the United States and now the sacrifice we made to leave our countries has been completely in vain. We had to go through many countries to get there. This has been a very, very, very hard blow.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: President Trump also disbanding a task force that was created by President Biden to reunite families that were separated at the border during Trump's first term.
Let's bring in CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. Ron, good morning. Wonderful to see you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, SENIOR EDITOR, THE ATLANTIC (via Webex by Cisco): Good morning.
HUNT: I -- you have a major piece coming out on cnn.com that looks at how the map -- the electoral map has been fundamentally reshaped in recent years. And this issue of immigration -- it's a big part of that map. I mean -- and this is an issue that Americans essentially said well, we don't trust Democrats on this anymore. It was part of why they sent Trump back to the White House.
How do you understand what Trump is doing here because honestly, when you start to ask people about the details sometimes, they raise concerns? But polling shows that, for example, if you ask people do you support mass deportations a lot of them, including a lot of Democrats, will say yes, they do.
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. I actually think immigration is a really good -- good morning, first of all -- a really good encapsulation of the overall situation Trump finds himself in as he comes back for a second term.
As we've talked about before I think the widespread discontent over Biden's results -- the sense that Biden did not deliver basically the country that people thought they -- they hoped they were getting when they elected him has opened Trump to a -- has opened a wider audience to Trump than he had in 2017. There are more Americans who are willing to hear what he has to say and assess what he -- you know, what he's doing.
It's very similar, as we've talked about, to the situation Ronald Reagan inherited because of Jimmy Carter. In fact, Stephen Skowronek, the great political scientist, has noted it's really common throughout history that presidents are the biggest opportunity to reshape the map are those who immediately follow presidents viewed as failing.
And I think immigration captures though the opportunity and the risk for Trump because there is a lot of room for him to toughen enforcement at the border in a lot of different ways because of that widespread sense in the public that Biden mismanaged the border. And there is probably room for him to remove a lot of people -- criminal -- people with criminal records. But the risk, Kasie, is very real that he will go too far and provoke a backlash.
The polling on mass deportation is complex and often contradictory. But I think it is unlikely given what we saw in his first term that there would be sustained public support for widespread deportation that separates families or removes people who are here for a long time without any criminal record. And it really is the question. You know, as I've said before, Reagan
seized the opportunity that Carter created for him to speak to an audience far beyond the traditional Republican base.
Based on what we saw in the transition and certainly the pardon of January 6 and a lot else that happened yesterday, it's really unclear whether Trump has either the skill or the inclination to speak to that broader audience that is now clearly open to him.
HUNT: Yeah. Ron, can you talk a little bit about that actually because you talk about these 25 Trump states --
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
[05:35:00]
HUNT: -- and you talk about how this started in the Reagan era. But as you point out the way that Reagan -- I mean, his victory in 1984 was stunningly sweeping, right, after four years of --
BROWNSTEIN: Right.
HUNT: -- governing the country.
Trump's had a very different experience and yet what he is creating -- what he has brought together may be more durable, you seem to write. Do I have that correct? I mean, help us understand it.
BROWNSTEIN: Well, it's more consolidated I think is the word that I would use.
So basically, you know, if you look at the recent map -- the Trump-era political map there are now 25 states that he has won all three times that he has run. That is the most states that either party has won in three consecutive elections since Reagan and Bush won 38 states in the -- in the three elections of the 1980s.
Their victories were much more sweeping. Each of them -- in each of those races Reagan and Bush got over -- H.W. Bush -- got over 50 percent of the vote and over 400 Electoral College votes, peaking with Ronald Reagan getting almost 60 percent of the vote and 49 states in 1984.
Trump obviously hasn't built a coalition anywhere near that expansive and has never won a majority of the popular vote, although he did win a plurality this time. What he has done though to a greater extent than was possible for Reagan and Bush is really solidifying the Republican hold on these 25 states. He reached 54 percent of the vote in all of them except North Carolina. If you look at the vote cast, he reached 60 percent of the vote among men in all of them except for two.
Republicans now hold 22 of their 25 governorships. Republicans hold every state legislature if you count Nebraska, which is official nonpartisan but Republican-controlled. And maybe most important and most striking, Republicans now hold all 50 Senate seats in these 25 states whereas Democrats held eight of them as recently as late 2017.
So what Trump has done is really tighten the grip on these Republican states. They cut a common profile, Kasie. They tend to have more white Christians, fewer immigrants, more manufacturing workers, less computer and engineering workers, more rural residents, fewer college graduates. So it is a -- it is kind of a nation within a nation, and he has built his -- you know, solidified his grip on it.
I think Democrats recognize that they have to find a way to compete in more of a -- not necessarily to win the White House at the moment because these states only have 235 Electoral College votes, but really to exercise power at any other level, especially in the Senate.
And as I said, Trump's opportunity now is to go way beyond this. And people around him are envisioning, you know, how do we turn Minnesota, New Hampshire, Virginia? The question is whether his inclinations, his skills, his agenda are really oriented toward holding those voters who came to him largely out of disillusionment with what they got out of Biden.
HUNT: Yeah. Ron, I guess that's kind of what I was going to ask you because I've -- you've been doing this a lot longer. I was -- it was really interesting to see you on in the hour before we were on at 4:00 a.m. yesterday talking about how you were actually at the inauguration in 1985 that was inside.
But, I mean, I remember when George W. Bush was president there was a book that was written called "What's the Matter with Kansas?" by Thomas Frank.
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
HUNT: And there was this perception that the country was going to be red forever. Republicans were going to be in control. Democrats didn't know how to get it back.
And then along comes Barack Obama. And I covered, like, basically a 60-seat majority --
BROWNSTEIN: Sure.
HUNT: -- in the Senate for Democrats.
Is this something where the pendulum is just going to swing back again, or do you think that this is more permanent?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, there are no final victories in American politics, right, and I think nothing lasts forever. I mean, I coined the "blue wall" in 2009 and obviously Trump broke Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin out of the blue wall, and Joe Biden was only temporarily able to kind of cement it back.
Very similar, again, to Carter's experience after the two Nixon elections had shattered the New Deal coalition. And Carter, in '76, seemed to put it back together with enough white southerners and blue- collar Midwesterners to win. But over his four years it crumbled again, and Reagan was able to put together a coalition that lasted until Bill Clinton.
I think what, you know -- so there are no -- there are no permanent victories in American politics. Parties overreach all the time.
Trump was hired to do one job above all, which is get Americans' cost of living under control. There's always been a question about whether his agenda, other than his argument about increasing energy production and lowering energy prices -- whether his agenda will advance that goal or make it harder because of tariffs and mass deportation.
The Wall Street Journal survey of economists, published Sunday night, predicted that inflation will be higher than they expected in 2025 because of Trump's agenda.
The problem Democrats have though is that all of the cultural arrows in these 25 states kind of point against them at this point. And while they can win the White House without them, at least through 2028 before the next reapportionment, all other elements of political power -- as I say, if you're basically seeding half the states in the country before you start it's very hard to build a majority.
[05:40:20]
And I think there are a variety of Democrats who recognize that the party ultimately has to find a way to crack some of these states. North Carolina, certainly foremost --
HUNT: Yeah.
BROWNSTEIN: -- on that list.
HUNT: Yeah.
BROWNSTEIN: But is there anyone else? Can they -- can they get back in the game in Texas where they were gaining ground until the Biden presidency? Can they get back in the game in Iowa? Utah is a state which has not been particularly amendable to Trump's style of Republicanism. Could an Independent candidate, not a Democrat, begin to compete there?
What Trump has done is really tighten the fist around the places that lean toward the GOP when he arrived, and that is a formidable base for him even as you see, I think, the continued evidence that he is -- you know, at 78, is not going to turn over a new page and suddenly become an inclusive politician. He remains one focused on his base and focused on dividing the country in a way that he thinks benefits him.
HUNT: And well, we certainly saw the initial batch of actions, including those pardons, yesterday that would seem to underscore the point you're making.
Ron Brownstein, always grateful to have you on the show, sir. Thanks so much for being here.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me. HUNT: All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING a new champion crowned in college football. Coy Wire, not me, is going to show you highlights from the showdown in Atlanta in your CNN sports update.
Plus, Donald Trump pardoning hundreds of people -- many of them for assaulting police officers during the January 6 riots. The cases that are now wiped out.
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[05:46:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ENRIQUE TARRIO, LEADER, PROUD BOYS: I'm not going to cry about a group of people that don't give a crap about their constituents. I'm not going to -- I'm not going to sympathize with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys militia group, talking about lawmakers hiding and fearing for their lives as rioters overran the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Tarrio's group faced some of the most substantial penalties for January 6-related offenses. Accused by prosecutors of spearheading the violence that day. Tarrio eventually sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, one of the longest sentences handed down during January 6 prosecutions.
Lawyers pointing to the meeting between Tarrio and the Oath Keepers' leader Stewart Rhodes the day before as proof of a plot to disrupt the joint session of Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
January 6 rioters on Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Tarrio wasn't at the riot in person that day. As prosecutors showed during his trial, he communicated with members on the ground as the violence unfolded, including one message that read, "Proud of my boys and my country."
But now, with the stroke of a pen -- with the stroke of President Trump's pen, Tarrios' lawyer says he's now in the process of getting out of federal prison after receiving a full pardon.
Tarrio, along with other Proud Boys and hundreds of others accused of committing violence, will now have their charges and convictions swept away.
Police officers who responded to the Capitol that day now left grappling with their attackers getting a pass from the returning president. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL FANONE, FORMER D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE OFFICER: This is who we are as a nation. This is what we have become, and it has been further exacerbated by Donald Trump. As I've said many times before, we are self-centered, we are violent, and we are indifferent to the suffering of our neighbors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, joining us now to discuss, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson. Joey, good morning to you.
Remarkable to lay it all out this way. What was your reaction? I mean, this is the biggest criminal investigation in the Justice Department's history and now it's all been thrown away.
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah, Kasie, good morning to you.
It certainly wasn't a secret being kept by the incoming and now President Trump, and it certainly was not a surprise. Having said that it is a significant blow to our legal system and our legal institutions.
We have institutions that prosecute people, and we have jurors that convict people. It's not a judge that convicts, it's not a politician that convicts, it's not a prosecutor who runs the agency that convicts, it's a jury having heard all of the evidence.
And so as a practitioner and someone who participates in trials, does trials, and who has a great deal of reverence for our legal system, it's concerning, it's upsetting, and in many ways it's disheartening.
HUNT: Joey, what is your -- is there a difference in your mind between these sort of non-violent offenders here and the violent ones? And then separate from that a distinction for these convictions on seditious conspiracy charges. Does that set a precedent that concerns you?
JACKSON: So I think, Kasie -- I think the first thing to the point of your question is that every case should be evaluated on its merits and on its facts. And yes, there's a place to evaluate cases and to determine whether factually they merit either a full pardon or something else known as a computation of a sentence -- a reduction of some type. And so I think there's a place for that.
[05:50:08]
But in doing that I think you have to parse out and distinguish between violent people who attacked police officers, who harmed others, and who certainly engaged in plotting and planning to really overturn a lawfully held election and to prevent the certification of same. And so that's a problem.
And so, yes, I do think that there is certainly a place to look at cases where there may be unjust prosecutions, where there may be prosecutions which are heavy-handed, which there may be prosecutions that have no place. But I think in other circumstances when you look at people conspiring to upend our democracy it's really hard to justify.
Having said they said that the presidential pardon authorities engrained in the Constitution as we look there at the numbers, right -- nearly 1,600 charged, 300 cases pending. And, of course, Kasie, we know the president said you know what, drop those prosecutions. And then we look at the convictions.
But I just think on balance to the extent that others who were very violently involved and who plotted and planned, and they were pardoned -- again, it's hard to justify. It's disheartening. And as a practitioner it's just -- it's something that really just demeans institutions and is problematic and unsettling.
HUNT: Briefly, Joey, one of the other things that happened yesterday -- it was early -- relatively early in the day so it got lost in some of the news -- President Biden preemptively pardoned the January 6 committee members and then he preemptively pardoned members of his own family.
What does that -- have we seen anything like that before?
JACKSON: So the answer is we have not. Certainly, we saw Bill Clinton pardon his brother Roger, so we've seen that. But I think these preemptive pardons to be used in such a wide and broad-ranging way is unprecedented.
Yes, everyone will point to 1974 and Richard Nixon -- how he was pardoned by Gerald Ford, but those were because there were specific crimes that he could have been prosecuted for. Here we see blanket pardons being issued for people who could potentially be prosecuted, might be prosecuted, and it speaks to the bizarre world that we're in.
You know, in having discussions about law, Kasie, it's hard to parse -- pardon out, really -- excuse the actual pun -- the issue that deals with politics. And the issue that deals with people who are vindictive that could come in and can prosecute and upend people's lives and structures.
HUNT: Yeah.
JACKSON: And so it's troubling to say the least.
HUNT: All right, Joey Jackson for us this morning. Sir, very grateful to have you on the show. Thanks for being here.
JACKSON: Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: All right, it's time now for sports. They want me to read a script about Ohio State winning a national championship but I'm not going to do it. Go, Blue!
Coy Wire is our sports reporter and can be unbiased on this matter. Coy, good morning.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Kasie.
The longest college football season in history is over and the Ohio State Buckeyes are the last team standing.
Notre Dame -- they got the scoring started with an epic 18-play, almost 10-minute drive. Quarterback Riley Leonard powering in for the touchdown. But after that it was all Ohio State. Quarterback Will Howard leading his team to touchdowns on their first four possessions.
They were up 31-7 but the Irish did fight. They cut the lead to eight late in the fourth -- that great touchdown catch by Jaden Greathouse. But on a crucial third down, Ohio State's star receiver freshman Jeremiah Smith came up huge -- a 57-yard catch helping to seal the win.
Running back Quinshon Judkins scored three touchdowns. Receiver Emeka Egbuka finishes his career as the Buckeyes all-time leader in the receptions.
The Buckeyes win 34-23. They are national champs for a ninth time in school history. Will Howard was named MVP.
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WILL HOWARD, QUARTERBACK, OHIO STATE: You've got to give all the credit in the world to those guys, man. They fought their tails off and we knew they were going to. We knew they were going to come back and give us a fight, man. But I wouldn't be here without my teammates, without my family, and without everyone that bet on me back in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Man, I'm just -- I'm at a loss for words right now.
RYAN DAY, HEAD COACH, OHIO STATE: They're driven by motivation. My family at home, my wife and kids, and then these guys. That's why I get up in the morning every day. It's just to try to make sure these guys reach their dreams and goals. That's all it comes down to. And then also it just shows an example when things get hard in life you just keep swinging as hard as you can, and you fight. That's our culture.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: I was on the field, Kasie, when the confetti was coming down and raining on those boys and caught up with some of the Buckeyes' stars -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUINSHON JUDKINS, RUNNING BACK, OHIO STATE: I think this is just what a player dreams of to be in the national championship game with not only you're just getting to experience it but you're also making plays in that game. And just a big thanks to my teammates and my coaches for helping me be in that position to go execute.
WIRE: How do you sum up what it took to become a champ, champ?
JACK SAWYER, DEFENSIVE END, OHIO STATE: Oh, I can't. I can't put it into words. It's the best feeling. I'm just so thankful that God put us in this ability to do this.
[05:55:00]
EMEKA EGBUKA, WIDE RECEIVER, OHIO STATE: It's emotional for me just -- you know, my last time putting on a jersey as Buckeye. But, man, every -- all the four years I've spent here I wouldn't change a thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Now, Kasie, check this out. Back on campus in Columbus, look at these students and fans out in the streets around Ohio Stadium just after the Buckeyes won. But then they broke down one of the gates and made their way onto the field. No arrests and no injuries reported. Life is good for the Buckeyes.
HUNT: You know what, Coy? Can I -- can I just jump in here.
WIRE: Absolutely.
HUNT: This is a team -- their legislature wants to ban planting flags at midfield, OK? They lost to Michigan on that field. Whatever. I don't have any patience for this. Continue. I know you've got more highlights.
WIRE: That is such a good point.
HUNT: (INAUDIBLE). Anyway --
WIRE: And you will still have that win over them, so you've got that.
HUNT: I hope you had fun at the game. I appreciate it.
WIRE: I did. I got some confetti in my pocket for Phil Mattingly. He's a happy boy with his boys this morning --
HUNT: Yes.
WIRE: -- I'm sure, as is all the Buckeye Nation.
HUNT: He certainly is. He certainly is. Congrats to him --
WIRE: Yes.
HUNT: -- and only him.
Anyway, Coy, thank you.
WIRE: You got it.
HUNT: I appreciate it.
Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING the Trump White House taking the upper hand in the culture wars. The first power moves that Trump is making on topics like gender and diversity.
Plus, the new president's flurry of executive orders just hours after taking the Oath of Office.
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JON STEWART, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE DAILY SHOW": Yes, former President Obama was there. George Bush seemed kind of there. Definitely high. Even Mike Pence showed up, I guess to let the crowd finish the job. Only Michelle Obama seemed to have the consistent ethical stance of saying when they go low, I stayed the (bleep) home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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