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Sources: RFK Jr.'s Deputy At HHS To Be Named Interim CDC Chief; End Of Tariff Exemption May Raise Prices On Some Online Orders; 20 Years Ago Today: Hurricane Katrina Hits Gulf Coast. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 29, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, new CNN reporting about the man who could be tapped to lead the country's public health policy after the White House ousted the current director. What the pick could tell us about Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s plans for vaccines?

Plus, the time of cheaper online imports is over. Why some of your favorite items from overseas could soon get more expensive.

And it's the end of an era. As college football gets started, the man who's been a fixture in the sports for 40 years is stepping away, the legacy of Lee Corso.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer has the morning off. And you're in the Situation Room.

Happening now, the nation's hub for public health and policy is facing a swift and dramatic loss of leadership. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s deputy at the Health and Human Services Department, Jim O'Neill, may be about to step into the void at the CDC.

CNN has learned that he is set to become interim director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But also, three top leaders have quit to protest the firing of Director Susan Monarez. She reportedly clashed with Kennedy over vaccine policy.

And yesterday at the CDC, hundreds of staffers and supporters honored the resigning leaders with a clap out rally. The departing officials say Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, has undermined the agency's foundation in science. CNN's Betsy Klein is at the White House. Betsy, what more can you tell us about Jim O'Neill?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: That's right, Pamela. Jim O'Neill, the deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, is expected to step into that role as interim director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to our sources.

Now, who is Jim O'Neill? He served at HHS in the George W. Bush administration and then headed to Silicon Valley, where he was a tech and biotechnology investor, joining HHS as deputy secretary back in June.

And now he is stepping into this key leadership role at the CDC at a moment of so much turmoil, low morale, as well as instability for the nation's public health institutions. Top leaders at the CDC who are respected scientists in their fields resigned in protest of the President's firing of CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez.

She was fired after clashing with HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who encouraged her to fire a series of top officials who ultimately resigned. She also, according to our sources and to her lawyers, opposed plans by Secretary Kennedy linking vaccines to autism.

And I should note here, there is strong scientific evidence that vaccines do not cause autism. But the White House justifying Dr. Monarez's firing, saying that people who are not aligned with Trump and his administration should be shown the door.

But we saw so many CDC staffers gathering yesterday in support of their departing colleagues, expressing concern to some of our colleagues in Atlanta about the politicization of science, concerns that science is being suppressed.

And a really notable moment yesterday as our colleague Kaitlan Collins interviewed one of those top outgoing officials, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis. He was the leader of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.

And he told Kaitlan that no one from his center had ever briefed Secretary Kennedy on issues like measles, COVID-19 or the flu. So, so many officials at the CDC facing questions like, do they follow the data or do they follow the President?

BROWN: Wow. Betsy Klein from the White House, thank you so much.

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Well joining us now is Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University School of Public Health and the former Biden White House COVID response coordinator. Dr. Jha, nice to see you. So I want to first start with RFK, Jr., putting his deputy, Jim O'Neill, as the interim director of the CDC per our reporting. What do you know about him? What do you think about this?

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIV. SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yes, well, first of all, thank you so much for having me back. Look, Jim O'Neill is an adult. He's a serious person, has had a lot of experience in government. And I don't know him personally, but everything I know about him makes me think, you know, he's a -- he's a pretty reasonable guy.

The real challenge for Jim is going to be, is he going to follow the scientific evidence? Is he going to follow the data? Is he going to look at the reality? Or is he going to listen to his boss, who has asked for a loyalty oath from everybody, no matter where the evidence is? And I think this is the test that Susan Monarez faced. And she showed up for that test with courage. And we'll have to see what Jim O'Neill does.

BROWN: Yes, that is the question, whether he will act independently based on the science and -- and the data and -- and the facts at hand. I want to play some comments. You just heard Betsy talking about this from the CDC leaders who quit in protest.

One of them says Kennedy is making major public health decisions, but has never been briefed on the flu, measles or COVID by CDC experts. Let's listen.

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DR. DEMETRE DASKALAKIS, FORMER NATL. CENTER FOR IMMUNIZATION & RESPIRATORY DISEASES DIR.: So no one from my center has ever briefed him on any of those topics.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Really?

DASKALAKIS: So I don't know where he's getting his -- really.

COLLINS: No one has ever briefed him on -- on any of those issues that you just mentioned there, including measles, given the outbreak in the United States right now?

DASKALAKIS: He's getting information from somewhere. Yes, he's getting information from somewhere, but that information is not coming from CDC experts.

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BROWN: What is your reaction to that?

JHA: Well, two things. I mean, first of all, this is very unusual. All previous HHS secretaries, Democrats, Republicans always got briefed by CDC experts. But it actually tells you something about Secretary Kennedy, which is he's not looking for data and information and evidence, right? That's not what he's interested in.

He has come into this job with strongly held preconceived notions, and he's acting on those irrespective of what the evidence suggests. And so in that context, he may feel like he doesn't need to listen to experts. He doesn't need evidence or data.

He's going to do what he believes. But that actually leaves our country very vulnerable to mistakes that are going to harm public health and harm the health of -- of the American people.

BROWN: Is there any reason you can think of why he wouldn't want to be briefed by top experts at the CDC?

JHA: Yes, you know, this is the problem with -- with Secretary Kennedy. If you go back and look at the last 10 health secretaries, none of them, Republicans and Democrats, none of them came in with strongly held views on vaccines or measles. Secretary Kennedy has had these -- had these very idiosyncratic, largely wrong views, and he is treating HHS as his sort of playground for implementing those views.

And that's why I think he has not bothered engaging with any scientific experts, either at CDC or beyond CDC.

BROWN: Wow, Dr. Jha, thank you.

JHA: Thanks so much for having me on.

BROWN: Well, new this morning, the Trump administration is revoking the Secret Service protection for former Vice President Kamala Harris. Federal law says former VPs get protection for six months after leaving office. Well, that period ended for Harris last month. But sources tell CNN that President Biden extended her protection for an extra year just before he left office in a directive that wasn't public until now.

President Trump is canceling that order just as Harris begins a high profile book tour around her new memoir. And Harris aides tell us that they worry about losing access to information about threats made against her. Neither the White House nor Secret Service responded to our request for comment, and a spokesperson for Biden wouldn't comment on why he extended Harris's protection.

BROWN: Well, still ahead right here in the Situation Room, new tariffs taking effect overnight that could wreak havoc with online shopping. Just how much your prices could go up.

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And then later, we're introducing you to the cat helping one college football team claw its way to an undefeated start and delighting the Internet in the process. We'll be right back.

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BROWN: Happening now, your online shopping might be about to get more expensive. For years, the U.S. has waived tariffs on imported items worth less than 18 -- $800. This is known as the de minimis exemption. But now it's gone. And shipments on popular products like skincare treatments from Asia and certain foods from Europe will have new fees based on the exporting country's tariff rates.

So, for example, here, a $100 product from the U.K. used to arrive here without tariffs. Now it will cost $180 to import it. And President Trump says the change is permanent. Let's go live now to CNN senior reporter Matt Egan in New York. All right. What's going on here? This could impact a lot of people. Tell us more about when U.S. consumers can expect to start paying more for these products.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, Pamela, look, this is the end of an era, right? The era of dirt cheap imported goods for nearly a century. Those goods entered the U.S. without the hassle and the cost of tariffs. But all of that ends now because of the end of something called the de minimis exemption, right, which did allow items worth $800 or less to enter the U.S. duty free.

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And this is really a very big deal because these items account for 92 percent of all cargo entering the United States. And because of the end of this exemption, several postal services and overseas companies have suspended small shipments into the United States.

Now, this is a -- an earthquake really for the e-commerce world, when you think about all of the items that are bought from overseas on platforms like Etsy and eBay and Amazon. Now, we've seen just this explosion of de minimis shipments into the United States, especially over the last five to 10 years or so.

Look at this, 1.4 billion items entering the U.S. and processed by U.S. customs last fiscal year alone under the de minimis exemption. Now, the Trump administration says they're suspending this because they're trying to crack down on tariff evasion and they're trying to halt the flow of fentanyl and other illicit goods into the United States.

But now that means that these cheaper goods are no longer shielded from tariffs. And so for now, what we're going to see is a flat fee on items based on where they're coming from. So if they're coming from a country that has a tariff of 16 percent or less, like the United Kingdom or the European Union, they're going to face an $80 per item fee.

And for other nations like Vietnam that have a higher tariff rate of 16 to 25 percent, we're talking about $160 fee. And for countries like India and Brazil that have even higher tariffs, well, they're going to be $200 per item fee.

And that's if those items are coming at all, because we're seeing companies and postal services from a range of countries suspend shipments into the United States, including across Europe, in India, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand. And look, Pamela, this is just another example of how the Trump administration is trying to reshape global trade. But this is a big experiment.

And the question is, can they do this in a way that doesn't frustrate shoppers with long delays and higher prices? We're about to find out.

BROWN: That's the question. Matt Egan, thanks so much.

EGAN: Thanks.

BROWN: Up next on this Friday, keeping culture alive. We're talking with famed Texas chef in New Orleans, native Dominick Lee, about how he still carries the city spirit in everything he does 20 years after Hurricane Katrina forced him to leave.

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[11:22:26] BROWN: Twenty years have passed since Hurricane Katrina made landfall and cities along the Gulf were completely devastated by a catastrophic flooding. Almost 1,400 people died as a result of the storm and more than a million people were displaced. Several levees in New Orleans failed, leaving people stranded in that flood-ravaged city. And delayed rescue efforts prompted severe public backlash.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government. And to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility. Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack or another severe storm? It was -- and that's a very important question. And it's in our national interest that we find out exactly what went on and -- and so that we can better respond.

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BROWN: Joining us now is Michael Eric Dyson. He is the author of "Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster." Michael, thank you for coming on. Tell us about the kinds of systemic issues that Hurricane Katrina brought to the forefront and 20 years later, where those issues stand.

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, AUTHOR, "COME HELL OR HIGH WATER": Well, thanks for having me. Yes. Well, first of all, we saw the radical inequality that exists in our culture, but specifically in Louisiana and even more particularly in New Orleans and the Gulf area in general that was hit by the storm. People didn't have access to the same goods and qualities of service.

For instance, people said, well, just get out of town. Take a car and hit the road now. Many of them did not possess cars. And as a result of that, they weren't able to have a ready egress and get the heck out of dodge, so to speak.

Secondly, when it said, well, you know, go visit your parents or go visit your cousins or your relatives, many of the relatives of the people who were stranded there, especially in the Ninth Ward, lived near each other. They had intimate family connections. And as a result of that, they didn't have much refuge to take.

And then beyond that, we saw that if you lived higher or lower, it made a difference. The people who were able to withstand the storm better geographically were the people who had more money. They were the wealthier citizens. And those without are the ones who were subject to the worst aftermath of the storm.

So when people say the storm didn't have any economic interest in mind, it hit everybody, true, but it didn't affect everybody equally. And as a result of that, the poorest people were the most -- were the hardest hit.

[11:25:08] And then finally, when the people had to leave and couldn't afford to come back, couldn't afford to have jobs that allowed them to repatriate, so to speak, back into the city where they grew up.

And so when we look at all of these issues, it is clear that economic inequality and social injustice played a significant role in who was able to come back to New Orleans, who was able -- who was most devastated by the storm, and what we've done in the 20 years since then.

BROWN: And what do you think in terms of what we've done in the 20 years since then and the ripple effect from -- from when Hurricane Katrina hit and the way that it did impact those, as you mentioned, who were more vulnerable and, you know, a different class and race?

DYSON: Right. Well, you know, some efforts have been made, to be sure, but in -- in large, we see that there are still vulnerabilities in the systems. We -- and the systems are not simply what happens with the levees and if they break. We know that FEMA is now in a huge argument with the administration because they don't value it in the way they should.

Employees who work for FEMA are claiming -- claiming that the government is not doing everything that it ought to be able to do in order to withstand another hurricane force like Katrina. And instead of addressing the issue, even you saw President Bush there saying, well, look, if these systems are not going well, we need to address them. This administration turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to that situation and fires the people who are giving the warning.

So the devastation that is being visited upon Katrina's inhabitants and survivors is not simply what's going on on the local situation, but it's the federal government's inability to respond with competence and compassion to their particular situation.

So we've got to really reexamine what we're doing in this nation to look at other vulnerable populations and what we might do to stem the tide, to keep the dam from breaking, the levees from being overcome by these lethal forces and the people economically and socially not subject to what administrations can arbitrarily do to undermine them.

BROWN: What do you see as the biggest failure from Katrina? Well, look, let's be real. The -- the economic inequality is connected to racial oppression in this nation. This is not somebody standing, aha, we don't like you, we hate you. It's about the consequence of systemic injustice, a word that has been nearly banned in this radical anti-DEI era that we live in.

And as a result of that, if we live in a society where just the mention of DEI evokes negative viewpoints about Black people or women or other minoritized populations, we're living in the -- in the arena of racialized oppression and we're living in the arena of racism naked and raw. And that's a vicious reality we have to confront.

So one of the greatest failures is our inability to grapple with the racial inequality, the economic inequality and the social injustice that needs to be addressed, that the government with its resources could certainly do.

And until we make up our minds to address this with dispatch and aplomb and to do it efficiently, the people who will suffer most are the people who have already suffered most, Black people, poor people and those who are vulnerable to downturns in the economy in our nation.

BROWN: Michael Eric Dyson, thank you so much for coming on to share your perspective.

DYSON: Thanks for having me.

BROWN: And up next, I want to bring in Chef Dominick Lee, a New Orleans native whose culinary journey is inspired by Creole cuisine. Chef Lee, thank you for coming on. How did Hurricane Katrina affect the trajectory of your life?

CHEF DOMINICK LEE, CREOLE CHEF: Well, I find that Hurricane Katrina essentially moved me in a space where I was obviously uprooted from where I was from, but it carried -- it allowed me to carry the culture of my people with me wherever I go. And I think that it really showed, like, the true nature of New Orleans and what it is that it means to be from New Orleans.

BROWN: What does it mean to be from New Orleans? Oh, go ahead.

LEE: No, I was going to say, I mean, in that regard, what does it mean to be from New Orleans is. I was listening to the gentleman a moment ago and thinking about, you know, him speaking about systematic things and, like, economic injustice.

And honestly, for me, I feel like New Orleanians are the most resilient people that I know. You know, even after Hurricane Katrina, you know, we were able to rebuild the city, to move on, to continue our lives and our culture and bring it with us.

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And I feel like that's like, kind of what it means to be New Orleanian is that, like, we understand that bad things are going to happen.