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Isa Soares Tonight
World Braces For President Trump's Liberation Day Tariffs; Voting Underway In Critical Special Elections In Florida And Wisconsin; Some Researchers Cite The Trump Administration Is Waging A War On Science; Maryland Father Mistakenly Deported To El Salvador; Trump Admin. Reviews Harvard's Grants; U.S. Justice Dept. Seeks Death Penalty For Mangione; Job Cuts At U.S. Health Agencies. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired April 01, 2025 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
ERICA HILL, HOST, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: Welcome to the show, I'm Erica Hill in for Isa Soares. Tonight, the world bracing for Donald Trump's so-called
liberation day tariffs. The President says those tariffs will go into effect immediately after he announces them on Wednesday afternoon, with the
very latest from Washington.
Plus, key votes in Florida and Wisconsin today, the first major electoral tests of Trump's second term. Also a key moment to gauge the mood of voters
in both the swing state and a Republican stronghold. Plus, some researchers say the Trump administration is waging a war on science. We'll speak with
one of the scientists who has signed now an open letter urging Congress to restore funding to recently-gutted federal health agencies.
We do begin this hour with a new chapter in the trade war that could potentially unleash economic chaos across the globe. The White House saying
President Trump will unveil his tariff plan, which he has dubbed the Make America Wealthy Again. He will unveil that in an event on Wednesday at 4
O'clock Eastern Time in the Rose Garden at the White House.
What we don't know yet is the details of these new U.S. tariffs, including which countries, which industries, which products will be targeted. Well,
the President told reporters on Monday he would settle -- he had settled on a plan. Apparently, that was news to White House officials. Here's the
Press Secretary just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President will be addressing the decades of unfair trade practices that have ripped our
country off and American workers off. It has hollowed out our middle class. It has destroyed our heartland. And the President is focused on re-shifting
our global economy to ensure that America is once again the manufacturing superpower of the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: The European Union, meantime, is bracing for tariffs, but also saying it has a strong plan to retaliate if necessary. EU Commission President
Ursula von der Leyen saying that Europe is open to negotiations, and also that it would be approached from a position of strength in her words.
There's a lot in the line here.
Last year on the line, we should say, last year nearly a trillion dollars worth of goods were exchanged between the U.S. and the EU. The United
States imported the bulk of that, more than $600 billion. So, what could all of this mean as it shakes out? CNN's Matt Egan and Kevin Liptak are
both following these developments for us.
So, Kevin, I'll begin with you. So, you spoke, I know with the White House official who said that the President is actually considering a universal
tariff for all U.S. imports and a fairly hefty one.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a 20 percent tariff on imported goods. But we should say that this is just one of the options that
the President appears to be considering in this 11th hour before tomorrow's announcement. This, to be clear, would be the most extreme option that
would amount to an enormous amount of tariffs on all imported goods into the United States.
This is a plan that's favored by some of the more hawkish trade advisors behind the scenes. But it's not the only option that the President is
considering at the moment. He's also thinking about sort of a pure reciprocal tariff, essentially dollar-for-dollar tariffs on goods that are
imported into the United States if those countries apply their own tariffs on goods from the United States.
He's also thinking about potential limiting the number of countries that he might apply these tariffs to. So, there are these whole range of options
that have been presented to the President by his trade advisors over the last week or so. And you know, this is a team that is comprised of people
with differing opinions on these tariffs.
You have people like Peter Navarro, who is kind of on the hawkish end of things, and you heard him over the weekend talking about the potential
revenue that would come in from some of the strongest tariffs. He used this figure $6 trillion over the next decade, which gives you a sense of where
he's coming from.
Essentially, these permanent tariffs that would be in place for ten years. You also hear from advisors like Kevin Hassett, for example, the
President's top economist who have described these tariffs more as a negotiating tactic to try and bring countries to the table in an attempt to
lower these tariff rates, and so that President Trump can sort of extract something from them as part of these negotiations.
[14:05:00]
So, you see on those two different sides, sort of the divergent points of view that the President is now trying to go through and make a decision.
You heard from Karoline Leavitt today, that said the President was still perfecting what exactly he'll announce tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. in the Rose
Garden. And we really don't at this point have a clear road map of what exactly he will announce.
She did acknowledge that there are concerns among, for example, people who are retired or people who are on fixed incomes, whose livelihoods are sort
of dependent on the market, saying that the President acknowledges that this is a time of uncertainty, but that if this plan works, it will
essentially re-align the United States and re-align the global economy so that the American middle class and American manufacturing is restored in a
way that the President wants it to be restored going forward.
I think the problem for the President is that the political downside to this is higher prices. Economists say that the tariffs will be paid for by
the American consumer. That's something that will happen in the short term. This larger re-alignment of the global economy is something that will take
a much longer time to take effect. So, you can see sort of the political precariousness that the President is facing as he prepares to make this big
decision.
HILL: Yes, absolutely. Matt, as we look at this, too, so, you have the White House saying we've heard from a number of administration officials,
really, which is, yes, there might be a little -- a little short-term pain, but we have to focus on the long-term gain here. How is that sitting,
especially as we're getting this drip of possibly some of the details? How is that sitting with businesses? How is it sitting with corporate America?
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Erica, I can't remember the last time that there was this much mystery at the 11th hour over a policy announcement
that has the potential to just have enormous consequences like this one. And just getting back to something that Kevin was touching on, you know,
not only is there uncertainty over the specifics coming out tomorrow, it's also uncertainty over the long-term vision here, right?
This ideological difference between the Peter Navarro camp that sees tariffs as possibly permanent, a long-term revenue driver, or the Kevin
Hassett camp that seems to be suggesting that tariffs are going to be used more on a short-term basis as a negotiating tool. I mean, investors have no
idea which one of those camps is going to win out. And on the specifics for tomorrow, one of the ideas, as Kevin was reporting, that is being floated
out there is this idea of a universal tariff, a 20 percent universal tariff.
And I think it's really important to stress that what President Trump has done this term when it comes to tariffs, is just so much bigger than
anything he did all of his first term when tariffs were put on about $400 billion of U.S. exports. We're only two months in. He's already more than
doubled that with about a trillion-dollars of U.S. imports rather being tariffed.
And if you talk about universal tariffs, that could be on $3 trillion of goods. And I talked to Moody's economist Mark Zandi, and he told me that a
universal tariff of 20 percent, where other countries fully retaliate, he said that would be the worst case scenario. He said if that happens, we get
a serious recession.
It's a wipeout for the economy. Now, we don't know that that's going to happen. And in fact, Mark Zandi said he doesn't think that Trump will do
this 20 percent tariff because the economic damage would just be too significant. And keep in mind, this is coming at a time when there's
already yellow lights flashing on the U.S. economy, right?
We've seen consumer confidence plunge. We've seen the stock market move around significantly, and Goldman Sachs slashing its 2025 outlook. They're
calling for weak GDP growth of just 1 percent. They see the unemployment rate going higher, inflation moving further and further away from that 2
percent target, and they now see a 35 percent chance of a recession.
And so, the question, of course, Erica, is how would the U.S. economy, an economy that's already showing some significant cracks, how would it be
able to deal with a massive escalation in the trade war? And, you know, we might be finding out in the coming days and weeks, depending upon what
exactly gets announced tomorrow.
HILL: Yes, absolutely. Still so many question marks, as you both point out. Matt, Kevin, appreciate it, thank you both. Also with me this hour is
Betsey Stevenson; she's a Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the University of Michigan, and also served on President Obama's Council of
Economic Advisors.
It's good to have you with me, Betsey. So, as we look at where things stand, I mean, it's impossible not to continue to stress. There is -- there
are so many unknowns as we are now just a little over 24 hours away from these tariffs being announced, which we're told will go into effect
immediately. But when we look at the possibilities, how concerned are you as somebody who studies the impact of public policy, specifically on labor
markets? How concerned are you about what may be coming?
[14:10:00]
BETSEY STEVENSON, PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC POLICY & ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Well, I mean, I'm very concerned. I think we're all at this point
a little concerned, a little jittery. Tomorrow is this big deadline. I don't even think I feel confidence that we'll know for sure where tariffs
are going to land and whether they'll stick.
Tomorrow, we'll probably learn something, but I don't think it will be the end of this journey of uncertainty around tariffs. You know, we've heard a
lot of different justifications for the tariffs. They all always seem to bounce around as people offer criticism for each one. And that's because at
the end of the day, the tariffs don't really make sense, making it so that things are more expensive for American consumers.
And then, you know, what is -- will happen in all likelihood is, it will be harder for American exporters to export because of retaliatory tariffs.
What we're looking at is a shrinking economy and higher prices.
HILL: How much of that do you think is getting through based on -- I mean, you make such a -- such a great point when we hear the back and forth of
why the tariffs are being put into place, why certain things are being floated. I mean, is there a -- is there a scenario that you can see that
would achieve some of the goals the administration has referred to with tariffs, but without hurting Americans?
STEVENSON: You know, the goals are so all over the shop that it's really hard to know. But let's take sort of them one at a time. One is that it's a
big bluff, that it's just about negotiation, he wants other countries to play a bigger role in the world. He wants them to play a bigger military
role. He wants them to rely on America less.
Maybe he -- you know, he wants them to tighten their border security when it comes to Mexico or Canada. And you know, the bluff thing is a
negotiating tactic. It worked initially with Canada and Mexico, I will say he got something early on. But he's continued to come at those countries
with tariffs.
So, I think we're sort of past the -- this is a great negotiating tactic that can be accomplished with little pain. The -- another argument is, this
is a great way to raise revenue. Well, it is a tax. It depends on what he's trying to accomplish. Certainly, American consumers will pay more, and that
will raise revenue for the government.
I think he's right that some of what will happen is what we pay -- the increase in what we pay for goods will go to the government. But I don't
think we can do that without there being pain. You know, everybody talks about what this will mean for -- do for inflation? They think it's also
important to realize that it changes relative prices.
Not everything in the economy is going to go up by an equal amount because of the tariffs. It's going to be the goods that are where we see the
biggest increase in tariffs. You know, if you happen to be somebody who is a big environmentalist who wants us to stop buying stuff, maybe you think
the tariffs are great because --
HILL: Yes --
STEVENSON: I think what we'll see is people are going to buy fewer consumer goods because the prices are going to go up.
HILL: What we're hearing from Europe, what we heard from Ursula von der Leyen earlier today saying that, you know, Europe didn't start the
confrontation, these were her words talking about approaching it from a position of strength and interestingly, using the term Europe holds a lot
of cards.
The fact that we're seeing more pushback now, right? This had -- to your point, been a way that Donald Trump traditionally negotiated was to push
and then maybe pull-back, and that helped him to get what he wanted by threatening to go very hard, very far. But with more countries perhaps now
calling his bluff in some ways, is that weakening the position of the United States when it comes to any sort of negotiation?
STEVENSON: I think that the United States is weakening its position, and I think the rest of the globe is realizing the U.S. is big. It is definitely
harmful to lose access to being able to have free trade with the U.S. But you know what? It's worse for the U.S. if we're the ones isolating
ourselves and the rest of the globe is more unified than ever.
So, I think the U.S. really risks putting itself in a position where the only thing that can happen is our global status can diminish. So, I think
that they are pushing back.
[14:15:00]
And the second thing is, the fundamental problem is President Trump sees trade as some sort of zero-sum game. There are winners and there are
losers. But the reality is trade is not about zero-sum games. There's nobody taking advantage of us by selling us more things than we could
afford if we were making them at home ourselves, right?
We're getting gains from trade. That's the win-win nature of it. Nobody wants to lose those gains, and that's why everyone's been so upset by what
the United States is doing. But at the end of the day, the rest of the countries can get gains from trade with each other and leave the United
States as the one on the sidelines not getting the gains from trade.
HILL: It is a lot to keep an eye on as the clock ticks down to that 4 O'clock announcement tomorrow. Betsey, appreciate your time. Thank you.
Voting in two U.S. states today looks set to be a referendum on the second term of President Donald Trump. A closely-watched state Supreme Court race
in Wisconsin has now become the most expensive U.S. judicial race ever.
And it could also decide the ideological leaning of that court. Meantime, in Florida, we are watching a pair of special elections for two U.S. House
seats to replace former Representatives Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz. The results in both states, though, could also provide Republicans and
Democrats with road maps for perhaps how they want to navigate this second Trump era.
CNN politics reporter Stephen Collinson joining us now. In terms of that road map, well, there's also a lot -- a lot of folks are focusing on is,
what both the turnout and the numbers will tell us about how American voters are feeling, Stephen.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, this is the first voting of Trump's second term, the first chance for voters to weigh in on
the absolute turbulence we've had over the last couple of months. I think the Florida races particularly will be interesting, because these are
districts that Trump easily won by about 30 points just 4 or 5 months ago.
Nobody really, I think, expects the Democrats to win either of these states. But say a Democrat got to within about 10 points in one of these
races. If you're a Republican who is sitting on a 10-point margin or less, and there are plenty of them in your constituency, you're really going to
start worrying about what's going to happen in the Midterm elections next year.
The impact of Trump's policies, and that might make you think a little bit differently about how things are going in the United States and the
direction the White House is taking. So, you know, sometimes we over-read these special elections and look for perhaps too much in them. But I do
think the results are going to be interesting.
HILL: It's also fascinating to watch what's happening -- so, that's in Florida. It's fascinating to watch what's happening in the state of
Wisconsin, the amount of money and the involvement of Elon Musk there in that race for the state Supreme Court Justice.
COLLINSON: Yes, and I often think about Wisconsin as almost the United States in miniature, although it's not particularly diverse. Presidential
races there are always decided by a couple of, say, 10,000 votes or even less. The issues there, it's a real Petri dish of politics and ideology
between the two parties.
The issues about abortion or labor rights, they're often the rehearsal for the national arguments a few years later. This Supreme Court race is
interesting because if the liberal wins, the Democrats keep control of that court, if the conservative wins, that flips to conservative control, and
that has a very important role, not just on those issues I mentioned, but on electoral issues going into the next Midterms in presidential elections.
So, that's important.
And then you throw Elon Musk into the middle of all this, he's been throwing around millions of dollars into this race. That is a test of his
popularity, which according to national polls isn't very high. And the way his money can change races, and that's an important thing to look for, for
the next election.
We know he had a big role in winning Pennsylvania, for example, for the President in the last presidential election. So, it's a bit of a barometer
on what people are thinking about Elon Musk and his extraordinary role as a private citizen in the U.S. government.
HILL: He's also -- I mean, it is quite the role of a private citizen. It's also remarkable to hear some of the language that he is using in trying to
bring those voters out in Wisconsin. It's a lot.
COLLINSON: Right, and it's -- I mean, he's basically arguing that if they don't win this election, you know, the United States is not going to exist
in its current form. I mean, that is a -- that is a conceit which both parties have used in previous years. They -- everyone talks about I want to
get my country back. But the fact that Musk, the world's richest man, is making this argument, he's taking it 4 or 5 times more extreme.
[14:20:00]
He has control of X, which is a hugely important platform for his ideas, and with all his money, this is really a look at what America elections
could look like in the future if Republicans win. That's one of the reasons, actually, why some Democrats have welcomed Musk's entry into this
race, because they think that he alienates many voters.
They feel he's unpopular, and that might actually drive up the turn-out of Democrats to vote for the liberal candidate in this -- in this race. It's
funny to understand that this race is supposedly nonpartisan, but it's been --
HILL: Yes --
COLLINSON: One of the most partisan Supreme Court races the United States has ever seen.
HILL: Yes, sadly, there is not much that is supposed to be nonpartisan in this country. That still remains that way it feels these days. Stephen,
appreciate it as always, thank you --
COLLINSON: Right --
HILL: Still to come here, after months of repeated nightly drone strikes by Russia on Ukraine, Kyiv reporting a rare moment in the attacks. Plus, China
launching military drills around Taiwan just days after the U.S. vowed to counter China's aggression. Those details are next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to visit Saudi Arabia next month, according to the White House, which says it will be the first
international trip of his second term, although officials have not yet released specific dates or details. Saudi Arabia, of course, has been
hosting U.S.-brokered ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine.
The shaky ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon could be on the verge of crumbling for the second time in recent days, Israeli
missiles hit targets in Lebanon, this time striking the top floors of a building in Beirut. Lebanon's Health Ministry says at least four people
have died in that attack.
Israel says it was targeting a leading Hezbollah member who was helping Hamas plan attacks on Israeli citizens. Chinese military officials are
sending what they call a stern warning and forceful deterrence against Taiwan. China performing military drills around the island, both in the air
and at sea.
Taiwan has condemned the exercises, calling China a troublemaker. It's important to note those drills come just days after U.S. Defense Secretary
Pete Hegseth's visit to Asia. CNN's Ivan Watson has more from Hong Kong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is the first time this year that the Chinese military has conducted these types of
maneuvers around the self-governing island of Taiwan.
[14:25:00]
The announcement came from China's eastern theater command, saying that this was a serious warning and powerful containment of what it claims is
Taiwan independence separatist forces that all four branches of the Chinese military are involved in these maneuvers. Now Beijing, of course, views
Taiwan as effectively a renegade province and is very angry about any moves towards autonomy coming from Taiwan.
But typically in the past, when it has carried out these types of Naval and aerial maneuvers around Taiwan, it has been pegged to some type of event,
such as the inauguration last year of the Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. This time, there doesn't seem to be an obvious trigger, but some of the
videos that were put out by the Chinese military took direct aim at the Taiwanese President, this one accusing him, depicting him of being a
cartoon parasite and accusing him of consorting with foreign powers.
Of course, the Taiwanese government has condemned this. A statement coming out from the head of the National Security Council in Taiwan called this
reckless and irresponsible, saying it came without justification, and that it violates international law. The Taiwanese Defense Minister has indicated
that it appears there is a Chinese aircraft carrier group operating off the southeast coast of Taiwan right now.
And we've heard from a senior security official in the Taiwanese government suggesting some possible reasons why the officials there think this has
been the time for these joint Chinese military maneuvers around the island. And one argument has been that it follows a recent visit by the U.S.
Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, to Asia, where he visited the Philippines and Japan, two close allies.
And he talked about what he claimed was communist China's threat to the region and a need to build up deterrence among U.S. allies here in the
region. Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Rescuers are running out of time to find survivors, now, more than four days after that devastating earthquake struck Myanmar and Thailand.
More than 2,700 people have now been confirmed dead in the wake of that 7.7 magnitude quake, which struck on Friday. Officials do expect that number to
continue to climb.
Hopes of finding more people alive under the rubble, of course, growing dimmer with the days. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red
Crescent says the level of devastation is something that hasn't been seen in over a century in Asia. For the first time this year, Kyiv says there
were no long range drone strikes launched by Russia into Ukraine overnight, and it is the first time there's been such a break in those attacks since
early December.
Other forms of military activity did continue. Ukraine's Air Force, though reporting it shot down two missiles in the Zaporizhzhia region. All of this
coming as Donald Trump has accused Ukraine's President of trying to back out of a key minerals deal. Kyiv for its part says the terms of that
proposal have changed significantly in recent days.
Sources say the deal does not include concrete security guarantees for Ukraine. Still to come here tonight, 19 hours and counting. A Democrat now
commanding the Senate floor in a marathon speech. Why he's protesting just ahead. Plus, federal workers for several health agencies now learning they
no longer have jobs. I'm going to speak with someone who is behind a recent letter calling out the administration's cuts and their impact on the future
of science and this country.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:32:23]
HILL: Administrative error. The Trump administration now admitting that it mistakenly deported a father from Maryland, sending him to that mega-prison
we've told you so much about in El Salvador.
According to a new court filing, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran national who was granted protected status by an immigration
judge in 2019. Some supporters of President Trump, including podcaster, Joe Rogan, are now concerned with the idea of innocent people being deported.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE ROGAN, PODCASTER: You got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting like lassoed up and deported and sent to like El
Salvador prisons. This is kind of crazy that that could be possible. That's horrific. And that's -- again, that's bad for the cause. Like the cause is
let's get the gang members out. Everybody agrees.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Well, despite admitting the error, the Trump administration argues that it can't really do anything, cannot bring Abrego Garcia back to the
U.S. Here's my colleague Priscilla Alvarez to explain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Trump administration officials have expressed confidence in the way in which they identified and sent migrants
to El Salvador and more specifically to the notorious mega-prison in El Salvador. But in one case, a senior ICE official saying in a court
declaration on Monday evening that a man, a Salvadoran man was sent there because of, quote, "an administrative error."
Now, his name is Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He's a Salvadoran national who crossed into the U.S. around 2011. It appears that his first brush with law
enforcement was in 2019 at a Maryland Home Depot when police detained him and a group of other men. Now, the local police say that he was tied to the
gang, MS-13, and they used, for example, or they based it on his attire and a confidential informant, this according to court documents.
Now, his attorney says that efforts to get more information from the police during his immigration proceedings about those alleged ties were not
fruitful, and has said that he has no ties to MS-13. Now, an immigration judge in 2019 ultimately said that he would be granted withholding from
removal. That means that he can't be sent back to El Salvador for fear of persecution, though he is still deemed removable, just not to that country.
Now, this court declaration provides a bit of a glimpse as to what exactly unfolded here in his case. For example, there had been a list, a manifest
of who was supposed to be on these flights. Some people were removed, according to the document, because of various reasons. But his name moved
up on the list making him eligible to be on this flight.
[14:35:00]
Now, in the declaration, the senior rights officials says, quote, "Through administrative error, Abrego Garcia was removed from the United States to
El Salvador. This was an oversight and the removal was carried out in good faith based on the existence of a final order of removal and Abrego
Garcia's purported membership in MS-13."
Now, the administration also says that because he is an El Salvador, therefore in Salvadoran custody, they cannot retrieve him. So, while they
have admitted an administrative error here, they say that they cannot bring him back to the United States. Of course, this is an ongoing legal
proceeding. So, we'll see what the judge says in this case. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Priscilla, thank you. Well, the Trump administration is reviewing nearly $9 billion in contracts and grants awarded to Harvard University.
That's where the school's response to recent anti-Semitism on campus. Harvard's president says the concerns are being addressed. While arguing
that if funding is revoked, it will, quote, "halt" lifesaving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation.
And we have also just learned today that Princeton University's president says several research grants at that school have now been suspended by the
federal government, but according to the president of the university, it is not clear, in his words, what the full rationale yet is for this action.
Princeton is just the latest Ivy League school to face funding halts or cuts since Donald Trump took office. You may recall last month that his
administration canceled some $400 million in federal funding for Columbia University over anti-Semitism on campus, which was tied to protests at the
university last year against the war in Gaza.
Last week's arrest of a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University outside of Boston has heightened concerns among a number of foreign
students. A spokesperson for that Tufts grad student, Rumeysa Ozturk, said that she wasn't charged. And is currently being held at a detention
facility in Louisiana.
And we are learning about other foreign graduate students who have been targeted by U.S. immigration officials. Instead of waiting for a possible
arrest, this student fled to Canada. Here's more from CNN's Shimon Prokupecz.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ma'am, you were asked to stay in the room, please do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, why don't you just stay in the room.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If not, we (INAUDIBLE).
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This new cell phone video captured by a roommate and obtained exclusively by CNN, shows masked
Homeland Security agents inside Columbia University housing searching Ranjani Srinivasan's apartment after the Trump administration revoked her
student visa targeting her for deportation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a warrant to search these premises for electronics, documents related to Ranjani Srinivasan.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The search inside the apartment in mid-March lasted just minutes. This was the third time federal agents came to her door. By
then Srinivasan, an Indian national, was already gone, having fled to Canada in a panic, leaving her home of nearly ten years.
RANJANI SRINIVASAN, FORMER COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDENT: It still doesn't feel real.
PROKUPECZ: Do you miss being there?
SRINIVASAN: Yes, yes. All my friends are there, you know, my home, like my cat. I don't know when I'm going to actually be able to go back.
PROKUPECZ: Do you think you will?
SRINIVASAN: I mean, I want to. All my friends and family, like my entire life, is there right now.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): It all began when the state department abruptly canceled her student visa, triggering a disturbing set of events.
Immigration agents started showing up at her door. She and her roommate didn't allow them in.
SRINIVASAN: They basically started yelling in the corridor, saying my name, saying my visa had been revoked. And she just said -- she asked them, do
you have a warrant? And they had to say no. And she was like, sorry, bye.
PROKUPECZ: Did you have any reason to understand why they were doing this?
SRINIVASAN: No, I was stunned and scared. When she told me, she turned back and told me ICE is at the door and I was just shivering.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not resisting.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Within days, she heard of the high-profile arrest of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil. Scared she was next, she went
into hiding.
PROKUPECZ: Were you afraid that they were going to take you and then detain you and hold you in a ICE detention center?
SRINIVASAN: Yes. I was very afraid. But that fear was not borne out of something I had done, because I had done nothing wrong. It was more about
the other things that were happening around us. There have been disappearances. There have been random arrests. So, I could not predict
what would happen next.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Srinivasan's troubles trace back to two summonses she received during protests outside Columbia University on April 30th of
2024. DHS said she never reported them on her visa renewal.
Srinivasan says she was trying to return home and wasn't part of the protest. Those summonses were dismissed months before she applied for
renewal. And there should have been no record of their existence.
[14:40:00]
NATHAN YAFFE, ATTORNEY FOR RANJANI SRINIVASAN: When people aren't fingerprinted, when they're not charged with a crime, convicted with a
crime, that's information that New York City and New York state has said they don't make available to the federal government and this raises very
serious questions about those representations.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The question that Srinivasan's lawyers are grappling with now. How did she even get on the radar of federal
authorities? For one, records reviewed by CNN show she was not in New York City during the peak of the campus protests and never participated in the
encampments. That didn't stop Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from posting this video of Srinivasan at LaGuardia Airport on March 11th and
calling her a terrorist sympathizer.
SRINIVASAN: I'm not a terrorist sympathizer. I'm not a pro-Hamas activist. I'm just literally a random student. It just seems very strange that they
would spend so much, you know, like vast resources in, like, sort of persecuting me.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The former Fulbright scholar who earned a master's degree from Harvard was just two months shy of achieving a lifelong dream,
getting her PhD from Columbia University. For now, that's all in jeopardy.
PROKUPECZ: What are you worried about?
SRINIVASAN: I mean, without a degree -- I mean, all of this is, you know, it's not going to be recognized, Any of this work. My five years is
completely wasted.
PROKUPECZ: Now, CNN has reached out to all of the agencies named in our story, the Department of Homeland Security, the NYPD, Columbia University,
the New York City mayor's office, which told us they would look into this. They never got back to us. All of the agencies have not responded to our
requests for comment.
Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: Well, the U.S. government says it'll seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione if he's convicted on capital murder charges. He, of course,
is the man who's accused of murdering United Healthcare's CEO on the streets of New York in December. The decision to seek the death penalty
comes from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state charges, but is also facing federal charges. In February, Mangione
added an attorney who's experienced in death penalty cases to his legal team.
Stay with CNN. Much more to come. We'll be right back.
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[14:45:00]
HILL: Employees at multiple U.S. health agencies today are learning they no longer have jobs. Thousands at the CDC, the FDA, the NIH, learning that
their positions have been eliminated or that they have been placed on leave, getting that news via e-mail.
Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced plans to cut some 10,000 full-time employees. All these cuts coming as 23 states and
the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit against HHS alleging the rollback of $12 billion in public health funding is both unlawful and
harmful.
With me now to discuss is Dr. Steve Woolf. He's a professor of family medicine and population health at the Virginia Commonwealth University
School of Medicine. He also co-wrote an open letter on the potential impact of these cuts which now some 2,000 nearly leading researchers have also
signed onto. Dr. Woolf, it's good to have you with us today.
Your letter was one-page very direct, talking about, in your words, that the slash in funding in jobs is a, quote, "wholesale assault on science."
And you also write that the administration is engaging in censorship, destroying independence. And you note, there's a climate of fear that's
suspended on the research community. And yet you, yourself, have chosen to speak out. Why did you want to use your voice in this moment?
DR. STEVEN WOOLF, PROFESSOR, VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND CO-WROTE OPEN LETTER ON JOB CUTS: Well, we're in a period
right now where a lot of the leaders of our universities and research institutions and organizations are in a tough spot. They're not able to
speak out publicly because they're under financial and legal threats from the administration, and they're fearful of repercussions if they say too
much.
But many of us in the scientific community are extremely concerned about what the implications of this are going to be for the American public. And
we felt a responsibility to, as we said, send out an SOS to the American public to warn them about what this cut in research means for them.
HILL: We're hearing more, just today, we're just learning from Princeton, the university's president, talking about several research grants and
federal funding that has now been cut for that university, saying that the full rationale for this action is not yet clear, according to Chris
Eisgruber.
But when you look at these cuts, do you think that the American people understand just how much happens with federal funding at these universities
and what it does in fact mean for our daily lives?
DR. WOOLF: There are so many examples I could cite, but let me just pick one. When universities have this big a cut, they have to pause their
clinical trials. So, this is research that's being done on cutting edge medical treatments. So, if you have a heart attack or your child gets
cancer, these cuts in research mean that there will be delays in discovering these new treatments.
This will have, obviously, impacts on the health of Americans. It also means that we're losing our edge compared to other countries, which will
continue to be investing in, in this research.
HILL: And in terms of losing that edge, when we've already seen, just, you know, in the last couple of weeks, you've seen -- there was a big story in
fact last week from Aix-Marseille University reaching out, trying to get more researchers to France, not the only country that is looking to bring
researchers from the U.S. into Europe, promising them independence and autonomy in their research.
Do you have a sense of whether that's actually starting to happen? Are we seeing a bit of a brain drain from the U.S.?
DR. WOOLF: Yes, it's happening very quickly actually. A number of my colleagues have announced plans to leave the country. And part of this is
because they're losing job opportunities here and they can find them elsewhere. But quite frankly, one of the big reasons is they need to be
able to pursue their work in -- with intellectual freedom, to not be controlled by the government in terms of what kinds of research they can
do, what methods they can use for doing the research, and literally, what words they can use when they're writing their papers to describe the
results.
HILL: Right, to not be able to use scientifically supported research or claims like climate change certainly makes it difficult. You know, you talk
about the impact. There is -- there has been such an impact on the economy in this country because of federal funding and investment when it comes to
research, and specifically research into health and medicine and science.
Do you think that narrowing in on that economic impact and also the impact that this has on the U.S.'s standing in the world is that something that
you have a sense is starting to resonate with the administration? I mean, President Trump likes to talk about business. He likes to talk about how he
believes he's a successful businessman. This is not successful when it comes to the American business.
DR. WOOLF: Yes, I can't begin to provide a rationale for why they're doing this. They're literally taking a sledgehammer to the scientific
infrastructure of this country.
[14:50:00]
And, you know, let's think about what research accomplishes for us. Research not only improves our health, it's important for businesses in
terms of developing new products and technologies that are important in innovation. Farming and agriculture rely on this weather forecasting, the
military intelligence gathering, all of these are affected by cuts and research. So, how this is good for the country is a bit perplexing.
But what I hope will be most influential, frankly, is when the American public appreciates how this is going to affect them personally in terms of
their health, the health of their children, their life expectancy. You know, we have been investing in our research infrastructure in the industry
for 80 years, since right after World War II.
We steadily built it up over decades to become the marvel and envy of the world in terms of the quality of our research. That infrastructure, within
a matter of weeks, is being decimated by the policy of the administration.
HILL: Dr. Steven Woolf, thank you for your time. I know you've had more folks sign onto that letter since it was released. Please do let us know if
you hear anything from the administration.
DR. WOOLF: Will do. Thank you.
HILL: Live now in Washington. I want to show you the Senate floor. This is Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. He is giving a marathon
speech on the Senate floor. He's actually been speaking now for more than 19 hours, no breaks here. He is in that speech railing against the Trump
administration, against Elon Musk, against cuts to the federal government, what he says is their disregard as well for the rule of law. All of this,
of course, coming at a time when Democrats have been under fire now for months for not taking a tougher stand against the president.
Still ahead here tonight, four films about the Fab Four and details on who has now been cast to play the Beatles in this new series.
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HILL: The Fab Four set for a return to the Silver Screen. Sony announcing multiple new movies based on the iconic British band. "The Beatles - A
Four-Film Cinematic Event," as it's known, will tell stories from each band member's perspective.
[14:55:00]
The director, British Director, Sam Mendes, sharing that he's got his cast. So, Paul Mescal has had to play Paul McCartney. Harris Dickinson will take
on the role of John Lennon breaking in as Ringo Star. And Joseph Quinn set to star as George Harrison.
Now, as for when you can see these films, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you're going to have to wait a little bit longer. Think of it
this way, you have something to look forward to, in April of 2028.
A volcanic eruption forcing the evacuation of the famed Blue Lagoon Thermal Spa. This is one of Iceland's biggest tourist attractions. An eruption that
began earlier today south of Iceland's Capital City of Reykjavik. Smoke flames, lava we're told could be seen spewing in the area. A top researcher
there says there is a real danger of lava entering inhabited areas in the fishing town of Grindavik. An eruption there in January of 2024, you may
recall, led to mass evacuations, although some folks have since returned. Hence, the concerns as we see what is happening there. Mother nature,
although it's beautiful, isn't it?
Thanks so much for joining me tonight. I'm Erica Hill in for Isa Suares. Be sure to stay with CNN. Newsroom with Lynda Kinkade is up next.
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