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Protest Movement Targets 500 Tesla Locations Worldwide; Boston Judge Halts Deportation Order Against Tufts University Student; Vance Says Trump Standing Behind National Security Team After Signal Chat Scandal; Rescue Efforts Underway in Deadly Myanmar and Thailand Earthquake; White House Correspondents Dinner Not to Feature a Comedian Headliner; New Auto Tariffs Set to Go into Effect Wednesday. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 29, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. Protests are breaking out in cities around the world today over Tesla Motors and the moves of Elon Musk within the Trump administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROTESTERS: Deport Musk. Deport Musk. Deport Musk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: From coast to coast protesters are engaged in what they are calling the, quote, "Tesla takedown," from Tucson to Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. People are hitting the streets with signs and even dancing. "Honk if you hate Elon."

In Germany, Tesla vehicles are seen in fire in surveillance video from overnight. In Berlin, folks were holding signs and they were laying down on the floor of a showroom in opposition to Trump administration policies. While in London, protesters held signs asking supporters to, quote, "Honk if you hate Elon."

In an interview on FOX News, Elon Musk said he doesn't blame protesters, but anti-democratic rhetoric for the demonstration against Tesla.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, TESLA CEO: My companies are suffering because I'm in the government. You just pointed that out a moment ago.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: Right.

MUSK: Do you think it going to help sales if, you know, dealerships are being firebombed? Of course not. And Tesla customers are being intimidated all over the country and all over Europe. Does that help Tesla? I mean, you had Tim Walz, who's a huge jerk, right, you know, running around on stage with a Tesla stock price having -- where the stock price had gone in half. And he was overjoyed.

Bret, what an evil thing to do. What a creep. What a jerk. Like who derives joy from that? And it was pointed out to him that actually, you know, Minnesota state pension fund is a major investor in Tesla. But he didn't care. He was so overjoyed by Tesla's stock going in half.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's bring in CNN's Maribel Gonzalez now who is in Pasadena, California, where it looks like there's a pretty sizable crowd behind you.

MARIBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, the protest here is ramping up. We're seeing more and more people arrive to this location. Right now they're holding signs outside of a Tesla store, some of them saying, stand up to Elon, asking for Elon to step down from his role in the government. This is amid his slashes and downsizing of federal agencies and employees as a leader of DOGE.

Now, the protesters here are saying they want to stand up against these policies that he's implemented by protesting what his company, they're asking people to sell their Teslas if they have them, and to also get rid of their Tesla stocks.

Now, we know that for the most part, all of these protests have been peaceful. These are some of the protests that are happening across the country. As you mentioned right now at this hour, we know that there are local organizers in at least 28 states that are doing just this same this weekend.

Now, these are peaceful, as we mentioned, but we know that there's been some violent attacks and acts of vandalism against Tesla vehicle owners. The cars, I should say, and of Tesla facilities themselves. Today we're learning that a 36-year-old man in Las Vegas has been charged with state and federal charges for supposedly setting several Tesla vehicles on fire at a facility in Las Vegas.

Like I said, these protests are just starting. But there are more and more people arriving, and we expect them to keep growing. Organizer of this protest told me that as of yesterday, they had about 100 people signed up to come and to protest at this specific location alone, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Maribel Gonzalez, thank you so much.

All right. And now, a federal judge in Boston is issuing an order to stop immigration officials from deporting a Tufts University grad student who was confronted on the sidewalk and then arrested this week.

CNN's Rafael Romo is following the developments, and he's here with me right now.

Rafael, what is the latest?

RAFAEL ROMO CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a very controversial case, Fredricka. And what's temporarily stopping U.S. immigration authorities from removing this 30-year-old PhD student is an order published by a Massachusetts district court. Judge Denise Casper wrote that Rumeysa Ozturk, who is currently in detention at a Louisiana facility, shall not be removed from the United States until further order from this court.

As you may remember, Ozturk was arrested Tuesday night near her home by six plainclothes officers who suddenly encircled her on the street near her apartment in Somerville, Massachusetts, in the Boston area. Her attorneys say the Tufts University international student was transported across multiple states before ending up at the Louisiana facility.

[15:05:05]

In a statement, Ozturk's attorney Masha Khanbabai said the following about the federal judge's order. "This is a first step in getting Rumeysa released and back home to Boston so she can continue her studies. But we never should have gotten here in the first place. Rumeysa's experience is shocking, cruel, and unconstitutional."

Ozturk, Fred, is one of several international university students facing deportation following a Trump administration order to crack down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses.

This is what Secretary of State Marco Rubio had to say about these cases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You're saying it could be more than 300 visas?

RUBIO: Sure. I mean, at some point, I hope we run out because we've gotten rid of all of them. Why would any country in the world allow people to come and disrupt? We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree, not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses. And if we've given you a visa and then you decide to do that, we're going to take it away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK, so there have been a number of other foreigners whose visas have been revoked or threatened to be taken away. You've mentioned that. Is there one in particular that stands out?

ROMO: Yes, there's one that caught my attention, Fred. And that's because this case stands out, that of a Russian scientist who was detained after failing to declare frog embryos. You heard that right. Frog embryos. Upon returning to Boston from France, according to her attorney. Kseniia Petrova, who works at Harvard Medical School, has been detained for weeks and could be deported. Her attorney, Greg Romanovsky, says his client faces deportation to her native country, where he says she would face immediate arrest over her previous outspoken opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Romanovsky says she has an immigration court hearing in Louisiana in early May. But again, her chances are not very good.

WHITFIELD: And again, in Louisiana, that seems to be have become the place where people are being taken.

ROMO: That's right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Rafael Romo, appreciate that.

All right. The Trump administration is facing continued fallout from the leak of military strike plans by top U.S. security officials. On Capitol Hill Democrats and some GOP leaders are calling for an investigation into the matter. But on Friday, Vice President Vance says he and President Trump are standing behind the members of the National Security Team who were on the text chain.

CNN's Betsy Klein is joining us now from West Palm Beach, near Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, where he's spending the weekend.

Betsy, what else is the White House willing to say about this?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, Fredricka, this entire Signal group chat debacle, starting with the sharing of what is almost certainly sensitive and classified information by Trump's top National Security officials as it pertained to a forthcoming military operation in Yemen, as well as the White House's subsequent efforts to clean it up through its communications office really mark the first significant self-inflicted crisis of President Trump's second term.

Now, what we are learning is that Signal is something that the president hadn't even heard of until Monday, when this story first came out. This encrypted app is something that the president, who just started texting himself just a few years ago, had to have an aide explained to him what it was and what had taken place, and the way the president talked about the app as he was asked about it repeatedly throughout the week, made very clear that he had never used it himself.

Ultimately, the president is pinning blame on his National Security adviser, Mike Waltz, who was the person who added that "Atlantic" journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to the group text. Of course, Goldberg has been a frequent target of Trump's ire. He is someone who reported during Trump's first term that the president referred to Americans who died in war as suckers and losers, and the two have had an extremely contentious relationship.

But sources familiar with the president's views say that overall, the president has been incredibly frustrated by this entire episode and feels that it really marred a strong start to his second term, which has otherwise had very unified messaging efforts. He has privately told top officials that he wants guidance reviewed on how Signal is used throughout the federal government, Fredricka. And of course, most of the finger pointing internally is taking place aimed at Mike Waltz. But President Trump, for his part, is really downplaying any concerns about his Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.

Of course, Hegseth is the one who shared those very sensitive operational details about the Houthi targets in Yemen and all of this as our CNN colleagues have reported, that the texts may have done long-term damage to the United States' ability to gather critical intelligence on the Houthis going forward -- Fredricka.

[15:10:04]

WHITFIELD: All right, Betsy Klein, thank you so much.

All right. Joining me right now to talk more about these developments is retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis. He is a CNN senior military analyst and a former NATO Supreme Allied

Admiral, great to see you.

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: Always great to see you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So what do you think should happen in the aftermath of this leak of top Trump security officials discussing military plans?

STAVRIDIS: Well, number one, they all ought to get off of Signal, get off of any kind of unclassified level app. So that's pretty easy. And I think that's where the administration is going with reviewing, hey, who's actually on Signal? Number two, where are all of the cell phones where these violations occurred? I hope they've been gathered up and are locked up in a lead lined container, because that's where the real vulnerability is to Russia and China.

Number three, this screams for a serious investigation. I'm encouraged by the fact that there's a bipartisan effort to get one going out of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senator Roger Wicker, who is a Republican, and his counterpart, Jack Reed, who's the leading Democrat, are pushing hard to get an unbiased, open investigation. Those are the three immediate things that need to happen.

WHITFIELD: So to follow up on all those things you just mentioned, so the Senate Armed Services Committee, is that sufficient, the investigation, you know, begins and ends there, or do you believe another entity ought to be brought into this?

STAVRIDIS: I think that's ultimately a decision for the attorney general. But she's already indicated unwillingness to go forward. So I think we're going to have to be content with an investigation shepherded by the Congress. And that's quite appropriate. It should either be the Justice Department from the executive branch or the Congress from another branch. And ultimately, some things may or may not end up in the court system. But an investigation is crucial because of all the big implications of this that we've been talking about for days now.

WHITFIELD: And then a follow up on, you said rounding up all the cell phones. Why?

STAVRIDIS: Because if that classified information appeared on them, which it clearly seems it did, there remain vulnerabilities in the devices themselves. And oh, by the way, how about the devices and the mainframes at the "Atlantic" where they flood into the system of Jeffrey Goldberg?

So these are seemingly unimportant loose ends, Fredricka. But if we don't get after them, they're going to be vulnerable. And then final thought, if this operation was conducted at the very highest levels on Signal on those cell phones, what happened over the last two months? Have we already compromised other information? Those are all open questions.

WHITFIELD: Officials are, you know, saying that the texts sent by the National Security Adviser Waltz, director of CIA, John Ratcliffe, you know, in Signal chat may have also damaged ongoing abilities of the U.S. to gather intel on the Houthis. To what degree? I mean, what did that information, much of which has been made public now, reveal to the Houthis that perhaps might undermine any other potential of intel gathering?

STAVRIDIS: I think in two ways, one is tactical. So the Houthis, if you infer from the conversations that were occurring that there's inside information coming out of Yemen to U.S. sources, then you're going to see a Houthi crackdown inside their organization. They'll go after whoever they think did this. And there are some clues, perhaps unknown to us, but known to them, that could cause those types of intelligence information and human intelligence, HUMINT, as it's called, could dry up.

Secondly, there's a strategic problem here, which is this. All of our allies in, for example, the NATO countries and the Arab world, look at these leaks and they have got to be saying to themselves, hmm, I wonder if we really want to continue open sharing of all of the intelligence we're gathering with the United States if we can't be confident it's going to be protected. So there's both a tactical and a strategic component to this. And quite clearly, this will create challenges as we go forward.

Hey, final thought by the way. I'm in favor of going after the Houthis. We should be launching these strikes. This appears to have been a very successful strike luckily. That's a different subject than we've been talking about, but it's important to make that point as well.

[15:15:06]

WHITFIELD: OK. And then I want to ask you about Greenland, a place in which you're very familiar, that military base, because you commanded that military base, that Vice President JD Vance traveled to yesterday, as part of your responsibilities as commander of U.S.- European Command for four years. You heard the vice president there who was really condemning, criticizing Denmark for not protecting Greenland enough.

Was that your experience while there? Did you have a similar observation? Do you concur with what the vice president said?

STAVRIDIS: Well, first and foremost, as a territory of Denmark, Greenland enjoys all of the protections that any other part of NATO does. So the entire NATO alliance is on the hook to defend. And that's, oh, by the way, why we have a major and strategically vital U.S. base way up north, 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, all the way up there in Greenland. So I think it's a little bit disingenuous to say, oh, Denmark isn't doing enough when the entire alliance is standing behind them.

Point two is on the side of why Denmark is important. It's huge. It's three times the size of Texas. Geographically important. It's also full of strategic minerals. It's not crazy to talk about some form of relationship between the United States and Greenland. After all, we bought Alaska. We bought the Louisiana Purchase. We bought the Gadsden Purchase, we bought the American Virgin Islands from Denmark about 100 years ago.

WHITFIELD: So the U.S. need to annex Greenland?

STAVRIDIS: I don't think this is a mission for the 82nd Airborne. Sometimes how you do something is more important than what you're trying to do. And this is one of those cases. This is not a case for annexation or invasion. This is a case for creating a win-win outcome by working with the Danes and the Greenlanders. Perhaps we can have some kind of very high end trade and security association, Fred, like we have with the Marshall Islands, for example, in the Pacific.

WHITFIELD: All right. Admiral James Stavridis, thank you so much. Great to see you. Appreciate it.

STAVRIDIS: Always good. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rescuers are digging through the rubble, hoping to find survivors after the worst earthquake in Myanmar in more than a century. That's next.

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[15:22:13]

WHITFIELD: We're continuing to monitor breaking news out of Myanmar, where rescue operations are underway following a devastating earthquake on Friday.

The death toll in Myanmar rising to more than 1600 today, with fears that many more victims are still trapped under rubble. The shockwaves traveling hundreds of miles away collapsing a building under construction in Thailand.

CNN's Will Ripley is live for us right now out of Bangkok.

What's the latest on the rescue or recovery?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred, I'm going to ask Isaac to actually zoom in so I can show you what's happening here. At almost 2:30 in the morning you still have a lot of crews out here at what's left of that 30-story skyscraper. And we just learned a few minutes ago, actually, that they have pulled one more body from the rubble. Apparently the body was recovered from near the top of that pile of concrete and twisted metal.

You have had hundreds of workers out here digging. Some of them walked past me, Fred. They were holding these, you know, hand saws and these drills. So they're largely digging by hand, even though you see the heavy machinery there, trying to make sure that they don't disturb the pile too much in case they could find people alive. And yet on Saturday, they found one body. And now in the early morning hours here, Sunday local time, one more body.

Not the news that families were waiting here, hoping to hear. And as bad as this situation is, it is even worse in Myanmar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (voice-over): In earthquake ravaged Myanmar, families sift through the rubble, searching for signs of life. All too often finding death.

Mother, I'm your son. May you please go to a proper abode, says this man, holding his mom's lifeless hand.

One of many devastating scenes across the crippled city of Mandalay. Damage stretches across entire neighborhoods, homes and historic buildings reduced to rubble. Buddhist monasteries, places of peace and reflection, now piles of debris. Geologists say the massive 7.7 earthquake had the energy of hundreds of atomic bombs. Myanmar's worst quake in more than a century, hitting right during Friday prayers. Many mosques collapsed, trapping Muslim worshipers inside.

After several years of brutal civil war and largely self-imposed isolation, the leader of Myanmar's military junta surveyed the devastation, making a rare plea for international aid, now slowly beginning to arrive from China, Russia, India.

[15:25:01]

Other countries have also pledged support. For this impoverished nation help cannot come quickly enough. The 7.7 magnitude earthquake and its powerful aftershocks likely leaving parts of the nation uninhabitable.

With severe damage hundreds of miles from the epicenter, including in Thailand's capital city of Bangkok, skyscrapers swaying so violently, rooftop pools briefly became waterfalls.

And this 30-story high rise under construction near a popular weekend market collapsed without warning, likely trapping dozens inside.

Here in Bangkok, heavy machinery is now sifting through the rubble of that collapsed skyscraper. They do have the resources and the manpower for a massive disaster response. But with each passing hour of not finding anyone alive and all that rubble, hope for the families is fading.

(Voice-over): Search and rescue teams are doing everything they can. Sniffer dogs picking up possible signs of life, giving hope to this wife and mother of two who was working in the building with her husband of 30 years, but stepped outside for a break just before the quake.

I'm looking for my husband, she says. He's trapped inside. Until I see his body, I still have hope.

Drone footage captures the scale of the collapse, a tangled mass of steel and concrete where rescuers continued searching all day Saturday and only one dead body recovered.

I'm praying my mom and sister are among the survivors, she says. But I see how fast the building went down. It's hard to hold on.

Hope is still alive here, but barely.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (on-camera): You know, when you stand outside here long enough, your skin and your clothing starts to get covered with this layer of concrete dust that's just covered everything scattered from the collapse. I mean, these people, these volunteers who, by the way, you walk past them, even at this ungodly hour, they'll flash you the most genuine smile you've ever seen. It's almost in the Thai DNA to be kind and friendly even in these times of crisis.

They're cooking meals for each other out here. Hundreds of people. It's just -- it's heartwarming to see despite the terrible circumstances. And actually, Thailand is also going to be sending a flight to Myanmar tomorrow so that their disaster teams can survey the need and hopefully take some of these resources and bring them where they're very badly needed in Myanmar as well -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then, Will, have they said how they make the determination to transition from rescue to recovery?

RIPLEY: Well, as of now, they're still holding out hope that maybe they'll find somebody. I mean, it's got to be discouraging that they found one body on Saturday. And now so far they've found one body on Sunday. And as far as we know, they're not talking about detecting signs of life like they were yesterday.

You know, they have these drones flying overhead with infrared photography equipment. They've had sniffer dogs out searching. And yet the discussion about kind of finding pockets of people alive there, they're still talking about it, but not as much as they were, for example, this time yesterday.

So hope feels like it's fading, but there is still a bit of hope. They're still calling it a rescue effort for now, and they don't have those big bulldozers going into the main pile of debris just yet, because they don't want to risk it if there is somebody underneath all of that. WHITFIELD: All right. Will Ripley, thank you so much, in Bangkok.

All right. Back in this country, the FCC launches a new investigation into Disney and ABC. We'll tell you why, next.

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[15:33:06]

WHITFIELD: All right. Dinner and a show? Well, not at this year's White House Correspondents Dinner. The White House Correspondents Association just announced it is now canceling plans for comedian Amber Ruffin to headline the annual fundraising event attended by dozens of news organizations from print to broadcast, including CNN.

So what provoked the cancellation of the comedian booking?

Joining me right now for more perspective is CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter.

Great to see you. So what happened?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, this dinner is a big event every year. It's kind of like nerd prom in Washington. You know, an East Coast version of some Hollywood award show. But it is going to be very different this year. And this does have to do with Trump's hostility toward the press.

Amber Ruffin, who CNN viewers know as one of the stars of "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" coming up tonight, she had been booked as the headliner on -- at the dinner in late April. She was going to be the featured comedian, but the Correspondents Association has decided to cancel her and have a not-so-funny focus on the First Amendment instead.

And this obviously has to do with Trump's hostility toward the press, banning the AP, investigating media companies, taking over the press pool. All of his actions have contributed to a really tense situation between the president and the Correspondents Association. And so the association's president, Eugene Daniels, says, quote, "Tt this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division, but entirely on the awards and scholarships that the association gives out at the dinner."

So, in other words, it would be comedy on stage, but it would be anti- Trump comedy. And he knows what would happen next. Trump would denounce it, right-wing outlets would be up in arms. There would be all sorts of controversy. And the association doesn't want that. Of course, critics are going to call this capitulation. They're going to say the association is rolling over to Trump. And as for Ruffin, I've e-mailed her asking for comment and haven't heard back yet -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK. And we don't even know or maybe we do know that Trump would not be in attendance for the dinner because during his first administration, he did not.

STELTER: Not expected. He wasn't expected to attend. WHITFIELD: Correct.

STELTER: That's right, that's right. That's the thing about it, right?

[15:35:01]

When a comedian is up there poking fun at the president, they're speaking truth to power, but when the power doesn't show up for the party, it's a very different situation.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. OK, so the Trump administration, also, we're changing topics now, you know, has a new way to pressure communications companies, you know, to ditch their DEI policies. The FCC chair says the agency will now block communication companies with such policies from merging and now they are investigating ABC and its parent company, Disney, over DEI actions. What more do you know?

STELTER: Yes, put this on the list of those Trump administration pressure tactics against media companies. FCC chair Brendan Carr sent a letter to Disney the other day saying the FCC is going to probe Disney's practices. I asked him, how long is this going to go on for? He told me it's an extended investigation. And here's what else Carr said. Quote, "There are some concerning indications that they may have been discriminating against employees based on their race, their gender and other protected characteristics, all in the name of promoting DEI."

So critics of Carr look at this, they say, here's another example of the government trying to bully a private corporation, in this case Disney. Carr, however, has been happy to see the FCC viewed as an extension of the Trump White House. He's already announced a similar probe into Comcast, and now it's Disney's turn -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Fascinating. Brian Stelter, great to see you. Thanks.

All right. Days from now auto tariffs reaching 25 percent will go into effect. It's going to make it harder to buy a new car and to get your car fixed when it needs repairs, let alone it's going to cost you more. So much more straight ahead.

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[15:41:16]

WHITFIELD: All right. It was an ugly week on Wall Street. The Dow dropping 715 points on Friday. That's more than 1.5 percent in a single day. Investors are worried because inflation is proving to be tenacious in the U.S., but there's also renewed concerns over President Trump's tariffs.

In the newest escalation, Trump said this week the U.S. will impose a 25 percent tariff on all cars and car parts shipped into the U.S. starting next Thursday, and Trump says his goal is to bring auto manufacturing back to the U.S. ultimately.

Here with me now is Erin Keating. She's a Cox Automotive executive analyst.

Great to see you. So if anyone is needing to buy a car, particularly a new car, because the average price of a car is something like $45,000, right?

ERIN KEATING, COX AUTOMOTIVE EXECUTIVE ANALYST: That's right. Closer to 48, unfortunately.

WHITFIELD: Oh, wow. Closer to 48. They have to now bank on the fact that it may cost them somewhere between $3,000 and $15,000 more with these tariffs?

KEATING: Certainly it will depend on which vehicle you're looking at. But we know that the most affordable vehicles are going to be hit the worst because most of the cars under $30,000 are made outside of the U.S. So we are saying that if you are in the market right now, get to your dealerships, work with them on what you need. But if youre six to eight months out, things are changing rapidly. Maybe hold steady.

It's not a crisis just yet, but the automakers for sure are working through plans right now to figure out how to help the consumer.

WHITFIELD: So perhaps you're not going to get that new car now. You're going to appreciate what you have. But somewhere in that six to eight months, as you're, you know, mentioning, what about if, you know, you're going to need parts, you need to get your car repaired?

KEATING: Right.

WHITFIELD: A lot of those parts are coming from elsewhere. It means you're going to be paying more?

KEATING: For sure. I mean, now we know that there is a little bit of a reprieve on the parts until May 1st, so that will be a little bit more complicated. But just to note, I mean, car prices will immediately elevate, we believe, because more demand coming into the showrooms will drive more dealers and automakers to pull back on discounting and incentives. And then, of course, when new car prices --

WHITFIELD: That's zero percent financing, that kind of deal, bye-bye.

KEATING: Right. Yes, those types of things, bye-bye. And when people are, you know, looking at newer car prices really high, they then look at used cars. So guess what else is going to go up? Used car pricing.

WHITFIELD: Wow. OK. So listen to what President Trump said this week about the role of these new tariffs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The car companies and every other form of company they're pouring back into our country at levels never seen before. They're all coming in so they don't have to pay tariffs. It's very simple. Because if you build your product in the USA, there is no tariff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So are you seeing evidence that automakers are pouring back into the USA as a result of these impending tariffs?

KEATING: I mean, I think we have to remember that foreign automakers have been pouring investments into the U.S. for six decades. And, of course, Hyundai just announced that they were putting an additional $21 billion into the U.S. Toyota has invested over $50 billion, excuse me, over the decades. Honda has made significant investments as well. So most of the foreign automakers have been already making investments in the U.S. and they will continue to do so. It's a great country to be able to do business in.

But just remember, even cars that are U.S. made on average have about 48 percent of their components and parts coming from outside.

WHITFIELD: Coming from elsewhere.

KEATING: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: So if the president says this will incentivize or at least lead to more auto manufacturing in the U.S., I mean, the infrastructure has to be there. Yes, you may have some factories, but isn't the reason why a lot of these automotive dealers, makers, you know, stopped making some of the parts here is because it's cheaper?

KEATING: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Elsewhere?

KEATING: I mean, again, that's why our most affordable vehicles are made elsewhere. Labor costs are lower, parts are lower, et cetera, et cetera.

[15:45:04]

I mean, there's a lot of business reasons why you would diversify where you build your product. Remember, this is a global industry. So these companies sell all over the world. So it's not just, you know, this isn't the only market they're selling into, nor is it the only market that they're manufacturing in. So there's lots of reasons an OEM or an automaker, as more people call them, would be doing this.

But, you know, again, we're a good, healthy market. We're one of the top, if not, well, next to China, the largest vehicle market in the world. There's good incentive already for them to try to reshore some activities and continue as EVs, electric vehicles come online and so forth. But this in this speed of change that we're looking for is going to be a little bit more difficult.

WHITFIELD: So if there's going to be any immediacy as a result of the tariffs, it's -- the immediacy is going to come in youre going to spend more as opposed to the immediacy of suddenly the U.S. is going to start manufacturing more goods.

KEATING: Right. You would spend more, you know, sooner. And again, this is on RAV 4, Toyota RAV 4, Honda CR-V, crossovers and compact SUVs. These are the most popular cars in the country, and a lot of those popular brands only have so many vehicles on the ground right now. So if there's any slowdown in production or stoppage in production, which we're not saying is going to happen just yet, it could mean that you just simply can't find these vehicles on lots.

And that will lead to higher prices also. So it's not just the tariff that might get hit on top of it, but again supply and demand.

WHITFIELD: Right.

KEATING: If ee don't have enough supply, we saw it in COVID, you pay more for things.

WHITFIELD: You're painting a bumpy road ahead.

KEATING: I am painting -- yes. Good car analogy.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right, Erin Keating, great to see you. Thank you so much.

KEATING: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it.

All right. Straight ahead, the signs of the deadly flooding still lining some of the highways in Texas. We have the forecast of the severe weather threat through the rest of the weekend. Straight ahead.

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[15:51:36]

WHITFIELD: At least four people are dead after major storms in Texas and Mexico. Hundreds had to be rescued after heavy rains caused major flooding, some abandoning their cars to escape rising water levels and more severe weather is taking over the U.S. this week. Thunderstorms, fire risks, tornadoes and hail.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar with what to expect.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we have fire risk. We also have snow showers and we even have severe thunderstorms in the forecast over the next several days. The severe thunderstorms are going to be the key one to watch as we head into Sunday and Monday, because it's going to be a multi-day event for us. You can see the first line of showers and thunderstorms really gets going late this afternoon and into the evening hours, and will continue to spread across the southeast.

And then overnight tonight, we see that secondary line beginning to form across portions of the Southern Plains. By early Sunday morning you've still got more of those showers and thunderstorms across the southeast, continuing to spread across places like Knoxville, Atlanta and even into Charlotte, North Carolina. Then a secondary line forms again. You can see this from Ohio all the way back into Texas. That's the one that's going to continue through the overnight hours

and has the potential for some very strong to severe thunderstorms, including the potential for tornadoes, some large hail, and damaging winds as it continues to make its way eastward overnight and through the very early hours on Monday, before finally starting to slide into Atlanta, Montgomery, and even through New Orleans, as we head into the first half of the day.

Here's the main concern areas for Sunday. This includes Indianapolis, Saint Louis, Memphis, Little Rock, down through Shreveport. The main concerns here will be damaging winds, tornadoes, and even some hail. By Monday, it begins to shift farther east. You're looking at pretty much up and down the entire Eastern Seaboard and still encompassing portions of the Gulf Coast.

Now, one thing to also note, too, is the amount of rain. It's going to be heaviest the farther south you go. So areas of Alabama, Mississippi, looking at several inches there, but overall most other areas are just looking at about an inch, maybe two max. The good news here is for a lot of these areas, that's beneficial rain. They need that rain, especially across portions of North Carolina where they've been dealing with those fire weather concerns.

But all of these areas you see in that brown color are under moderate drought. You can even see a few patches of the orange color indicating severe drought. So some of this rain that's coming through over the next few days is certainly going to be welcome in several states.

WHITFIELD: All right. Indeed. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much. We'll be right back.

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[15:58:42]

WHITFIELD: All right. A new episode of "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" with host Roy Wood Jr. and team captains Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black, airs tonight. Guests this week will be political commentator Sam Seder and comedian Sam Jay. Here's a preview.

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ROY WOOD JUNIOR, HOST: On this infamous Signal group chat, there were 19 people, which, first off, too many people for a group chat. Who was on the group chat who was supposed to be there?

SAM SEDER, COMMENTATOR AND HOST: Tulsi Gabbard and Scott Bessent?

SAM JAY, COMEDIAN: Waltz. Vance.

AMBER RUFFIN, TEAM CAPTAIN: Ariana Grande.

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WOOD: In addition to the editor of the "Atlantic," the chat had people like Waltz, Defense Secretary Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, who used their full names in the super-secret Signal chat. There was also people going by the initial SM, aka Trump adviser Stephen Miller, and there was also some guy on the thread just named Jacob, who has yet to be identified.

FAY: I would like to think that Jacob is just the homie who's really good at "Call of Duty," and they're just like, we just want some opinions, Jacob.

WOOD: In your opinion, Jacob, F-18 or F-35? Or how would you bomb this particular target?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Be sure to tune in to a new episode of "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU" tonight 9:00 Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

And thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The NEWSROOM continues with Jessica Dean right now.