Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Markets Down Again After Worst Day of 2025; Russia Accuses Ukraine of Drone Attack Ahead of U.S.-Ukraine Talks; Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) Comments on Government Funding Fight. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired March 11, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news in the red, markets this morning, down again. All the gains since the beginning of the year wiped out. A new warning from the White House just in.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Pamela Brown is off today. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with the breaking news, Wall Street right now grappling with the fallout from its worst day of the year. The Dow down right now 229 points, you can see it right there. There's a lot of uncertainty over President Trump's trade war since stocks plunging Monday triggering further fears today of a recession. And this morning, President Trump's agriculture secretary seemingly acknowledging what investors already fear that things could get worse before they get better. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE ROLLINS, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: The uncertainty is real, and the farmers and our ranchers are concerned.

And he's been very clear, it's going to be a little bit bumpy for, you know, maybe a few weeks or a few months, but at the end, his vision, and, again, what we're effectuating, is that our American farmers and ranchers, but truly all Americans, will be moving into an era of greater prosperity, we call it the Golden Age here at the White House, than ever before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's go live right now to CNN Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich, who's joining us from New York.

Vanessa, I understand Goldman Sachs now says there's a one in five chance of a recession.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. We'll put markets this morning opening mix, maybe taking a little bit of a fresh breath of air after all of this turmoil on Wall Street yesterday, the markets having their worst day of 2025.

And you can see the picture right there. We know that the president is holding a business round table a little bit later this evening, and we know that CEOs have been very influential in getting the president to change some of his tariff policies. But as you mentioned, Goldman Sachs revising their recession forecast up to 20 percent from 15 percent. We also heard from former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who put those odds closer to 50 percent.

However, Wolf, we are not in recessionary territory just yet. We also heard from Jerome Powell who said the Fed chair, who said that the economy is in a good place right now. But we are seeing some warnings from major retailers. Just this morning, Delta slashed their earnings forecast by about half and Kohls saying that it's going to be a turbulent 2025. You can see those stock prices there down on that news.

But we are waiting to hear from the president today. We did not hear from him yesterday, waiting to hear from the president today about anymore news around tariffs or the economy. This will be critical as Wall Street continues to digest this news coming off of their worst day of 2025. Wolf?

BLITZER: We'll keep monitoring all these developments.

Vanessa Yurkevich in New York, thank you very much.

There's more breaking news we're following. At any moment, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, will answer questions from reporters as he fights to get his spending bill through the House of Representatives. Two GOP members now say they do not currently support the bill, setting up a potential cliffhanger vote as early as today to fund the government through September, and the clock is ticking. Without a funding bill, the government will shut down in less than four days. And the ramifications for the American people would be enormous.

Let's go live to our Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju. He's up on Capitol Hill. First of all, Manu, what are you hearing from lawmakers critically important this morning?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the full court press is on. And when Republican members who are trying to muscle this through the House in the narrowest of majorities, we expect essentially unified Democratic opposition, which means that the speaker of the House, assuming all members are present voting, can only afford to lose one Republican vote. And already several are either raising concerns or say they are opposed, including one congressman, Thomas Massie, who Donald Trump last night threatened to endorse a primary challenger against him if he votes no. But Massie has some choice words for his party when I asked him about this last night.

[10:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): I guess deficits only matter when we're in the minority.

RAJU: You're a no?

REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): A no.

RAJU: Why is that?

MCCORMICK: Because I don't see what changes between now and September. We could have had a good bill that had just a few changes that actually made a difference.

RAJU: So, you would no on the CR?

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): Currently. I like the fact that it has less spending, but I hate the fact that they push it over to the war pimps at the Pentagon.

RAJU: You obviously usually oppose C.R.s.

REP. ANDY BIGGS (R-AZ): Never voted for one.

RAJU: What's different here?

BIGGS: In my analysis of it, I'm looking at it and I think if we're going to impose or succeed in getting the Trump mandate, this is kind of what you're going to have to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And that's been the pitch to get behind this plan because Donald Trump is asking them to do that. That's the message the vice president himself delivered to House Republicans this morning.

But the question here, Wolf, too, is what will Democrats do if this does pass the United States House this afternoon? Because they have the power in the United States Senate to block this measure, but several of them are still undecided about whether to support it. They're concerned about the prospects of a shutdown, even though they are I'm deeply concerned and objecting to the spending cuts to domestic programs that are included in this extension of government funding.

So, that is going to be a big question for Democrats, how they deal with this if this does pass the House and they have the power to filibuster this in the Senate.

BLITZER: And momentarily we're going to be hearing from the House speaker, Mike Johnson, right?

RAJU: Any minute, Wolf. And we do expect him to really express some confidence that they can flip those members, those Republican members, Wolf, who are saying that they're not sure, they're undecided yet, but they're going to put the pressure on them and expect Donald Trump to call those members as well, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we'll see what unfolds. Manu, thank you very, very much.

There's more breaking news right now. The vice president, Vice President Vance, the White House is up on Capitol Hill meeting with House Republicans as they scramble to lock down votes just ahead of today's expected crucial vote.

Let's go live now to our White House reporter Alayna Treene. Alayna, you have some new reporting I understand from inside that meeting. What have you learned?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. And the meeting actually just wrapped up shortly ago, Wolf. And I spoke with a source who was in the room. And they said that the vice president was very clear in telling members that if the government shuts down on Friday, if they do not pass this bill, this short-term funding bill, that Republicans will be the ones to be blamed.

And that does -- that is a departure really from what we've heard from President Donald Trump, who has been telling and really trying to outwardly project that if there is a shutdown, that Democrats would be to blame. But, look, I'm also told that Vance warned that if they don't pass this bill that they risk losing momentum, not only on the president's overall agenda, but the source in the room specifically said he pointed out border security and political momentum.

Now, this comes as we know that the White House chiefs of staff, Susie Wiles, but also President Donald Trump himself has been making calls directly to members, really trying to strong-arm them into falling in line behind this. We also saw the president lash out against a Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky, someone who has said that he is going to vote against the short-term bill, arguing that he will be the one to lead the charge against primarying Massie for saying no.

So, I think that just shows you really where the president. And he is very frustrated with people who are coming out against this. They view this as being crucial to getting his agenda through and are working very hard here at the White House to try and convince members to get on board. Wolf?

BLITZER: We're watching the Dow Jones at the same time, Alayna, you can see in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, it's down 324 points, at least right now. We'll watch those numbers unfold. Lots at stake right now.

Alayna Treene at the White House for us, thank you.

Also new this morning, Russia is accusing Ukraine of launching a massive drone strike against targets in Moscow. Watch this.

BLITZER: More than 300 people in total -- 300 targets, I should say, 300 targets were selected by those drones. Two people were reported killed. And it happened just as critical meetings got underway in Saudi Arabia, U.S. delegation led by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, meeting right now with senior leaders from Ukraine at stake. There's a potential peace agreement to try to end this devastating war with Russia. Let's go live right now to our Chief National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt. He's joining us from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Alex, the U.S. national security adviser, Mike Waltz, he's also with you guys in Jeddah. He said the talks are getting there, quote, getting there. Could we see substantial progress out of these critically important meetings?

MARQUARDT: That is certainly in the hope, Wolf. These are not only intense, but critical talks now going on for some five hours.

[10:10:00]

After a quick break, they're back at the table. We heard from President Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, saying that this is a work in progress. And as you from Mr. Waltz, the line we are getting there, which does give us some indication that they are getting what they hoped for.

We did hear from Secretary Rubio just yesterday saying that they were in listening mode. They wanted to hear from the Ukrainian side what concessions the Ukrainians might be able to offer in order to get to a peace deal, because there has been some doubt from the American side that the Ukrainians actually wanted to work towards a peace with Russia.

I spoke with Yermak, along with other reporters. We asked him what concessions they might have in mind. He did not specify, but he said that the key here is to get this process started and to have what he called deep and constructive conversations with the American side.

You can imagine, Wolf, they will certainly be raising the military and intelligence sharing assistance that the U.S. has put on pause, that this meeting could essentially get unsuspended, if you will, security guarantees is something that is on the table, as well as a partial ceasefire deal that Ukraine has proposed. Of course, far from certain if that is something that Russia, which has shown no indication or willing to give concessions, whether they would agree to that as well. Wolf?

BLITZER: Alex Marquardt on the scene for us in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, thank you very, very much.

We're getting new details right now into one of the Trump administration's biggest legal battles after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to pay money owed to USAID contractors blocking their refusal to spend the congressionally-approved funds.

CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz is here with me in The Situation Room. Walk us through this ruling, Katelyn. What does it say?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is the case that went up to the Supreme Court and back. It could go there again. But right now, it's a trial level judge in Washington, D.C. saying, hey, there were foreign aid contractors, nonprofits, they did the work up through mid-February. You've got to pay them for the work they've invoiced. So, he told the federal government this, the amount that's owed as of Friday, according to the court record was about $670 million to these foreign aid implementing groups.

They're going to be giving the judge an update by Friday on how the payment is going. But the Justice Department representing the Trump administration has said this is a really complicated process to pay this money that we stopped paying out. And the contractors are saying, you guys are creating bureaucracy, an important point in the Trump administration that, as they keep saying, they are trying not to create more bureaucracy.

But the judge here, he had a lot of strong words for the Trump administration, said that the way they turned off the money to this contractors had dire humanitarian consequences, could have really devastated businesses and programs, continues to devastate them as they don't have this money.

Another important point the judge made, it looks like, to him, Donald Trump was overstepping the boundaries of the executive branch and doing something that Congress should have been doing. The judge wrote, the executive not only claims his constitutional authority to determine how to spend appropriated funds but usurps Congress' exclusive authority to dictate whether the funds should be spent in the first place.

Wolf, the translation there is Congress appropriated this money, the judge isn't going to micromanage it. But this may be a big case about separation of powers, and it is very, very likely to have appeals.

BLITZER: The House and Senate not only appropriated but authorized this foreign aid money for USAID projects around the world, and the president of the United States signed the legislation into law. The only way to change that, according to this ruling, is if for Congress to go ahead and change the appropriation and the authorization and for the president to then sign that into law. Is that right?

POLANTZ: Yes, exactly. So, here, the judge can't do much more at this point just because of how things are set in this case. All he's done is said, the federal government has to pay the money. But, Wolf, there is a situation here where this question of can Trump just change what's being paid if Congress appropriated it, that is something that's likely to be on appeal.

BLITZER: It's the law. It's signed into law by the president of the United States.

Katelyn Polantz, thank you very, very much.

Still ahead, equating nutrition and exercise to the measles risk. The new claims this morning from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. as cases are rising in Texas right now.

And later, a new surveillance photo could be the key to finding a missing American college student who was In the Dominican Republic. We're getting new information. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

BLITZER: There's more breaking news we're following right now. President Trump says he is now doubling the tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel.

Let's go live to our White House Reporter Alayna Treene for us right now. Alayna, tell us what you're learning.

TREENE: Well, there's actually a lot in this post, Wolf. I have it out here in front of me, I'm just going to read for you some of what he said. He said that this is in retaliation to Ontario's premier placing a 25 percent tariff on electricity. He said because of that, he is going to, starting tomorrow, place an additional 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum coming into the U.S. from Canada. Again, he said that will go into effect tomorrow, March 12th, tomorrow morning.

He also called on Canada to, quote, immediately drop their anti- American farmer tariff of 250 percent to 390 percent on various U.S. dairy products. He also said that he would be shortly declaring a national emergency on electricity within the area, the threatened era is what he called it. And then again, he also pointed out, as I mentioned, this is a lot of news in here, again, pointed out that if other tariffs that he decides are not correct, or are not reasonable tariffs that Canada has placed on the United States, then he will massively increase the amount of tariffs placed on vehicles, automakers and different vehicles coming in to the United States from Canada as well.

[10:20:16]

So really here, Wolf, just to break this down, I mean, we are seeing him dramatically ramp up that rhetoric and threat against Canada in this tit-for-tat kind of tariff war that we've really seen take place.

And I think the context as well, just to be very clear, as this comes, as we've now seen the market see the biggest, most significant drop of the year. We saw that happen yesterday. It's continuing to be low today. And there's a lot of uncertainty right now, not only with the global markets, but, of course, with trading partners, all of this, you know, coming as we're expected to hear from the president tonight. But this I think is going to only add to that uncertainty and comes as we've really seen this kind of stop and go tariff policy that the president has been using so far. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Alayna, stand by. The speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has started speaking on critically important issues. I want to listen in.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): It was a shameful display by the Democrats. They are flailing, as is noted. They have no leader, no vision, no plan, no platform they can run on, because that was repudiated in the election, and they're in a panic mode right now, and so you see them lashing out. You see increasing profanity. There are many stories, many of you written about, this new track. They've taken the new strategy where they just scream and shout and curse at everyone. I don't think that's going to be very productive either.

And you also see the contrast going on this morning. They either have an issue with reading comprehension, or they are attempting to run one of the most shameful misinformation campaigns that we've ever seen in our lives. We filed the C.R., the continued resolution on Saturday. And as was noted, they had already come out panning the bill that literally had not yet been seen. They said, quote, this is the House Democrat leadership team's statement on Friday.

Remember, the bill was filed on Saturday afternoon. On Friday, they said, quote, Republicans have decided to introduce a partisan continuing resolution that threatens to cut funding for healthcare, nutritional assistance, and veterans benefits through the end of the year. Every single word of that is a lie. Every single -- they just made it up. They didn't read the bill. It's nonsense. People are not buying this. You see the contrast between one party, which is leading, moving the ball forward for the American people, and the other that is just screaming.

Then the Democrats start parodying this talking point in interviews all weekend on CNN. They said, quote, it's so harmful to the American people, you know, cutting Medicaid, cutting Medicare, threatening Social Security, cutting veteran benefits. It's all a lie. You can all read the bill. It's 99 pages. This clean C.R. contains no poison pill riders, no policy riders there at all, no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security, zero. No cuts to veterans benefits, zero. In fact, as was noted, we plus up the accounts for veterans.

And, respectfully, I'm just going to say this to every reporter in the room, that if you're allowing Democrats to make these intentionally false, scurrilous claims without pushback, then you're aiding and abetting the spreading this misinformation. I would just ask you to call them on it. The American people deserve that. They deserve that clarity from our press corps. Make them point it out to you. They can't, of course.

And now after weeks of trotting federal workers up to Capitol Hill and onto cable news shows to protest President Trump's efforts to make the government more efficient now, they're planning to vote down this simple bill. They are going to try to shut the government down. Every House Democrat will participate in this, it looks like. That would be a shame if it's true. I hope some of them will have a moment of clarity themselves and do the right thing, but it looks like they're going to try to shut down the government. It's a striking new posture for Democrats who have always said they've just been apoplectic about the prospect of government shutdowns.

I put a video out about an hour ago on social media. I encourage you to go see that. This is their -- they have been their own words. You don't need to. Trust us on this. But Katherine Clark, here's one little zinger from her, quote, not only is it irresponsible and purposefully misleading, but it's also a dangerous precedent to be threatening to shut down, unquote. Now, remember this is in last year, year's past. Pramilla Jayapal, quote, the tragedy here is all the civilian employees. It's the employees who are going to suffer, unquote AOC, quote, it is not normal to hold 100,000 workers' paychecks hostage. It is not normal to shut down the government when we don't get what we want, unquote. I don't think I've ever agreed with her before. She's exactly right. Jerry Nadler said, quote, shutdown is really an extremist policy designed to appeal to an extremist base and hold the whole country hostage. Yes, we agree.

So, they and all their colleagues need to do the right thing. Democrats have been insisting they're fighting for federal workers. You're about to see, again, on vivid display, very clear, the contrast.

[10:25:00]

You will see one team that is working to fund the government and make sure we do the responsible thing. And you're going to see another opposing the C.R. because they've now exposed the truth. They're not for federal workers. They're not for anyone. All the people they've said in the past that are going to be harmed would be by their votes.

They're using federal employees as props. They're using Medicaid benefits and Social Security checks as cudgels in this thing. The threat of government shutdown, they're using it as some sort of attempt to wrestle power away from the president of the United States, who overwhelmingly won the popular vote at the Electoral College in every single swing state.

Here's the bottom line. If congressional Democrats refuse to support this clean C.R., they will be responsible for every troop who misses a paycheck, for every flight delay, from reduced staffing at TSA, for every negative consequence that comes from shutting down the government. I understand they have an important retreat this week. Boy, I'd love to be a fly on the wall at that party. It comes at a critical time since they don't have a leader, a message, or a platform.

And I'm just going to say this, if our Democrat colleagues want to increase their 21 percent approval rating with the American public, they ought to start by doing the right thing and keeping the government open. I think that'd be a great first step. So, I'll take questions. Chad?

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE). You continually criticize the Democrats. Doesn't that imply that you don't have the votes on your side? Because you would need Democratic assistance to keep the government open.

JOHNSON: No, we'll have the votes. We're going to pass the C.R. We can do it on our own. But what I'm saying is Democrats ought to do the responsible thing, follow their own advice in every previous scenario, and keep the government open. It's their choice. I wish it could be a unanimous vote in the House chamber today. That would be a great thing for America. But they're not going to do it, Chad. Because they're on this lost -- you know, they're wandering in the wilderness and they're cursing this guy at the same time.

And you're going to see that today. They're going to vote no. And they're going to come out and try to pan it. And they're going to lie about it. And we're calling on you guys to call them to account, make them tell you the truth about the bill. They didn't read it before they said all that nonsense. So, ask them that. Ask them how they -- yes, Manu?

RAJU: The president went after one of your own colleagues yesterday. Thomas Massie does plan to vote against this. He says he should be primary. Do you agree with the president? Should Thomas Massie be primaried for his vote against this?

JOHNSON: Look. I'm in the incumbent protection program here. That's what I do, speaker of the House. And you know me and my style, my -- you know, the way I Do this job. I don't -- I bless those who persecute me, right?

So, Thomas and I have had disagreements, but I considered Thomas Massie a friend. He's a thoughtful guy. He's -- I guess he'll tell you he's doing what he thinks is right on this. I just vehemently disagree with this position, but I'll leave it at that.

REPORTER: Mr. Speaker, you in the past did not vote for C.R.s when you were a rank and file member. You have said in the past that you were done with short-term C. R.s. By my count, my math might be a little off, this will be the fifth continuing resolution that you're presiding over as speaker of the House.

JOHNSON: Yes.

REPORTER: What do you say to your conservative colleagues who have heard you in the past promise that you were going to start to go through a regular appropriations process, but yet again find themselves in a position where they have to take a difficult vote on a C.R.?

JOHNSON: Yes, it's a great question. I'll rewind and replay the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus here, Dr. Andy Harris, who said it so well. This is a different C.R. than anything we've seen in our careers in Congress. I've been here eight years. He's been here a bit longer. It normally is something that's a patchwork to give us more time to try to get to the appropriations process. This is totally different.

A yearlong C.R., which is the first that I think we've had, I don't know that there is a precedent for an actual yearlong C.R. It solves the problem because it freezes federal spending, it takes care of these immediate priorities that have been articulated here and it allows us to move forward with changing the size and scope of the federal government.

There is a seismic shift going on in Washington right now. This is a different moment than we have ever been in. The DOGE work is finding the massive amounts of fraud, waste and abuse. We have a White House that is actually dedicated to getting us back onto a fiscally responsible track. We're going to scale down the size of the bureaucracy and the agencies, which has become the fourth branch of government.

None of that was present or true before. When I became speaker, I inherited a real mess (ph). We had Joe Biden in the White House. We had divided government and it was a very difficult thing for us to navigate through. I didn't get to do anything I wanted or thought was really important for the country. I did what we had to do, what was necessary, what we could get 218 votes for.

This is a totally different scenario. By doing the C.R. this time, it actually is the responsible play and the conservative play because we are conserving the resources of the American people. And this is something that all of us who wanted to do our whole careers and we now have the opportunity to do it.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE), do you also -- do you support the C.R.?

JOHNSON: Well, yes. This is what I expect, is that this White House is going to actually do its job. What a concept. This White House is going to send us a budget that hasn't -- this hasn't been done in a while.

[10:30:00]

This White House is going to send us a budget that's going to request funding for a smaller, leaner, more efficient, effective, accountable federal government. That is a new paradigm for us.