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Trump Orders End Of Federal DEI Programs; Musk Casts Doubt On Trump's $500B AI Project; Trump Rebuffs Security Concerns Over Kids Using TikTok. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 23, 2025 - 6:30   ET

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


[06:30:30]

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right. Welcome back.

A new escalation in President Trump's efforts to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our country is going to be based on merit again.

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HUNT: After ordering an end to all DEI initiatives across federal agencies, the administration is now warning workers, they have 10 days to report colleagues who are trying to conceal DEI programs.

If workers don't comply, they will face, quote, adverse consequences, according to an e-mail sent to multiple agencies and reviewed by CNN.

[06:35:02]

The president's allies say the initiatives are part of the administration's plans to cut government bureaucracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): There are already rules on the book.

You cannot discriminate against the minority or someone that's too old. These laws are written in. You cannot discriminate.

So we believe the DEI is just an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Joining us now is Mayor Randall Woodfin of Birmingham, Alabama. His new book, "Son of Birmingham," a memoir, is out now.

Mr. Mayor, thanks for joining us.

RANDALL WOODFIN (D), MAYOR OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA: Kasie, good morning. Thanks for allowing me to have some time with you.

HUNT: So let's start with what the president has done here. What impact will this stripping of DEI offices from the federal government ultimately have?

WOODFIN: Listen, the unfortunate part of this conversation of stripping DEI, Americans are witnessing the Alabamafication of federal government. We've seen in Alabama legislators create laws to get rid of DEI and the governor signing to law that removing DEI from colleges and universities and other aspects throughout the state.

And so we've seen this dance and the unfortunate part is other Americans have to witness this at the national level.

That being the case, we all know those who benefit the most from DEI are veterans as well as white women. And so DEI has always gone well beyond African-Americans and other minorities.

When you say you don't want to have programs that support veterans, when you say you don't want to have programs that support women, et cetera, what are you really saying? What message and who are you trying to communicate with?

And so it's beyond frustrating and disappointing. It just goes to show you that 47 told us what he would do and he's doing it.

HUNT: Sir, do you think there are any areas where DEI programs have gone too far?

WOODFIN: I do not believe that's the case. Look, we've made the words diversity. We've made the words equity. We, as in others, have made those words, inclusion, backwards.

Inclusion is not a bad thing. There is no such thing as going too far as it relates to being inclusive. There's no such thing as going too far as it relates to equity. This is America. Equity is the right thing to do.

There's no such thing as diversity being bad. America is a very diverse place. I think diversity, equity, and inclusion has been weaponized for some to use. They say it's taken away from others, but what it's really doing is making sure we're intentional, whether it's at the federal level, state level, colleges and universities level, corporate America level, that there's parity.

And we've been talking about this for quite some time. And so, no, there's no such thing as going too far when we talk about equity and inclusion.

HUNT: Sir, another topic at the forefront of President Trump's initial week here in office is immigration. And they have promised to step up deportations. And there has been some pushback from local officials, especially in blue states and cities, about cooperating with ICE for mass deportations.

Will the city of Birmingham cooperate with ICE officials as they step up raids, if they step up raids in the city, especially in schools and in churches?

WOODFIN: Kasie, again, I can tell you the unfortunate part about this, and you may hear me keep repeating myself, that the United States of America is witnessing the Alabamafication of the federal government.

Again, we've been here before in the state of Alabama with the -- with the House bill literally over a decade ago in 2010, and that brought in sweeping legislations to target our Hispanic community throughout the state of Alabama.

And what we witnessed across the state is that many community members, partners, et cetera, stood tall with those who are here legally.

I think the conversation around illegal immigrants, there can be an actual healthy debate. I think all Americans agree that those that are here illegal and those who are here illegal and have committed crime, should be deported. That's not up for debate.

I think what is up for debate is when you consider the impact of those who are here, who were born here. And you have an executive order that says that can no longer happen as it relates to being American citizens.

What are we saying for our school systems? What are we saying for our employers, et cetera?

[06:40:00]

And so the city of Birmingham will continue to work with organizations like the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama to make sure that the city of Birmingham is on the right side of supporting families, supporting families --

HUNT: Sure.

WOODFIN: -- who need assistance, etcetera.

HUNT: Still, you declined to sign a measure that would have made Birmingham a sanctuary city by law. So again, will Birmingham cooperate with federal authorities who are doing deportations in your city?

WOODFIN: So Birmingham has always been a welcoming city, Kasie. And I think this conversation about what will the city of Birmingham do or not do is a -- is a very interesting question.

Because we have a party that holds themselves out as law and order. And then we've just seen what they've done with the -- these massive pardons for those who committed treasonous acts, not just against the Capitol.

HUNT: All right. But what are -- I mean, what are you saying to your police forces, your local cops, if ICE comes to town? What should they do?

WOODFIN: I think our police force is literally focused on the public safety of our citizens. We're focused on gun violence. We're focused on the things that we deem necessary to keep citizens safe.

We also have a priority to hire more officers. And so we're already short officers, if that makes any sense. So our key -- our key priority is making sure that we are actually policing our streets.

Our priority is making sure that we can tackle gun violence. And when you think about it, there's this -- there's this conversation in one hand about ICE and immigration. And then we're not paying attention to the fact that a city like Birmingham facing gun violence at a -- at a fortunate on high rate.

They've just gotten rid of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention at the White House.

HUNT: Yes.

WOODFIN: And so, you know, we have our priorities in the city of Birmingham. Our priorities are to keep people safe. Our priorities are to focus on gun violence and decrease gun violence.

Our priority is to focus on innovative and creative ways to improve quality of life of the citizens of Birmingham. All these flurries of executive --

HUNT: OK.

WOODFIN: -- orders, we have not seen the price of eggs go down yet.

HUNT: Yes.

WOODFIN: And so what's the real focus? And the focus should be on the American people, making sure people are safe, making sure we improve quality of life. We haven't seen that in the last 48 hours.

HUNT: All right. All right. Mayor Randall Woodfin, thanks very much for spending some time with us this morning.

You can pick up a copy of his new book, "Son of Birmingham," out now.

All right. Coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING, downplaying the national security risk. President Donald Trump continues to embrace TikTok, now asking, quote, is it that important for China to be spying on young people?

Plus, at odds, Elon Musk becoming a vocal critic of the president's new deal on AI investment, questioning whether it's valid.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The American people should take President Trump and those CEOs' words for it. These investments are coming to our great country.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [06:45:18]

HUNT: President Donald Trump's newly announced AI infrastructure project out -- overshadowed really by a billionaire brawl after announcing that the White House will work with the CEOs of OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, to pour up to $500 billion into AI investments.

Trump's own ally and the head of DOGE, Elon Musk, cast doubt on the idea. He posted, quote, they don't actually have the money.

Sam Altman of OpenAI replied directly. He says this, quote, I realize what is great for the country isn't always what's optimal for your companies, but in your new role. I hope you'll mostly put America, the flag, first.

Musk's public contradiction around Trump's initiative, reportedly causing a stir among the president's allies. That's reporting from "POLITICO." The conservative radio host, Erick Erickson, made this comparison.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIK ERICKSON, CONSERVATIVE RADIO HOST: I think someone who actually is a friend of Elon Musk's needs to do an intervention because I think he's becoming Icarus.

Icarus flew so high and so close to the sun, the wax began to melt, the feathers began to drop off, and he plummeted to the earth.

Donald Trump doesn't like people to be more exposed than him, and he's headed that way. He needs to be careful. If he wants to have a real impact, he needs to stay behind the scenes and not in the spotlight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Our panel's back. Mike Warren, look, everyone in Washington seems to be taking bets on how long this, you know, bromance is going to last.

Now, the difference between anyone else who might try to outshine Donald Trump in whatever way is the money, right? Elon Musk is the richest person in the world and funded his -- tons of his campaign. And, you know, alienating him has downsides for Trump. That said, this is a little embarrassing for Trump.

MICHAEL WARREN, SENIOR EDITOR, THE DISPATCH: Yeah, it's a little embarrassing, but so what? Like every day, there's going to be an embarrassing thing for Donald Trump. He keeps moving.

And I think actually that is a big reason why he and Elon Musk are going to be pretty tight for a while. There's actually a lot of people going after Elon Musk. Trump allies, people, I mean everybody from Steve Bannon, I mean you heard Erick Erickson talking about these dangers. That probably endears Musk to Trump, or Trump to Musk, however that works, in a way where they see themselves as kindred spirits. You know, everybody's going after Musk. Everybody's coming after Trump. I think it's going to last for a while.

The question for me is how much is Musk going to be interested in this? And I'm very interested in how much in terms of transparency, how much in terms of access to, you know, top secret information Musk is able to get from this position.

If he strikes out, you might see him saying, this was very interesting, but I'm moving on.

HUNT: But he needs federal government money to go to Mars, which is something that he has --

[06:50:01]

WARREN: Fair enough.

HUNT: -- you know, devoted life to.

Molly Ball, Mike mentions Steve Bannon. So this was the latest set of attacks from Steve Bannon. He says, quote, I've never seen action like this in my life, Trump's one-time chief strategist said. He called on the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, to sit him, Elon down, and sort it out immediately.

There is something fundamentally wrong here about the structure and his understanding of the structure. This is not Silicon Valley. This is not tech bros. Or is it?

MOLLY BALL, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, we'll see. I mean, I think it depends if -- for now, Elon's just popping off, right? He's just saying things on social media. He's sort of a critic.

But he's going to have an office in the White House. He has an office in the White House. So what is he going to actually try to do, right? And I think the infighting is going to come when he starts trying to actually push whatever initiatives he's going to actually push for, whether they're things that advantage his companies or whether they're just things that he believes in ideologically but other parts of the MAGA movement do not, as we saw with the H-1B debate that played out before the inauguration.

So once Elon has things he's actually trying to do, and there are others in Trump's orbit who disagree with those things, that's when the real clash is going to come. For now, it's just a Twitter fight.

MATT GORMAN, FORMER TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: I mean, yes, to be fair, Bannon was the one who said he was going to try and get Elon kind of knocked out before the inauguration didn't really go well.

And, look, the context of this is, it's far deeper than purely the Trump stuff, right? So Elon was on the board of OpenAI. They had some strong disagreements about the future of all of this and then Elon founded xAI, which is obviously a competitor to OpenAI and where we get kind of like a lot of the AI stuff around X and things like that.

So this is far beyond politics I will say. And the tech bro blood feud goes kind of deep in a lot of ways.

HUNT: And so these guys have known and worked with each other for like decades now, right?

GORMAN: A long time. There is a lot of history there. And so that's why I also it's not something that is suddenly a critique of the policy itself or sky gate or whatever that is. It is something that is personal and goes back decades.

KENDRA BARKOFF, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY OF JOE BIDEN: I was going to say it was a -- it's a measuring -- it's a competition.

WARREN: What kind of measuring?

HUNT: What are we measuring the size of exactly?

BARKOFF: I think to our great president Barack Obama, I think did this gesture.

HUNT: He did.

BALL: Yes, he did.

WARREN: Just what Americans voted for.

BARKOFF: Yes.

WARREN: Silicon Valley fight. Not that. Silicon Valley fight, you know, here in D.C. Yes.

HUNT: OK. With that, it is 51 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm going to release him immediately upon getting -- we're going to see the information. We're looking at it right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: President Donald Trump repeating his vow to immediately release the FBI files on John F. Kennedy's assassination. He is also planning to declassify RFK and Martin Luther King Jr. assassination files.

Seven San Antonio police officers were shot last night while responding to a call about a suicide in progress. The suspect was found dead after a long standoff. None of the officers' injuries are believed to be life-threatening.

According to authorities, the shooter, who's not been identified, was arrested last weekend on assault and DWI charges and was out on bond.

A new fire has erupted in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles overnight with an evacuation warning issued for people living there. Thousands had already been told to leave north of LA because of the Hughes fire, which developed Wednesday.

So far, crews have that fire about 14 percent contained.

Oscar nominations will be announced this morning after they were delayed earlier this month because of those wildfires in L.A. Fans hoping "Wicked" will get some nods. "Conclave" also expected to be in the running today, along with "A Complete Unknown" the Bob Dylan story.

The show goes on March 2nd.

All right. Let's turn now to the ongoing effort to save TikTok.

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MR. BEAST, YOUTUBER: TikTok, I'm on a private jet right now, about to put in my official offer for this platform. I might become your guys' new CEO. I wish I could say more about the offer I'm putting in, but I can't for now. Just know it's going to be crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That's YouTube star, Mr. Beast, the latest big name, big name, offering to buy TikTok from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

A ByteDance board member said yesterday, the company is in fact in active discussions about a deal that would allow the popular app to continue operating in the U.S., adding that an agreement could be reached as soon as the end of the week.

In his first Oval Office interview, President Trump defended his decision to delay the ban, dismissing security concerns.

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SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Those that say they know, say a spying app for the communist Chinese.

TRUMP: I know. But you can say that about everything made in China. Look, we have our telephones made in China, for the most part.

We have so many things made in China, so why don't they mention that, you know?

HANNITY: Let me get to some issues.

TRUMP: The interesting thing with TikTok, though, is you're dealing with a lot of young people. So --

HANNITY: They love it.

TRUMP: -- is it that important for China to be spying on young people, on young kids watching crazy videos?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:55:02]

HUNT: So, Matt Gorman --

GORMAN: Yes.

HUNT: -- this is a switch for President Trump, who, of course, in 2020, signed an executive order to try to ban TikTok because he was listening to the national security community that said that this is a problem. This is a national security threat to the United States. Now he's saying it's not. What's true?

GORMAN: I mean, you're seeing very suddenly both parties switching on this very quickly as Biden tried to undo it before he left office.

The fact is, I don't believe that ByteDance will sell this because it's not a rational market actor. It's owned by the CCP. So Mr. Beast can have all the private jets he wants. He make all the offers he wants. They're not going to sell because to them, the data spying on Americans is far more important than, you know, doing a deal with some random, you know, massive YouTube star.

And so the fact is, I don't know see -- I don't see how they get out of this the way it is because you're not dealing with a market actor that wants money.

WARREN: By the way, Trump says that he doesn't understand why people should be concerned, but Republicans in Congress --

GORMAN: Yes.

WARREN: -- and not just Republicans, Democrats in Congress, this past --

HUNT: Like 80 percent of Congress.

WARREN: Exactly. Thinks that it's a problem.

I do think that this is an issue that we could see the first real big divide between the Republican Congress and Donald Trump on this. I think that they're going to do it in their own way, to be a little gingerly about it. They don't want to upset this new president too much, but Republicans in Congress feel very strongly about this.

And I think they're going to push back and try to find a way to get him to reverse this or to stop the executive order.

And there's a good political reason for him to do that, as we said. Bipartisan 80 percent of Congress voted for it.

HUNT: Well, and Molly Ball, the bottom line here is that -- I mean, this is a law, right? I mean, like, can Trump just flout a law that says, if this is not sold in 90 days, it cannot operate here?

BALL: I think that's a good question. Not only is it a law that passed on a bipartisan, overwhelming basis, but it was upheld by the Supreme Court unanimously. And there is not a clause in the law that says the president could just cancel it.

So -- and I think to Matt's point, there has not been a lot of evidence to date that they actually want to sell the app and relinquish control for the Chinese government.

So, you know, this is going to be -- this is going to be a real problem if he wants to continue down this road, both for how he is able to get his way against the other two branches of government, and also for just the underlying issue, which let's not forget, you know, although TikTok is popular, the TikTok ban is also popular.

A majority of Americans supported it, at least when it happened. Now, maybe that's changed now that Trump has switched. And a lot of these members are afraid of their constituents. I mean, some crazy teenager actually tried to burn down a congressional office over the TikTok ban. A Republican

BARKOFF: A Republican office, I think in Wisconsin. Yes.

BALL: So there is a level of fear that their constituents are so crazy because TikTok makes people crazy.

HUNT: I was not quite -- you know, intellectually, I understood -- I saw people are addicted to it, then this ban went into effect and even -- I mean I'm a little bit older. I'm like outside of the TikTok demo, but I have some friends my age.

I was stunned by the sheer like panic and sadness that people were displaying over this when it disappeared for a day.

WARREN: Just go on Instagram, that's like the TikTok for elder millennials.

HUNT: Well, this is where I was seeing this content, to be clear.

WARREN: That's true.

HUNT: I was not actually for TikTok. I was consuming it on Instagram.

BARKOFF: I think this talks to the larger point about social media more broadly speaking and the addictive nature of it. And I think that's part of the reason why you are seeing all of these big CEOs coming to D.C. to suck up to Donald Trump to begin with.

You saw Mark Zuckerberg and his gold chains and his -- I don't even know what's going on with him, coming to D.C. and sitting in the front row of his inauguration. You're seeing that this is the power of these social media platforms and it's dangerous. It's dangerous for children, it's dangerous for the addiction of it. People have committed suicide over it. It's a bigger problem than -- it is a problem on the spying issue, but it's a big problem even in (INAUDIBLE).

HUNT: Well, and then the influence too. I mean, for Trump to say, I don't know. Who cares about the spying? I mean, if they're able to influence our children directly, that is a big -- that's a deal.

All right. I will leave you with this. With the cold snap forcing much of the country indoors, you might be feeling what is called the winter blues, not totally dissimilar to Jack Nicholson's character in the Stanley Kubrick classic, "The Shining."

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(RUMBLING)

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HUNT: Oh, dear. Don't fret. You're not alone. It turns out even fish get lonely during these dark months of winter. At least one fish in particular did.

A sunfish, in a Japanese aquarium, suddenly seemed to become unwell when the aquarium closed in December 2024 for renovations. There were no more visitors. So what did the staff do? They put up cardboard cutouts of people donned in aquarium uniforms.

And according to the aquarium, quote, on the next day, the fish was in good health again. So if you are feeling these effects of these cold winter months indoors, just remember, there's nothing like a tank, buddy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If there's anything you need, just ask your, Auntie Deb. That's me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Just keep swimming, as they say.

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

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