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CNN This Morning
Trump Officials Insist Tariffs are Part of 'Drug War'; Trump: Latest Plane Crash Has 'Nothing to Do' with the FAA and DOGE. Aired 6- 6:30a ET
Aired March 10, 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 is Monday, March 10. Welcome back from the weekend. Here's what's happening right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[06:00:41]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CARNEY, LEADER OF LIBERAL PARTY IN CANADA: My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Canada's just-chosen successor to Justin Trudeau is already standing up to President Trump. Can he stop the trade war?
Plus, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Things were popping. Part of the plane was falling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: A plane plunges into a parking lot in another fiery crash. Are recent cuts to the FAA making it riskier to fly?
Then this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We'll see if we can get something done. I'd like to get something done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The U.S. and Ukraine gear up for talks to end Russia's war. What it will take to repair this between Washington and Kyiv.
And later, the federal agency using polygraphs on its employees. What are the lie detector tests looking for?
Six a.m. here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at the Capitol, where lawmakers will be coming this week to talk about a potential government shutdown. Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for
waking up with me.
Coming in hot. Canada's incoming prime minister vows to fight back against President Trump's threats of a trade war.
On Sunday, Canada's Liberal Party elected Mark Carney to take over as party leader from Justin Trudeau. Now, Carney will eventually succeed Trudeau as prime minister.
Carney is actually the former top banker for both the U.K. and Canada. He says he's going to keep Trudeau's retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products until, quote, "the Americans show us some respect."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARNEY: We didn't ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves. So, the Americans, they should make no mistake. In trade, as in hockey, Canada will win.
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CORNISH: While Canada's eventual new prime minister is vowing to win a trade war with the U.S., Trump administration officials argue that the tariffs are actually fighting a drug war. They say fentanyl is the reason for the tariffs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN HASSETT, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: We launched a drug war, not a trade war, and it was part of a negotiation to get Canada and Mexico to stop shipping fentanyl across our borders.
HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: If fentanyl ends, I think these will come off. But if fentanyl does not end, or he's uncertain about it, they will stay this way until he is comfortable.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're saying this really is about fentanyl?
KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It really is about fentanyl. It really is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: It's worth noting that, in the last fiscal year, U.S. border authorities have taken a total of 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border. That's less than 1 percent of all fentanyl seized at U.S. borders.
Joining me now to talk about all of this, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst and national political reporter at Axios; Ashley Allison, CNN political commentator and former director of the Biden-Harris campaign; and Doug Heye, Republican strategist.
Thank you all. Welcome to the group chat.
I'm going to start with Alex. I love the weekends because, when you come in, you hear everybody's talking points --
ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
CORNISH: -- from Sunday, one after another. What does it mean that they're moving this conversation in this direction?
THOMPSON: Well, some of this is about legal justification for it, because --
CORNISH: Say that again: legal justification?
THOMPSON: Yes. Because in order to -- for Trump to have the power to unilaterally do these sort of wide tariffs, you have to have sort of a national security or a security rationale for it.
That is why they keep talking -- I mean, I think they do have a real policy agenda here.
CORNISH: Yes.
THOMPSON: But some of it also is the legal justification.
CORNISH: OK. Doug, what I'm hearing is this is not cosmetic. I'm coming to you first -- Ashley, I'm not forgetting you -- but I'm coming to you first, because obviously, your experience at the RNC. You're a guy who knows about message and how to talk about something publicly.
So, when you see flooding the zone with drug war, not trade war, what do you hear?
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It tells you there's been pushback, and they're trying to find new ways to talk about it.
And to Alex's point, it's legal. It's also political. That's why we saw the three cabinet members all saying the exact -- not sort of things, the exact same words.
We're going to hear fentanyl more and more, regardless of what those numbers are.
Clearly, fentanyl is coming in in massive numbers from the Mexican border. I just crossed the border, did the land crossing over the summer. And you can see just when you're just ten feet over on the Mexico side or 100 yards on the Mexico side, you can see these kinds of products being sold. That's just not true in Canada.
[06:05:11]
But the political argument is going to remain, because they have to make the political argument to make the legal argument.
CORNISH: And to be clear, there are fentanyl labs in Canada. That is not --
HEYE: Sure. CORNISH: -- necessarily -- we're not saying they don't exist.
HEYE: Sure.
CORNISH: We're saying we're not talking about the organized industry that you might see coming out of Mexico.
Ashley, I remember the Biden-Harris folks during the term really struggling to talk about the border in a way that connected with people, saying, We're doing something.
So, how are you thinking about this now? You know what I mean? What is the -- not counter, but what is the argument that could be taken advantage of in this moment?
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think if you consider the Canadian border and the Mexican border, those are, I just feel like, two different stories to be told.
The reason why Republicans right now are using fentanyl as a distraction, almost, to what is happening with the tariffs on, is because you seem insensitive if you say fentanyl is not an issue, when we know that people die --
CORNISH: Yes.
ALLISON: -- from drug overdoses in this country.
So, we're smart enough as Americans to bifurcate the issue of tariffs and the need to have policies in place and protect people from overdosing from fentanyl. So, I would -- I would encourage the Democrats not to take the bait here.
CORNISH: OK.
ALLISON: And counter it and be compassionate to folks who are experiencing drug crises in their communities --
CORNISH: Right.
ALLISON: -- while also saying, We want eggs to be cheaper.
CORNISH: OK, so we are not just nerds into tariffs. I mean, we are.
THOMPSON: Yes, we are.
CORNISH: But were not just nerds into tariffs.
ALLISON: I'm not.
CORNISH: I want to play for you something that the president said over the weekend about whether or not the U.S. should expect a recession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS HOST: Are you expecting a recession this year?
TRUMP: I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America. That's a big thing. And there are always periods of -- it takes a little time. It takes a little time, but I don't -- I think it should be great for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Jump ball on "great for us" or "a period of transition." Which phrase strikes your fancy?
THOMPSON: Well, this is a case in which the talking points were not all in unison, because you had Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on "Meet the Press" saying -- predicting there would not be a recession.
CORNISH: Yes.
THOMPSON: And so, they were not --
CORNISH: Like, categorically --
THOMPSON: Yes, exactly.
CORNISH: -- it will be tape played back to you later if it turns out the other way.
THOMPSON: Yes. But they've -- they've all sort of said that they expect the tariffs to be disruptive. But this is also what they ran on.
And they believe that, you know, given the last 30 years of what they call, like, sort of the hollowing out of the industrial base that that this is this is about trying to get back to that or address that.
CORNISH: Yes.
ALLISON: I think they ran on tariffs, but I don't think they ran on a bit of a --
CORNISH: Disturbance.
ALLISON: Disturbance. I think that, you know -- and so -- I know they didn't, because if they would have, people -- Kamala Harris would have pounded them on it. Right?
(CROSSTALK)
CORNISH: -- for bumper sticker the same way. Yes.
ALLISON: And so, when, when people like myself and other folks were saying, Watch out, cats; like, you know, this might not land the way you expect it to land. We were told that we didn't know anything about economic policy.
CORNISH: Yes, but now I wanted to say, "Watch out, cats," right below your name.
ALLISON: Oh, yes.
CORNISH: I love that. The group chat is just getting started. You guys, thanks so much. Please stick around. We're going to talk more.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, Congress gets ready for a big fight just to pass the budget. Democratic Congresswoman Hillary Scholten joins me to discuss.
And wind-driven fires spread in New York. What will people there face today?
And as the U.S. grapples with another plane crash, are government buyouts and staffing shortages creating dangerous gaps in air safety?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that we have a plane crash where everybody survives and nobody on the ground is hurt is a -- is a wonderful thing.
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[06:13:37]
CORNISH: It's 12 minutes past the hour, and here is your morning roundup. Some of the stories you need to get your day going. Winds are easing. Firefighters are now getting control of four wind-driven brush fires on New York's Long Island. It took 600 firefighters, more than 80 departments to get the upper hand.
Winds were nearly calm overnight. They're expected to pick up slightly today but will remain light this week.
And TikTok's deadline quickly approaching, just one month away. And President Trump says his administration is talking with some buyers about a potential deal.
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TRUMP: There could be. We're dealing with four different groups. And a lot of people want it, and it's up to me. So, there could be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: A new law required TikTok's China-based owners to sell the app, or it could be banned in the U.S.
President Trump actually delayed that ban until April 5th.
And a quarterback who didn't even make it to the Super Bowl now has a record-setting contract extension. Josh Allen, the NFL's MVP, reportedly agreed to a deal with the Buffalo Bills worth 30 -- $330 million. I can't even say that. That's with $250 million guaranteed.
That is the largest guaranteed money given to an NFL player ever.
And you've got to see this. People braving insane winds on New Hampshire's highest point. The winds topped 138 miles per hour at the Mount Washington observatory.
[06:15:04]
These people, they're basically up there just taking wind readings, but they had to crawl so they wouldn't get knocked over.
Still coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, the FAA has its hands full investigating a number of recent aviation incidents. We'll look at how cuts to the agency could be affecting its workforce.
Plus, Congress gets ready for battle. Can they avoid a government shutdown this week?
And good morning in the Big Easy. In New Orleans, it's currently in the mid-50s.
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[06:29:53]
CORNISH: News of another plane crash this weekend, this time in Pennsylvania.
Five people went to the hospital after a small plane crashed into the parking lot of a retirement community. The FAA is investigating, as it has a number of aviation incidents in recent weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, that has nothing to do with the department. That was -- that was a small plane; and that would have happened whether you had a big department or a small department, as you understand.
It's just they're in a -- they have space like this. You know, they have times when things happen a little bit more often than normal. And then it goes back, and you go many years without having a problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Despite those claims, our next guest says President Trump and Elon Musk are actually making matters worse, especially after that deadly mid-air collision over the Potomac that killed 67 people in January.
Isaac Stanley-Becker of "The Atlantic" writes, "Trump deepened the FAA's problems by blaming the disaster on diversity programs, a pronouncement that baffled many in the agency's workforce. At least one senior executive decided to quit in disgust."
Meanwhile, "The New York Times" reports that last week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy actually confronted Elon Musk. Here they write, quote, "Mr. Duffy said the young staff of Mr. Musk's team was trying to lay off air traffic controllers. 'What am I supposed to do?' Mr. Duffy said. 'I have multiple plane crashes to deal with now, and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers,'" end quote.
Isaac Stanley-Becker joins me now, of course, from "The Atlantic." I want to talk about your report, because first of all, you were able to suss out who's being let go or who's just walked out under the DOGE cuts.
ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER, "THE ATLANTIC": That's right. There are two primary ways that reductions are happening.
One is through the offer of early retirement. The other is through the dismissal of probationary employees.
And I was able to get my hands on some internal FAA data that shows the degree of interest in that offer of early retirement. More than 1,300 employees responded to that email, and among those walking out the door include aviation safety technicians, assistants, 125 engineers, 51 --
CORNISH: Which are aeronautical engineers. Right? These are the folks that, after an incident, they're the ones who start remapping and trying to figure out what happened.
STANLEY-BECKER: That's even a whole separate category.
CORNISH: Yes.
STANLEY-BECKER: Aeronautical information specialists. These are people who, after a weather disaster, an incident, they update the charts and the maps that aviators and air traffic controllers rely on to make sure that people moving planes through the air can do that safely.
CORNISH: Now, to be clear, we're talking about staffing, because there is some concern that, when it came to that accident over the Potomac, it was -- may have been contributed to by understaffing in the control tower. What did you learn about that?
STANLEY-BECKER: So, there was an internal FAA safety report that found that staffing at the air traffic control tower was not normal at the time of that crash.
And that's one of the reasons why, when there was initial interest in the buyout program among air traffic controllers, that set off such alarms inside the agency. And you saw them move, then, to exempt those categories of workers from that offer of early retirement. That happened in about a week.
Now, according to what my sources are telling me, is that despite that exemption, there are many critical safety roles that are still being sacrificed and safety roles that really provide the backup for the air traffic controllers when they're doing that critical frontline work.
CORNISH: OK. State of play, critical shortages. People walking out the door.
In the meantime, there's a long-running issue -- I've covered this for a long time -- of antiquated systems at the FAA. Right? Literally, like the computers, the communication systems. I think they still use walkie-talkies. Like, it is very old.
And the person who is cutting the department and who has contracts with the department says, I've got a solution. Elon Musk wants to use his Internet satellite network, Starlink.
Sean Duffy, transportation secretary, had this to say about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: It's part of a solution. There's some terminals, like up in Alaska, where it's hard to access fiber wires. It's mountainous. There's some facilities that that -- that Starlink can be helpful.
But again, we want to make sure we have fiber-connected systems in place. And so, they can play some part of it, but not all of it.
Americans want to make sure they have the best air traffic control system in the world. We're not there right now, but we can get there if we have the help from the private sector, and the Congress gives us the money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: It's one thing to reach to the private sector. It's another thing to have someone who's, like, directly involved in all this process. Tell me, what are the issues here with Elon Musk having his company replace systems?
STANLEY-BECKER: Well, you make such an important point about the aging infrastructure at the agency, and this has been recognized in 2023, the agency awarded Verizon a $2.4 billion contract to upgrade the communications network.
Now, Elon Musk's team, through DOGE, from his private company SpaceX, come in last month; and they say this is a problem. Agency officials say, we already know this is a problem. We're working on it.
But what they want to do is -- is to deploy a solution that relies heavily on Starlink, which is the satellite Internet infrastructure that's a subsidiary of SpaceX, to deploy these terminals across the country. And there are concerns about this.
[06:25:08]
CORNISH: Yes. But even Ukraine has used Starlink, to some difficulty.
STANLEY-BECKER: It's become somewhat ubiquitous, not just within the country but globally.
But the concerns involve not just the potential conflicts of interest in terms of this being a regulated entity before the agency now standing to profit from its use, but also some cybersecurity concerns; that this has not gone through the type of vetting and threat prevention protocols and review that other types of government contractors have.
CORNISH: So, let me translate. Anyone could start working there. And basically, you are now in the U.S. transportation grid, right, should Starlink become sort of a central part of it?
STANLEY-BECKER: Well, that's the concern of some of the experts I spoke to in terms of -- and including experts who are well-placed to make these sort of assessments, because they were part of an internal classified FAA security review last year.
So, they know from where they speak, and they're concerned about their potential for less rigorous processes and less rigorous review.
CORNISH: Isaac Stanley-Becker, this is great reporting. Thank you for your time.
STANLEY-BECKER: Thank you.
CORNISH: Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveling to Saudi Arabia right now to kick-start talks with Ukraine.
Plus, why new Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is making some of her employees take polygraph tests.
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