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CNN International: Labor Groups Sue To Halt The Dismantling Of USAID; The Dire Impact Of USAID Funding Cuts In Africa; Judge Suspends Deadline For Federal Employee "Buyout" Plan. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired February 07, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
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RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning or good evening, depending on where you're watching. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
And ahead on CNN Newsroom, USAID employees bracing for dismissals, as Donald Trump's plan to all but eliminate the humanitarian agency rolls out tonight. We are joined by a retired senior foreign officer with USAID. Plus, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visiting the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, today. We're live in Havana with a preview. And CNN's Andy Scholes in New Orleans with a look at what the Eagles and the Chiefs players are saying ahead of Sunday's big Super Bowl game.
Well, let's begin this hour with those new developments in President Trump's effort to drastically slash the size of the federal government and the legal effort to put up roadblocks. Multiple sources tell CNN that U.S. Agency for International Development is about to lose nearly all of its personnel, and it could happen by the end of today. Some 10,000 employees are expected to be put on administrative leave, with only around 300 personnel, who were deemed essential, being kept on. This is all part of the Trump administration and special government employee Elon Musk's effort to downsize the government, but experts warn that gutting the agency will intensify global humanitarian crises.
Now, for years, then-Senator Marco Rubio was a staunch supporter of USAID's mission. Now, Trump's Secretary of State appears to be reversing his views.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We're not trying to be disruptive to people's personal lives. We're not -- this is -- we're not trying to -- we're not being punitive here. But, this is the only way we've been able to get cooperation from USAID. We are going to do foreign aid. The United States will be providing foreign aid, but it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SOLOMON: Labor groups, meantime, are racing against the clock to try
to push back on the Trump administration's actions.
CNN's Alex Marquardt talked to Fredricka Whitfield a little earlier about the legal moves to try to save the agency.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: They are hoping to put a stop and reverse essentially what the Trump administration has been doing over the course of the past few weeks, which is essentially gutting USAID and moving it into the State Department. So, this lawsuit was filed yesterday in federal court here in Washington, D.C. Two different labor groups representing these USAID staffers, essentially accusing President Trump, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and their departments of doing something that is illegal, that they're not allowed to do under their executive authority.
This is something we've also heard from Democratic lawmakers, saying that only an act of Congress can actually do what they are doing to USAID, and that's essentially having it absorbed by the State Department. As you noted, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is now the acting Administrator of USAID. And at the same time, we are learning about a dramatic slashing of the USAID staff, all of the direct hires, so, the U.S. government employees who are not contractors, are to go on leave as of midnight tonight. We are told by multiple sources that some 300 essential personnel around the world will be kept. So, that, of course, is a small portion of the around 10,000 global staff of USAID.
Now, the former USAID Administrator, Samantha Power, under President Joe Biden, she spoke with CNN just last night, and she put it this way. Take a listen.
SAMANTHA POWER, FORMER USAID ADMINISTRATOR: If we did this to military families, just summarily told them to pack their bags and leave a place that they had been deployed, there would be broad, bipartisan outrage, and that is what we are doing to public servants who have also given their lives, serving alongside our military in really hazardous places. This is no way to treat public servants, and it is no way to advance America's interests.
MARQUARDT: So, Fredricka, the directive that has gone out to those direct hires around the world is essentially you have 30 days to get home. They're not ordering them home necessarily, but if they want their expenses paid for, then they essentially have 30 days to figure out. And then you have thousands of contractors here in the U.S. and around the world who are being furloughed or put on leave, blocked out of the system. But, it is just a dramatic reduction in both the workforce and the scope of USAID.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:05:00] SOLOMON: Now, as Alex just mentioned, this is expected to be a dramatic reduction, and it comes as U.S. health officials warn that there is an Ebola-related outbreak in Uganda. The Ugandan Ministry of Health declared the outbreak last week. One person is known to have died from it already. Symptoms of this disease called Sudan virus may be flu-like and could include a rash, unexplained bleeding or bruising.
CNN's Larry Madowo spoke to Fredricka Whitfield earlier from Kampala, Uganda.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've been hearing from USAID staff, local contractors across Africa, but also from beneficiaries of projects up and down the continent, and this news has led to confusion, chaos, panic and anxiety about the future of these projects. Now, you got to understand, about a third of USAID funding comes to the continent of Africa. For instance, Uganda is the third largest recipient of just health funding. A lot of that money goes into humanitarian causes or to healthcare. And just in this region alone, there is so much happening. We have a situation in Goma, in the eastern DRC, where a rebel group has taken over a major city of two million, and already hundreds of thousands of people were displaced there. USAID funded the shelters, the food, the medicine, for these people there.
Here in Uganda, there is a lot of refugees that depend on USAID to eat, for where to sleep. There are 1.4 million people in Uganda who are on antiretroviral therapy. These are people living with HIV who depend on money from USAID for their regular treatment. That's what keeps them alive. And all of them now are afraid that when they run out, some of them already have stock outs, they don't know if there is going to be more coming. And all these things from USAID come in these boxes branded "USAID, from the American people". And right now, so many of them on the continent are telling me, surely, one percent of the U.S. budget, the American people can afford that.
But, there is a counterargument here. I spoke to Rwanda President Paul Kagame, who says he is a beneficiary of U.S. funding and foreign aid, but he agrees with President Trump.
PAUL KAGAME, RWANDAN PRESIDENT: President Trump's unconventional ways of doing things, I completely agree with him on many things.
MADOWO: Even though it will hurt you, as Rwanda, which depends on some U.S. aid to fund your healthcare and development.
KAGAME: I think from being hurt, we might learn some lessons to not to do things we don't do that we shouldn't be doing. That's why I'm saying, yeah, this aid thing, which I've never been a friend of it, much as I've been a beneficiary.
MADOWO: It's extraordinary to hear President Kagame say that. It's a thought that there are many on the continent that share. They say, for instance, so much U.S. foreign aid is just stolen here, or it goes into administrative costs, buying people big cars and fancy lifestyles, not going to the people that need it. But, two, Fredricka, that African countries, those that depend on this funding, need to learn to be self-sufficient. They can't be relying on the generosity of others forever.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: Our thanks to Larry there.
My next guest is a retired Senior Foreign Officer with USAID. Susan Reichle joins us now from Virginia. Susan, great to have you. You understand this better than most, for sure. What would an immediate cut from about 10,000 employees to less than 300 mean for the work of USAID?
SUSAN REICHLE, FORMER SENIOR FOREIGN OFFICER WITH USAID: Well, I first want to tell you about who are the employees of USAID. They're average Americans. They're doctors. They're public health officials. They're scientists. They're lawyers. They are anthropologists. There are people who care about the world, and they are the average Americans out there, as Ambassador Power said last night, along with our military, along with our diplomats, along with everybody who is protecting our national security. We serve in some of the most dangerous parts of the world, and we serve side by side.
And when this order came down about withdrawing, let's be very clear that we are withdrawing from the world, allowing others such as China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, to fill this vacuum. It's had a devastating effect on not only the people who serve, and I'm glad you're putting up the map of where we serve around the world, as well as, obviously, the families. I mean, this is just -- people are living in fear, and right now they are getting a lot of conflicting information about what they should do. People, everyday Americans, who kiss their children and get them off to school, all of a sudden they're being told, you've got to get your special needs child out of school and back to the United States without any promises that there will be any support.
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I'm glad you featured the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is in chaos. 231 USAID officials were put on a plane with one bag. There are small pets that they could take with them, no winter clothes, and told go back to the United States, and by midnight tonight, you'll probably be locked out of the system because you're not essential, and they could, often, in this case, end up not being able to get the support and the resources that they need in order to transit back. If we treated our military officials like this, I think there would be a public outcry.
SOLOMON: Susan, let's actually stay on the continent of Africa, because that's a really good point. There are those who also say that there are some legitimate concerns about the way USAID's funds are being used. We just heard from my colleague Larry Madowo, who spoke with the President of Rwanda, who said he actually agrees with Trump's policies. And those who say that some of these funds are misused and they are not used for the intended target, what do you say to those critics?
REICHLE: Yeah. As we say in every administration, and I've served under five presidents over a span of a career of 26 years in the United States Agency for International Development, that we can always reform foreign aid. It is not just about reforming assistance. We have done amazing things as an agency and as a country, and I think we should be very proud, as also your reporter has talked about the lives that have been saved under programs such as PEPFAR, started by President Bush, and has saved millions of lives from HIV transmission. We can do great things, and it doesn't mean that we can't do it better in the future. But, this is not the way you go about it. You don't just shut down programs, shut down basically American presence overseas, and that is what we are doing I know we will fill the void.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And I want to ask before I let you go, because I really want to appreciate for myself and for our viewers, of course, the insight that you have. Talk to me a little bit about the impact this is already having on the ground. And I want to point to this new suit that was filed where the USAID argues that humanitarian consequences of defendants, obviously, the administration's actions, have already been catastrophic. Catastrophic, how, Susan?
REICHLE: Absolutely. As you, I think, reported that Secretary Rubio said there were some waivers for humanitarian response and PEPFAR. Well, I can tell you that our emergency response to combat HIV, those partners are living in fear, and they will not deliver the assistance, because this administration has created such an environment of fear that our partners are scared to even do their jobs.
Another example is, I'm glad you talked about humanitarian assistance. The United States Agency for International Development is the lead in providing humanitarian assistance. We are -- just celebrated the 20th anniversary of our response to the tsunami, which America should be very proud of, where countless lives were lost. But, not only did we respond, we helped those countries develop capacity so they could respond to disasters. If there was a disaster tomorrow worldwide, we would not be able to respond as the lead global humanitarian disaster response agency that has been given to us under law, under the Foreign Assistance Act.
And I hope Congress, who has talked about the importance of USAID, from Senator Moran and the importance of food and humanitarian assistance being delivered and not rotting within our ports, that we will come together as a country and say we need to do this in a way to continue to lead and make sure America is safe, because USAID, development, diplomacy and defense, that's what keeps us safe.
SOLOMON: And it may also ultimately, at this point, be the courts who decide that very point.
Susan Reichle, we appreciate you being with us today. Thank you.
REICHLE: Thank you.
SOLOMON: And President Trump's plan to shrink the federal work force now on hold. A U.S. judge suspended a Thursday night deadline to accept Mr. Trump's deferred resignation offer that was offered to two million federal employees. A new hearing on the legality of the plan is now scheduled for Monday. Now, unions say there is no way of knowing if the administration will keep its promise to pay resigning workers through the end of September. The White House official says that 65,000 people have already accepted the offer. Officials say that further out, sweeping layoffs are planned, potentially affecting those who don't take the offer.
Joining us now from the White House is CNN Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak. Kevin, what is the White House saying about all of this now?
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KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, what they saying is they are grateful to this judge for essentially extending the deadline by three days for federal workers to decide whether to essentially put themselves on paid administrative leave until September or face the risk of these layoffs that the White House says are coming, as they work to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government. Now, as you mentioned, as of last night, about 65,000 federal workers had taken the White House up on its offer. That's well short of their goal of five percent to 10 percent of the federal workforce, or about 100,000 federal workers.
I'll also note, it's short of just regular annual attrition statistics within the federal government. Every year, about 100,000 federal workers retire. It's an aging workforce. And so, this number that they've reached now is still well short of that. And I think it speaks just generally to the suspicion and skepticism among federal workers that they will actually see this money that the government is promising them in severance, that at the heart of it was the crux of this lawsuit that three federal unions brought, essentially saying that because Congress had not appropriated funds for this severance, that it may not be legal, and that, I think, is at the heart of why so many federal workers are viewing this with such an incredible amount of skepticism.
Now, yesterday, we did hear from the White House Press Secretary, again trying to press federal workers to take them up on their offer. Listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We encourage federal workers in this city to accept the very generous offer. If they don't want to show up to the office, if they want to rip the American people off, then they're welcome to take this buyout, and we'll find highly competent individuals who want to fill these roles.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIPTAK: Now, this does join a number of other lawsuits trying to block President Trump's executive action since he came into office, in part, that was part of the plan all along, to flood the system, to flood the courts. Ultimately, the White House feels fairly good about their legal chances, particularly if this goes all the way to the Supreme Court with its conservative majority.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And Kevin, this buyout has been one of the most obvious and the first impacts of the DOGE changes from Elon Musk, and we're now learning some new details about some of his associates. What are you hearing?
LIPTAK: Yeah. And these teams have been kind of burrowing into agencies, into financial systems, into data systems, but they've been protected by an incredible shroud of secrecy. People don't generally know who they are, but we are getting some more insight into at least a few of these individuals. One, The Wall Street Journal reported, was forced to resign after some old social media posts surfaced in which he was advocating racist views, advocating eugenics. After The Journal brought that up to the White House, he resigned. We have also heard about one of Elon Musk's associates at the Department of Energy who was given access to some of that department's data systems over the objections of the Department of Energy's Council.
And so, I think this all goes to speak to some of these teams, many of them very young, many of them not known to the public, who are now working with Musk to try and make quite a significant imprint on the federal government.
SOLOMON: OK. Kevin Liptak reporting for us from the White House. Kevin, thank you.
And still come for us, Benjamin Netanyahu has spent this week meeting with U.S. -- the U.S. President and several lawmakers. Coming up, details on this morning's talks with House Speaker Mike Johnson. Plus, the U.S. President is ramping up pressure on Panama over who controls the canal. What to expect for Mr. Trump's phone call with the President of Panama, when we come back.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. After a controversial week in Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is back on Capitol Hill. Today, he is meeting with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson. President Trump's plans for the U.S. to take over Gaza have stunned the world this week, with the majority of international voices insisting it can never happen, quite apart from the practicalities of how it could be done.
Mr. Netanyahu, meantime, says that no U.S. troops will be needed to carry out Donald Trump's plans, and Johnson has called the proposal a bold move, arguing that U.S. involvement could provide stability in the region.
Moments ago, the House Speaker praised Netanyahu and Trump's recent actions. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): What Israel has done in the past seven
months really is a testament to what can be accomplished when we do not let the enemy set the rules. As Prime Minister Netanyahu said Tuesday at the White House, when our enemies see daylight between Israel and the United States, they will exploit it, and we all know that is true, and that's why strong, decisive leadership is so crucial in this time. President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu both understand that peace is secured through strength, not appeasement, and not by turning our backs on our allies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Meanwhile, Germany's Chancellor is criticizing Donald Trump for going after the International Criminal Court. On Thursday, Mr. Trump announced sanctions against the ICC. He is apparently angry that the court issued a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that sanctions are the wrong way to try to influence the court. The U.S., Israel, China and Russia have all refused to join the ICC, limiting the court's ability to prosecute people from those countries.
In Panama, meantime, its President says that he will be speaking with President Trump this Friday. It comes after Mr. Trump, this week, reiterated his determination to take back the Panama Canal. He has accused Panama of ceding control of the critical waterway to China. President Raul Mulino has said that Panama's sovereignty over the canal is not up for debate.
Let's bring in now Patrick Oppmann, who is in Havana for us with more. So, Patrick, talk to us about what we're expecting to come from this discussion.
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it could be a breakthrough or a setback, because with these two world leaders, both temperamental presidents, to say the least, it has been somewhat rough going, despite the fact they should be able to work together because of a lot of the same priorities. But, as he took office, Donald Trump said that he intended to take back the Panama Canal militarily, if needed, that he felt that China, without providing any evidence, was controlling the canal, and that Panama charges the U.S. too much. Now, Jose Raul Mulino has been an advocate for better relations with the U.S. He has already said he will not continue an investment project by the Chinese in Panama. He has done a great deal to limit migration coming across the Darien Gap into Panama.
So, you would think these two leaders would hit it off. But, there was this bit of this glitch where the State Department said that Panama is going to waive tolls for U.S. Navy ships going through the canal. And we saw just yesterday, President Mulino and Panama firing back very angrily. So, we have to see which President Mulino, which President Trump, are on the phone today, if they're able to take the wins that Panama is going to cooperate more closely with the U.S. and move forward from there, or will there be some sort of diplomatic incident? Because the Panamanian people, the President of Panama have made it very, very clear that the canal is not up for debate.
SOLOMON: Patrick, turning now to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visiting Guantanamo Bay, what more can you share with us there?
OPPMANN: Well, she is expected to see the progress that is slowly being made on the facilities that could house as many as 30,000 undocumented migrants being sent from the United States. We have seen some of these migrants already begin to arrive on military flights. And this, of course, is just the latest chapter in the history of this very famous, some would say infamous, military base.
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OPPMANN (voice-over): It's the oldest overseas U.S. military base, and throughout the years, no stranger to controversy. The U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or Gitmo, was first leased from Cuba in 1903, a year after the end of the U.S. occupation of the island. Following the 1959 revolution, which aligned Cuba's government with the Soviet Union, the U.S. base was no longer welcome. Then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro cut off water to the base, and tens of thousands of explosive mines were placed along the base's fence line by both the U.S. and Cuban militaries. The base became all but inaccessible, except by boat or plane, which made Gitmo well situated in the 1990s to house thousands of Cuban and Haitian migrants trying to reach the U.S. by boat and to indefinitely imprison terror suspects following the September 11th attacks.
GEORGE W. BUSH, 43RD U.S. PRESIDENT: These people are being treated humanely. There are very few prison systems around the world that have seen such scrutiny as this one.
OPPMANN (voice-over): Despite those assurances, Guantanamo became synonymous with detainee abuse. Upon taking office, then-President Barack Obama vowed to close the base's prison.
BARACK OBAMA, 44TH U.S. PRESIDENT: I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists.
OPPMANN (voice-over): Closing Guantanamo for Cubans has a different meaning. In 2018, CNN was given rare access to Caimanera, a usually off-limits town just across the bay from the Navy base. Residents here said they hear the gunfire and explosions of military maneuvers from the base and enjoy the yearly July 4th firework show, but otherwise, have no contact with the U.S. naval presence that their government says should not be here.
OPPMANN (on camera): Each year, the U.S. government sends Cuba a check for just over $4,000 to lease the base, which Cuban officials say they don't actually cash. What they want is for the U.S. to return the base to Cuba. But, as under the original treaty, both governments have to agree to any changes to the base. It is unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon.
OPPMANN (voice-over): Ultimately, neither the Obama nor the Biden administrations were able to close the detention center for terror suspects, instead, transferring most of them to other countries. Now, only 15 detainees remain. For the U.S. Marines and civilian employees stationed here, Gitmo has the feel of a small town with a bowling alley for entertainment in Cuba's only McDonald's and Starbucks. But, under the Trump administration, the base may be busier than it has been in decades.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Today, I'm also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000 person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay. Most people don't even know about it. We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens.
OPPMANN (voice-over): It's not clear how long their migrants will remain, or how they would be repatriated to their countries of origin. Despite those questions, the migrants that the Trump administration calls the worst of the worst, had begun to arrive at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the foreseeable future, their new home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OPPMANN: And this logistical challenge of bringing these migrants by military flight, sometimes just 10 per flight, that's what we've seen in the two flights so far. Housing them, feeding them, putting them in these tent camps indefinitely, and then providing, as they are required to do, some kinds of legal services, that's just going to be a logistical nightmare. But, very clearly, the Trump administration is forging ahead, thinking that Guantanamo's fearsome reputation will be a deterrent to illegal immigration.
SOLOMON: OK. Patrick Oppmann reporting live for us there in Havana. Patrick, thank you.
And still come for us, growing anger in India over a U.S. deportation flight and the treatment of migrants on board. We'll tell you how one migrant described the conditions. Plus, the highly anticipated meeting at the White House getting underway this hour. Japan's Prime Minister says that he hopes to build trust with U.S. President Donald Trump. What the two leaders are expected to discuss, just ahead.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. And here are some of the international stories we're watching for you today.
Outrage is growing in India over the treatment of undocumented migrants deported from the U.S. About 100 Indian migrants were shackled during their entire 40-hour flight this week, even during bathroom breaks. That's according to at least one of the men who was on the plane. The news prompted a crowd in New Delhi to burn an effigy of President Trump. Some lawmakers also staged a protest near Parliament. CNN has reached out to the Pentagon and Customs and Border Protection for comment.
Greece's Prime Minister made a visit to Santorini Island today, urging people to remain calm amid a series of tremors that began shaking the island last week. The strongest with a magnitude of 5.2 hit on Wednesday. The island remains under a state of emergency, and experts warn that the intense seismic activity could suggest that a larger quake is yet to come. Santorini is home to 20,000 permanent residents, and it's a tourist destination that draws millions of visitors each year.
Well, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is in Washington this hour for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. The two are expected to discuss defense agreements, economic agreements. Mr. Ishiba is the first Asian leader to meet with President Trump since his return to the White House.
Let's bring in Hanako Montgomery, who is in Tokyo for more. Hanako, what more can we expect from this meeting? What are you watching?
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Rahel. It's good to see you. I mean, we can expect that this summit between Japan and the United States to not really make or break these bilateral ties, but we can expect the Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to really emphasize how important the U.S. and Japan ties are, not only for Japan, but also for the United States and the world.
Now, we can expect the two leaders to discuss matters related to security and economy. And on the security front, the two leaders will likely confirm their commitment to maintaining a free and open Indo- Pacific region and also peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Now, these are really two key issues that have come up during past bilateral summits as well, and of course, are of heightened concern and of heightened importance due to some of the security threats, the increasing security threats we're seeing from China and also a nuclear-powered North Korea.
Now, on the economic front, Rahel, we can expect the two leaders to announce some kind of investment and agreement in developing AI and semiconductors. And Ishiba, the Japanese Prime Minister, may also announce some kind of support for Trump's $44 billion gas pipeline project in Alaska, a project that is, of course, very close to Donald Trump's heart.
Now, Rahel, also important to note is that the Japanese Prime Minister will likely proceed with a lot of caution during today's summit, because Trump is often known for his erratic and unpredictable behavior, especially when it comes to foreign policy. I mean, we saw evidence of that earlier this week during his summit with the Benjamin -- with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I mean, Trump announced his plans to create Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East, and really caught the entire world by surprise.
[11:35:00]
Now, many of Ishiba's aides and the Japanese government are concerned that he might pull those same tricks during today's summit, and really catch Japan by surprise, make unduly demands of the country. Now, if, of course, Donald Trump does make these sort of tall orders, Japan will really have no choice but to commit to these. But, again, Ishiba is looking to prepare on how to deal with Trump, how to better negotiate with Trump. In fact, according to local media, Rahel, during this past week or so, Ishiba has been holding several meetings with different bureaucrats from different ministries in the hopes of better preparing himself for how to deal with an often bold and very persuasive Donald Trump, Rahel.
SOLOMON: And apparently studying, if you will, the playbook of Shinzo Abe, the previous Prime Minister, as he tries to understand who obviously had a very good relationship with Donald Trump.
Great to see you, Hanako Montgomery, and a lot to watch. Thank you.
And still ahead for us, the latest reading on the U.S. labor report. The jobs report for January is out. So, what does it tell us? What does it show us about the American economy? We'll get into it. Plus, President Trump keeps up the frantic pace in his third week in office. We'll catch you up at what his administration is doing with CNN political commentator and host Michael Smerconish.
Don't go away. We'll be right back.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. The first monthly U.S. jobs report since Donald Trump returned to the White House came out a short time ago, a few hours ago, and the labor market continued growing in January. 143,000 jobs were created last month. That was a little shy of most expectations, but the unemployment rate, that actually edged down to four percent. That is very low. Economists say that weather and wildfires in Los Angeles could have held back hiring data for last year, by the way, also revised, showing that the U.S. created about 600,000 fewer jobs in 2024 than first reported.
With me now is CNN's Matt Egan. Matt, break down this report for us. What do we learn?
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Rahel, January has a long history of having very messy and confusing jobs reports, and this one definitely lived up to that reputation. There were a lot of conflicting signals here, a lot of revisions.
So, let's go through the numbers, and then we'll try to clean it up and make sense of it all. The big number, 143,000 jobs. That's how many were added in January. That's not a bad number. That's basically in line with pre-COVID levels of job growth. But, this was a noticeable slowdown, and it was worse than expected, because we actually saw December was revised up to 307,000. So, this was less than half the pace of the growth that we saw in December.
Now, at the same time, the good news here was, yes, the unemployment rate unexpectedly dipped from 4.1 percent to just four percent. That is historically low. And I think when you put those two numbers together, it paints the picture of a jobs market where people generally are not really getting laid off in significant numbers. That, of course, is a relief. But, people are also not really quitting their jobs right now.
[11:40:00]
And so, that's why we've seen hiring slow down.
Now, you mentioned the fact that we had this extremely cold weather in January, and also the Los Angeles wildfires. And economists on Wall Street had been thinking that that would depress job growth in January. What's interesting is the BLS put out a note in today's jobs report, where they said that there was, quote, "no discernible effect from the LA wildfires or from the unusually cold temperatures". And yet, some economists do think that that was a factor here. It was just hard to measure. Then when we zoom out, we should just remember, four percent unemployment. I mean, that really is historically low.
I just went back and looked at the numbers. If you look at the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s, there was only one month where the jobs -- jobless rate was lower than it is right now, and that was back in January of 1970. Even during the roaring 1990s, you never had an unemployment rate this low. Of course, it was below four percent right before COVID, and right after COVID. Still, though, this just speaks to just how historically strong the jobs market has been. I just talked to Moody's economist Mark Zandi, and he said, listen, soak it in. This is a brief shining moment where the labor market is exactly where you want it to be. Rahel.
SOLOMON: All right, from the words of Mark Zandi and Matt Egan. Matt, thank you.
EGAN: Thanks, Rahel.
SOLOMON: All right. Let's discuss all of this much further with my next guest, Michael Smerconish, the host of CNN's Smerconish on Saturday mornings. He joins us live from Philadelphia. Michael, always a pleasure to have you on Fridays. Let's just start there. This jobs report essentially puts a book end on Biden's term. And Trump, so, he inherits this strong labor market, but he also has been injecting these fresh economic fears with the tariff policies. Michael, your thoughts, big picture on just what we've seen with the whiplash, with the tariffs this week, with Canada and Mexico. And what does that signal for us about the next four years?
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST, "SMERCONISH": I'm exhausted. I don't know about you, but the pace of this change, it feels like we're two years into Trump 2.0, not just two weeks into Trump 2.0, and I think that's probably the point, right? He is flooding the zone. There is so much news coming so quickly out of the White House, and Rahel, on so many different fronts, as you've just made reference to, that it's hard for his political opponents to keep pace. It's hard for them to fashion any type of a coherent response.
And although many in the country, because you know how close the election was, many in the country are horrified by what they see, to his supporters, they are saying he is delivering on the campaign promises that he made.
SOLOMON: What about -- how do you think his supporters are viewing the comments he made this week about Gaza? I mean, one of the things you often hear about why he won the election is that he had a better pulse compared to his opponent on American concerns and feelings, including the growing fatigue with foreign war. So, when he made those comments about Gaza, which was sort of eyebrow raising, what do you make of that, and now how his administration has tried to walk that back?
SMERCONISH: So, I think it was totally out of character for what we heard from Donald Trump, the candidate, as you point out, touting the fact that he had kept us out of forever wars. One thing that I think I've learned since the events of September 11 is that they were precipitated by this perception among American enemies that our foreign policy intervenes all over the globe and shouldn't be as active as it has been, meaning that it wasn't so much that Al-Qaeda attacked the United States because of our genes and our lattes and our lap dances and our freedoms, all the things that we were told by President Bush and his administration. But rather, it was a press perception of the U.S. interventionist foreign policy, in particular on what they regard as the Arabian Peninsula, which is largely referenced to Israel.
So, here is Donald Trump kind of taking that message, that lesson, and turning it on its head and putting us through his statements right back in a position that I think would make the United States or place the United States in the crosshairs where we don't want to be.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Michael, if you might indulge me, it's Friday. So, let's have a little fun. Sunday is obviously the big day --
SMERCONISH: Sure.
SOLOMON: -- the Philadelphia Eagles against the Kansas City Chiefs. I checked out your social media earlier, Michael. So, I know, unless you have changed, you are wearing green pants, rooting for the home team. You and I both hope they win. I'm proud. I'm proud. Still wearing the green pants. Yes.
SMERCONISH: By the way, Rahel, I intend not to take them off today, tomorrow or Sunday, until the game is over.
SOLOMON: I mean, you have to, these superstitions. Look, if they're your lucky pants, you got to keep them on. Everybody has to play their part, Michael. We obviously hope they win. They're the underdogs here. What are you expecting? What are you watching?
SMERCONISH: OK. So, I'm so glad that you brought this up. I'm going to stay away from the Xs and the Os of the game.
[11:45:00]
Of course, as a lifelong resident of the area, I'm for the Philadelphia Eagles. But, what I most appreciate about Sunday is we don't have days like this anymore. We don't have communal days in the United States when we're all doing the same thing, watching the same event, the fragmentation of the media, our viewing habits, our radio listening habits, the internet, like we're all over the place. But, on this one afternoon, on this one evening, this country comes together. Everybody is in front of their television set. It's a spectacle, in a good way, and I like that. There is something --
SOLOMON: Yeah.
SMERCONISH: -- redeeming in having a common denominator, because we don't have enough of them anymore.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Well said. Red, blue, black, white, different creeds. We're all sort of watching it --
SMERCONISH: Exactly.
SOLOMON: -- and you're rooting for your own team, and there is something very beautiful and very --
SMERCONISH: Yes.
SOLOMON: -- American about that.
Speaking of --
SMERCONISH: Amen.
SOLOMON: -- very American and unifying, let me ask. I have to mention that President Trump has had this bad blood with the Eagles before. The last time they won the Super Bowl, he did not invite them to the White House. Many players said that they weren't going to attend. Any reason to believe that if they win on Sunday, we might see a different reception from the current President.
SMERCONISH: Yes, and you know what that reason is. He carried the state of Pennsylvania in the most recent election. Everything is transactional to Donald Trump. And I think to his detriment, he keeps talking about the election returns as it relates to geographic aspects of our country. He went to North Carolina on the first Friday after his inauguration, then went to California. And in the midst of talking about relief for catastrophic storms, he talked about how well he had done or how well he had not done in particular areas. So, I think he'll be a different Donald Trump because of Pennsylvania in this election.
I found it interesting that Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Travis Kelce, who is the tight end and in a relationship with Taylor Swift, they were asked, how do they feel about President Trump coming to the game? And they both said, you know, they thought it was a great thing. He is the President, and it's kind of cool to play in a football game where he'll be in the house, whomever the President might be.
SOLOMON: Yeah. I caught that too. I thought it was a very political answer from Travis Kelce, who said, whoever is in the White House, it's pretty cool that they'll be there --
SMERCONISH: Totally.
SOLOMON: -- to watch the game. I'm so excited. I'm a little bit nervous.
But, Michael, we're keeping our thoughts high. We're keeping our energy high, and --
SMERCONISH: Yes.
SOLOMON: -- maybe I'll talk to you next Friday and we'll have some good news to talk about. That's Michael Smerconish. Appreciate you being here.
SMERCONISH: Look forward to it.
SOLOMON: As do I. And by the way --
SMERCONISH: Thank you. Thank you.
SOLOMON: -- you can catch Smerconish every Saturday at 09:00 a.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN.
All right. And the Super Bowl weekend, as we've been discussing, kickoff is underway. The Chiefs, the Eagles, all of their fans cannot wait for Sunday. We'll show you what's happening, including the halftime show, when we come back.
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SOLOMON: Well, maybe you've heard, but the city of New Orleans is now two days away from Super Bowl 59. The Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Philadelphia Eagles, and fans are gearing up for the big game, as is President Trump, who is expected to attend, and that will, of course, mean even higher level of security than was already planned following the New Year's Day terrorist attack in the city's French Quarter. Now, a source tells CNN that security preparations are very serious and pretty intense.
CNN's Andy Scholes is in New Orleans, and has more on Trump's attendance, as well as the prospect of a special surprise halftime guest who might join Kendrick Lamar on stage.
[11:50:00]
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Saquon Barkley needs just 30 yards on Sunday to end up with the most rushing yards ever for a player in a season and playoff. So, you know, the Chiefs are going to try to be gearing up that defense to stop him, which means Jalen Hurts is going to need to have a good game for the Eagles if they want to be victorious in Super Bowl 59. And two years ago in the Super Bowl, Hurts was fantastic against the Chiefs. He threw for more than 300 yards, had four total touchdowns, but of course, the Eagles fell short in that one. Well, Hurts says he is used that loss to fuel him to be even better in the biggest moments.
JALEN HURTS, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES QUARTERBACK: My mentality and my approach is always to find ways to better myself, and it's always looking internal first, and then looking at my teammates and how I can better the guys around me as well. So -- and I've always been focused on what I'm asked to do, and can I do it at a high level, and then also process in the way that I'm being taught to see the game, and then how I already see the game, and then obviously you have that burn and desire to win. So, all of those things are a priority to me.
SCHOLES: Now, only two players have ever been able to beat Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. That's Tom Brady and Joe Burrow. Hurts, certainly hoping he is the third come Sunday.
Now, President Trump is coming to New Orleans on Sunday. He is going to be the first sitting President to ever attend the Super Bowl, and Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce think, that's pretty cool.
TRAVIS KELCE, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TIGHT END: That's awesome. It's a great honor. I think, no matter who the President is, I know -- I'm excited, because it's the biggest game of my life, and having the President there, it's the best country in the world. So, it'd be pretty cool.
PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: It's always cool to be able to play in front of a sitting President, someone that is at the top position in our country. And so, I didn't see that clip, but obviously it's cool to hear that he has seen me play football in respects to the game that I play.
SCHOLES: Now, Thursday, we had the Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl halftime press conference. It wasn't a traditional press conference like years past. No questions came from the media, and Lamar said his performance on Sunday will be like his career and focus on storytelling, and he didn't give any hints on any surprise guests that may show up. But, Taylor Swift and Lamar, they did collaborate on that 2014 Bad Blood remix. A lot of Swifties are certainly hoping that she shows up at halftime. We'll have to wait and see.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: And as always, Andy there on the great reporting on the must- see sporting events. Not sure, though, Swifties are going to calmly wait and see if Taylor hits the stage.
Let's bring in CNN's Lisa Respers France, who knows all about all things, entertainment in the halftime show. Lisa, great to see on a Friday. Let's pick up where Andy left off there. This is going to be Kendrick's biggest stage. He has had an incredible year, and some might be speculating about Taylor Swift and whether she will perform, but a lot of other people are going to be speculating about whether he will perform his "Not Like us" hit. Talk to us about what you're expecting and the controversy there.
LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN REPORTER: Yeah. I'm expecting, first of all, that Taylor Swift is not going to take the stage. I personally think that she is such a good girlfriend that she is not going to want to overshadow what is such a huge game for Travis Kelce. I know people feel like it would just be natural, because her and Kendrick did bad blood together for her to just jump up there, but he has been so supportive of her career, Travis Kelce has, and she is equally supportive of his career. So, I just don't see it happening, even though I feel like the Swifties are willing it to happen, just like I want myself to dress like you today and wear the right color, Rahel. So --
SOLOMON: Yeah. I mean, Lisa, you and I are always kind of here.
FRANCE: Always.
SOLOMON: We're always here.
FRANCE: Always.
SOLOMON: But, looking good. So, talk to us a little bit about Kendrick Lamar. A lot of people are really excited about this. We just heard from Andy there that storytelling is going to be really big in this halftime show. What more can we expect from him? We know SZA is going to be performing.
FRANCE: Yes.
SOLOMON: What more might we see from Kendrick Lamar?
FRANCE: Everyone is going to be waiting to see how he handles "Not Like us", especially in light of the fact that there is currently a lawsuit. Drake has sued his own record label over this song. Now, while Kendrick is not named as a defendant in this suit, people want to see how he handles, especially the lyrics in which he is calling Drake a pedophile. And it's such an incredibly popular song. It won five Grammys for him. He -- two of them, two of the biggest ones, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. And it was interesting to watch during the Grammys, when he was taking the stage at one point to accept one of his awards, the entire audience sang part of the lyric.
And so, we know it's an incredibly popular song. People are expecting that he is going to perform it, and people want to see how he handles it. Is he going to lean more into dissing Drake even further, or is he going to maybe remix it? We just don't even know how he is going to handle it. But, I think the expectation is he is going to put on an incredible show, because he always does, Rahel.
[11:55:00]
And -- I mean, as you point out, he has had such an amazing year, and that song, "Not Like us", was the song of 2024, and a lot of people feel like it's what propelled him to be able to even be the person who was going to do the halftime show, because it was just the beef was so popular --
SOLOMON: Yeah.
FRANCE: -- the song was so popular, and Kendrick is so popular.
SOLOMON: Yeah. I mean, and to be fair, it wouldn't be the first time that a halftime show sort of spark some controversy, or really spark some conversation. We can point to a lot of shows that have done that, and he may not say the lyrics, but that doesn't mean that everybody in the stands and everybody at home, they may say them. So, that means there is that too.
FRANCE: Millions of people are going to be screaming out a minor. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. We just have to wait for it.
SOLOMON: Yeah. It should be a lot to watch. And it goes without saying, Lisa, great to have you. And --
FRANCE: Thanks.
SOLOMON: -- on this Friday, before I go, let me just make it very clear, go birds. We'll see if --
FRANCE: Yes.
SOLOMON: -- we'll see how I feel on Monday about that, but I would just put that out there. Lisa, thank you. Have a great weekend.
FRANCE: Thank you. You too.
SOLOMON: All right, and thank you for spending some time with me today. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. Stick with CNN. One World is coming up next. I'll see you next week.
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