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Roberts Responds to Trump's Message on Impeaching a Judge; How Tariffs Could Hit Our Closets. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired March 19, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: New Zealand's fish of the year. The creature could grow up to 30 centimeters, or about a foot long.

[06:00:09]

Also, researchers say that it looks like a big, blobby tadpole with a big nose and beady eyes.

Just goes to show: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

That'll do it for us here today. Thanks for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Rahel Solomon in New York. I will see you tomorrow. In the meantime, CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: It is Wednesday, March 19. And here's what's happening right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: What do you do when you have a rogue judge?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: President Trump rips judges who rule against him and draws a rare rebuke from the chief justice. Can the Supreme Court keep him in check?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are skeptical when it comes to trusting the Russians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Moscow makes few concessions. Washington's demands not met. So, is negotiating peace in Ukraine harder than Trump expected?

Then later, the last person seen with a missing college student, now free to leave the Dominican Republic. Why it may not be so simple.

And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not the first demonstration against Tesla. And in fact, there's a boycott underway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Tesla, Target, and the other companies facing the wrath of angry shoppers. But do boycotts do anything in the long run?

Six a.m. here on the East Coast. Here's a live look at the Statue of Liberty.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me and bring you the news from our first conversation. President Trump's call for judges who rule against him to face impeachment.

That's actually now drawing a rare public comment from the Supreme Court itself.

The president's latest attacks come as judges issued temporary pauses against him on everything from his ban on transgender service members to Elon Musk's effort to dismantle USAID.

Now, these rulings impact billions of dollars in government spending and the lives of tens of thousands of government workers.

But even just a pause is setting off President Trump, calling one judge who put deportations to El Salvador on hold "a radical left lunatic who should be impeached."

But would the president go as far as blatantly disregarding a ruling he does not like?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I never did defy a court order.

LAURA GRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: And you wouldn't in the future?

TRUMP: No, you can't do that. However, we have bad judges. We have very bad judges. And these are judges that shouldn't be allowed. I think they -- I think at a certain point, you have to start looking at what do you do when you have a rogue judge?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Chief Justice John Roberts now wading into the fray, issuing a statement which does not mention the president by name. But in it, he says this: "impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," end quote.

But the president doesn't believe the statement applies to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, he didn't mention my name in the statement. I just saw it quickly. He didn't mention my name.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

TRUMP: But many people have called for his impeachment. The impeachment of this judge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now to talk about all this: Jerusalem, Demsas, staff writer at "The Atlantic"; Lulu Garcia-Navarro, CNN contributor and "New York Times" journalist; and Kristen Soltis Anderson, CNN political commentator and Republican pollster and strategist.

So, I guess I want to start with you, Jerusalem, because it's not every day that the Supreme Court responds in any way to what lawmakers have to say.

So, are we making too big a deal out of this? Or kind of what is the perception?

JERUSALEM DEMSAS, STAFF WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": I mean, it's really hard, because defying a court order, it's not a binary. It's not just, oh, did you do what the judge said or did you not do it? Federal agencies, presidents, they have a lot of room often to wiggle around, to wait for an appeal.

It's heartening to see Trump say that he would not defy a judicial order, but at the same time, that is literally what happened.

There was a plane that a judge was -- told them to turn around and return, and they made this ridiculous argument, in my opinion, that because the plane was over international waters, they did not have to comply with a court order, despite the fact that Trump and every one of his agents is on American soil and were -- and were being told by a judge to return migrants to the United States.

CORNISH: If we think back to the congressional address, you had this moment where, as Trump is entering the room, he actually gives John Roberts kind of like a pat on the shoulder, you know, like, does a little thank you. And I'm wondering, at a certain point, how much this relationship matters.

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it feels like a very big deal for the chief justice to put out a statement like this.

[06:05:04]

He, over his -- what is it, almost 20 years now on the court -- has at various times really been averse to the court being seen as involved in anything political at all.

And obviously, that hasn't always worked out. There have been a number of very controversial decisions that the court has put down over that time.

But I thought it was very striking that he took the step to put that statement out.

And I think there's an understanding that the -- the politics of this, I mean, there's a reason why that -- in that clip, Laura Ingraham is even asking the president about this, the fact that it's in the air. And he still feels the need to say, No, I wouldn't defy a court order.

CORNISH: Yes. It's not just in the air, because a lot of these lawsuits are specifically about this, right? They're saying, you may say you're doing one thing; you're doing another. Lulu, what are you hearing?

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: All these lawsuits are ultimately about defining the limits on the executive. Right?

CORNISH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: There is a push to have this kind of imperial presidency where -- and this is just a very big, you know, philosophy on the right, which is the idea that the president embodies an enormous amount of power, and what he says is almost law.

And what the courts are doing is basically trying to define that. Right? What are the limits of executive power? And this is ultimately going to be decided by the Supreme Court.

So, we are inevitably seeing this clash, ultimately, between the executive, Donald Trump, his administration and the Supreme Court.

And the very fact that John Roberts felt the need to say this --

CORNISH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: -- in this way does, I think, put a little bit of a check on this idea that this very right-leaning Supreme Court is going to be taking his side, inevitably.

CORNISH: So, just one more thing. A check or concern, because you basically have the -- the congressional wing, the legislative wing saying, We want to do what Trump does.

You have the executive branch being like, we -- we have a ton of power, and we could be taking more.

The judiciary feels like it's kind of out on a limb there, and it doesn't have any mechanism to really enforce its rulings.

DEMSAS: The judiciary is always out on a limb, right? It relies on the executive branch --

CORNISH: But do they -- do you think it's a vulnerable moment?

DEMSAS: I think it's a vulnerable moment, for sure. I mean, it is -- the question has always been what will happen if there is open defiance from one of the branches of government?

Because the judiciary doesn't have agents -- CORNISH: Yes.

DEMSAS: -- to send to a USAID and be like, you must comply with this. It's literally just words on a piece of paper that we all decide were going to take seriously.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, it's like in Congress, right, when you had this issue with Congress issuing subpoenas and saying you have to come and testify, and some people actually defying that and not doing it, you know.

DEMSAS: And the issue of impoundment, where, you know, Congress is saying we have allocated funding. And now the judiciary [SIC] -- or the executive is saying maybe we can actually withhold some of that funding that's been allocated by Congress to the executive branch.

And so, I mean, it's interesting. Right now, Republicans control Congress. And instead of passing laws, they are choosing to enact a lot of these policies through the executive, not because they -- I mean, maybe because they feel like they can't get it through Congress.

But I think also because they want to show that they believe the executive has more power than traditionally he's had.

CORNISH: OK. We're going to talk more about this today. So, group chat, stay with us. We've got a lot to get to this morning.

Coming up on CNN, Israel promises that their strikes on Gaza are just the start. So, what does this mean for the peace talks?

Plus, free to go home. But there's a snag. Why the man who is believed to be the last person to see a missing college student may have to stay in the Dominican Republic a little longer.

And readjusting to life on Earth after an unexpected nine-month trip in orbit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC'S "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Stuck in space for nine months. Today, the astronauts were like, "I just want to get home, watch 'Joker 2,' make a three-egg omelet, and dip my toes in the Gulf of Mexico. I can't wait."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:24]

CORNISH: If you're heading out the door, it's almost 15 minutes past the hour. Before you go, here's your morning roundup. Some of the stories you need to know to get your day going.

Astronaut Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are back home after spending more than nine months in space. They splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, yesterday evening.

They were smiling, waving to the cameras when they came out of their capsule.

And the man who investigators believe was last to see a missing college student in the Dominican Republic won his fight for freedom. He argued that he was wrongfully detained.

His attorney says they're trying to get him a new U.S. passport, because his was confiscated.

The parents of the missing University of Pittsburgh student have asked that she be declared dead. She vanished nearly two weeks ago.

And a familiar name, a bit of a Cinderella story. So let the March Madness begin. North Carolina took on San Diego State University. That game? Not even close. UNC winning 95 to 68 in the first set of games of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

And earlier, this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go. This is where dreams are made. Going for it all. Sampson, home run. Played a deflection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The layup!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Alabama State with a 72-to-68 victory over Saint Francis last night, thanks to that "hail Mary" pass and wild layup.

And you've got to see this. Clean-up on aisle everywhere, because a roof collapse at a grocery store caught on camera in California. This was right above the produce section.

There were some storms in the area when this happened. One person who was inside said that it felt like an earthquake.

The store could be closed for several weeks.

[06:15:03]

Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, if you're buying clothes for yourself or your kids, you've probably noticed they're a bit more expensive. Why the prices might keep going up.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): It was bad. I hated it, but it does far less damage. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Democratic activists furious with senator Chuck Schumer. Can he explain away his siding with Republicans?

And good morning, Omaha, where it is currently snowing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:19:49]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have the prices been, like, ridiculous?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything that is coming from outside of the United States, delayed. Delayed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe that this is my last Temu order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:20:03]

CORNISH: OK, so when we talk about tariffs, usually, we're talking about steel, aluminum. I don't know, whiskey. I want to go off-script for a bit, because this trade war is probably, at this point, hitting your closet. And fast fashion could soon be not so fast and not so cheap.

Joining me now to talk about this, contributing writer for "Vogue" business, Jessica Binns.

Jessica, we were talking so much about the potential for tariffs in November, December. How has that actually played out for the retail industry in these first couple of months of 2025?

JESSICA BINNS, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, "VOGUE" BUSINESS: Well, good morning, Audie. Thank you so much for having me on.

Of course, on the campaign trail, we did hear a lot about tariffs. And Donald Trump, good to his word, on day one, he made tariffs a reality. We've seen two rounds of 10 percent tariffs against Chinese imports.

And we're currently looking at a potential reinstatement of 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, both of which have been suspended twice before.

Currently, most goods compliant with the USMCA, or the new NAFTA, are not subject to these tariffs. But of course, that could change in the near future.

And also, the European Union is a target. U.S. officials are considering further trade action against the E.U. bloc, but nothing at this time.

And so, tariffs really are showing up across a range of goods. And I think consumers are starting to feel those effects right now. CORNISH: It's interesting, because I know retailers, businesses for

consumer goods, they basically have like people who just focus on tariffs to figure out ways to get around them.

You know, whether that's, like, taking away a zipper, putting an extra little scrap of silk, whatever it is. When we heard from Shein's executive chairperson on this back in January, here was the response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TANG, SHEIN EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN: Affordability is -- is the anchor, is one of very important things. Yes. But it's the whole package of it. It's a value for money.

And as long as all of those policies are applied, or new rules applied equally and fairly to all, that we can continue to base on these same principles and continue to deliver the best products for our customers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Can you talk about the struggle for some of these retailers? I know Forever 21 actually filed for bankruptcy. I mean, this is their second time in six years, so it doesn't necessarily have to be only tariffs. But how is it -- like, how are they trying to counter this?

BINNS: So, it's a great question. And it's a huge issue. I was just looking at a PWC analysis that estimates that tariffs against consumer products, which of course, includes fashion, could rise from 27 billion to a whopping $134 billion annually. So, this is a massive problem.

And brands are really trying to figure out how it is they can actually make this work in the months ahead. Most brands that rely on cheap overseas manufacturing, especially fast fashion retailers, they're looking to, of course, raise prices.

And I think cost cutting, of course, is one strategy that we'll see.

And many are actually looking to, you know, rethink their sourcing strategies. Which countries should they be sourcing from?

And you know, I think we are going to see, of course, consumer prices rise. So, they might get sticker shock when they go to check out.

But I think we're also going to see a potential decline in quality. Maybe it's less stitching on a garment, which of course. saves on labor and production costs. But you know, your clothing might just not last as long.

I was listening to this conversation that the treasury secretary had before the economic club, and he said, "The American dream is not access to cheap goods."

I feel like when I go on TikTok, that is actually, you know, what people feel is their right, practically after the pandemic; kind of being able to get things shipped quickly, those things being cheap. How do you think this is adjusting consumer expectations?

BINNS: Great question. And I do think it's interesting that you bring up TikTok, because of course, Gen Z is a TikTok generation. And they've been vocal about wanting more kind of ethics and sustainability in the products that they buy.

And so, I am hopeful that consumers will start paying more attention to these issues and start to realize that maybe, you know, cost isn't the be all, end all.

At the end of the day, maybe they'll start to think more closely about, OK, do I really want to participate in this trend? Or maybe I skip this trend and save my -- my few dollars for the next one that comes along that I really care about.

So, I think this hopefully might open consumers' eyes to the reality of what goes into producing the fashion in their closets.

CORNISH: Jessica Binns is contributing writer for "Vogue" business. Thank you for joining us.

BINNS: Thank you so much.

CORNISH: Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about the dismantling of USAID, blocked by a judge. How the Trump administration plans to respond.

Plus, President Trump hailing a great call with Vladimir Putin. Did he just get played?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:29:36]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happens when the courts fail to stop?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How is it that it's OK to attack myself and my coworkers and my veterans?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do we do in the meantime to survive this dismantling of the government?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you going to stand up for?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Across the country, lawmakers from both parties face angry constituents. They've got questions about mass layoffs, federal funding, and trust in the legal system. Voters want to know what those elected leaders are doing to stand up to the president.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank.