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Americans Bracing for Freezing Temperatures; John Sandweg is Interviewed about Immigration Executive Actions; Trump Leans on Culture War Issues; DOGE to Operate Withing Government. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 21, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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


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[06:30:23]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back.

More than 220 million Americans bracing for freezing temperatures. Another round of snow hitting the south where they're - they're not so prepared to deal with it.

Let's get to meteorologist Elisa Raffa with more.

Elisa, Good morning.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

Yes, we're talking about historic snow for these places. Snow this morning in Houston. If they get about three inches, that would be their snowiest day since 1960. So, it doesn't happen often in these places.

I mean looking at where we're looking at, major and extreme impacts from a winter storm, it's across southern Louisiana, New Orleans, headed across the Florida panhandle. We are looking at the capability of a dangerous and difficult travel and even some power outages because of the wind.

You can see the snow ramping up this morning. You've got some icing in Corpus Christi. It is snowing in Houston, snow stretching to Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Again, places that typically don't see the snow this time of year. The winter storm warnings stretch from east Texas all the way to the Florida panhandle and the Carolina coast.

But we have an incredibly rare blizzard warning in effect for parts of coastal Louisiana. This has never been issued before for this area. And it's mainly because of the wind. What makes you have a blizzard is visibility under a quarter mile because of the blowing snow. So, that could really be a problem.

A place like New Orleans forecast to get 3 to 6 inches of snow, could top their snowiest day ever on record. The last time they got anything close was 1963. So, we'll continue to find some of this snow unfold as we go through the day today from New Orleans to Mobile and to Tallahassee. It looks like Atlanta is actually too far north for this round of snow. Maybe a couple of flurries. And then it gets really cold behind all of this.

Kasie.

HUNT: All right, Elisa Raffa for us this morning.

Elisa, thanks very much for that.

And straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, President Trump moving swiftly on immigration, making it next to impossible for any migrant to legally cross the southern border.

Plus, a change of plans. How one of Trump's first orders is dramatically shaping how DOGE will work alongside the federal government.

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ELON MUSK, FOUNDER, TESLA: And let me tell you, I'm going to work my ass off for you guys.

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HUNT: Welcome back.

As promised, President Trump kicking off his second term with a dizzying number of executive actions on immigration, already declaring a national emergency at the southern border, immediately terminating the use of an app that's called CBP One. It allows migrants to enter the U.S. legally, and attempting to end birthright citizenship, which is, of course, a right guaranteed by the Constitution.

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DONALD TRUMP, 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.

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HUNT: These executive orders had an immediate impact on people's lives. Thousands of migrants making the trek to the southern border were stopped in their tracks. Their hopes of seeking asylum legally and their previously set immigration appointments were dashed with the stroke of the president's Sharpie.

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SERGLO 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.

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HUNT: President Trump also shutting down a Biden-appointed task force that was working to reunite families separated at the border by Trump in his first term.

Let's bring in John Sandweg. He's the former acting director of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

John, good morning to you.

This, of course, is what President Trump campaigned on, what the American people seem to have said that they wanted here.

What impact are these initial actions going to have on the number of people who are able to come into the country?

JOHN SANDWEG, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT: Well, Kasie, at the border itself I think what we saw here was nothing too surprising, but everything was taken to an extreme level. So, a repudiation of the Biden era policies, including what you just highlighted, the CBP One app, where the Biden administration had tried to provide alternative pathways for people who would have otherwise crossed the border illegally to make their asylum claim.

But again, everything seemed to have been taken a little step further. So, we saw the deployment of the military assets to the border. I think that was to be expected. But rather than just put, you know, declare them to go to the border and provide a supportive role, which traditionally they've done in multiple administrations, Trump also calls for North Com (ph) to come up with a plan that - an operational plan to seal the border.

So, it's going to be - in terms of the - and then just - not just the return to Mexico policy, which the remain in Mexico policy, which he had touted he was going to reinstate, you know, where migrants who are seeking asylum can make their claims but wait in Mexico, he also makes a return to his previous efforts to seal the border entirely, declare, you know that you are not eligible to make an asylum claim at all, with multiple - and overlapping justifications for it.

So, in terms of the actual impact, look, I think that we've already seen, with the Biden administration changes in June of this year to the asylum system, a massive drop at the border. Look, these - in the short term, these are certainly likely to reduce dramatically asylum claims. The question, Kasie, will be, does this start pushing people to start illegally entering the United States rather than declaring themselves to a border patrol agent to make asylum, try to sneak their way into the United States and just kind of blend into, you know, our cities throughout the country.

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HUNT: John, one of the big looming questions, of course, we have these things that the president can do with his pen, actually removing immigrants from the country, migrants from the country is something the president has also promised. To do that is much harder than just signing a piece of paper. His incoming immigration czar, Tom Homan, was on Fox News late last night from one of the inaugural balls. It's a bit of a jarring clip, but the content is what I want to focus on here. Let's - let's watch what he said.

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TOM HOMAN, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION "BORDER CZAR": So the interior enforcement operation starts tomorrow. ICE agents, they're going to lose the handcuffs they've had put on them by the Biden administration.

People will find out real soon what we're going to do.

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HUNT: He says the interior enforcement operation starts tomorrow.

What are you expecting? What can they do that the Biden administration hasn't been doing right out of the gate here without any additional money from Congress, et cetera?

SANDWEG: Kasie, I don't expect what they're going to do tomorrow operationally is that different from what the Biden administration has been doing. I think what's going to change here is the public emphasis and the attention they draw to their operations.

So, what I'm anticipating today is, look, something - a type of operation ISIS historically done, which is individuals that go through the criminal justice system. Typically what ICE likes to do is take custody of those individuals and prisons and jails. It's a more secure environment. They're easier to obtain. And the local police officials or jail will hold those individuals for ICE.

But a certain percentage of people slip through the cracks. You know, typically often they get sentenced, convicted of an offense, but not sentenced to any prison time. As a result, more often than not, these are people who have, you know, are less likely to have - pose a threat to public safety. But what ICE will do is they'll go through and look at probation records and then target those individuals and go out into the cities and make apprehensions of them when they're at large.

What I think ICE has planned for this week is going to be a massive, what we used to call a cross-check operation, where they go out there and hit the streets looking for these individuals on probation or parole. So, in that sense it's not going to be different than what we've seen historically under Biden, under President Obama, under the first Trump administration. But, Kasie, really quickly, I do think what you also saw in those

executive orders to - yesterday is they're laying the groundwork for this mass deportation in a way that we haven't seen before, including on an explicit directive for the military to start creating detention camps, which addresses one of the real resource issues that they would face if they ever carried out this - this mass deportation effort.

HUNT: Can you talk a little bit more about that, creating these mass deportation camps? Is anything like that ever happened before? I mean, obviously, we know President Obama, who you worked under, I believe, came in - for criticism from immigration activists for the number of people that he deported. But have we ever seen what - what has been outlined in this order about creating these detention centers?

SANDWEG: Kasie, I can't remember us ever seeing this in modern, you know, immigration enforcement history. Certainly not since the creation of DHS. So, in one of these executive orders, the president - you know, first of all, he calls repeatedly for DHS to end what's called catch and release. And catch and release is a real misnomer, right? It's this idea that for policy reasons the Biden administration, or the Obama administration before it, chose to apprehend a migrant, maybe with - you know, at the border, and then release them just be - you know, as - for policy reasons.

The real reason that happens is resource constraints. ICE is given about 40,000 - budget for 40,000 detention beds annually. But when you have the numbers you are seeing at the border, 250,000 people being apprehended a month, there's just no way to detain all 250,000.

So, in the - Trump has repeatedly said, we're going to end catch and release, so to speak. But in the - so how's he going to do it? Well, in the executive orders is this - it tells us how. He's going to - directed the military to provide operational support to DHS, including explicitly detention camps and transportation services. But it's the detention camps that really caught my eye because we've never seen detention camps in military bases. And what I think they're envisioning is a low cost, you know, quickly resourced using Department of Defense resources, kind of building of, you know, like - just like they say, it says, you know, camps basically inside military bases where, when they start making larger numbers of arrests in the interior, they can detain all those individuals and then use military transport planes to fly those individuals back to their home country.

I think, you know, despite the fact that a lot of these executive orders yesterday were not terribly surprising, especially as it relates to border, you can see that groundwork being laid in these executive orders for the mass deportation effort.

HUNT: Really fascinating.

John Sandweg, thanks very much for your expertise, sir. I hope you'll come back. I'm sure we're going to have a lot of occasions to be talking about this topic. Thank you.

SANDWEG: Thanks, Kasie. HUNT: All right, still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Trump's tariff talk back in play. The cost hikes on Mexican and Canadian goods he's considering that were not imposed on day one as he had previously threatened.

Plus, leaning into the culture wars. President Trump making good on promises to his base of supporters.

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TRUMP: There's a longing for competence in this country. There's a longing for common sense. We don't want to have men playing in women's sports.

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J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I didn't know exactly what the president would put in that speech. And I hope to myself that he wasn't going to hold back. And, sir, you didn't hold back. That was a hell of a way to start the next four years.

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HUNT: President Donald Trump getting rave reviews from his base and his allies as he officially returns to the White House. After taking the oath of office and sounding I would say a note of unity, he quickly turned to a laundry list of culture war issues that characterized many of his campaign speeches, and he outlined his plans to try to address them quickly.

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TRUMP: There are only two genders, male and female.

We will revoke the electric vehicle mandate.

I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.

[06:50:03]

We are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

William McKinley to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs.

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HUNT: Our panel is back. Jonah Goldberg, there's - there are a lot of buzzwords when people

talk about this, you know, government censorship, they have this phrase government operations that really means a lot of other things.

On these culture war issues, I mean, one thing that did stand out to me when he had the line about two genders, it was played over the jumbotron at the Capital One Arena when I was watching it. It got probably the loudest of cheers from that crowd. That's part of all of this. How big of a part?

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's a big part. And I think it's - it's one of the things that I think a lot of folks in this sort of new - I usually very rarely talk about the New York/D.C./Acela Corridor kind of stuff, but, like, the gender stuff is basically a 70/30 issue for Republicans. And it's a - it's a 90/10 anti issue among a certain set of sort of media elites and stuff. But if you look at that recent "New York Times" poll, this plays very well for Trump. Trump is on the majority side of the issue for the most part. Now you can take it to a point where it starts - as blowback for him, but I don't think he's there yet.

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He gets half of Democrats.

GOLDBERG: Yes.

TODD: That "New York Times" poll you referenced showed that 55 percent of Democrats are with Republicans on the issues that are in play now. Certainly other issues might change that.

GOLDBERG: In sports and that kind of thing, yes.

TODD: But we do underplay exactly how big a winner this is. And it's a natural backlash to the Biden administration going way too far. And I will note, it was one of Joe Biden's first executive orders was on transgender issues. He set - he set his demise up early.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I do think, though, that there is - and Jonah kind of just alluded to this, but if he is seen as using the government to persecute a minority, minority, minority in this country, people do start to say, look, it's not even that I care so much, it's just like, why are you focused on this? You know, you should be focused on things that matter to me.

So, I - I don't dispute that it is - it is a political (INAUDIBLE) moment. I do think (INAUDIBLE) that people across this country still don't believe that the government should be used to persecute people. And I think he runs the risk. I think he runs the risk of looking like a bully and looking like he's spending his time on something that doesn't touch the lives of most people in this country. And I think he - I think - so, I think he runs the risk of focusing too much on it.

HUNT: Although, Tara, I mean, part of what worked for them, the messaging that worked for them in the campaign, was taking essentially what you're saying and instead of, you know, criticizing transgender people, the message was, Kamala's for they/them, Donald Trump is for you, right? TARA PALMERI, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "PUCK": Right.

HUNT: Essentially saying, I'm going to focus on you. They're - they're too focused on - on things that you don't care about.

PALMERI: Right. Exactly. And I also think this is just Trump saying, like, I won the culture war. I set the culture. And he's basically saying, you know, the Americans voted for me and this is what they wanted. And this is just another, as you said, messaging vehicle. It doesn't really mean that much.

(INAUDIBLE) leaning into (INAUDIBLE) the culture that he created, the culture that was supported by podcast bros, by his voters and by a number of Americans. And so, it's an easy thing to do on day one. And - and I think, you know, it's just a blip that will be remembered by some people, but not by others. But I think on the - for the most part, they'll be thinking about immigration and pardons.

HUNT: Yes, go ahead.

GOLDBERG: Oh, I was just - it's ironic because there was a big kerfuffle back in the day where Trump took a pretty pro transgender position, got support from Caitlyn Jenner and all that kind of stuff. So, this is in one - and I think and Tara's right, this is one of these areas where in some ways he's following his base rather than leading his base.

TODD: Trump is not a native of the culture - of the conservative side of the culture wars, but he is very adept -

HUNT: He's a New Yorker.

TODD: Very adept at navigating it. And in - but this is a backlash. It's a backlash to what's happening in the Biden administration. And, by the way, he also did executive orders yesterday to guarantee that you can get the dishwasher you want and the water heater that you want and the light bulb that you want.

GOLDBERG: Shower head.

TODD: And the shower head that you want. All of these -

HUNT: Wait, are incandescent light bulbs back, though?

TODD: All of - they're back. They're back. So are - so are tankless water heaters.

BEDINGFIELD: They were never gone. Can we - they were never gone. Let's -

HUNT: So, will we -

TODD: But there's been a push.

BEDINGFIELD: Let's look at -

HUNT: But incandescent light bulb were absolutely gone.

BEDINGFIELD: Let's look at the facts.

HUNT: They were absolutely gone. OK, I raided the shelves, I will say, I will admit to this, of Target when those incandescent - and now you can't find one. I went looking the other day. They're not there. Maybe they'll be back.

TODD: Well, and if you try to permit a new business, they're going to make you use LED lights now because of the environmental left. This is a little natural pushback.

HUNT: Well, OK.

GOLDBERG: Major ceiling.

BEDINGFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) the environmental left or, you know, not wanting the planet to burn before our grandchildren are even able to, you know, to live.

GOLDBERG: Tomato, tomato.

BEDINGFIELD: But, sure, burn -

HUNT: There is that.

BEDINGFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) burned.

HUNT: Absolutely.

TODD: That's a little bit hyperbolic.

HUNT: OK. It is 54 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

A live look at the River View Fire. This is burning and spreading right now in San Diego, speaking of climate change and its impacts.

[06:55:03]

This is the third fire that is raging right now in that county. All of the fires are currently zero percent contained. They are threatening structures. This is, of course, the last thing people in southern California need right now. So, we'll be monitoring this throughout the day.

And then there's this. Not quite a day one initiative as previously promised, but President Trump is considering 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico on February 1st. During an Oval Office signing yesterday, Trump said that's because the two countries are letting drugs and migrants into the U.S. The move could end up raising prices for Americans.

The Department of Government Efficiency now going to exist within the federal government. Initially, the Elon Musk-led task force was going to be an outside advisory board, but a new Trump order changes those plans. DOGE co-chair Vivek Ramaswamy, he will not be joining the team. He plans to run for governor of Ohio.

Tara Palmeri, Vivek Ramaswamy really misplayed his cards it seems. He got tossed out of this.

PALMERI: Oh, yes, and it really started with the H-1B Visa fight. I don't know if you remember this, but he was like comparing it to like saying that American culture favors Zack from "Saved by the Bell" and the jock and charisma over Screech the nerd. And it's like, it turns out the guy that you want to work for, Donald Trump, is the jock who married the cheerleader model. Like, he just didn't go over well.

You're also not the world's richest man.

TODD: I think I can follow this.

PALMERI: You can't pick a fight with Trump's base right now. And since then, he didn't, like - he's been like pretty quiet on Twitter. Not to mention the fact that he didn't donate to Trump's campaign the way that Elon Musk did.

People were getting tired of him. Like, his personality can wear on someone. And so, I was told that he had been iced out a while ago and DOGE, which, if it was really about efficiency, shouldn't have had two heads at it anyway.

HUNT: (INAUDIBLE).

PALMERI: It now has one. Now people say, oh, Vivek's been DOGE-ed himself, because that's how people are talking about, like, their programs right now. They're like, is it going to get DOGE-ed? That's how they talk on The Hill. Am I going to lose what I want?

HUNT: It's become a verb?

PALMERI: It is. It's a word, DOGE-ed. So, he's been DOGE-ed. And now we'll see if Ohio will take him.

GOLDBERG: He wanted to get the heck out of DOGE.

PALMERI: Exactly. Exactly.

HUNT: All right, let's - let's turn now to this.

President Donald Trump has been taking a victory lap as he returns to the Oval Office yesterday.

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TRUMP: Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback. But as you see today, here I am. The American people have spoken.

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HUNT: He laid out his vision for the next four years, and he took more than a few political jabs at his predecessor. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The golden age of America begins right now.

From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world.

A tide of change is sweeping the country. Sunlight is pouring over the entire world. And America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before.

My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal.

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HUNT: Worth noting, President Biden was sitting right behind him there. You couldn't see his face in that particular shot, but it was worth watching.

"The Wall Street Journal" editorial board points out this, it's a stark contrast from his speech four years ago. They write, quote, "that speech responded to the Democratic and media resistance to his election with the same dark tone that set the stage for four years of rancor and division. The tone and message of his inaugural was that America has always been great and will be greater as it meets new challenges. This speech was more Elon Musk and much less Steve Bannon, and all for better."

Is that what it was, Jonah Goldberg, more Elon Musk, less Steve Bannon? I mean it was - it had a few moments of notes of unity, but it was mostly a - in many ways it was a State of the Union.

GOLDBERG: Yes, it was very State of the Union-ee (ph). My colleague, Sarah Isgur, makes the point that in the era of short viral bites that you push out to all these different things, basically that's the way to look at it is, it contained little sound bites that covered the waterfront of Trump's coalition. And I don't think it was this - there was no central, unifying, coherent theme to it. It was a bunch of different shout-outs to different constituencies that are going to be used chopped up. If you watch the whole thing straight through, I don't think it was very coherent.

BEDINGFIELD: It also probably mattered less than any inaugural address ever delivered by any president, because Donald Trump doesn't deliver scripted remarks. I mean he delivered the address, and then he went and spoke and we heard the real Donald Trump. And that's the fundamental tension. And we're going to keep seeing the real Donald Trump for the next four years.

So, analyzing how, you know, who got their paragraph into the speech, probably not actually all that impactful in telling us where Donald Trump is going to go.

PALMERI: It's just like incredible to see him like not riff for once, but it was just his greatest hits, except he read them, you know. And I still think it was dark. I still think it was American carnage. He's like, America is a wasteland right now, and I'm going to save it and dip it in gold. But, like, it was not - I don't necessarily agree with "The Wall Street Journal" that this was like some hope and unity speech.

[07:00:00]

TODD: Few people in American politics get to start over, and this is not a fresh start for Donald Trump, but he is in the best position he's ever been in his political life. More people view him favorably than unfavorably. I think yesterday maybe there's a window that he's going to take advantage of that.

HUNT: Maybe. Although then he went to the Oval Office after that speech and pardoned all of the people who assaulted police officers on January 6th, among other things.

All right, first full day of the Trump era about to unfold.

Thanks to our panel. Thanks to all of you for being here. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.