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Judge Blocks Trump's Executive Order On Birthright Citizenship; President Trump Signs Executive Order Promoting Crypto; Wildfires Threaten L.A., San Diego Counties. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 24, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:37]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, January 24th.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had to act now to provide back to the status quo, back what has been the law of the land for generations.

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HUNT: Birthright battle. President Trump vows to appeal after a judge hands him a setback in his fight to redefine America's immigration laws.

Plus --

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SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I take seriously the advice and consent role assigned to the Senate.

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HUNT: The final vote. Pete Hegseth now just hours away from getting confirmed to lead the Pentagon after late opposition from a pair of Republicans.

And taming the flames. Firefighters face more battles to contain the latest blaze in Southern California.

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HUNT: All right. It is 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at the U.S. Capitol on this Friday morning. We made it to Friday, first week of the second Trump presidency coming to a close.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

We begin with President Donald Trump's bid to shut down the southern border and rewrite the Constitution on immigration. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This next order relates to the definition of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment of the United States.

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HUNT: First, a federal judge in Seattle issuing a temporary restraining order to block Trump's executive action, ending birthright citizenship. The judge calling the move blatantly unconstitutional.

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REPORTER: Mr. President, a U.S. judge temporarily blocks the birthright citizenship order. Do you have any reaction?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No. Obviously, we'll appeal it. They put it before a certain judge in Seattle, I guess, right? And there's no surprises with that judge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It should be noted that Judge John Coughenour was appointed by President Reagan.

President Trump also ordering the pentagon to surge 1500 active military troops to the border. Here's what he told the World Economic Forum yesterday.

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TRUMP: I'm also taking swift action to stop the invasion at our southern border. They allowed people to come in at levels that nobody's ever seen before. It was ridiculous, and it was really an invasion. We will not allow our territory to be violated after four long years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Trump's long promised raids already underway. You are looking at surveillance video of ICE agents raiding a local business in Newark, New Jersey. The mayor there says three people were taken into custody and that his city was, quote, unlawfully terrorized, end quote. ICE agents also taking at least one person into custody in East Boston.

Let's bring in Reese Gorman, political reporter for "NOTUS".

Reese, good morning. Nice to see you.

REESE GORMAN, POLITICAL REPORTER, NOTUS: Good morning.

HUNT: The birthright citizenship move that Trump made seems to be the one that is most clearly, it's most black and white, right? This is something that's written down in the 14th Amendment. Very hard to interpret it any other way. And in fact, this is basically what the judge said.

Again, a judge appointed by Ronald Reagan, there's clearly going to get tied up in the courts, but it's just one piece of a really sweeping immigration crackdown.

GORMAN: Exactly. And this is -- I mean, this is kind of their plan, too. I mean, they want this to go I mean, they want they knew this was going to get blocked. They knew that some judge was going to block it.

They want this to go to the Supreme Court. They want to challenge this and have the Supreme Court rule on it. Obviously, Trump is confident in a lot of what his Supreme Court does. I mean, he appointed a lot of these conservative justices, and he believes that they will rule with him.

And also to your point, this is also just a small portion of a bigger immigration policy that we're seeing. I mean, with the border wall, with the national border emergency, labeling cartels of foreign terrorists, with these raids going on.

I mean, this is something that he is just cracking down on, something that he's leading this kind of very aggressive approach against illegal immigration.

HUNT: And it is an issue that Democrats clearly seem to understand is difficult for them, that, in fact, where Trump is on immigration seems to be much closer to where the electorate actually is on immigration than perhaps they've been.

Let's watch what Hakeem Jeffries had to say yesterday about how they're going to focus on this in Congress. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): We've made clear. We will work together to secure our borders. We will work together to fix our broken immigration system in a bipartisan and comprehensive way. And we will defend Dreamers, farm workers and families.

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HUNT: So he's basically laying out there, okay, we're going to go along with some of these border security things that Republicans are proposing.

[05:05:07]

Their priorities are going to be these groups of people, Dreamers, farm workers and keeping families together.

GORMAN: And I think you saw that, too, in the bipartisan vote for the Laken Riley Act is something that I mean, more people voted for it this time around than what happened when it was voted on last Congress. And this is something that you're just seeing new kind of -- I mean, you're seeing new Democrats realize that this is an issue that was a losing issue for them in the last election. I mean, this is something that Trump ran on heavily, that Democrats

thought that they could win on. And obviously they didn't because they lost the house or they kind of they didn't retake the house. They lost the Senate, they lost the presidency.

So this is an issue that they do feel like they are kind of kind of disconnected with the electorate on. And I think you're going to see, especially when it comes to vulnerable Democrats in Congress, kind of support more of these kind of measures to kind of curb illegal immigration.

HUNT: And again, this is something that's going to be up to each state and local like set of state and local officials.

Let's watch how the New York mayor, Eric Adams, talked about this. He has -- he's gone down to Mar-a-Lago to visit Trump. He's got a lot going on in his own situation, but he does have to make some decisions about how to deal with the feds in New York City.

Let's watch Adams.

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MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK CITY: The ink is not even dry on these executive orders, and people are responding to them. Let's first allow the corporation counsel and our legal team to read over so we can give clear direction to city employees to make sure that they are following whatever rules and won't expose them to any form of jeopardy.

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HUNT: He's sort of avoiding the political question in a way, and basically saying he doesn't his city employees to do anything that's going to get them crosswise with -- to the idea that he's going to cooperate.

GORMAN: Yeah. And I think, I mean, this is an issue that he was kind of hounded on. I mean, Republican states were bussing migrants to his state. And this is something that he was really trying to kind of have to deal with a lot in the past couple of years. And I think now especially, he's really trying. I mean, after seeing him, he's going to face a really tough reelection. I think that's something that New York City is also very upset with, is this -- this influx of migrants coming in. And you're seeing that kind of reaction.

So I think he's kind of just responding to where the electorate is at for sure. But yeah, this is something that's not just him. You're going to see it. I mean, I think Trump also wants to do raids in Chicago that you're going to want to see them in Boston. They're doing a raid.

I mean, this is stuff that you're going to see these local municipalities be like, are we going to kind of work with the president on this? And I think we'll see what happens.

HUNT: All right. Reese Gorman, for us of "NOTUS", thank you very much for starting us off this morning. Have a good weekend.

All right. Straight ahead here on CNN this morning. No rest for southern California firefighters. They are now back on the front lines facing fast-moving flames.

Plus, President Trump looking to make good on his promise to be America's crypto president. And Republicans end debate and move Pete Hegseth's nomination to lead the Defense Department to a final vote.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): He is so out of the mainstream and so unqualified for DOD.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): Mr. Hegseth has said he made mistakes in the past, and I dare say, we've all made mistakes in the past.

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[05:12:31]

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TRUMP: I will end Joe Biden's war on crypto. We will ensure that the future of crypto and the future of bitcoin will be made in America. Otherwise, other countries are going to have it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: That was President Donald Trump on the campaign trail.

Now, less than a week back in the Oval Office, he's already moving to promote cryptocurrencies and support their growth in the U.S. yesterday, signing an executive order aiming to overhaul digital asset regulation.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the crypto EO. We're going to be forming an internal working group to make crypto, to make America the world capital in crypto under your leadership.

TRUMP: Which is really going up.

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HUNT: The order establishing a working group made up of several federal officials, including the treasury secretary and the attorney general, who will be tasked with coming up with crypto policies and regulations and looking into, quote, the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile and proposed criteria for establishing such a stockpile.

The on-campaign promises. President Trump has also had his own personal interests in the crypto world. Last fall, he and his children announced a crypto business in just days ahead of the inauguration, both the president and First Lady Melania Trump launched a pair of so- called meme coins, a form of particularly volatile cryptocurrency, raising billions of dollars and plenty of ethics concerns.

Joining me now to discuss, Bloomberg White House correspondent Stephanie Lai.

Stephanie, good morning.

Is it possible to stockpile cryptocurrency?

STEPHANIE LAI, BLOOMBERG WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is possible. Right now, as the executive order lays out, their plan right now is to use assets that are seized by the federal government. Now, there's some discussion among the industry as to whether we should be building a stockpile based off of criminal activity.

But there is a lot of discussion right now. This is something that a lot of senators are particularly worried about. And I think what the executive order laid out is essentially that we're making a plan for a plan. It was largely a messaging -- a messaging action, but it is very clear that President Trump is weighing and leaning on Congress to actually see through with this policy.

HUNT: Can we talk about the meme coin for a second? Because there are people out there who are buying this coin, and here's one explanation why. For example, this is "Reuters". They write, quote, a primary draw for some of them. They mean the investors in this coin. The connection with Trump, according to interviews with some investors, World Liberty Financial is, quote, directly connected to our new crypto president, Donald Trump, said Sigil Fund. Sigil Fund, a Gibraltar-based fund whose chief investment officer is one of the investors.

And this gets at the ethical concerns as well, right?

[05:15:04]

LAI: Right. And I think what a lot of people are concerned about is that it looks like the president is profiting billions and billions off of this. But I think what is notable is that one of the concerns that have come up with these meme coins is that a lot of it is actually owned by just a couple of very wealthy people. And so the value of it is actually quite inflated from what we currently see.

HUNT: What's the biggest change from and how did the Biden administration deal with crypto? I mean, obviously Trump's trying to make a show of that, but what's the actual reality?

LAI: I mean, I think when people think about the crypto regulations, they tend to mention Gary Gensler, which was the former SEC chair, and it was just that he was quite, I guess, open about regulating the industry, whereas Trump is sort of messaging on the exact opposite. Now, on top of this executive order, the sec put out a ruling yesterday that sort of reversed one of the more controversial policies that were in place during the Biden administration. I think largely when you think about what Biden actually did, was that

he didn't really necessarily touch it and just sort of left it for the regulatory agencies to deal with it. And so by putting out this executive order now on day three, you know, Trump is really making a stand that this is what were focused on. You know, were going to completely reverse the messaging from the last administration.

HUNT: All right, Stephanie Lai for us this morning -- Stephanie, thanks very much for being with us. I appreciate it.

All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING: President Trump says he would meet with Vladimir Putin immediately. Ahead, his warning for the Russian president about the war in Ukraine.

Plus, southern California grappling with new wildfires this week, how some much needed rain could actually cause more problems.

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[05:21:07]

HUNT: Welcome back.

More wildfires threatening southern California this morning. The Hughes Fire in Los Angeles County already destroying more than 10,000 acres in less than 48 hours, and it's just 36 percent contained this morning. The fire prompting more than 16,000 residents to be put under evacuation orders, another nearly 39,000 under evacuation warnings. Two new fires also breaking out yesterday afternoon in San Diego County.

The California Governor, Gavin Newsom, signing legislation to direct more than $2 billion in aid to support response and recovery efforts in parts of Los Angeles.

Here's one helicopter pilot's recollection from responding to a fire in Malibu.

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HELICOPTER PILOT: Being able to see the ember cast come off the hill. I mean, it looked like a volcano, right? And I'm like, what are we going to find up there?

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HUNT: Joining us now from Los Angeles, National Weather Service lead meteorologist for that region, Todd Hall.

Todd, good morning. Thank you so much for spending some time with us.

What are California residents and firefighters facing this morning?

TODD HALL, LEAD METEOROLOGIST, NWS LOS ANGELES/OXNARD: (AUDIO GAP) Santa Ana winds that are that are present. But overall, things should improve through today. We're expecting a return of that, that sea breeze or that onshore flow developing. And that should bring in some higher humidities and really improve fire conditions dramatically.

HUNT: Todd, one of the things we've been tracking as well is that rain is expected, and that could have more significant impacts in fire devastated areas.

Can you explain what you expect in terms of rain and what might happen from it?

HALL: There's a -- there's a lot of uncertainty still with this storm system that were looking at. This -- this storm will be dropping through the -- through the great basin and across the interior of Central California. And then kind of cut off our shore -- off the coast here.

And so we'll start to see some of that moisture that will provide some beneficial rain, mostly beneficial rain to these areas. But that rain could come heavy at times, especially in the -- in the form of thunderstorms if those develop. And not only that, we could be looking at potential for small hail or even turning more convective with some heavy, heavier downburst. If that hits a burn area, if any of those storms hit a burn area, that can cause flooding, mud and debris flow of mud and debris can come off that fire.

And that would cause possibly and potentially an equally life threatening situation to the fires that we saw.

HUNT: And, sir, the patterns for the weather this year been kind of long term over the next weeks and months, are you expecting there to be generally a reprieve from this, or how long are people going to -- they're still living on edge?

HALL: Yeah, unfortunately, this is -- last year, we dealt with a pattern that was that was very different from this, where we had storms coming in off the Pacific and, and really bringing in a lot more -- a lot more rain. This pattern is much different. We have a blocking ridge of high pressure sitting over the -- over the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

And so we're -- we're relying on some of these troughs or low pressure areas dropping south. And actually cutting off the through the off the ocean here and giving us that beneficial moisture. So that has been the pattern in place. Climatology is on our side.

You know, everything suggests that that February and March should be wetter. And that's -- that's the climate of southern California. So we're -- we're going with that at this point and hopes that, that we can actually turn the corner here with our fire weather season.

HUNT: All right. Todd Hall for us this morning -- Todd, very grateful for your time today. Thanks very much for being here.

HALL: Thank you.

HUNT: All right. It is 24 minutes past the hour.

Here's your "Morning Roundup". President Donald Trump is heading to California today to assess the

damage from the wildfires. California Governor Gavin Newsom says he intends to meet the president at the airport when he arrives, despite receiving no communication from the White House about the visit.

[05:25:06]

Today, President Trump will address the National March for Life in a pre-taped video. He also pardoned 23 anti-abortion activists who were charged during the Biden administration. But he did not say who specifically received the pardons.

President Trump calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

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TRUMP: I think Russia should want to make a deal -- maybe they want to make a deal. I think from what I hear, Putin would like to see me and we'll meet as soon as we can.

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HUNT: President Trump is threatening Russia with sanctions. In a Truth Social post earlier this week, he called on Putin to, quote, settle now and stop this ridiculous war. It is only going to get worse.

All right. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, Democrats in the new Trump era, what strategy do they need now that he's back in office?

Plus, at least two Republicans could vote no today on Pete Hegseth's confirmation to be secretary of defense. Will it make any difference?

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SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I'm not going to cave to pressure. I'm going to vote for his confirmation.

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