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No Significant Gas, Carbon Monoxide Leaks Found In Hackman Home; Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) Discusses Trump Tariffs On Canada, Mexico, China & Trump Defending Tariffs; Massive, Multi-Threat Storm Slamming Eastern Half Of U.S. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired February 13, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:33:08]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The mystery surrounding the deaths of Oscar- winning actor, Gene Hackman, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, remains unsolved, and now one possibility is being ruled out.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Well, the New Mexico gas company says it conducted an extensive search for signs of a gas or carbon monoxide leak in their Santa Fe home and found nothing significant.

The bodies were found in separate rooms of the house, and officials say may have been there for several weeks before being discovered.

CNN's Veronica Miracle joins us now with the latest.

Veronica, what are you hearing?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris and Brianna, the findings from the gas company, it's pretty significant because it means that they did not die because of a gas leak. That's according to authorities,

The gas company did find a minuscule leak they described from the stovetop in the kitchen, but not enough to be anywhere near lethal.

They also found several code violations, the fireplaces, as well as the water heater. And they also don't think that that contributed to their deaths.

So all of this information is going to be handed over to the medical investigator who's conducting the autopsies, which will certainly be part of their investigation.

But we also understand that Hackman and Arakawa, they both tested negative for carbon monoxide poisoning.

So what do we know at this point? We know that a natural gas leak, as well as carbon monoxide poisoning, don't appear to be factors in their death.

There was no external trauma, so no sign of foul play. And Hackman's, excuse me, his pacemaker and data from his pacemaker was last recorded nine days before their bodies were found.

So as we get more information and things are getting ruled out, it's actually becoming more confusing and not clear as to exactly how they died.

We should be getting body camera footage from the sheriff's office in a couple of weeks, which could potentially, you know, open up more questions.

It could potentially answer some of the questions that so many people have. But really, that autopsy report, I think, is the next big thing that we're looking for.

[14:35:06]

KEILAR: And, Veronica, what about the dog that was found dead in the home? There were two that were alive and well, but there was one that was found dead, right?

MIRACLE: Yes. There's been some confusion about which dog died. Deputies initially said that one of the German Shepherds was found dead, but apparently it was a Kelpie mix.

The sheriff's office said, yes, one of their deputies did misidentify the breed of the dog. But they don't work with dogs regularly so you can understand the confusion there.

But because so many people are interested in this case, the department is certainly under extreme scrutiny as to every piece of information that they put out -- Boris and Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Veronica, thank you for the latest there.

Coming up, Elon Musk on Capitol Hill. He is meeting with Republican lawmakers as they're facing very angry constituents back home who are registering complaints about DOGE cuts. Stay with CNN.

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[14:40:31]

KEILAR: President Trump says he told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Canada's efforts to reduce fentanyl trafficking are not good enough. Trump posted there that their call today ended "in a somewhat friendly manner."

And while a one-month carve-out for cars was announced for autos, neither side announced any major breakthroughs in what has been this escalating trade war.

Trump also posted that he blamed Trudeau, saying, quote, "He largely caused the problems we have with them because of his weak border policies."

With us now is Republican Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis of New York. She represents Staten Island. Congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us.

Your state borders Canada. So I know that you're aware just how little fentanyl comes over the Canadian border. Fiscal year 2024, 43 pounds seized at the Canadian border 21,889 pounds at the Mexican border.

Less than half a pound coming over the Canadian border this past January. How can we be anything but skeptical that fentanyl is really the basis for these tariffs?

REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS (R-NY): Well, I don't think fentanyl is the only problem. There are many other drugs and there are lots of drugs that are coming over from Canada.

And in fact, earlier this week we met with Tom Homan, who is the border czar, and he just talked about how much they've been able to significantly reduce, with cooperation with Canada, the drugs that are coming in through our northern border.

I think it's an issue, regardless of whether it's a southern border or a northern -- northern border. We just need to make sure that it's safe. We need to make sure that we don't have gang members or terrorists or cartels and -- and these -- these drugs coming through that are killing American citizens.

And so I think, look, whatever tool in the toolbox, the president has to be able to get cooperation from our neighboring nations is important. I think the goal here should be to avoid implementing tariffs.

But again, we know that president -- the president uses this to try to get certain foreign policy outcomes. And in this case, he's doing what he can to protect American citizens, making sure that they don't die from these drugs or from violent individuals or terrorists that could potentially be crossing over.

So let's see how it plays out. It seems they had a productive conversation today. And hopefully, we'll see that these tariffs will not -- if implemented, will not be lasting much longer.

KEILAR: It might not matter in terms of outcomes where these things come through. But it certainly does matter in terms of policy prescriptions for where you're targeting.

And when you're talking about individuals coming over, new U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows a drop in migrant crossings on the northern border, down 60 percent from October to December even.

The most recent assessment by the DEA doesn't even mention fentanyl coming in from Canada as a drug trafficking threat to the U.S. I say -- I see you highlighting other drugs, but Trump is highlighting fentanyl, and this is his policy. So how do you square that?

MALLIOTAKIS: Well, I think he mentions fentanyl, but -- because that is the worst of the drugs that we're seeing coming in. But I think it's all drugs that the president is concerned about. And we can't, you know, turn a blind eye to the fact that, since

President Trump took office, we have seen a significant drop, not just in drugs being trafficked into the country, but in illegal immigrants.

And we know, seeing the individuals that have come to cities like mine in New York, these were -- these were horrible gang members, gang leaders. These we're people who we're trafficking these drugs.

There were people who were committing violent offenses, even people who have either murdered people in their home country or murdered people when they came to New York.

And so that's the reality of what was coming through our southern border. And we understand, you know, we - we -- we welcome people who want to achieve the American dream and want to follow our rules and laws.

But there were a lot of people who, number one, broke the law by entering the way they did. But number two, were committing horrific crimes.

And I could say in my city, thousands of people, thousands of people have -- were arrested for committing crimes. And that's who the president has been focused on in removing from our country.

And he has a lot of support from the American people to do that, because people do not want to have criminals or drugs, whether it's fentanyl or a different drug, in -- on our streets, killing our children, hurting our citizens and affecting our public safety.

KEILAR: Yes, incredibly concerning. The drop in crossings we were seeing before he came into office, we should note as well.

But on these costs of tariffs being passed on to consumers, what are your constituents telling you about their concerns on that?

[14:45:07]

MALLIOTAKIS: Well, my -- my constituents are just in a wait-and-see approach. Obviously, they hear on the news that this could potentially rise prices or increase prices for them. And that is a concern of these high times of inflation.

However, we saw President Trump take this very same approach with Communist China. He placed tariffs and these we're the same things we we're hearing back then when he placed tariffs on Chinese goods.

And what happened? President Biden came in and actually kept those tariffs in place. Not only kept those tariffs in place, but then added an additional 10 percent tariffs on certain goods.

So I think, you know, we have to see how the policy actually works out. I think we've been able to garner some very good things from the neighboring governments, whether it be more troops at our southern border. We saw Canada also placed the cartels on a terror, a terror list and treat them, treat them as such. And I think that they're very -- they're obviously more concerned

about public safety, but they are concerned about the economics as well.

And again, I think this is being used as a tool. I don't necessarily think that it's going to last long. Last time we heard this from the president, it was -- it was canceled immediately before it went into effect.

KEILAR: So you are, I should note, on Ways and Means, which is the powerful House tax-writing committee. We expect you're going to be busy.

I do note, though, would voters appreciate a tax cut more if they weren't taking it in the shorts on tariffs?

MALLIOTAKIS: Look, I think people want to save money and keep more money in their pocket regardless of how it happens. I think that's -- the Republican principle is to let people keep more of their hard- earned tax dollars. And we want to try to bring down prices.

If we -- we don't want to see the tariffs that are going to impact the price of goods. But as I said, when they did it in China, it didn't necessarily affect those prices. And Joe Biden kept him in for an additional four years. And I don't even know that these tariffs are going --

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KEILAR: Well, no -- no, Congresswoman

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KEILAR: I mean, you're hearing -- with all due respect, you're hearing the projections. No one is expecting that this is not going to affect the bottom line.

You already heard Trump last night asking farmers to bear with him.

MALLIOTAKIS: Well --

KEILAR; I mean, it's just very clear what we're hearing from economists. It's broadly expected this is going to --

MALLIOTAKIS: Yes, I know that --

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KEILAR: -- increase prices. You've heard this from the Target CEO. You have targets on Staten Island. I mean, that's the expectation.

MALLIOTAKIS: Well, I've met with multiple people who import goods from other countries, and they have not expressed those types of concerns.

But I will say, again, let's look at what happened with Communist China when he put a 50 percent tariffs. We did not see that type of increase.

But with regards to taxes, look, we have a great opportunity here right now. President Trump again reiterated last night the desire to reduce taxes on tipped workers, on working families, on senior citizens who are on Social Security, struggling check to check. Let them keep more of their hard earned money.

And the savings that we're finding should be passed on to these taxpayers because they deserve it. It's their money.

And so I look forward to working with the president on this. I think we have a good opportunity to not just extend the Tax Cut and Jobs Act provisions of 2017 that was across the board.

We saw personal income tax decrease. We saw a corporate tax rate decrease --

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MALLIOTAKIS: -- which allowed for more repatriation and economic effect. But $1.5 trillion --

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KEILAR: I do just have to be clear, Congresswoman --

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KEILAR: -- because what you're talking about, the tariffs this go round, I mean, it's so much bigger than what happened before. So you can't -- you can't compare, you know, apples to a watermelon, right? You just can't --

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MALLIOTAKIS: Hear me about the taxes.

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KEILAR: No. I am.

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KEILAR: I am. I am. But then you --

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KEILAR: I am. But you are trying to minimize the effect of the tariffs. And if you're looking at --

MALLIOTAKIS: I'm -- I'm not minimizing the effect of -- I'm not minimizing the effect of the tariffs. What I'm saying is --

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KEILAR: You're raising the idea that it won't actually impact -- MALLIOTAKIS: -- a very good chance -- I'm raising the idea that they

may actually not go into effect.

That perhaps President Trump is focused on a policy objective, that he will achieve, that will prevent -- if these -- if these tariffs go into effect, they're going to be for a very short period of time to get a desired outcome. That's what I'm trying to say.

But look at what the president has been able to do. His -- his threats of tariffs has brought $1.5 trillion in private investment already from companies that were doing business in Mexico, doing business overseas.

And so there is something to be said about using tariffs as a way to repatriate manufacturing here in this country. It is -- and he made that contrast last night.

While the Democrats have handed out billions, hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits to try to incentivize investment here, he's saying if we -- we look to impose tariffs that are reciprocal, reciprocal tariffs.

[14:49:59]

We can actually move these industries here to the United States, create jobs, make here in America and build our supply chain in a -- in a much more responsible way that saves taxpayers money in the long run.

KEILAR: He -- he had to hand out $27 billion in taxpayer funds to farmers with his last tariffs. So it's not without cost. I just want to be clear.

But Congresswoman, we -- we appreciate you. We appreciate talking to you about what's happening, certainly, and what you're hearing from your constituents.

Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, thanks for being with us.

MALLIOTAKIS: Thank you.

KEILAR: We'll be right back.

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SANCHEZ: Tornadoes, near hurricane-force winds, fires and blizzard- like conditions. That's the winter weather storm wreaking havoc right now for millions of Americans, from the Midwest to the eastern shore, bringing scenes like this one.

Look at this. Whiteout conditions along an Iowa interstate. And look at the ferocious winds just peeling off part of the roof of this county jail in Mississippi.

[14:55:09]

Let's go to Meteorologist Derek Van Dam, who is tracking what's been happening at the CNN Weather Center.

Derek, what's the latest?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, dramatic video there, Boris. And I want to show you one other piece of video. This is what those 74-mile-an-hour wind gusts can do.

This is hurricane-force gusts that took this private jet and slammed it into another airplane, and one of the airstrips close to the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

It's part of a larger storm system that is racing across the country with a triple threat. You mentioned it, blizzards, high winds, the potential for severe storms still ongoing, and other threats associated with this system as well.

So let's talk about the bigger picture here because, as it stands, we have already clocked over 225 severe weather reports, all indicated with these little dots or icons labeled across the eastern third of the country, eastern two-thirds, really.

Eight of which we're tornadoes, confirmed tornadoes from Oklahoma to Texas, but a majority of them were wind events.

And they're still ongoing across the eastern seaboard because the line of thunderstorms responsible for that high wind is marching through the Carolinas and the mid-Atlantic as we speak.

But some of these wind gusts are impressive. This is near or above that category one Atlantic hurricane threshold. So very powerful, ferocious winds that have knocked out power for hundreds and thousands of customers.

Especially in the state of Texas, but also across the southeast, where this morning, storms ripped through the Carolinas and into southern Georgia.

Now we've got this area here with the Outer Banks and into portions of eastern west -- eastern Virginia having an enhanced risk of severe storms through the course of the evening.

That yellow, that's a slight risk. Damaging winds, a few tornadoes cannot be ruled out.

The light at the end of the tunnel, though, Boris, is that these storms are quickly exiting off the eastern seaboard will die things down.

But there's still a full-fledged blizzard going on across parts of the Great Lakes as we speak. So, so much to talk about -- Boris?

SANCHEZ: Derek Van Dam, thank you so much for keeping track of that for us.

Coming up, the White House press secretary says that President Trump's hostage envoy has the right to talk to Hamas when asked about whether the U.S. is in talks with the militant group. We'll discuss the implications in just moments.

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