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CNN This Morning

Trump Excludes Smartphones, Other Electronics From 145 Percent Tariffs; Small Business Owners Try To Navigate Changing Tariff Policy; Pope Attends Palm Sunday Mass At St. Peter's Basilica; Israeli Strike Damages Gaza City's Last Functioning Hospital; Russia Strikes Northeastern Ukrainian City Of Sumy In Deadliest Attack This Year; NTSB Meets With Reps Of Helicopter Company Involved In Deadly Crash In NY Hudson River; Blue Origin To Launch All-New Female Crew; Trump: Nuclear Talks With Iran "Going OK"; Judge Demands Updates on Case of Deported Man; Trump Exempts Tariffs on Some Electronics From China; Prominent Law Firms Reach Deal with Trump. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired April 13, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:09]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Glad you stayed for the second hour. Welcome to CNN This Morning. It is Sunday, April 13th. I'm Victor Blackwell.

Here's what we're watching this morning. The Trump administration and its reversal on some tariffs. Electronics, the smartphones, the computers, they're now exempt. But this back and forth with China, it's not over.

We're following breaking news out of Gaza. An Israeli airstrike has destroyed part of the last functioning hospital there. We have new details coming in this morning. We'll have those for you just ahead.

Plus, Pope Francis, he made a surprise appearance at Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter's Square moments ago. We'll tell you what he had to say to those in attendance.

Also, the high stakes talks between the U.S. and Iran over a nuclear deal, they were constructive according to both sides, but we don't know what's coming next. But both sides are set to meet again this week.

We begin this hour with President Trump modifying a portion of his tariffs. The President has excluded some imported electronics from China from his 145 percent tariff. The items will still be subject to a 20 percent tariff, and he continues to make the case for the companies to move manufacturing to the U.S. The President claims the U.S. is making increased revenue from the tariff policy.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Inflation's dropping. Americans have more money and the country has more money. You know, we've been making $2 or $3 billion a day the last couple of weeks. We didn't make that ever. And we're making a lot of money.

And then, to be nice, I lowered the tariffs on everybody. But we've been making a lot of money and it's always been the other way around. Other countries, in particular China, was making a lot of money.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes, that money is not paid by the other countries. It's paid by the importers to the Treasury Department.

CNN Senior White House Correspondent Kevin Liptak is more on what items are now excluded from that 145 percent and who could benefit. Kevin, good morning to you.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. Yes, these exclusions were published on the government register late Friday evening, and they are significant. They amount really to the first easing of any kind of tariff on China since President Trump began this tit-for-tat trade war.

They could potentially have significant implications for the global economy. But it is important to note that a lot of these products will still have American tariffs applied to them. Because, remember, President Trump has essentially layered these tariffs, one on top of the other. These will be excluded from those sweeping 145 percent reciprocal tariffs that he put in place last week.

But they will still be subject to the 20 percent tariffs that he has in place, trying to do something to curb the fentanyl crisis. So, not completely tariff-free, but certainly much lower tariffs than had been in place. The list of items is essentially a list of the most popular American consumer products that come in from China.

It includes smartphones, laptop/computers, transistors, flat panel monitors, hard drives, semiconductors, all products that for the most part are not manufactured in the United States. This could be a real boon for American consumers who had been worried about potential higher prices on these items.

It could also really benefit the companies that manufacture them, including Apple, Samsung, Dell, companies that had been warning about higher prices, but had also spent the last two months trying to cultivate the Trump administration. Some of that now potentially paying off.

I think the real question going forward is exactly how long this reprieve will last. Because when you talk to American officials, they do make the point that President Trump has advocated in the past for more specific tariff rates on specific products, essentially leaving the door open that he could apply different rates, potentially lower rates, but different rates on these products going forward.

I also heard from a White House official who said that the President will be ordering up a national security review of semiconductors. Those are those computer chips that power so many of these products. Oftentimes, those reviews will lead to tariffs once they're completed. So, I think at the end of the day, this is not the final word on all of this.

We did hear from the Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who said in a statement, "President Trump has made clear America cannot rely on China to manufacture critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones, and laptops". She goes on to say, "That's why the President has secured trillions of dollars in U.S. investments from the largest tech companies in the world, including Apple, TSMC," which is a Taiwan-based chip maker, "and Nvidia. At the direction of the President, these companies are hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible".

[07:05:09]

Of course, as soon as possible, there's quite a relative term from Karoline Leavitt. It could potentially take more than a decade for these companies to uproot their production in Asia and move it to the United States. I think at the end of the day, all of this just underscores the uncertainty that is still continuing to hang over the President's trade agenda as he engages in this tariff war with China. Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right, Kevin, thank you.

Small business owners, they're trying to make some tough decisions based on President Trump's ever-changing tariff policy. Joining me now to discuss is Cher'Don Reynolds, she's the owner of She Prints It. Thanks for coming in.

CHER'DON REYNOLDS, CEO, SHE PRINTS IT: Thanks for having me.

BLACKWELL: And so, do you source from China?

REYNOLDS: Yes, we do source from China. I would say maybe about 60 percent of the goods that we have, particularly electronics, hard goods like mugs and things like that, come out of China.

BLACKWELL: 60 percent, OK. So what's your reaction to the exemption for the electronics, the smartphones, but not some of the other things that you bring in?

REYNOLDS: Yes, what I see immediately is an opportunity for him to make good on promises he made to his billionaire friends because the reality of it is small business owners don't make iPhones. Small business owners don't make cars. And so all the things that he's working to make right are making -- not making a difference for the majority of us. It's strictly putting more money into the pockets of those who are already making billions.

BLACKWELL: 145 percent, are you seeing those prices increase already?

REYNOLDS: Absolutely. We are literally have orders that we've already placed that those suppliers are coming back to us and saying, hey, now it's going to cost you this. Now it's going to cost you that.

BLACKWELL: So retroactively they're changing the prices. REYNOLDS: Retroactively because those items have not arrived here yet, right? So we're dealing with that day-to-day where we're quoting a client one day for a product and then the very next day we have to give them another quote and then coming back and saying, OK, maybe not that. And that rollercoaster is not something that we can survive on as small business owners.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Do you have to pass 100 percent of that on to the client?

REYNOLDS: Not 100 percent of it. So if we're purchasing blank items, then we get to eat some of that cost on our side when we're actually in-house printing things. But that then takes away from our profit margins. And so for some, like a billionaire, a profit margin is more -- they're more focused on putting that back into the board, right?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

REYNOLDS: And them having big bonuses. For me, those profit margins keeps our lights on. Allows me to employ people in the community. Allow me to create grants to give back to other small businesses. So when I start taking from my bottom line, it takes away from more than just a board member's bonus.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

REYNOLDS: It takes away from things that make a difference in the world.

BLACKWELL: 3 percent of businesses owned by black women survive beyond five years. And we know also that businesses owned by people of color have slimmer profit margins because of challenges with access to capital and several other reasons. Do these threaten just the basic health of the business? Not the momentary challenge of the price, but being able to stay in business.

REYNOLDS: Absolutely. For me, in particular, as a black woman-owned business, I was literally in the midst of the fight of the DEI rollback, right? And so in the middle of that fight, losing over six figures in business because companies were pulling back their efforts to do business with us, we're now fighting this tariff.

And it's only but so much we can withstand before it collapses. I'm here to fight the long fight, but it's also bigger than just China. A lot of times the conversation is centered around that and yes, that impacts my business, but there's other tariffs that we're unsure about. And I'm not just focused on what's best for my business, I'm focused on what's best for all small businesses because at the end of the day, we are the backbone of economics in America.

We employ 96-97 percent of Americans. And so if we can't sustain our businesses, the economy will break and we will move from there being 1-3 percent to maybe just 3-4 people owning everything based on how he's structuring his policies now.

BLACKWELL: All right. Cher'Don Reynolds, thank you so much for coming in --

REYNOLDS: Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: -- and explaining it from a small business owner's perspective. Important to always have you as part of this conversation.

All right, we're following breaking news out of the Vatican this morning. Pope Francis, he made an appearance at the end of today's Palm Sunday service at St. Peter's Square.

CNN's Vatican Correspondent Christopher Lamb joins us now.

[07:10:01]

Christopher, to say that the Pope made an appearance during Holy Week typically wouldn't be a surprise. It wouldn't be breaking news, but considering the health concerns over the last several months and the recommendations from doctors, this certainly was.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well that's right, Victor. But Pope Francis has in recent days been making a number of surprise appearances. This is the latest in a number of them. He wasn't scheduled to come along to the end of the mass but he did this morning. He greeted the Cardinals and the people who had gathered for the mass and he wished those in the Square a good Palm Sunday and a good Holy Week.

Of course, Holy Week and Easter is the high point of the Church's year and normally the Pope would be leading a large number of services, but of course the Pope has had a very serious health crisis. He was five weeks in the hospital with double pneumonia. His life was in danger on two occasions and he is now back at the Vatican recovering.

Now the doctors did say to him he needed to take a period of rest and to avoid big crowds. And you could see when he came out today he was trying to avoid shaking too many people's hands. Of course there's a risk of infection if he is in those big crowds. But the Pope has been determined to be visible and that I think is why he came out today on Sunday to show that he is recovering, that he wants to be present among the people.

But of course it's a balancing act because, you know, on the one hand of course as Pope, he wants to be there. Amongst the people, he wants to be present but at the same time, he has been told by doctors to rest, to convalesce, to recover, to avoid those big crowds.

But clearly, Francis, with Holy Week upon us and with these large number of services due to take place, he will try and make appearances. That's what -- that's clearly the message from today. Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right, Christopher Lamb with us from London, thank you.

Still ahead, developments out of Gaza. An Israeli airstrike has destroyed part of the last operating hospital there. The new details we're learning, coming up.

Plus, concerns spring break travel could cause a spike in measles cases across the U.S. And the world's greatest golfers will be back on the course at Augusta National this morning. We'll have all the highlights from the masters.

It is Sunday morning and we are just getting started. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:17:28]

BLACKWELL: New this morning, an Israeli airstrike has hit Gaza City's last functioning hospital. It destroyed several areas including the emergency room. Hospital staff say that they were given just 20 minutes notice and had to rush patients into the streets.

Let's get now to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz with more on this story. Salma, what more do you know?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you mentioned there, this is the last functioning hospital in Gaza City and already the area's medical infrastructure was essentially on the brink of collapse. Hospital staff saying they received a call from the Israeli military giving them just 20 minutes to evacuate. They had to rush out of the building so quickly that a boy with a head injury actually died in that evacuation according to hospital staff.

Now, Israel says it struck the hospital because it believes it was a Hamas command and control center. It provided no evidence for this claim, but it did say that the Israeli military took steps to avoid civilian casualties. And indeed we do know, according to Gaza officials, that nobody was killed or wounded in the strike itself.

Now, again, on that point that the emergency department was damaged, this leads again to that fear that there is very little medical care now left in the Gaza Strip. The World Health Organization is warning that critical supplies for those hospitals are running out and its requests for humanitarian missions are being denied by Israeli officials.

BLACKWELL: Salma, let's look at Ukraine learning of a new Russian airstrike there. What do you know about that one?

ABDELAZIZ: We also have video to show you of this one, Victor, and I do have to warn our viewers, it is extremely graphic. Ukrainian officials saying that this is the deadliest strike so far this year on the region of Sumy. It happened as people were preparing to go to prayer services for Palm Sunday when Ukrainian officials say they were hit by Russian firepower, killing 24 people including a child, wounding dozens of others.

You can see the scenes there on the streets, absolutely nightmarish with bodies strewn about fires. You can hear people screaming in the background. President Zelenskyy shared this video and yet again he reiterated his fears that President Putin is not an honest actor in negotiations. He is pushing and calling again for these types of strikes, for these civilians to be protected in this conflict.

BLACKWELL: Salma Abdelaziz reporting for us, thank you so much.

All right, other headlines for you now. Federal investigators recovered more pieces from the deadly helicopter crash in New York's Hudson River on Thursday. Officials say the helicopter was not equipped with any flight recorders. So far, no video or camera recorders have been found.

[07:20:06]

NTSB investigators met with representatives from the helicopter company. And while there, they asked to review things like the helicopter's operational records, safety management systems, and the pilot's experience.

Health officials are concerned the number of measles cases could spike as people travel for spring break. One of the most recent cases is an unvaccinated five-year-old in Hawaii who had recently returned from international travel. According to the CDC, 735 measles cases have been confirmed in 24 states. That's more than double the total amount of measles cases reported all of last year.

Blue Origin will launch its first all-female crew into Space tomorrow, and it hasn't been done in more than 60 years. From Katy Perry to Gayle King, the crew is set to be packed with stars if successful. That spacecraft will lift off from West Texas tomorrow morning. The mission will involve the ladies being in outer space for a couple of minutes before they return to Earth.

Still to come, Alaska's lawmakers are considering a bill, get this, to put the governor's mansion on Airbnb. We'll tell you what's behind that plan. And scientists claim they have resurrected the dire wolf, an animal that went extinct 12,000 years ago. Those stories and more in the Roundup.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:59]

BLACKWELL: All right. President Donald Trump says nuclear talks with Iran are going well, even as more discussions are being planned for later this week. Let's bring in Bill Nigut, former political reporter with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WABE Political -- Public Radio, Trial Attorney Kelly Hyman, and Jason "Jah" Lee of BOSSIP here with me now.

Welcome to you all. So, Bill, let's start here with the talks, the nuclear talks. What is the definition of going well for this first meeting with Iran?

BILL NIGUT, FORMER ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION AND WABE POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, that's a great question. I mean, the first thing we need to remember is that although Donald Trump seemed to suggest that this was going to be direct talks between Iran and the United States representatives, that's not what has been happening. The two sides have been talking separately to Oman representatives. They had a brief meeting together. And of course, Trump is going to pump this up, as he always does. But of course, we do have to remember, Victor --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

NIGUT: -- that we had an agreement with Iran --

BLACKWELL: The JCPOA.

NIGUT: -- formulated by President Obama in 2015, that Trump blew up when he got to the White House. So he's starting over again. Obama at the time said, we're comfortable with an international agreement behind him. We're comfortable with Iran developing peaceful uses for nuclear, not nuclear weapons. Trump's now saying no nuclear at all. Iran's never going to go for that.

BLACKWELL: You know, the 2018 meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un, there was the agreement signed and they were supposed to be going toward this complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization. That clearly didn't happen. It paused the ballistic missile tests --

NIGUT: Yes.

BLACKWELL: -- lots of flags, handshaking and all. How much should that inform what we're watching here or what we should expect to come out of this at all?

NIGUT: Well, I think we should always remember with President Trump -- look, it's a wonderful thing. We shouldn't dismiss the fact there are talks going on, but we always remember with Donald Trump, a lot of what is happening is performative, not substantive.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

KELLY HYMAN, TRIAL ATTORNEY: You know, I find it really interesting is who's representing the U.S. in his talks.

NIGUT: Yes.

HYMAN: For who you'd expect the Secretary of State to be there, but there's someone else, one of -- someone from Trump's inner circle representing the U.S. and --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

HYMAN: -- negotiating, so to speak, for the U.S.

NIGUT: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

NIGUT: Exactly.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Steve Witkoff, who is not only handling, and we went through the list earlier, he's not only handling these talks, he's handling Israel v. Hamas, Ukraine v. Russia, the Saudi-Israeli normalization, the hostage negotiations to bring people back from around the world. And I wonder, you know, Pompeo would have been at this talk, would he not?

NIGUT: You would expect that. Yes.

BLACKWELL: Blinken, I mean, the previous administration wouldn't have probably gone into these, but you would have expected the Secretary of State. Let me ask you, Kelly, CNN's count now is that 525 student visas have been revoked, many of them because of the involvement with pro-Palestinian protests.

Mahmoud Khalil on Friday, an immigration judge, determined that he is deportable. I want you to listen to the reaction from one of his attorneys, who was on with me on First of All yesterday. We have that?

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BAHER AZMY, MEMBER OF MAHMOUD KHALIL'S LEGAL TEAM: Really a shameful, disgraceful process. The whole thing felt like a show trial. The judge had her mind made up from the beginning, was extraordinarily hostile, didn't care about the Constitution, didn't care at all about legal process, didn't care at all about the validity or the quantity of evidence.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BLACKWELL: And the Secretary of State's memo says that it was because of his views and associations. Are you surprised by that finding by the court?

HYMAN: I'm not surprised, basically. It's an issue of whether there's a national security threat or there's a national security concern or if, in fact, when someone is here, that they do something, because they have the visa and they are basically not here as a U.S. citizen because they have the visa as well.

[07:30:00]

But they can appeal it as well, and I think that's really important to remember that they have this opportunity to appeal it in the courts. And ultimately, this is definitely something they can go to the Supreme Court. Because another issue or concern is First Amendment right, free speech, right? Citizens and non-citizens have a First Amendment right to free speech, but balancing that with national security and how that plays out with immigration will be key when the Supreme Court hears these types of cases.

BLACKWELL: That's of course one track here. There's also the case in New Jersey with Mahmoud Khalil that is happening as well, and he's not going to be immediately removed.

JASON "JAH" LEE, SENIOR EDITOR, "BOSSIP": Well, the interesting part about the Khalil case is that the government was asked to provide evidence that Khalil had done something that made him deportable, and essentially, all they got back was a letter from Marco Rubio that says, because I said so. They didn't charge him with anything. There was no mention of criminality.

And in the letter, Marco Rubio doesn't even speak about the foreign policy aspect of it. He just talks about what it would -- what he -- what Khalil allegedly would do here in America as someone who's protesting what's going on.

BILL NIGUT, FORMER ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION AND WABE POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. And meanwhile, the administration is deporting others who are not in the headlines, not getting a lot of attention. And it reminds me in a kind of a chilling way in the '80s, particularly, in countries like El Salvador or Central American countries, the disappeared. People who, out of nowhere, were taken from their houses, their families didn't know what happened to them. They were never accounted for. And it feels very, very troubling because, in some ways, we're kind of headed in that direction.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Hundreds of people in a prison in El Salvador now, and many of them, even the administration acknowledges has no -- they have no criminal record here in the U.S. or in Venezuela. And some of them identified based on tattoos.

LEE: Yes. Something else I found troubling with the Khalil case was that he was, you know, taken to New Jersey -- he was arrested and taken to New Jersey, then transported to Louisiana, Jena, Louisiana, of all places, that became, I guess, notorious for the Jena Six controversy and all that kind of things, which just struck me as, I guess, sadly ironic that that was a place that they thought that they could get a favorable outcome.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

NIGUT: Sending him to a place like this.

BLACKWELL: Rumeysa Ozturk is also there because that's the facility at which they take people who are in -- fall under this category. Let's talk about the decision on reversal on these tariffs. Electronics, the smartphone, the semiconductors, some of these computers. Let's listen to -- this is Senator Chris Murphy on what he says he sees as the commonality between some around the president and this exemption.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): So, Trump has announced that there are not going to be tariffs on high-tech electronics that are being imported from China, while the tariffs remain on textiles and coffee and fruit and vegetables. That makes no sense at all as economic policy.

The companies that make the high-tech products that profit off the cheap labor in China, they're giving money to Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Tim Cook donated a million dollars. He's CEO of Apple to Donald Trump's inauguration. Is it that simple? I mean, does this exemption reconcile with the overall tariff strategy of the administration?

NIGUT: Well, no. But one of the things that -- the reason that the president has now -- as you've pointed out, has removed electronics from the tariffs for the time being, at least, as you've seen the reports. The iPhone -- suddenly, if the tariffs were in place, was going to cost twice what it costs today because of the tariffs.

And as you point out, those tech giants like Tim Cook, were at the president's inauguration. They've contributed to his campaign. It's just another example of this really willy-nilly approach that we're seeing right now as Trump tries to formulate a policy that doesn't seem to have any basis in economic soundness.

HYMAN: And how it affects the consumers, right? These tariffs are basically tax on consumers and it affects all of us. And when you go to the store, whether you go and go shopping, and this can have detrimental effect on people that are struggling to get by every day and living paycheck to paycheck and can't survive.

BLACKWELL: Which is interesting because the exemption of the cell phone -- I mean, how often do you buy an iPhone? But if you have to go and buy clothes and food and all of the smaller things, the textiles, you're going to feel that every day.

[07:35:00]

You may buy an iPhone every other year. They still will have that 145 percent. They're going to feel more often.

NIGUT: Well, not to mention what all of this is done to the stock market.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes.

NIGUT: I just retired. I've been in the workforce --

HYMAN: Congratulations.

NIGUT: I've been in the workforce since the early '70s and decided finally about eight weeks ago, time to retire. Sound financial plan. Financial planners working with my wife and me for years. What the heck?

BLACKWELL: Listen, we had a financial therapist on early. I hope you met her in the makeup room. All right. Everybody -- stay with me, everybody. We got more to talk about coming up. Some redecorating at the White House. A portrait of President Obama replaced with one of President Trump shortly after the assassination attempt. We'll get into that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:00] BLACKWELL: All right. Bill, Kelly and Jason are still with me now. Let's talk about these big law firms more over the last several days have reached this deal with the Trump administration to provide free legal services to avoid potentially being frozen out of representing federal contractors, maybe some executive orders that disadvantaged them.

The New York Times calculates the amount of pro bono work that's been donated in these agreements to $940 million. Now, some are fighting, but Kelly, you're the attorney at the table. What do you think about what's happening here?

HYMAN: Well, there's two schools of thought in the law firms, either settle, settle with Trump and do this pro bono work. But also, it's important to remember when you do this pro bono work, potentially there's conflicts, right? You're doing this pro bono work that you're saying is for the administration, but how if you have a client interest is different than that. How do you deal with that internally in the firm? Do you get rid of that client?

But other law firms are fighting it, saying, this is not right. We are -- as lawyers, are supposed to uphold the constitution. We're supposed to fight for what's right, and we believe this is unconstitutional for you to do this, and they'll take it to court and ultimately potentially go to the Supreme Court.

BLACKWELL: And some of these law firms are facing this because they either represented litigants or they took positions that the administration, specifically the president, didn't like.

LEE: Well, the other thing that I find -- there's like a lasagna of like poisonous policy. There's like layers of how deeply this goes. Like the fact that a lot of these firms are being targeted because they practice DEI initiatives, they tried to uphold diversity.

So, Trump is trying to insulate himself from his own decisions with these law firms, challenging him in court. He wants to challenge law firms who are practicing DEI, and he also wants to challenge these law firms that they're doing pro bono work that might be for people who can't afford these services like immigrants, like people of color, people who might need under a law firm to represent them in some really hard times in their lives. So, I think there's just multiple levels in which I find this to be disturbing.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And the question is, if these big law firms, these powerhouse law firms are taking these deals, does it make it difficult for those who may want to sue the administration to get that type of representation? Let's talk about Stephen A. Smith. He says that he is not closing the door, potentially, on running for office. And he tweeted this out with a link to an article that mentioned he might run for president. He would run as what?

LEE: Well, that's my number one question is, A, what is Stephen A. Smith going to run as? You know, he's been more vocal lately about his political feelings and things like that, and some people would, if you -- I guess if you are a Republican, you look at him and say, oh, Stephen A. Smith is a Democrat and he's a (INAUDIBLE) liberal. And then, if you are a liberal, you might say, well, Stephen A. Smith has these conservative things, these policies that he talks about, sometimes he leans into. So, where would he run? Where would he find a home is the first thing?

The other part of it is, is that once the Trump administration is over, there's no telling what kind of space America will be in, and I just don't think that we need another non-politician to come in and play the president.

BLACKWELL: And if he wants to run as a Democrat, do Democrats have an appetite for political novice? I mean, Republicans obviously cool for it.

NIGUT: I don't think Democrats know what they have an appetite for. You know, one of the reasons is, I think, you know, Stephen Smith is once again talking about it, he dropped the idea a while back, but then he saw a poll of what Democratic voters are thinking about in terms of who they want for their candidate, and nobody did well. Kamala Harris had the highest numbers, but people like Pete Buttigieg were down at 2 percent. Smith was only down at around 2 percent as well. For him, that's an opening.

[07:45:00]

And what it tells me, Victor, more than anything else is, Democrats haven't got a clue who their next leader is going to be in the party. There's simply no one emerging right now who's going to take the leadership mantle? So, Stephen A. Smith sees a vacuum.

BLACKWELL: Well, let's talk about, while we're on the White House, this switch in the Grand Foyer, a portrait of President Obama has been replaced. Now, it's been moved. It's not put in the closet anywhere. It's been replaced by this painting showing the moments right after the Butler, Pennsylvania attempted assassination. It typically -- the sitting president doesn't hang a portrait of himself during his administration.

HYMAN: Yes, that's correct. Yes.

LEE: There's a level of hubris involved in this. But honestly, the first thing I thought about when I saw that this was a thing that he was doing, it reminded me of like a college student. When you move in your dorm for the first time, what's the first poster you put up, right? Scarface, Tony Montana. You want feel tough? You want feel big, you want to have this --

HYMAN: Some of us do.

LEE: Some of us do.

BLACKWELL: Some of us do.

LEE: Maybe I'm snitching myself.

BLACKWELL: Hanging Scarface -- LEE: Maybe I'm snitching on myself. Maybe I'm snitching on myself.

But it just -- it made me think of like an 18-year-old who puts up a Rambo or Scarface or someone in his dorm room to feel like, yes, this is cool, this is edgy, this is tough. And it's like you reminding us of when you were shot or had an assassination attempt or -- I don't understand what the --

NIGUT: You know, of course it's egotism at its best.

LEE: For sure.

NIGUT: And we know that's what Trump is all about, narcissism. But let's face it, that photograph was an iconic moment and probably a motivating factor for any number of voters out there. So, do I think it should be there? No. But I understand why he, the narcissist he is, would want to see that photograph in the White House.

HYMAN: It's symbolic to him. Fight, fight, fight.

NIGUT: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

HYMAN: That was the chant after that.

NIGUT: Yes.

HYMAN: It was very powerful to his voters.

BLACKWELL: Alaska. There is a bill in the state legislature that is recommending put the governor's mansion on Airbnb. When the governor's not using it during the legislative session or special session, let people rent it out. I don't know if that's the best security move, but what do you think?

NIGUT: I think it should only come with a stipulation that whoever is occupying it for any given time has to figure out how to balance the budget of his stay.

BLACKWELL: It comes with responsibility.

NIGUT: Absolutely.

LEE: I mean, listen, there's no accounting for taste, but I looked through some of the photos of the governor's mansion in the last, I don't know if that's a place where I personally want to stay.

BLACKWELL: Yes, yes.

HYMAN: It's not your type of tea?

LEE: It's not only my style.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

HYMAN: Well, the governor can't veto it. So, he could say, no -- BLACKWELL: Oh, That's true. Yes. You get the last vote there.

HYMAN: Exactly.

BLACKWELL: All right. Finally, the dire wolves, after more than 12,000 years, there's a team out of Dallas that they have announced the birth of three dire wolf pups. They're cute, but it just makes me think of "Jurassic Park." Like just because we can, should we?

LEE: Have we learned nothing from John Hammond. Where's Laura Durham (ph)? Where Neil? Like. What in the John Snow is going on here? Why do we need dire wolves? Like what -- this thing is crazy to me. And the manipulation of DNA and all these things. We have enough trouble fighting A.I. The last thing we need now is to be fighting against species that we thought were extinct that might be coming back to kill us all. I just -- I'm not interested at all.

HYMAN: See, it's fascinating to me. I'm wondering since they're pups, how big they're going to get.

BLACKWELL: Oh, we will see.

HYMAN: Yes, we'll definitely see.

LEE: As big as this table.

BLACKWELL: We will see. All right. Kelly, Bill. Jason, thank you very much. All right. Highlights from the Masters in Augusta. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Rory McIlroy is looking to make history today at the Masters, going for a career grand slam. CNN's Andy Scholes is live at Augusta National. He had a great Saturday. How about it, Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, you know, Victor, the big storyline coming into this Masters was, is this finally going to be the tournament that Rory breaks through and wins his first green jacket to become the sixth player ever to complete the career Grand Slam? And boy, as he close to making that happen.

Rory, once again, a fantastic round shooting a six-under 66. He just got huge roars from the crowd, eagerly both two and 50. And it was the first time Rory has ever had two eagles in a round at the Masters. Now, it's been more than a decade since Rory won a major, and this is his 11th attempt at the career Grand Slam.

And I was actually out of the course following Rory. I heard a patron right next to me say, I want Rory to win so bad. And I asked Rory after his round, what is it like having the crowd just so much behind him?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RORY MCILROY, LEADS MASTERS BY TWO SHOTS ENTERING FINAL ROUND: It's a pleasure to play in front of them and to have that atmosphere and to have that support. And you know, tomorrow in that final group is going to be a little rowdy and a little loud. You know, and I'm just going to have to, you know, settle in and, you know, really try to, you know, keep myself in my own little bubble and keep my head down and, you know, sort of have approached tomorrow with the same attitude that I, you know, that I've tried to approach the last three days with.

SCHOLES: And Rory has a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau going into today's final round. Bryson, an incredible birdie putt on 18 to get to 10-under. And those two will be paired together today. And remember it was Bryson who came back to beat Rory at last year's U.S. Open.

[07:55:00]

But Bryson knows he's going to have to play some great golf today in order to make that happen again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU, TWO-TIME MAJOR WINNER: It'll be the grandest stage that we've had in a long time and I'm excited for it. We both want to win really badly and it's about who can control themselves, who can execute the golf shots the best. And in regards to the patrons, it's going to be an electric atmosphere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: So, the last eight Masters champions have come from the final pairing. So, the showdown is set, Victor, Rory versus Bryson. And hey, it's going to be 70 degrees and sunny, setting up one special Masters Sunday here in Augusta.

BLACKWELL: All right. Well, I'll be watching. Andy Scholes at Augusta National, thanks so much.

A new episode of "United States of Scandal with Jake Tapper" follows the story of a notorious D.C. lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. A new episode of "United States of Scandal with Jake Tapper" airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

And thank you for joining me for CNN This Morning Weekend. Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju is up next.

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