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Jobs Report to Give Insights into Trump's 1st Months in Office; Business Owners Fear Impact of Trump Tariffs; Federal Judge: 'An American President is Not a King'. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 07, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, March 7. Here's what's happening right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

[06:00:39]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It feels like the economy is gagging on the uncertainty.

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CORNISH: We are about to get a brand-new read on the U.S. Economy. Who's hiring, who's firing in the first full month of President Trump's second term.

Plus, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Do you think they're going to come and protect us? They're supposed to. I'm not so sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: President Trump casts doubt on the NATO alliance. Could the U.S. abandon some of its closest allies?

Then this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you say no men in female sports?

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Well, I think it's an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: California's Democratic governor breaks with his party on transgender athletes. Is this a preview of the divisions ahead in 2028?

And later --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've lost several engines, and we've lost attitude control of the vehicle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Fiery debris from a rocket raining from the night sky. What back-to-back mishaps mean for Elon Musk's SpaceX program.

It is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Here is a live look at the Capitol just before sunrise. Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me.

Now, in just a couple of hours, the February jobs report is going to be released. And with it, our first look at the data behind President Trump's first full month in office.

So, here's what we're expecting: the unemployment rate to stay at 4 percent. That's almost a historic low. The president's widespread firing of federal workers, it's not likely to show up in the report in a big way. That's because most of those layoffs occurred too late in the month, and workers who accepted the buyouts are still technically employed.

But already, the economy overall is showing some signs of stress. Last month, U.S. employers announced more layoffs than any other February since 2009, and markets are on a roller coaster as the president flip- flops in his trade war.

Yesterday's announcement that he would delay some of his tariffs on Mexico and Canada, doing little to end the uncertainty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of these exemptions that have been announced and some of these temporary delays, have you been influenced in those decisions because of the market reaction?

TRUMP: Well, there are no delays at all. No, nothing to do with the market. I'm not even looking at the market.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: That uncertainty doesn't just impact Wall Street. It also makes business owners and shoppers nervous, basically leading them to stock up on some items or hold off on other purchases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you able to afford the price increase?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not really. I haven't been able to afford much.

JASON VANDER KOOY, WASHINGTON FARMER: That will cost more for inputs, but then we rely on the -- the market in Mexico to get rid of some of our product. So, then on the sales side, we're getting hit. So, we're getting hit on both ends.

BUD GOODWIN, SEATTLE BUSINESS OWNER: I hate to charge exorbitant prices, because it's just -- it just hurts. It just hurts. Absolutely. It has to be passed on. Otherwise, how can we even exist here?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: We're going to discuss this with our group in the chat today.

Tyler Pager, White House correspondent for "The New York Times." He's also the coauthor of an upcoming book, "2024: How Trump Retook the White House and Democrats lost America." I'm also joined by Michael Warren, senior editor at "The Dispatch"; and Jerusalem Demsas, staff writer at "The Atlantic."

Tyler, I want to start with you. The president cares about business. The president cares about numbers. Is this a picture of an economy that they can be proud of?

TYLER PAGER, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Yes, I think we'll see what the numbers say. Obviously, we've seen that Trump is very eager to tout economic growth. That was a key part of his economic message.

And one of the things that, if you recall, Democrats really struggled with in 2024 is this sort of Trump amnesia effect, where people felt that the economy, in particular, was better under Trump. And so, as we see --

CORNISH: And also, explaining that they thought their economy was good, right?

PAGER: Right.

CORNISH: They would look to data, just like we're going to announce today --

PAGER: Absolutely.

CORNISH: -- and say things are good. And the public would be like, no vibe session.

PAGER: Right, exactly. So, I think there's a difference between the numbers and the reality on the ground.

But Trump is someone that's very numbers focused. We saw that in his joint address to Congress this week, where he ticked off all the cuts that he says the Department of Government Efficiency has made to contracts, bragging about the big numbers that he says, the millions and billions of dollars that have been cut.

[06:05:08]

So, it's sort of the first test. CORNISH: Yes. For sure.

PAGER: I don't want to overplay how much impact this will have, but it's clear that Trump cares a lot about the economy. Voters care a lot about the economy, and it's sort of this first early indicator of where things are.

But as you noted in the intro, a lot of the impacts and the turmoil we've seen happened at the end of the month. So, it's unclear how complete of a picture this will be.

CORNISH: Yes. Michael Warren, I hear the president talk, using the phrase "disturbance." There might be a disturbance. I want to play for you a cut of a small business owner in Arizona, basically speaking before the tariff pause was announced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARLENE LANDGRAVE, ARIZONA BUSINESS OWNER: We're losing a lot of money. Like if I -- if I sell a door for 4,000, now it's worth 5,000. And if I don't charge my clients 5,000, then I lose out on a thousand.

So, were talking about big money here.

We'll survive. But I don't think it's fair that, after 27 years, instead of me projecting myself to retire, I'm projecting to myself to work three times more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Trump administration has always talked about tariffs as a negotiating tool, and when you use it that way, that means maybe this, maybe that, maybe this, maybe that. What's the actual impact, though?

MICHAEL WARREN, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE DISPATCH": It's -- it's uncertainty. I mean, you can hear that uncertainty and that frustration in her voice.

The president said yesterday that, you know, maybe globalists were involved with sort of the market shifting one way or the other.

CORNISH: Well, he was saying that globalists -- that corporations, by definition, right. They have their hands in many pots around the world. And so, that's why they're skittish.

WARREN: Right. But she doesn't look like a globalist corporation to me. She looks like a small business owner who's skittish, too.

CORNISH: Yes.

WARREN: And that's, I think, the big impact of this back and forth of using tariffs as a negotiating tactic. I'm not so sure I even buy that Donald Trump views it that way. He always says tariffs are good. I like tariffs.

CORNISH: And always has. WARREN: Yes.

CORNISH: Even before he was in public office.

Jerusalem, I see you nodding.

JERUSALEM DEMSAS, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": Yes, I mean it's clear that there's -- you know, there's a lot of uncertainty about Donald Trump's positions on a lot of policy issues. But on tariffs --

CORNISH: We got it.

DEMSAS: -- there's a lot of clarity. We know. He likes them. He thinks that they're good.

And I think there's a very strange back and forth that's happening here, where people will defend Trump's tariffs when they're on, and then, when they're off or changing in some way, you get a -- you get a, Oh, see? He's a master negotiator.

And so, you have difficulty engaging with the administration on the merits of what the policies they're actually trying to implement are.

CORNISH: Jerusalem, I want to stay with you for a moment, because you have a new article in "The Atlantic" where you talk about the DOGE job cuts.

We've been talking about it all week. Just the sheer volume of numbers. And I get the sense you were trying to put a face to some of those numbers.

And you used the term cruelty, right? "The Trump administration and the Republican Party seem to have brought [SIC] into -- brought [SIC] -- bought into the idea that Americans are craving cruelty, and as a result, they're using their power to, quote, 'own the libs.' But they have miscalculated."

A lot to unpack there. What -- tell me about the miscalculation. What do you think you're seeing in your reporting?

DEMSAS: Yes, I mean, I think there's a sense in -- in the Trump administration that part of why they won was to enact an agenda of responding on cultural issues.

And that was a part of the election, but most voters voted to bring down prices. They were upset about the economy. They were upset about immigration. They weren't looking to spend a lot of time hearing about removing trans members from the military, hearing about DEI.

In my article, I go over some key figures that show the American public is generally not opposed to DEI. They have, you know, mild opinions about it. Most demographics polled indicate that DEI either hasn't affected their life --

CORNISH: Yes.

DEMSAS: -- or it's improved it. And so, when you see those numbers --

CORNISH: When you talk about cruelty, this is a nod to something else way back in "The Atlantic": Adam Serwer saying the cruelty is the point.

DEMSAS: Is the point, yes.

CORNISH: Which became sort of a mantra on the left.

Mike Warren, can you talk about, like, the idea of talking about what they're doing with DOGE, et cetera, as something that is, like, mean -- right? -- in the way they're doing it? That's coming up from some lawmakers.

WARREN: Yes, I've talked to some folks, activists and experts over the past few days who are very interested in what Donald Trump is doing to -- or claiming to do to shrink the size of government.

And they look at the approach of Elon Musk and DOGE and think, well, this is not very good politically. For the political case for shrinking the size of government, when you do things in this way that appear cruel, that appear sort of callous, where there's no actual sort of long term, OK, here's the plan of how we're going to do this. We're going to unravel this particular department or agency over a period of time.

And I think that is a -- that is a political risk for Donald Trump to do this, to really hurt the case that might be made to say, is the government doing this the most efficient way?

If -- if the face of that becomes people who are --

CORNISH: Veterans, right.

[06:10:02]

WARREN: Exactly. Veterans or people who are trying to do research on cancer, for instance.

All of the sudden -- I was struck a few weeks ago. There was an announcement that an NIH grant was going to be rolled back on a Friday night, and by Saturday morning, Katie Britt, a senator from Alabama, a Republican senator very close to Donald Trump, was out there saying, but this -- we're making sure to restore this for the University of Alabama, Birmingham; University of Alabama, Huntsville. It was very much a realization.

CORNISH: It's not real (Ph) until it's your state.

WARREN: Exactly. It's in your backyard.

PAGER: I also think, just to add on that, most people don't know how much government can impact their life on a regular basis. We've already started to see reports of people that get Social Security, you know, other government services that are crucial to their day-to-day existence being, you know, delayed or having trouble reaching, you know, an operator, as we've all struggled to -- to -- to reach a government employee.

And so, I think these cuts are still early, and the impacts remain to be seen in terms of how much it sort of trickles down to everyday Americans' lives.

And I think some people will start to be surprised as things slow down or -- or don't exist anymore.

CORNISH: Yes, they start to feel it.

PAGER: So, as the impacts start to -- you know, start to hit the people outside of Washington who are losing their jobs, but are, you know, depending on these services or just --

DEMSAS: Downstream, too.

CORNISH: OK. Hold on, group chat. Y'all are getting fired up about this now. So, stay for the rest of the hour. I appreciate you.

Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, a new setback for SpaceX. Their latest Starship test flight ends in fire again.

Plus, a former Olympian on the FBI's most wanted list. How the FBI says he went from shredding powder to distributing it.

And what impact will cutting 70,000 jobs at the V.A. have on veterans? I'll ask Republican congressman and Green Beret Pat Harrigan.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've been sniping at the V.A., cutting it bit by bit, and now it seems like they're taking -- trying to take a big chunk out of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[06:16:14]

CORNISH: It is 15 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Some of the stories you need to get your day going.

Another SpaceX Starship explodes during a test flight. No one on board, but it was less than ten minutes after the launch. People from Florida to the Caribbean saw falling debris in the sky. The FAA even had to ground flights because of it.

Now remember, another Starship exploded in January. That was during a test flight.

The Social Security Administration bans employees from looking at news websites on their work devices. Also, they can't access sports websites or shop online.

In a memo, the agency claims this will help protect sensitive information. It already said it plans to cut 7,000 jobs.

And a former Olympic snowboarder is a long way from the slopes. He's now on the FBI's most wanted list for a different kind of powder.

The FBI says Ryan Wedding is accused of running a deadly drug trafficking network that regularly shipped cocaine from Colombia to the U.S. and Canada.

He actually competed in the 2002 Olympics for Canada.

And you've got to see this. A Lakers fan now has an extra $100,000 after hitting a legendary half-court shot during last night's game. He then showed off his Kobe Bryant black mamba tattoo.

Now, of course, there was also the game. The Lakers won in overtime last night against the New York Knicks.

Still coming up after the break, a federal judge offering up a scathing ruling against President Trump. How is the administration juggling this tsunami of legal challenges against its policies?

Plus, California's governor, Gavin Newsom, breaking with Democrats on the issue of rights for transgender athletes. Could this be a preview of the 2028 Democratic primary?

And someone's waking up in Vegas? Actually, they probably don't remember they went to sleep. But good morning to you in las Vegas. Stay with us.

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[06:22:26]

CORNISH: A U.S. district court judge has a message for the White House. An American president is not a king, not even an elected one.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz enters the group chat with that and other legal drama this week.

So, Katelyn, tell us a little bit about that quote. Like, where is this coming up? Because there are, honestly, so many cases.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: There are so many cases. Many of them are in the federal court in Washington, D.C. That quote is from a case in D.C.

It's a case that was decided by a judge named Beryl Howell yesterday, where she said a person who was on the National Labor Relations Board that was fired can stay in the job. There's been a series of cases like this.

CORNISH: Where the executive branch is saying, look, all of these independent boards that are all over government --

POLANTZ: Yes.

CORNISH: -- we should be able to fire people.

POLANTZ: Trump himself --

CORNISH: Yes.

POLANTZ: -- should be able to fire those people. It's a very -- Trump wants to do this. And we think that he should be able to.

But there -- but there is going to be a lot of legal tests around this. That sort of idea. The president is not a king. That's a refrain that this court has really grasped onto in the past several years.

CORNISH: So, it's not just some, like, progressive talking point. Like, the courts are starting to delineate and try and make this distinction.

POLANTZ: Right. And they've been trying to say this to Trump for years now. Specifically, presidents are not kings. Those are words written first by then Ketanji Brown Jackson, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, on that same trial level court, before she got to the Supreme Court, wrote those words.

And since then, in cases where it is about Donald Trump and the power he wants to bring to himself and the presidency, the judges in this court keep saying presidents are not kings.

And so, when you're looking at a judge saying that it's about one person who was fired and removed from this board is now being reinstated by this judge.

But there are a lot of other judges who are trying to say, we are seeing different ways that Trump is using power to try and, in their view, exceed what he should be doing as president.

There's another court, just two days ago, that ruled that, when the administration was shutting off funding to states, things like highway improvement, health care, that Donald Trump and the executive branch was putting itself above Congress.

CORNISH: Right.

POLANTZ: So that's not about findings. That's about funding.

CORNISH: We're going to talk about that more this hour, because I think that's fascinating. I want to play a cut -- a cut from Trump himself, because he has spoken about being hindered by the courts.

[06:25:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're being hindered by courts, where they file in certain courts where it's very hard to win. And a judge will stop us. And a judge will say that it doesn't make any difference what you find.

You just keep paying the money. That's a hell of a way to be. And I follow the courts. I have to follow the law. All it means is

that we appeal, but that gives people time to cover their tracks, and that's what they do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, I want to ask about this, because obviously, Trump has talked a lot about lawfare and the idea that the courts are an impediment to what he wants to do, or the idea that the justice system is biased against him.

What do you hear in how he's talking there?

WARREN: I mean, look, presidents in the last several decades have been frustrated with the idea that the courts can, you know, hinder their power.

Executives are always trying to expand their power. The difference is that Donald Trump kind of says this stuff out loud in a way that a lot of past presidents haven't, and he really pushes against the limits of that in kind of all of his actions.

I mean, look, you've seen this, again, for presidents in both parties. They're always trying to sort of take supremacy away from the first branch.

CORNISH: Yes.

WARREN: The --

CORNISH: I remember Carter was a president like this, where he also felt like --

WARREN: Absolutely.

CORNISH: -- there should be -- because he was fighting, obviously, kind of Republican congresses. And he felt like, I need more power here.

DEMSAS: I think, though, that it's important to distinguish, because I similarly have noticed, you know, in previous administrations, they're upset if someone will file a lawsuit against them in an unfriendly district. This happens every single administration.

But what's different about saying it out loud is that the norms actually really do matter. If you don't believe that the federal government cares what a court says, that affects business decisions.

I'm hearing from people in a variety of industries that are afraid to talk to the press publicly, because they're worried about how that might be taken from a -- from a -- you know, a member of the administration. They're afraid about making comments about their own business outcomes.

They're pretending like things that they were already doing that were normal business moves are as a result of positive moves by this administration, in an attempt to curry favor.

And that sort of interaction between the private sector and the government is really concerning, because it means there's not free enterprise. There's not free speech going on, and it's a real chilling effect.

CORNISH: Katelyn, I have one quick question for you also.

Every time Trump speaks publicly, that's entered into the public record. So, our lawyers, how closely are they paying attention? And are the things he's saying starting to make their way into cases as arguments?

POLANTZ: Absolutely. Just after the address that he gave to Congress the other night, there were at least two cases I saw where lawyers said, when they're fighting, these are cases where they're fighting Elon Musk, his power and DOGE.

In those cases, they -- they filed supplemental authority to the court just to say the president just said Elon Musk is the head of DOGE, which is going to be very pivotal.

CORNISH: The government may be going to court and arguing, no, no, no. DOGE is run by this acting, blah, blah, blah. But they're getting to say, Yo, he just said it, and were going to enter that into the record.

POLANTZ: And there's also things like that clip that we were just watching --

CORNISH: Yes.

POLANTZ: -- about Trump, basically just criticizing the -- the fact that people are suing. There are steps the white house is taking to try and chill lawsuits like that.

We saw last night a memo to agencies where they are going to invoke this rule that, basically, no one uses in federal court to ask judges. The Justice Department will go -- be able to go and ask judges to require people who sue the administration for emergency relief --

CORNISH: Yes.

POLANTZ: -- to put up money.

And that -- when I was calling people last night and said, is this rule real?

CORNISH: Yes.

POLANTZ: Can they do that? People, even liberal lawyers that I knew that were part of these cases, started laughing like, wow, I can't believe someone found this rule. They can invoke it. No one ever does.

But the Trump administration is going to.

CORNISH: They have read the fine print, needless to say, for Trump to.

CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much for joining the group.

The rest of you, I want you to stick around, because still ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, there's a big meeting today at the White House that's never happened before.

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