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HHS to Cut 10,000 Employees in Major Overhaul; Trump Announces New Auto Tariffs in Trade War Escalation; Today, Hearing on Lawsuit Saying Group Chat Flouts Fed Record Laws. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired March 27, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, 10,000 jobs cut at the Department of Health and Human Services. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says this is a, quote, win-win for Americans.

Plus, escalating trade war President Trump slapping at 25 percent tariff on all imported cars and car parts, meaning you'll be paying thousands of dollars more.

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, the Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is announcing that his department will be cutting 10,000 jobs.

Let's go live to our Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell right now. So, Meg, what more are you learning about these cuts?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, Wolf, they're sizable. On top of the 10,000 new jobs they're cutting as part of this massive restructuring, there already have been 10,000 employees, they say, who voluntarily departed the Health of Human Services Department. And so together that reduces the size to 62,000 employees. That's about a quarter of employees in the health department gone.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Saying in the statement from the agency this morning, quote, we aren't just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We're aligning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities and reversing the chronic disease epidemic. This department will do more, a lot more, he says, at a lower cost to the taxpayer. They estimated it'll save $1.8 billion per year. It also consolidates 28 divisions into 15 and creates a new agency called the Administration for a Healthy America, which will now encapsulate five other divisions, Wolf.

We also just learned from HHS what this is going to mean for individual health agencies. FDA, for example, will lose 3,500 full- time employees. They say that won't affect drug, medical device or food reviewers or inspectors. And we're seeing cuts across the agencies, Wolf. They also say it won't affect Medicare and Medicaid services, though. Back to you.

BLITZER: All right, Meg Tirrell reporting for us, very significant development indeed, thank you very much.

Also happening now in other escalation in President Trump's trade war, a 25 percent tariff on all imported cars and all imported car parts. Some of America's closest allies slamming the move. Listen.

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MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: This is a direct attack, to be clear, a direct attack.

We will defend our workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country. And we'll defend it together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The head of Canada's parts manufacturer association is telling CNN, and I'm quoting now, if he is bent on pushing us over the edge, he is going to push a million American auto workers with us, close quote.

Let's go live right now to CNN Business at Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich and CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak at the White House.

Vanessa, let me start with you. Break this down for us. How much more will cars cost for Americans here in the United States?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is going to affect every single car manufacturer and every single American looking to buy a new car in the near term. By one estimate, this will increase the cost of production for a single vehicle from $3,500 all the way up to $12,000.

And the way that gets passed down to the consumer is essentially this. For example, if a car costs about $40,000, according to the White House, if they use -- if that manufacturer uses foreign parts, that'll increase the cost of a vehicle by $5,000. Some economists even suggest it could be more, $10,000.

And that is a problem because look at this, Wolf. We produce here in the U.S. 10.2 million cars in 2024. Those cars, all of them, were made by with about 50 percent of foreign parts. So, those cars all being taxed. And just look at all of the car companies that are going to be impacted by this. You have domestic companies and foreign companies. But even those foreign companies that have plants here in the U.S., if they're using foreign parts, they're going to be taxed.

[10:05:04]

And, Wolf, why is President Trump doing this? He says it's to make America the leader in U.S. auto manufacturing, but automakers aren't going to be able to flip the switch and bring all of that manufacturing into the U.S. in a short time. It will take years, Wolf. And in those years, there may be another administration in the White House. So, auto manufacturers really having to weigh whether this investment is worth it. Wolf?

BLITZER: So, Vanessa, let me just follow up and make sure it's totally clear, not just imported cars, whether a Mercedes or a Lexus or whatever are going to be more expensive, but cars made here in the United States, whether a Ford or a Chevy, they're going to be much more expensive as well. Is that right?

YURKEVICH: That's exactly right, Wolf, because Ford, G.M. and Stelantis, known as the big three U.S. automakers, they import parts from Canada and Mexico specifically to then fully assemble cars here in the U.S. Those parts, Wolf, will be taxed under this plan.

BLITZER: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you very much.

Kevin, what is the White House saying about all of this?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. You hear a number of different pieces of rationale from the president and from the White House for these new tariffs. One, trying to boost manufacturing here in the United States, two, try and raise revenue to cut down on the federal deficit. President Trump said yesterday that these new tariffs would bring in a hundred billion dollars in new revenue. And we also heard from the White House press secretary today saying that President Trump is trying to realign what they say are decades of unfair trade practices. Listen to Karoline Leavitt.

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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We're going to make sure that American workers are put first and we're ending the unfair trade practices that have been hollowing out our middle class for decades. And I would just like to emphasize these auto tariffs yesterday are a big deal for auto workers in the industry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now in putting these tariffs into effect, the administration seems to be rationalizing that there is excess capacity at some of these American automakers. Certainly yesterday, we heard from a White House official who said that the automakers should have seen this coming based on the president's own rhetoric on the campaign trail. In a lot of ways, this is just an appetizer for what is to come, the presidents says liberation day, as he calls it, comes next week when he puts into place these reciprocal tariffs. But he also previewed something that he said would be pleasantly surprising for a lot of people, previewing a set of reciprocal tariffs that could be perhaps more conservative than many are expecting, Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Kevin Liptak at the White House, Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks to you as well.

I want to turn to the other breaking news we're following this afternoon. A federal judge will hear arguments over a new lawsuit that claims the Trump cabinet's Signal chat about U.S. airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen violates federal records law. And it comes as bipartisan calls for accountability seem to be growing louder and louder by the hour.

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SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): I'm worried about everybody and how they have handled this Signal controversy.

Does it concern me? Hell yes.

SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): We rarely hear anything as secret as the stuff that these guys were talking about. And I know every single one of them understands that about this too, which is what makes it so agonizing.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: So, you believe they lied?

BENNET: I think they're just lying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I want to go live now to our Congressional Correspondent Lauren Fox up on the Hill. Lauren, I know you're getting a lot of reaction up there. What are lawmakers saying in general about a formal investigation into all of this?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. We are getting a significant development in just the last couple of minutes, and that is the fact that Roger Wicker, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, along with the top Democrat on that committee, Jack Reed, have now officially sent a letter to the inspector general of the Defense Department requesting an inquiry be launched into this incident.

Now, this is something that Wicker said yesterday that they were working toward, but obviously very significant that this letter has now been sent to the inspector general of the Defense Department requesting an investigation.

And I do want to read briefly from that letter. They said this chat was alleged to have included classified information pertaining to sensitive military actions in Yemen. If true, this reporting raises questions as to the use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information, as well as the sharing of such information with those who do not have proper clearance and need to know accordingly. We ask you to conduct an inquiry into and provide us with an assessment of the following.

And then they request several pieces of information to be looked into, including whether anyone transferred classified information from a device that they were authorized to have that information on to another device where they were not authorized to have that information.

Obviously, Wolf, a very significant development here as this is a bipartisan effort coming from the Senate Armed Services Committee to look into this incident.

[10:10:03]

Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Lauren Fox, our congressional correspondent, up on Capitol Hill, thank you.

There's more breaking news we're following this morning as federal law enforcement officials now announce the arrest of an unnamed 24-year- old as the alleged leader of the MS-13 gang. Listen.

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PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: One of the top leaders of MS 13 was apprehended. He was the leader for the East Coast, one of the top three in the entire country, right here in Virginia, living half an hour outside of Washington D.C.

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BLITZER: I want to go live to our Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez. He's joining us from the scene in Manassas, Virginia. Evan, what are you learning about this arrest?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. The FBI director, Kash Patel, and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, were present just offsite. The arrest of this 24-year-old, what they say is an alleged leader of MS-13, one of the top three leaders of the gang, the criminal gang that has been designated as a terrorist group by this administration.

They say he was captured in Northern Virginia, here in the suburbs in Prince William County, not just a few miles from where we're standing. And they say this is part of a wider operation that they're going to try to arrest hundreds of these MS-13 members.

Now, we don't have a name of this person who was arrested. We expect that we're going to get more information about this person. Once the court documents are unsealed later today in the Eastern District of Virginia, we know right now that the attorney journal said that eventually this person is expected to be deported. Of course, that is something that the Salvadoran government has been pushing for some of these MS-13 members to be returned to El Salvador, to that notorious prison there in Salvador. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Evan Perez in Manassas, Virginia, for us on the scene, thank you very, very much.

Also happening right now, the heads of the NTSB, the FAA and the Army's Aviation Division are all up on Capitol Hill. They're testifying about that very deadly midair collision over the Potomac River outside Reagan National Airport back in January.

I want to go live to our Aviation Correspondent Pete Muntean. You're there, you're covering this hearing. Pete. What do you expect to learn from this important hearing?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Really, Wolf, the FAA and the Army are the ones very much in the hot seat today, and senators are already directing some aggravation towards them. Today, we will hear not only from NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, but also the head of the Army Aviation Division, General Matthew Braman, also FAA acting Chief Chris Rocheleau.

The Senate subcommittee here will really ask, was this an accident waiting to happen, which has been laid out so clearly in the NTSB's preliminary report. They say at Reagan National Airport, over a three- year period, there were 15,000 close proximity events involving helicopters and commercial flights, and 85 of those were very close calls.

Senators will also really key in on this one specific fact that the approach path in the Runway 33 that American Airlines flight 5342 was using at the time of that crash 56 nights ago, and the helicopter route, Route 4, that goes under it, were separated by only 75 feet of altitude.

I want you to listen now to NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. She brought this up yesterday in a hearing, an oversight hearing in the House, and she said that is something that the NTSB is really keying in on and something the FAA really needs to answer.

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JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: All this data is being collected by FAA from operators, from others, from voluntary reporting systems. Where is that data going to trend, potential accidents and incidents in that in the future? The next accident is in the data right now. And what are we doing to figure out what that is?

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MUNTEAN: Notably the FAA has closed down helicopter Route 4 since that crash. Also today in the audience are the family members of First Officer Sam Lilly. He was piloting that plane on the right side where the accident occurred only 56 nights ago, Wolf. A lot of change coming out of that fatal tragedy.

BLITZER: Yes, you got to learn the lessons and make sure it never ever happens again.

Pete Muntean, thank you very, very much.

BLITZER: Also happening right now, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is in Paris for a meeting with his top European allies. The summit comes as the U.S. is trying to broker a ceasefire with Russia and Zelenskyy questions U.S. support. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I cannot be ungrateful to the America for everything they have done. [10:15:01]

But today, they're very often, I think, unfortunately, influenced by Russian narratives and we cannot agree with these narratives, but we are fighting for ourselves, and we will fight these narratives wherever they are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Ukraine says Russia launched a late night attack on the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

I want to go live to CNN's Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen. He's joining us live from Moscow right now. Fred, how is the Kremlin viewing this meeting of Ukraine's allies in Paris?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, one of the things that the Kremlin has told me, Wolf, just a couple of hours ago, is that they say that they don't believe that the Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, fully grasps the relations that are currently growing between the Kremlin and between the White House, between the Trump administration and the Putin administration, and how close those relations they actually already are.

Now, as far as this potential ceasefire is concerned, the Russians, of course, for their part, have also said that they want a ceasefire as well. And as an early stage to that, a ceasefire for the Black Sea is currently something that's being worked on. And the Russians are saying they're not going to sign off on that until they get sanctions relief for some of the entities in Russia that are related to shipping agricultural goods.

Now, the leaders that are there in Paris right now, including Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but also the French president and the prime minister of Great Britain, had said there's not going to be sanctions relief for the Russians. In fact, they are calling for sanctions to be ramped up. The Russians are saying they're simply not going to budge on that. But they also believe that essentially the Trump administration could be on their side on this because the Trump administration has already said they might help Russia bring their agriculture goods back to international markets. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Fred Pleitgen reporting from Moscow, thank you very much.

Also happening now, it's officially opening day for Major League Baseball here in the United States. 26 teams will begin their season today, including my team, the Washington Nationals. This is what Nationals Park looks like this morning as they're getting ready for their home opener. In less than six hours, the Nationals will take on the Philadelphia Phillies and I'll be there along with thousands of others to watch all the action.

I want to go live to see it on Sports Anchor Coy Wire right now. Coy, 14 games today. What are you watching for? COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm definitely watching that Phillies- Nats game. Now, that I know that we'll see Wolf in the stands, potentially happy opening day, new season of World Series dreams, fans cheering on their favorite teams, and most of them will be chasing the defending champion, Dodgers, Wolf, Heavy favorites to win it all again this year with superstars Mookie bets, Freddy Freeman, and, of course, Showtime. Nobody can hit and pitch like Shohei Ohtani, and he is expected to pitch again at some point this season.

Now, the Braves, Yankees, Mets, and Phillies are the next heaviest favorites to win this year's World Series, all in action today. Philadelphia has a star-studded lineup with Bryce Harper, Trey Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and a potential sigh (ph) young winner in Zach Wheeler. He'll be on the mound against your Nats today, Wolf.

And aside from all the superstars we'll see, there are loads of newcomers just finding out that their MLB dreams are coming true. 29- year-old catcher J.C. Escarra, spent seven years grinding in the minors and he just found out from Yankees manager, Aaron Boone, that he finally made it to the bigs. Watch this.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is difficult to have to do because I know you've put yourself in a really good position and you've done everything you could have expected. But as you know, we -- I mean, we have a lot of catching depth, as you know, so that's what makes this hard. Now, you're going to Big Leagues.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations. The Major Leagues, you earned it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: From Uber driver to substitute teacher to his dreams coming true. That is what it's all about. It's almost time to play ball, Wolf. Good luck to your Nats today later at the game.

BLITZER: As we say, go Nats. Let's hope they win undefeated, at least so far this season.

Coy Wire, thank you very, very much.

Still ahead, I'll speak to Republican Senator Mike Rounds now that a hearing has been set over that controversial Yemen airstrike chat.

And later, hidden heart shaped notes found in the socks meant for the man accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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[10:20:00] BLITZER: More now on President Trump's escalating trade war has newly announced 25 percent tariff on cars and auto parts expected to raise prices significantly and provoke additional retaliation against American-made goods and agricultural products.

Let's get some more right now from the South Dakota Republican senator, Mike Rounds, he sits on both the Senate Intelligence and Senate Armed Services Committees. Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

I know you've said that farmers in your state have been asking you to relay their deep concerns to President Trump over the increased number of tariffs. Is the president listening?

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): You know, I think he is. I think -- first of all, I think during his message to Congress, he made it clear that he had not forgotten about the farmers and ranchers. He made that very clear. I think as we move through this new era where we're trying to bring jobs back into the United States and the fact that the president has made it clear that he believes that manufacturing is a critical part of it, he wants those blue collar jobs back in.

He's also indicated that he understands that that means that for farmers and ranchers who have to export and we've got to have good trade deals. I don't think it's gone by him at all, that he's got to put together some trade deals as well. You know, we've gone four years without a trade deal at all, and our prices, our commodity prices are down because we need the markets.

[10:25:04]

So I think the White House, as they move through this, will keep it in mind, but I think we're going to have a lot of questions as we try to hold, you know, our friends kind of accountable in terms of what fair trade looks like, whether you're talking USMCA or other countries out there that have perhaps taken advantage of very fair trade deals in the past for them. It's time to kind of take a look at the American worker again and bring some of those resources back in.

So, he's talked a lot about different types of tariffs. Some of them were to push some of our allies to do some things with us. But I think he's also really concerned about these being fair trade deals in the future. It's going to take a while for it all to kind of fall out, but I'm optimistic that we're going to get to a better place for the American worker and in the meantime protecting and helping our farmers and ranchers who literally feed the world.

BLITZER: You know, Senator Rounds, I know you told CNN earlier this month that farmers in your state of South Dakota and other states were willing to give the president, in your words, time to make a difference. With Trump's trade war now showing no signs of deescalating, how much longer are they willing to tolerate this?

ROUNDS: I think they're going to give him enough time to actually get something in place. I think the president has threatened a lot of these tariffs to try to see whether or not he can talk some of our friends into changing some of their ways. He's had some success with regard to Canada and Mexico and the Fentanyl issues. But I think the bigger picture is going to be, you know, how are we going to make sure that the markets that we've had in the past that we don't lose, whether it's for soybeans or for corn and for wheat.

And one of the areas of concern is going to be, what about Russia and what about -- you know, what about anything in terms of restrictions on Russia? And is there going to be any agreement to allow Russia to come back in and start selling again while they're still at war and creating problems in Europe?

So, I think that's going to be a part of the discussion that our farmers and ranchers are going to ask is let's not treat Russia better, and while at the same time our farmers and ranchers still need to find those new markets. We want to be competitive and we want to be seen as a good trading partner. That's what our farmers want. They want long-term, stable markets overseas.

I think the president will listen to that. I think his trade reps are going to continue to be reminded of that as they work this thing through. But we're very early in this process. I think our folks are going to give him a little bit more rope.

BLITZER: While I have you, Senator, I want to quickly turn to the growing controversy over the leaked Signal Yemen attack chat that we all know all about. The Atlantic Magazine, as you know, published the full unredacted contents of this chat after several Trump officials testified before your committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee what we now know. Do you think these lawmakers were telling the truth under oath as they were obligated to do?

ROUNDS: I think they were doing their best to try to get past the committee hearing. Look, these folks made a mistake and they're having a very difficult time trying to explain how they made the mistake. They made a mistake. I just hope they've learned their lesson. I think the president probably took a number of them to the woodshed already.

I think he made it clear in his statements that he was not happy with the way this thing turned out in part, because in the middle of a mission that was hugely successful after literally months of not being able to take the gloves off, to have these young men and women who just literally really executed a great plan very, very well and without losses to have that overshadowed because they started talking way too early about what was going on in the Middle East and doing it on Signal where they really should not have done that.

And so I think the president probably made it clear to a number of them that this is not going to happen again. In front of the committee, I think a number of my colleagues, on a bipartisan basis, kind of sent the same message. And I know that we're going to have an inspector general look at this thing and give us a classified annex report as well, but on a bipartisan basis, Republicans and Democrats. We will have another meeting on this and we will discuss it with them. But in the meantime, I think the president probably made it pretty clear that he wasn't happy either and we were not happy about that type of a choice of, you know, using Signal to begin with and then having some rather sensitive conversations that, really, we don't want to see that in public.

BLITZER: You're saying that the Congress will be holding full scale congressional inquiries investigations into what happened, to learn the lessons to make sure it never happens again. But the president already is downplaying this scandal of simply, in his words, a witch hunt. Do you agree with the president that this is a witch hunt?

ROUNDS: I think my assessment would be that the president has probably behind closed doors, said a lot more than that, but I think he said it directly to them, which is where he needs to. I think he took some people to the woodshed. I don't think they want to come back and have that happen again.

For our part, I think on a bipartisan basis, and remember, Republicans and Democrats behind closed doors on the Armed Services Committee and on the Intel Committee, we work together.

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