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Trump Says He Won't Fire Federal Reserve Chair; Nonessential U.S. Personnel Pulling Out of Middle East; California Sues Trump Administration Over Troop Deployment; Deadly Air India Crash. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired June 12, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We will see what happens. All right, Kristen Holmes reporting for us.

Kristen, thank you very, very much.

We're going to have much more coming up on the breaking news out of India, horrible breaking news. Scores are feared dead after an Air India flight crashed just within a minute after taking off.

We will have the very latest straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're following the major breaking news this morning out of India.

[11:35:02]

A passenger jet carrying 242 people crashed into a residential area in the Western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Video of the scene shows giant flames and black smoke billowing into the sky as the plane crashes. U.S. investigators are now heading to India to help determine the cause of this crash.

Let's go live right now to see in the correspondent Salma Abdelaziz, who's joining us with the very, very latest.

What else are you hearing, Salma?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I think what is going to be most concerning right now to families of these 242 people is going to be the information we just received from the airline's CEO, Campbell Wilson, who in a press conference said that injured passengers were taken to a local hospital.

Now, that contradicted what we had heard earlier from a local police commissioner, who said that there appeared to be no survivors. So, for those seeking answers, for those wanting to know the fate of their loved ones, there is only more confusion. I want to very quickly go through the timeline of how this unfolded

because it happened quite instantly, almost in moments after that plane departed. And there is social media video showing that, instead of it taking off, it nosedived towards the ground a moment after takeoff, losing signal, and then a fireball explosion, which led to the aftermath that you're seeing there on your screen, scorched earth, burned-out buildings, and at least a portion of the plane crashing into a building where medical students were having lunch.

Dozens of them wound up in hospitals, some of them possibly killed in this accident, giving the sense of just the scope and scale of an airline tragedy that may be one of the worst we have seen in a decade. And more than those 242 souls on board, there also seem to be victims on the ground.

There's also a global response now that's taken place, starting from India's prime minister, who has deployed his top officials on the ground to provide those -- that support to rescue workers, to the families. We have also heard, of course, from Air India, which has been setting up help desks and a hot line for families to get minute- by-minute information.

You mentioned investigators who are flying in from Britain and flying in from the U.K., from the U.S. as well. Air India says it's also going to provide a specialist team to support these families that will be flying into Ahmedabad very quickly.

So you're seeing this wide-ranging recovery and rescue operation to address the immediate crash, to address anyone who has been hurt, wounded, survived that crash, including those on the ground, rushing them to hospitals, where a local affiliate already says that more than 200 bodies were received, along with dozens of other wounded people, and then, of course, leading into that investigation.

Now, investigations take time, but you can already see the machinations of that taking place, with investigators flying in from different cities, collecting and salvaging what they can from the plane to ultimately answer that question to families, who just want to know what went so terribly wrong, Wolf.

BLITZER: Horrible situation.

Salma Abdelaziz, thank you for your reporting.

Other news we're following, including in Los Angeles. The emergency curfew for parts of the city has been lifted following a sixth night of protests spurred by ICE immigration raids. And just hours from now, a key hearing will get under way with big implications for California's bid to block the Trump administration from deploying U.S. military troops in the nation's second largest city.

Let's go live right now to see that's Marybel Gonzalez, who's in Los Angeles for us.

Marybel, what are we expecting to hear later today?

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Wolf.

Well, that federal court hearing is at the request of California. This is to limit how the Trump administration uses the National Guard and the Marines here in the state, the presence of these national troops very much unwelcomed by the state governor, Gavin Newsom, who calls this deployment unconstitutional and a brazen abuse of power.

The Los Angeles Police Department chief also saying their presence is unnecessary because his department has experience in handling protests and any of the violence that may ensue. But, already, as we know, over 4,000 members of the National Guard, including a few that you see behind us here in front of this federal building, are in the area.

And now we're learning from the U.S. Northern Command that about 700 Marines have completed their training and will be deployed to the area in the next 48 hours. The Trump administration is asking this federal court to reject California's emergency order. They say their presence of federal troops are necessary to protect buildings and properties just like this one.

This federal detention center, I should mention, Wolf, is in a part of downtown Los Angeles, a small region that has been placed under a curfew order, an overnight curfew order for the second night in a row. L.A. leaders say the protests here have been by and large peaceful, but it is a small group of agitators that are inciting these violent acts.

[11:40:15]

And so this curfew will be in place at least for the next few days -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Marybel Gonzalez is in L.A. for us, thank you very much.

And we will have more news when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:45:02]

BLITZER: Happening now: The U.S. State and Defense Departments are pulling nonessential personnel from the Middle East, pulling them out. It comes as President Trump says he's growing less confident of reaching a nuclear deal with Iran.

Joining us now, CNN's national security correspondent, Kylie Atwood.

Kylie, is there a specific threat behind this dramatic and potentially very, very significant move?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, what U.S. officials are saying now, it's due to heightened security concerns in the region, coming, of course, as we have reported, that the U.S. is concerned about Israel striking Iran's nuclear program. They have monitored for some time preparations that Israel has made to

potentially go forth with those strikes. CENTCOM said yesterday they're monitoring developing tensions in the Middle East. That's why they are allowing military families to move out of the region now if they would like to.

The specific U.S. diplomatic facilities that are going to be impacted as of now are in Israel, where U.S. diplomats and their families, their movements have now been restricted. Also in Iraq, the diplomatic facilities there, they have put their nonessential personnel at those spots on ordered departure, and we're expected to see some orders when it comes to Kuwait and Bahrain.

I want us to listen to what President Trump said yesterday when he was asked about this drawdown of personnel in the region and why it's happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, they are being moved out, because it could be a dangerous place. And we will see what happens. But they are -- and we have given notice to move out. And we will see what happens.

QUESTION: Is there anything that could be done to dial the temperature down in the region?

TRUMP: They can't have a nuclear weapon, very simply. They can't have a nuclear weapon. We're not going to allow that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: "They can't have a nuclear weapon," you heard there.

This comes as the Trump administration has been trying to broker a nuclear deal with Iran. They're headed into their sixth round of nuclear talks this coming weekend in Oman. Sources say that for now that is still expected to happen.

But all of this, of course, elevates just how critical those conversations are going to be, also Iran saying this morning after an IAEA decision that they are going to be ramping up their nuclear program. So that is a space for us to watch very closely.

BLITZER: We know that the U.S. military, the Central Command, which is in charge of the Middle East, has, what, about 40,000 U.S. troops based in various parts of the Middle East right now.

Do we have any idea how many of those troops are going to be sent home, how many are going to remain, whether in the United Arab Emirates or Qatar or Saudi Arabia or elsewhere?

ATWOOD: Yes, so right now the troops themselves aren't being sent home. It is the family members of those troops that are being given the option to leave if they want to. So we will watch and see where this goes. But the U.S. military

posture itself remains intact. And this comes after administration officials have been watching for some time with concern what might come between Israel and Iran.

BLITZER: And there's a new round of nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran scheduled in the coming days, Steve Witkoff, the special envoy, heading to, as you say, Oman.

ATWOOD: Yes, Steve Witkoff is going to Oman. This comes as the IAEA came out with this new decision just earlier today saying that Iran is not living up to its nuclear nonproliferation commitments.

That is huge. It puts a lot of pressure on those conversations that Steve Witkoff is going to be having.

BLITZER: We will see how that unfolds. All right, so far, not very good, but we will see what happens.

Thanks very much, Kylie, for that report, very dangerous situation unfolding in the Middle East.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:53:09]

BLITZER: All right, this just in, President Trump once again saying he does not plan to fire the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, but he is calling on him to lower interest rates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If we would lower the interest rates by one point, we'd pay about one point less, that's $300 billion a year. Can you believe it? One point.

If he'd lowered by two points, we'd pay $600 billion a year less. That's for years, 10 years, 12 years, whatever we make it. But we can't get this guy to do it. And the fake news is saying, oh, if you fired him, it would be so bad. It would be so bad.

I don't know why it would be so bad, but I'm not going to fire him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I want to go to our business and politics correspondent, Vanessa Yurkevich.

Vanessa, the president making these remarks as we're getting new numbers that show inflation heating up during the month of May, right?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf, for businesses. These are the prices that businesses pay. We did see inflation heat up a bit in the month of May by 0.1 percent and on an annual basis 2.6 percent. That was largely expected on the annual basis. On the monthly basis, came in a little bit less than expected, but still, Wolf, moving in the wrong direction, heating up, instead of cooling down.

We also saw consumer prices earlier this week rising a little bit as well. But we have been looking at these reports in particular to see where we may see some price pressures because of tariffs. In this report, so these are the prices that producers or businesses pay, we have seen some price pressures on inputs, or materials used in production, particularly on metals.

And so we're seeing rising prices on things like machinery and vehicles, motor vehicle parts and railroad equipment. So this is the beginning of where some of these tariffs might be playing out for prices. But as the president said there, he wants the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, to cut interest rates by an entire point.

[11:55:16]

That is significant. Usually, they cut by a quarter-of-a-point. And ultimately the president is saying that we don't see runaway inflation right now, which we don't. The U.S. economy has been incredibly resilient. But we have heard from the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, who said that it's too early to tell exactly what is going on with tariffs.

And this report really paints that picture, increasing slightly. Tariffs may be having a little bit of an impact, but, Wolf, not enough of an impact yet for them to make any cuts or any increases in those interest rates. Jerome Powell is really in a wait-and-see mode as we get more data in the coming months.

Investors on Wall Street believe that -- this month that the Federal Reserve is going to hold interest rates steady. Maybe, Wolf, in September, we will see a cut if inflation continues to maintain at its same level. But for the Federal Reserve chair, he has made clear it is just too early to tell. He's in wait-and-see mode, even though the president wants him to make some cuts, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Vanessa Yurkevich reporting for us.

Vanessa, thank you very, very much.

And, to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can keep up with Pamela Brown and me on social media @WolfBlitzer and @PamelaBrownCNN. I will see you back here tomorrow morning 10:00 a.m. Eastern, every weekday morning.

"INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" is coming up next right after a short break.