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Trump Planning Rose Garden Rollout For "Liberation Day"; Several GOP Senators Voice Concern On Impact Of Trump's New Tariffs; Trump Orders Smithsonian To Remove "Improper Ideology" From Museums; Staff Cuts Underway At Federal Health Agencies. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired April 01, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, it seems President Trump's exact plans for massive tariffs are a moving target. Exactly how much will he impose and on whom?

Here's what we do know right now. At the White House, they're planning a high-profile first of this term Rose Garden Address. On Wall Street, markets are relatively flat right now, but big picture, volatile stocks are seeing their worst first quarter slump since 2022.

On Capitol Hill, some Republicans are even expected to vote with Democrats today to give a rebuke to President Trump on these planned tariffs. And the president has noticed.

CNN's Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill. It is interesting because we've seen and heard Republicans, even at the highest levels of where you are, kind of tiptoe towards criticizing the president because many of them are, in their hearts, free traders. But now they're going to put that criticism down with a vote. What's happening?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, there's certainly some trepidation on Capitol Hill in part because of that uncertainty that you mentioned, Dana, and also because they are going to have to decide with this vote on the floor that we expect either today or tomorrow on whether or not they believe that Trump has the emergency powers that he needs to put forward these tariffs specifically on Canada.

[12:35:18]

This is a resolution that's being brought forward by Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, and he is joined by Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, who has been supportive and very, very loud about his concerns about tariffs. The question is how many other Republicans join them.

As you noted, Republican leadership is trying to keep their flock in line at this moment, trying to make sure that this doesn't have the votes to pass. But it's really interesting because Donald Trump issued this warning via Truth Social, saying, "Republicans in the Senate", in all caps, "MUST vote to keep the national emergency in place so we can finish the job and end the scourge. It would be devastating for the Republican Party and far more importantly for the United States".

He's really asking Republicans to get behind a set of tariffs that is not at this moment really clear. And there are a couple of Republicans like Senator Susan Collins who have basically previewed that they may vote with Democrats tomorrow.

Senator Thom Tillis is saying that he is not going to be supporting this. But then, of course, you have Rand Paul who is moving forward with it. So it's going to be really interesting to watch the votes tomorrow.

Just as a reminder, Republicans can lose three members but no more. We do not expect that this would come up, however, in the House of Representatives, Dana.

BASH: OK. Thank you so much, Lauren. Appreciate that reporting.

And coming up, rewriting the record, a look at how Donald Trump's executive order on the Smithsonian could impact the world-renowned museums.

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BASH: As tourists and school field trips descend here in Washington for spring break, a lot of them will visit the Smithsonian Museums, the same institution President Trump targeted in an executive order he signed last week accusing the Smithsonian of promoting a, quote, "divisive and improper race-centered ideology".

In the order, the president says, quote, "Museums in our nation's capital should be places where individuals go to learn -- not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history".

I want to get straight to CNN's Tom Foreman. Tom, I want to just kind of pull back a little bit and explain to people who might have heard about the Smithsonian, visited Smithsonian's, what exactly is the Smithsonian?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Smithsonian is not a place. The Smithsonian is the world's largest collection of museums and research facilities, and it covers more than 20 of them. The American History Museum, Natural History Museum, Air and Space, very popular African- American Museum, the National Zoo, tremendous number of places out there.

And it is tremendously popular. 17 million plus visitors in 2024 alone. So it's reaching an awful lot of people. It is also not officially part of any of the three branches of the federal government. It is a public-private partnership, meaning there is federal money going into it.

62 percent over here appropriated by Congress, federal grants and contracts. 32 percent from trust funds, endowments, donations, memberships and revenue. If you come to Washington, D.C., you will notice you can walk into these museums for free. These are the people's museums for people to learn about all these different things.

Now, that said, even though it's not technically under the government, it does have a board that oversees the whole thing. That is a mix of people who are elected representatives, senators, representatives, Democrat and Republican.

The chief justice of the Supreme Court is always on the board. So are a bunch of individual citizens down here with knowledge about what's going on, and importantly, the vice president of the United States. This is where Trump has put the tip of the spear here, to lean into this board, to lean into that funding, and say, I want to change things at the Smithsonian.

Dana?

BASH: Tom, thank you so much for that explanation. Really important.

And I want to now bring in Clarissa Myrick-Harris White to discuss. She is a historian and professor at Morehouse College, a historically black university in Georgia.

Professor, thank you so much for being here. I want you to react to what this executive order says, that the goal of this tie between Smithsonian funding and the policy that they want to promote, and it is, quote, "Prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values or divide Americans based on race".

What is your understanding of what that means for these museums?

CLARISSA MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE, PROFESSOR OF AFRICANA STUDIES, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE: Yes. Well, Dana, first of all, thank you for inviting me to speak on this issue. But to answer your question, the executive order, you know, titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History", really a law that would do just the opposite. It essentially describes restoring the great man theory of history.

It's a narrative that emphasizes the contributions of prominent, primarily white men, political leaders, military commanders, pioneers, rather than the collective actions and experiences of ordinary people. Examples of great men, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or even Daniel Boone.

[12:45:22]

And so, eliminating the stories of everyday people. And then when you talk about eliminating the stories of a whole race of people, a whole sector of society, it gets to be pretty scary.

And so, if fully enacted, this executive order would cause the death of museums, libraries, and other entities that strive to provide accurate narratives about the history of this country. And the principles on which the country was founded are good ones. All men are created equal, but this country is still really in the midst of trying to live up to that promise.

BASH: Well --

MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE: To fulfill that promise of freedom, equity, and equality.

BASH: Let me just kind of put some meat on the bone here of the arguments that the administration has been making through this executive order and elsewhere. And they argue that how Americans frame history has changed in recent years. You just gave an example of how it's changed, you know, in a more fulsome way.

What they cite is, I'll just give one example. An ongoing exhibition at the American Art Museum called The Shape of Power" Stories of Race in American Sculpture. They take issue with noting that the U.S. has used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement. So there has been a shift.

MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE: Yes, indeed. But it's a shift to tell the complete story of this country. And it's as horrible and as regrettable as it is, we cannot deny the truth. We cannot deny that this country was in large measure established through exploitation of other people.

The indigenous people who were here and then the millions of people, African people, who were brought to this country to literally build the country. So eliminating that aspect of the story of this country, the history of this country, serves no positive purpose. It encourages the denial that the institution of slavery ever even existed.

That racism, Jim Crow laws, and segregation and racial violence against Black communities and other communities ever occurred. And how do you eliminate that history, that story --

BASH: Yes.

MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE: -- of this country? OK. And then, you know, the other part of that is that in spite of all of this, in spite of the discrimination and racism, that underserved, marginalized populations have nonetheless made great contributions.

BASH: Yes.

MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE: Again, helped to literally build this country. And this country, the fact that this country has been pushed, made concessions, and corrected, self-corrected to rectify --

BASH: Yes.

MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE: -- over time, you know, the Civil Rights Movement and so on, that's important history to know --

BASH: Yes. MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE: -- as we continue this journey to make sure this country is one that is -- that provides liberty and justice for all.

BASH: It just -- it's -- it doesn't seem like an either-or proposition. It's a yes-and.

MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE: Yes.

BASH: There were great men who started this country --

MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE: Yes.

BASH: -- with a lot of women, helping them quietly.

MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE: That's right.

BASH: And there was a lot of very terrible parts of history that obviously are taught to our children and should still be.

MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE: Yes, yes.

BASH: And all the above strategy, perhaps.

Professor, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it.

MYRICK-HARRIS WHITE: Thank you, Dana.

BASH: And up next, sweeping layoffs are underway right now at America's top health agencies. We're going to break down what it means for your well-being after a quick break.

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BASH: We're following massive layoffs at America's top health agencies. Today, thousands of Health and Human Services employees are learning their jobs are being eliminated. It's part of RFK Jr.'s plans to overhaul the department by cutting 10,000 full-time staffers.

CNN Medical Correspondent Meg Tirrell is following these developments. Meg, just anecdotally, being here in Washington, I'm seeing text after text of people who are saying, just like we have seen in agencies before, that there are layoffs not necessarily sort of in the periphery of these agencies, but in the core of these agencies that really do affect people's lives.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. And the way it's coming out, you know, really seems chaotic for a lot of people. We heard these notices started going out just after 5:00 a.m. this morning. Some people were already on their way to work when they got there. They weren't allowed to get into the building.

They're putting -- being put on administrative leave. And as you said, this is part of the 10,000 reduction in employees that we heard about last week from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including 3,500 at FDA, 2,400 at CDC, 1,200 at the National Institutes of Health, and 300 at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

[12:55:04]

And, Dana, as part of this, we are hearing about directors of entire agencies who have been cut. You know, Dr. Anthony Fauci's predecessor at the National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases, we've learned, is among the folks who have lost their jobs.

A lot of other directors of agencies as well and entire agencies, huge portions of them are getting cut. We're hearing about the CDC Office on Smoking and Health, the FDA Office of New Drugs, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health at CDC. These are groups that are responsible for the health of so many Americans, from worker safety to reducing the risks of tobacco to trying to prevent overdose and suicide.

There's so much work that's happening here. Now, as part of the notification to employees, what they were told is, quote, "I regret to inform you that you're being affected by a RIF", or reduction in force action. "This RIF is necessary to reshape the workforce of HHS".

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last week talked about trying to focus more on chronic diseases, guys, but a lot of folks note, these agencies were working on those, too. Dana?

BASH: Yes. And then when you come back next time on the show, we can talk about why they can't do chronic diseases and also these other infectious diseases, which, as we know, are also important.

Thank you so much, Meg. Appreciate your reporting.

Thanks for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after the break.

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