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CNN This Morning
Marc Short is Interviewed about Tariffs, RFK Jr. and the FBI; Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-MD) is Interviewed about Dismantling the Education Department; Trump Hints of Purchase of TikTok. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired February 04, 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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STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Tariffs could raise the price of tequila. Well, now what are Americans supposed to drink if they want to end an evening in jail?
And where is the worm going to live? All right, I'm sorry, I forgot. I forgot.
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KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Oy. Tequila connoisseurs can breathe easy for now. President Donald Trump has delayed his planned tariffs on both Mexico and Canada for 30 days. The two trading partners promising to bulk up security along their borders with the U.S. to curb drug trafficking and illegal immigration. If you're in the market for consumer electronics, toys, footwear, though, expect to see higher prices as Trump's tariffs against China will remain. Beijing also hitting back overnight with its own retaliatory tariff package. All of this showing how Trump seeks to govern in his second term.
Here's what "The New York Times" Peter Baker writes, quote, "soft power is out. Hard power is in. Since returning to the White House, President Trump has demonstrated that he prefers to bludgeon, not bargain. His favorite blunt instrument is not military force but economic coercion, like the tariffs he ordered on Saturday."
Joining us now is former senior adviser to Mark Pence, Mike - to Mike Pence, Marc Short. He also served as White House legislative affairs director under Trump and now is the board chair at Advancing American Freedom.
Marc, good morning. Wonderful to see you again.
MARC SHORT, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO VICE PRESIDENT PENCE, FORMER LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS DIRECTOR FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP, AND BOARD CHAIR OF ADVANCING AMERICAN FREEDOM: Kasie, thanks for having me.
HUNT: Broadly speaking, what we're seeing here in these two weeks from President Trump this time around, it has been a series of broadsides across government, beginning with the pardons for everyone who was investigated for January 6th.
[06:35:09]
Is President Trump doing what Americans voted for?
SHORT: I think, broadly, yes, Kasie. I think for most Americans they looked at the border situation under the Biden-Harris administration as a total disaster and chaotic. And they see that that's where a lot of Trump's focus has been. I think for a lot of people inside D.C., there's hand wringing over, you know, cuts to government spending. But I think that in many cases that's what Americans had wanted. They wanted to shrink the size of the federal government. And while there's a lot of concern here about DEI, I think for a lot of Americans they were concerned about how woke the Biden-Harris administration had become.
So, yes, I think that generally, so far, he's off to a strong start and Americans support that. But I do think that there are, you know, warning signs out there regarding trade policy, and as well today with two of the cabinet picks I think are two of the most radical, unqualified picks to serve in any administration.
HUNT: Let's talk about those, because there - Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr. both set to get committee votes today. One of the senators we've been watching on RFK Jr. is, Senator Bill Cassidy, who questioned RFK during the hearing. I want to play a little bit of what we saw at that hearing, and we'll talk about it.
Take a look.
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SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): Will you - will you reassure mothers, unequivocally and without qualification, that the measles and hepatitis b vaccines do not cause autism?
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS SECRETARY NOMINEE: Senator, I am not going into the agency with any -
CASSIDY: That's kind of a yes or no question because - so, if you're - because the data is there. And that - that's kind of a yes or no. And I - I don't mean to cut you off, but that really is a yes or no.
KENNEDY: If the data is there, I will absolutely do that.
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HUNT: So, of course, that's the vaccine skepticism question. And I know that the group that you are with is releasing a new ad today aimed at undercutting RFK Jr.'s chances for confirmation.
Let's take a look at the ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Junior is a Democrat plant.
ON SCREEN TEXT: President Trump on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
TRUMP: A lot of people think that Junior is a conservative. He's not. He's an extreme liberal. He's radical left. So don't think you're going to vote for him and feel good. He's a radical left Democrat.
ON SCREEN TEXT: President Trump was right the first time.
Vote no on RFK JR.
RFKQuesetions.com
Advancing American Freedom.
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HUNT: So, you're saying vote no on RFK Jr. to Republican senators. Is your argument getting traction?
SHORT: Well, I think that right now I think most Americans understand that he's not qualified to be a nominee for Health and Human Services. I think the concern for a lot of Republican senators is worry that Donald Trump will form a primary against them if they vote against him.
But, Kasie, I mean, here's a guy, you look at Donald Trump's own words just a few months ago. He is a person who is - even when he ran last year, advocated abortion on demand through all nine months of a pregnancy. He's somebody who said, I'm not going to take sides on 9/11. He's somebody who has said the NRA is a terrorist organization. He's somebody who now American Samoa, parents of 83 children who have died because he advised them not to get vaccinated for measles.
This is not just somebody who would be too left wing for a Democrat administration. He obviously is far more radical than any Republican administration would ever nominate. And yet, I think, you know, he is right now on the verge of an incredibly close vote and could get confirmed for the secretary of Health and Human Services.
HUNT: It is interesting to think about what would have happened had Democrats and Democratic president nominated an RFK Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary, what Republicans might have been saying about him.
SHORT: Yes, exactly. I think that you'd see pretty much uniform opposition to RFK if that was the case.
HUNT: Marc, I do want to ask you about the latest twist in how this administration, the new Trump administration, is dealing with what happened on January 6th, because, obviously, it started out with the pardon of - unilateral pardon of people, even those who beat up police officers who were convicted of violence against cops. Now we've reported here that FBI agents, FBI personnel are - have been
given a 12 question questionnaire around their involvement in investigating January 6th. Is that appropriate? And does that presage a potential purge of our law enforcement officers who held people accountable for their actions that day?
SHORT: I think it's incredibly wrong. I think the reality is that no matter how much we try to revise history, January 6th was a terrible day for America. I think there are a lot of noble law enforcement who were trying to protect elected officials that day. And I think it's a terrible message when Republicans look to undermine law and order and pardon those who assaulted our officers.
I think there's something else, though, you know, pernicious that could happen down the road, Kasie. And that is the sense that for people who feel if they're taking on violence against an opponent of Donald Trump, they think they'll get pardoned by Donald Trump. And so, I think that this isn't just how bad the situation is of - of pardoning those who assaulted law enforcement officers.
[06:40:05]
I think it also creates a potential threat down the road, too. And so - so, yes, I think it's a - I think it's an unforced error, and a mistake by the Trump administration.
HUNT: So, the pardon is definitely one question. You're essentially saying, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you're saying that someone might commit violence on behalf of Donald Trump expect a pardon.
Go ahead.
SHORT: Sure. I mean - I mean that's basically the precedent that you set up is that - is that under this case it was OK. And so why wouldn't somebody assume that under a future case, they too would get pardoned? I mean, there's - there's a couple - there's a couple of those who were convicted of crimes, including by Trump appointed judges from January 6th, who have said, as they're in the courtroom, that it's OK, I'm going to get pardoned.
HUNT: And do you think that this questionnaire and this sort of chilling of the FBI, is it possible that that might mean that agents inside the FBI would be reluctant to take on a case or to investigate someone who was doing things on behalf of Donald Trump?
SHORT: I think the reality is that the Department of Justice had become politicized. I agree with that. But I think the concern is that in many cases now you are firing people who are simply following orders. In many cases these were attorneys who took on prosecutors, who took on cases because it was assigned to them. And so I do think that's a dangerous precedent.
HUNT: All right, Marc Short, very grateful to have you on the show. Thank you very much for being here.
SHORT: Thanks, Kasie. Thanks for having me. HUNT: Come back, all right.
SHORT: We'll do.
HUNT: Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, with just a few days left to decide, some federal workers being warned against taking buyout offers. Democratic Congressman Johnny Olszewski here to discuss that.
Plus, saving TikTok. President Trump's new plan to try to keep the app around.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're looking at TikTok. We may be banning TikTok.
I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok.
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HUNT: All right, welcome back.
We're just over two weeks into Trump's second term. Perhaps the most striking development in those - in these days has been his administration's determined effort to reshape the federal government with dramatic executive action.
There's the attempt to freeze all federal spending. That order halted by a federal judge. There was the slashing of DEI programs across government. And, of course, the attempted buyout of potentially millions of federal workers. What the Trump administration called a deferred resignation offer. Workers eligible for that program required to make a decision by Thursday. The email announcing that buyout obviously did not go over well with federal workers. "Business Insider" reported this, quote, "federal employees are ping-ponging between outrage, despair and confusion as Trump's payout offer hits inboxes." The anger is personal, one career State Department employee telling them, quote, "they can f off and we won't be intimidated," end quote.
President Trump has been assisted in this effort by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, which first targeted USAID. His attempts to dismantle that agency meeting strong opposition from Democrats on Capitol Hill.
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REP. JIM MCGOVERN (D-MA): I'm sorry that you have to put up with this offensive bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED) coming out of this White House.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a constitutional crisis that we are in. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is how dictators are made.
REP. JOHNNY OLSZEWSKI (D-MD): We need you, America, to listen and to act. Because today its U.S. aid. Tomorrow it's our health care. It's Social Security. It's our livelihoods. It's our freedoms.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): We don't have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk.
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HUNT: "The Wall Street Journal" reporting this this morning, that after dismantling USAID, the Trump administration plans to turn its attention to the Department of Education.
Joining us now to discuss all this, Congressman Johnny Olszewski of Maryland. He's a Democrat.
Congressman, thanks very much for being here.
REP. JOHNNY OLSZEWSKI (D-MD): Thanks for having us on.
HUNT: You, of course, represent a significant number of people who work for the federal government. It affects this region very deeply. I want to start with this reporting that they may go after the Department of Education. Is that legal? What would it mean?
OLSZEWSKI: Yes, I mean, 150,000 workers in Maryland, over 22,000 just in my congressional district. That's just civilian, not counting military. And so, this is personal, I mean, there's a story behind every family who's impacted. And so, this is part of the playbook. This is about going after, today it's USAID. Like I said, now it's the Department of Education.
And, no, these are not legal actions. I mean, you know, we have the power of the purse in congress. USAID and other agencies are established by law. And it's clear that the president has to be more thoughtful about how he wants to do it.
Look, you have the White House. You have both chambers of Congress. There's a way that if you want to go after waste or if you want to change the way our government is structured, you can do that.
I welcome that debate. I think members of the, you know, Congress welcome that debate. But this is clearly not legal. It is clearly an affront to the hard-working men and women of this country. And it's something that I won't stand for. I know many of my colleagues wont either.
HUNT: What are you hearing from constituents about their attitude toward continuing to do their jobs? Because it's one of the explicit strategies here and that "The Washington Post" kind of reports it this way, that the executive order, this draft, to shut down education acknowledges only Congress can actually shut it down -
OLSZEWSKI: That's right. HUNT: But it directs the agency to begin to diminish itself.
Are federal workers that you speak to ready to do things like that?
OLSZEWSKI: You know, just yesterday, at USAID, there were federal workers who were just so scared and upset and frustrated that their mission, that really is helping preserve and protect American interests across the world, was under attack. That's the same for our workers in the Department of Education.
You know, the vast majority of the funding for the Department of Education is actually going directly to our states and local governments. As someone who oversaw a local school system as county executive before coming to Congress, this support is invaluable.
And so, I know that employees are ready to stand up. They're ready to fight. I think what you read today speaks to the frustration and the emotions that our employees are going through.
But again, these are not legal actions the president's taking.
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I think employees are not going to take kindly to being told to dismantle their own work. These are people who have given their lives to the American people and to this American - and the American government. And it's deeply concerning.
HUNT: Let me talk to you a little bit about how Democrats are responding to all of this. We got a new chairman at the Democratic National Committee. But the reality is that it can be hard to see how Democrats are standing in the way of what Donald Trump is doing. In - in many ways it's a steamroller, him plus Elon Musk. I - what does your party need to do differently now?
OLSZEWSKI: More. We need to have urgency about what we're facing. We need to have an all hands-on deck strategy. We need to pull every single lever that's available to us. I was encouraged to see senators saying they're going to use all their tools. They have more than members of us in the minority party.
But as I was saying yesterday, this is also incumbent upon the American public, especially those who are represented by Republicans in congressional districts and U.S. Senate districts to reach out and say this affects not just me, this affects a family member, this affects a friend, and I'm concerned about the actions you're taking.
Until - you know, ultimately, until we have Republicans joining us in the fight, we're going to have limited levers. But certainly things like reconciliation. So, the buyouts, you know, the government's not even funded past march. So, I don't know how the president can promise to pay folks for not showing up to work.
But, you know, I think there - there will be places where Democrats can have more impact and more leverage in these conversations. We should and will use every tool at our disposal. We're going to support legislative efforts. We're going to support court and judicial efforts. We're certainly going to be in the court of public opinion. But we need to make sure that both the American public is aware of what's going on because this is just the beginning. USAID, the Department of Ed, Social Security, health care, your freedoms, your liberties could be next. And I think those are really real threats that are out there that we need to take seriously.
HUNT: The Elon Musk piece of it, how do you see Musk's interaction with President Trump and, I mean, I heard Jamie Raskin there say, we don't have this fourth department of government that - that is this billionaire.
What is the plan from the Democratic perspective to try and impact that? Because clearly he is moving so quickly that it seems all but impossible to stop it.
OLSZEWSKI: Well, he's moving quickly with the full support of President Trump. And to date, members of the United States Congress. And so, you know, our moves have to be calling it out for what it is. This is someone who's had no vetting. There's no transparency about the work that he is engaging in, or those who are helping him and assisting him. And now they have access to some of the most classified, personal information that Americans can have. Our Social Security numbers, our financial information, our health care data. It's deeply concerning. And so, we need to not only call for it and push for that transparency, but be at the table.
I'll just add, it's interesting that, you know, between the workforce and the tariffs and all this other stuff, you know, cost of living was always front and center for this president. And it was a key issue in this election. We're now 32 days into Congress. There hasn't been one bill brought to the floor to lower costs for Americans. Instead, we're seeing tariffs that are proposing to drive up costs 25 percent, $1,250 for the average family. And I just think that we're losing sight of what Americans told us they wanted us to go to Washington and work on.
HUNT: All right, Congressman Johnny Olszewski, thanks very much for being here this morning.
OLSZEWSKI: Yes. Thanks.
HUNT: I appreciate it. Come back soon.
All right, 53 minutes past the hour. Here is your morning roundup.
Today. President Trump is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss an extension of Gaza's fragile ceasefire deal. The deal set to end March 1st if no agreement is reached on phase two of the agreement. Netanyahu says he'll formulate phase two details with President Trump.
You're looking now at live images of crews removing wreckage from the Potomac following last week's deadly mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter. They expect to recover the jet's cockpit today if the winds and the tides will allow it. By tomorrow, snow, sleet and freezing rain expected to hamper recovery efforts.
California's largest insurance provider asking for an emergency rate increase following the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. State Farm says it's already paid out more than $1 billion to customers and is facing a dire situation.
And this.
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ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: I believe that our diversity efforts have led to making the NFL better.
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HUNT: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell making it clear the league intends to keep its diversity initiatives going. Goodell emphasizing the NFL's policies are good for business and, quote, "follow the law."
All right, let's turn now to this story. One of the many executive orders signed by President Trump creates the first ever U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund.
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A government-owned fund that would generally work to stabilize the economy by investing excess capital. Trump hinted on Monday that the fund's first purchase could be TikTok, as the China based app faces a deadline to find a new owner in the U.S. by April.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to be doing something, perhaps, with TikTok, and perhaps not.
We might put that in the Sovereign Wealth Fund. Whatever we make. Or if we do a partnership with very wealthy people. A lot of options. But we could put that as an example in the fund. And we have a lot of other things that we could put in the fund.
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HUNT: All right, our panel is back.
Jeff Mason, obviously, President Trump took some action on this when he first came in, or at least TikTok wanted to give President Trump credit for being the one who took this action when he came into office. How real is this particular proposal?
JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "REUTERS": Oh, I think it's real. And it's interesting to see him follow up on it yesterday. I was in the Oval Office on the night of inauguration, and he talked about TikTok with us that night with reporters in the room and talked about the fact that the U.S. might have a stake in it. And we all were kind of wondering, all right, well, how - how would that work? And that is being explained, at least in part, by this Sovereign Wealth Fund. So, it would - it would give them a vehicle, because that's what a sovereign wealth fund is, is a vehicle to invest U.S. money into something like this.
ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: There's still questions of how they would actually develop this fund, though. It's usually something that you see in countries that have a budget surplus or in a better fiscal situation as well. So, just how he would actually construct this, like many of the White House's proposals, the implementation of it, there's definitely questions there. The political gain is clear, though. You know, he has made clear that he feels that this could be a means to pleasing younger voters when it comes to TikTok -
MASON: Yes.
KANNO-YOUNGS: And any sort of headline around regaining TikTok with a ban, you know, on the horizon as well.
MASON: And he's been clear with regard to TikTok that he sees it as having played a role in helping him win over young voters. So, there is a very personal connection, politically - political and personal connection between him and that app that he keeps coming back to despite, shall we say, during Trump 1.0, him almost banning it.
HUNT: Right. Well, I was going to say, Brad Todd, I mean it was his idea. I mean Mark Warner will go out there and say, like, I didn't think we should necessarily do this. And then Trump told us we should. And I actually got on board with that.
BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it was Josh Hawley's idea to get it off government devices. And then it picked up steam and we got it out. I mean we got the head cut off the snake. Let's keep the head cut off. This is a terrible idea. The only way to get rid of - to bring TikTok back is if it is completely disconnected to the Chinese government. It doesn't need to be connected to ours either. I can't think of a worse idea than the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
JONATHAN KOTT, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO SEN. MANCHIN AND SEN. COONS: Yes, I think this is another ridiculous idea that Trump's throwing out there that will never go anywhere unless Jared Kushner is going to come back and, you know, talk to the Saudis and run the Sovereign Wealth Fund that he's, you know, sort of become accustomed to doing outside the government. But like, this is an absurd thing that's never going to happen in our government. It's not what we do. It's what countries in the Middle East with enormous oil reserves do. Like, this is just another Trump distraction to make us think we're going to buy TikTok and, what, make it a state run media operation? We already have that with Twitter. So.
TODD: Well, a lot of northern European countries have sovereign wealth funds too. The Scandinavians, countries -
KOTT: They have - they have enormous oil supplies.
TODD: But part of the American premise is that the government -
HUNT: Well, I mean, (INAUDIBLE).
KOTT: Yes.
TODD: Is the government doesn't pick winners and losers. And the sovereign wealth fund is definitely the government picking a winner.
KOTT: Yes.
HUNT: What do we know about like the algorithm itself, though? I mean, isn't there still a question about whether TikTok will actually ever give it up?
KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes.
KOTT: Yes, they're not going to -
MASON: I don't know the answer to that.
KOTT: They're not going to give it up. That's the most valuable part of it. That's how - that's what they use to control what teens are seeing.
HUNT: Right.
KOTT: That's what they use to control how teens are thinking. There's no way the Chinese government -
HUNT: Which is the national security concern, yes.
KOTT: Yes. There's no way the Chinese government is giving that up. They can sell every other aspect of it. They're not giving that up. So, we can buy a useless social media app that nobody wants. I think there's plenty of them out there. Myspace, vine.
MASON: Also, just remember, like, this is all happening at the same time that both China and the United States are putting tariffs on each other.
HUNT: Yes. Right.
MASON: So, a cooperation on TikTok also seems unlikely.
HUNT: Unlikely.
KOTT: Yes.
HUNT: A very good point.
All right, I will leave you with this. Pull out your flip phones, dust off your Walkman, because "Variety" is reporting that there's going to be a sequel to the '90s drama "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It could be coming to Hulu.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Sources telling "Variety" that the show will focus on a new generation's slayer, but we could still see some familiar faces, including Buffy herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR, ACTRESS: Who are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's just say I'm a friend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That's not the only show back throw - throwback show that could be gracing our screens soon.
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The beloved series "Little House on the Prairie," of course, based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, is also slated for a Netflix reboot. OK, this segment is definitely for me, guys. I don't know how -
KANNO-YOUNGS: Which - I watched Buffy -
HUNT: Somehow I'm at a table with all gentlemen here.
KANNO-YOUNGS: I watched Buffy.
HUNT: You did?
KANNO-YOUNGS: Heck, yes, Buffy was (INAUDIBLE).
HUNT: Love it. All right, Zolan, you can come back any time.
KANNO-YOUNGS: Buffy was great. It was a great show.
HUNT: Guys, thank -
TODD: I am - I am terrified to see the new woke Hollywood version of "Little House on the Prairie." Let's hope they don't screw this franchise up.
HUNT: Oh my gosh, Brad. OK.
Thank you all, guys, for being here. Thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.
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