Return to Transcripts main page
One World with Zain Asher
CNN International: Trump Prepares To Escalate Trade War With Sweeping New Tariffs; Trump's 25 Percent Tariffs On Imported Cars To Take Effect Later This Week; Rescuers Race To Find Survivors In Myanmar. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired March 31, 2025 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, HOST, "ONE WORLD": Bracing for what President Trump is calling Liberation Day, Wall Street and markets around the world preparing for a
new round of tariffs, just days away.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, HOST, "ONE WORLD": One World starts right now. The countdown is on for President Trump's massive tariff plan, as he prepares a
major escalation in his trade war. We'll take you live to the White House with the latest.
ASHER: Plus, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is now banned from running public office for five years after being found guilty of
embezzlement.
GOLODRYGA: And quote, "Truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary", the scathing new message from the FDA's top vaccine official
about RFK Jr. after being forced out of his job.
Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. You are watching One World. U.S. President Donald Trump is set to dramatically intensify his trade war this week, in a move
that some say really threatens to upend the global economic order.
GOLODRYGA: And American adversaries, allies, businesses and consumers worldwide are all bracing for impact. On Wednesday, Trump is expected to
announce a massive set of reciprocal tariffs that will apply to America's trading partners. In addition, 25 percent levies on imported cars will also
take effect this week, and as expected, investors are anxious.
ASHER: Global markets saw a wave of sell-offs early Monday, and here is in the U.S., the markets, but the President doesn't seem too worried. Over the
weekend, Trump said he couldn't care less if prices spike on imported cars because of his tariffs, and he appeared to downplay their economic
severity, even as he hinted at possible flexibility.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The tariffs will be far more generous than those countries were to us, meaning they will be kinder
than those countries were to the United States of America over the decades. They ripped us off like no country has ever been ripped off in history, and
we're going to be much nicer than they were to us, but it is substantial money for the country nevertheless.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: CNN's Kevin Liptak joins us live now at the White House. So, essentially, Trump believing that the economic benefits for these tariffs
will outweigh the consequences. A lot of people disagree with that. A lot of people are really worried about what the economic ramifications could be
here. But, just walk us through what we know, for sure, about the tariffs that are set to go into effect this week.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. We actually don't know a lot, for sure, about what exactly the President will plan to do, and I
think the watch for today is uncertainty. That's part of why you're seeing jitters running through economic markets this morning, because when it
comes down to it, while the President has been talking about these reciprocal tariffs for the last six weeks, just two days before he plans to
put them into effect, we don't know precisely what exactly he plans to do.
And behind the scenes here at the White House, there has been a scramble on the part of the President's aides to put together a package for him to put
into effect on Wednesday. And now, there seems to be this debate behind the scenes here at the White House about what exactly he'll plan to do. On the
one hand, you have the aides advocating for these dollar for dollar reciprocal tariffs, essentially applying a duty on any import into the
United States if that country applies their own tariffs to American goods, and that is part of what the President has been promising to do for the
last six weeks. You also hear discussion of a potential universal tariff, perhaps as high as 20 percent, on all imports into the United States, on
all countries that the U.S. does business with. And so, the President eventually will decide by Wednesday what he plans to do.
But, part of the reason that you see investors so shaky today is that they don't know precisely what he plans to do. Now, when you listen to the
President's advisors, and they were out over the weekend, one of their messages was essentially wait and see to investors and to the markets,
trying to assure them that the President, one kind of knows what he is doing and has the best interests of the American consumer in mind. But, you
also hear from the President's team this desire to use these tariffs to raise billions of dollars in new revenue, in part, to offset the tax cuts
that the President plans, or at least hopes to sign into law later this year.
[11:05:00]
We did hear from Peter Navarro, one of the President's most hawkish trade advisors, sort of talking about this aspect of the tariff plan. Listen to
what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR COUNSELOR FOR TRADE & MANUFACTURING: We're going to raise about $100 billion with the auto tariffs alone. What
we're going to do is, in the new tax bill that has to pass, it absolutely has to pass, we're going to provide tax benefits, tax credits to the people
who buy American cars. This is a genius thing that President Trump promised on the campaign trail. So, that's going to happen. In addition, the other
tariffs are going to raise about $600 billion a year, about $6 trillion over a 10-year period, and we're going to have tax cuts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIPTAK: So, $6 trillion over the next decade. That's an enormous figure that Navarro is citing there. He didn't specify exactly what math he was
using to get there. But, it's also notable that he is talking about these tariffs staying into effect over the course of a decade, which is an
enormous amount of time, essentially saying that these tariffs will be permanent, which is somewhat different than what we've heard from other
advisors who are saying that these tariffs could be sort of a starting point for negotiations, as the President works to realign global trade.
No matter how these tariffs are structured, it is clear, and many economists say this, that American consumers will be paying the price.
ASHER: All right. Kevin Liptak live for us at the White House. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: Mary Lovely as a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and she joins us now live from Washington. Mary,
it's good to have you on the program. So, we know tariff tensions already have fueled $5 trillion in market sell-off in just the past six weeks. And
here is how The Economist magazine sums it up. Over the past two months, since returning to the White House, Mr. Trump will have brought America's
overall tariff level to its highest since the Second World War, setting the country up for slower economic growth, higher inflation, more inequality
and quite possibly fiscal trouble. So, what should Americans be preparing themselves for?
MARY LOVELY, SENIOR FELLOW, THE PETERSON INSTITUTE: Wow. There is a lot on the plate right now. They should definitely be preparing, first of all, for
higher prices, which we'll see this year. So, that's going to be the immediate impact, for sure. They should also be thinking about whether they
approve of the shift in the collection of tax revenue away from the income tax and higher income earners toward middle class and working Americans.
So, we know that for the distributional effects of the tariff, who they fall on, who bears the burden, is different than it is for the income tax.
So, we're seeing that, and that's going to be felt as a result of these higher prices, which will result in the tariff revenue that the President's
team is talking about.
So, that's the short-run influence in what people should be getting ready to experience soon.
ASHER: And just in terms of what the President is saying and how he is justifying this, Mary, he is saying that this is, over the long term, going
to spur more production in the U.S. that America will return to becoming a manufacturing stronghold. And obviously, it's very difficult for many
companies who have overseas factories to sort of change up their supply chains and bring those jobs back to the United States. That's a very
difficult thing to do. He says, overall, America is going to be richer because of this. Just help us separate facts from fiction here.
LOVELY: Well, there are some industries which most people would think we need to reshore. Semiconductors has been one that the Biden administration
tackled, and I think there was broad-based support for that on a national security economic resilience argument. But, this administration has not
told us which sectors they want to reshore. They're talking about autos now, but they're also talking about pharma, various metals. Some Ag
products. It's not clear why the U.S. needs to do that, what is the purpose, and also, what is the purpose of the broad-based tariffs? I think
a lot of observers expected them to be attempts to force foreign partners to change their own market restrictions against U.S. companies selling
abroad.
But now we're hearing that the broad-based tariffs are broad-based. That is, they're going to cover everything, and they're going to be here for a
decade, as your reporter just stated. What is the purpose of that? Is the U.S. interested in, for example, making its own lingerie, underwear,
pajamas? What exactly is the purpose of this?
GOLODRYGA: And to your earlier point about who will bear more of the burden, according to the Yale Budget Lab, households near the bottom income
ladder will see disposable income fall by about 2.5 percent compared with 0.9 percent decline for the most well-off households.
[11:10:00]
We heard from Peter Navarro saying that these tariffs will bring in about $6 trillion in revenue over the course of the next 10 years. Is it your
view that this is an administration that's focused on balancing the budget, or what many are also suggesting is instead trying to find a way to pay for
massive tax cuts that the President is hoping to extend or renew later this year?
LOVELY: They're both. They seem to be determined to cut spending, but at the same time, they're, of course, interested in extending the tax cuts
that were enacted under President Trump's first administration, and even adding new tax cuts on top. On net, I think every serious budget house in
the U.S. is estimating that the U.S. deficit will increase. So, on net, this is clearly an administration that's going to increase the federal
budget deficit. That has to have impacts on people, and because they're doing it with income tax cuts, which will primarily benefit corporations of
people at the top of the income distribution. We know that the distributional story of tariffs is only part of the story. It's a massive
sort of shift in who pays for social programs for the government services.
So, it is a really major change that we're about to embark on here and how we fund government.
ASHER: And Mary, final question, when you look at Donald Trump's first term, I just want to talk about job losses for a second, when you look at
Donald Trump's first term and those tariffs, we saw more job losses in industries that were forced to pay the higher duties than we saw jobs
gained in industries that were protected by the tariffs. Just explain to us what we can expect this time around when it comes to jobs.
LOVELY: Well, I think we can expect more of the same. We know that protection can add some jobs in the sector that's protected, although I
have to add that if this triggers a recession, take, for example, the auto sector, which the President is very determined to protect, already we're
seeing some job losses because the auto sector expects that higher prices and slow income growth will slow down production of autos, and therefore
the number of workers that they need. Downstream workers are affected negatively, as you stated, because they have to pay higher input costs and
pass those costs along to consumers, to some extent, for exporters, who are our most productive and innovative companies.
This is a triple whammy. They're going to pay higher input costs. We're going to see -- the tariffs are going to put upward pressure on the dollar,
which is going to negatively impact exporters and they're going to be locked out of foreign markets to the extent that foreign companies
retaliate against the U.S. for these actions. So, this is why economists say tariffs are not the way to grow the economy.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah, and to your point about the possibility of a recession, we should note that Goldman Sachs, in response to these new tariffs, has
increased its odds and predictions of a recession in the short term to some 35 percent now.
Mary Lovely, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate the time.
ASHER: Thank you.
All right. The United States has never seen a local judicial race like the one playing out right now in Wisconsin. A lot of money being spent on the
ground.
GOLODRYGA: A ton of money. On Tuesday, voters will pick between conservative Brad Schimel and liberal Susan Crawford in the race for a seat
on Wisconsin State Supreme Court. Now, that seat will determine whether the evenly divided court tilts to the left or the right.
ASHER: And as I mentioned, money is pouring in on both sides. Elon Musk held a rally Sunday where he gave away two $1 million checks to voters who
signed his petition against what he calls activist judges. (Inaudible) with cheese on his head. The contest is called the most expensive state judicial
race in U.S. history, and could determine Wisconsin's ideological direction for years to come. Obviously, Wisconsin is known for cheese.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR: In fact, I sort of find myself in a strange position, because I didn't think of myself as right. I thought
myself as centrist, but then the left went all the other way, in other direction, and now everyone is a Nazi, before you know it. And I'm like,
wait a second. Do you know what that means? Obviously not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Meantime, Donald Trump is insisting that he is not joking when he says that he may try to serve a third term as President.
ASHER: Right. Donald Trump spoke about a third time in an interview with NBC over the weekend, saying a lot of people want him to run again.
[11:15:00]
It's worth noting that the Constitution bars anyone from being elected to more than two terms as President. He also took questions about all this
while speaking to reporters on Air Force One.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm not looking at that. But, I'll tell you, I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which is, in a way, it's the fourth term,
because the other election, the 2020 election was totally rigged. I don't want to talk about a third term now, because no matter how you look at it,
you got a long time to go. We have a long time. We have almost four years to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Now, the President and his allies have been coy when asked about his third term plans, but they insist there are ways they could pull it
off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE BANNON, FORMER ADVISOR TO TRUMP: I'm a firm believer that President Trump will run and win again in 2028.
CHRIS CUOMO, HOST, NEWSNATION: You know he is term limited. How do you think he gets another term?
BANNON: We're working on it. I think we'll have a couple of alternatives. Let's say that. We'll see what this definition --
CUOMO: Don't people see? Because it's going to make people say
BANNON: -- we'll see what the definition of term limit is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: OK. As the President noted, he is not joking about this. So, we're going to have much more on this story in our next hour. We'll be
speaking with CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali. So, you'll want to stick around for that.
ASHER: But, still ahead, time is running out in Myanmar to search for more earthquake survivors. The latest on the rescue efforts after the break.
GOLODRYGA: Plus, why Trump is warning his Ukrainian counterpart of what he calls big problems if a proposed mineral steel isn't signed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. Time is running out for rescuers to find more survivors after the largest earthquake to hit Myanmar in more than a century.
Authorities are saying that more than 2,000 people, 2,000 people right now confirm dead, and it actually could be weeks before we know the real death
toll. Obviously, that number continues to rise. Authorities saying that thousands of others are injured, with dozens more missing.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. This is what we were fearful of last week, as word came out of this earthquake that there would just be thousands of casualties.
More than 1,000 kilometers away from the quake's epicenter, at least 18 people were killed in Bangkok, with many more still missing there. Rescue
workers are looking through the rubble of a collapsed high-rise, hoping to find more survivors.
[11:20:00]
CNN's Ivan Watson has more on the rescue efforts and the desperate search for survivors in Myanmar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Desperate cries for help, two teenage girls trapped in an air pocket with their
grandmother under the rubble of their home, trying to get the attention of the outside world by banging on concrete with a butter knife. The trio
trapped and terrified for 15 hours until rescuers pulled them to safety. Frantic rescue efforts repeated across Myanmar since a deadly 7.7 magnitude
earthquake shook the country on Friday. These two women, who asked not to be identified, say they were also trapped when their five-story hotel in
Mandalay collapsed.
WATSON (on camera): Could you see outside? Could you see daylight from where you were?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Interpreted): We were trapped in total darkness. But, the good thing is, we had a phone and we could use its light to see. If we
didn't have that, we could have died. We could see to clear rubble from on top of each other.
WATSON (voice-over): They say civilian volunteers from the neighborhood rescued them after five frightening hours. Also in Mandalay on Monday, a
Chinese rescue team pulled three people from the wreckage of a residential high-rise, including a pregnant woman and a little girl. But now, as more
time passes, hope starts to dwindle. The majority of those still missing now thought unlikely to be alive.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people in quake-damaged cities and towns must now find food, clean water, and shelter. Myanmar's military ruler, Min
Aung Hlaing, who rules over a closed society and rarely cooperates with the international community, is asking for international aid and help. Already
one of the poorest nations in Asia, Myanmar has been further devastated by four years of civil war, and the earthquake zone crosses the war's
frontlines. With its people in desperate need, some have been critical of the military junta.
YANGHEE LEE, FORMER U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON MYANMAR HUMAN RIGHTS: Why hasn't Min Aung Hlaing sent in all of his military assets for rescue and
relief? We don't see any helicopters with rescue and relief team. We only see civilians digging into the rubble.
WATSON (voice-over): Some lucky survivors in this majority Buddhist country are giving thanks to a higher power.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Interpreted): While being trapped, we learned that nothing is permanent, and the most important thing to do before death is to
live a happy life and to do many good deeds. Don't do bad things, because karma will follow you.
WATSON (voice-over): They say they may become nuns to show their gratitude for their miraculous escape.
Ivan Watson, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: For information on how you could help Myanmar earthquake victims, go to cnn.com/impact.
ASHER: All right. I want to turn now to southern Gaza, where the UN agency on the ground says it has discovered a mass grave. A warning, the video
we're about to show you, which was shared by the UN, is extremely disturbing. The bodies of more than a dozen aid workers were found on
Sunday, a week after they went missing following attacks by Israeli forces. The U.S. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says the early
indications are that the workers were killed by Israeli attacks. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military, the IDF for comment.
GOLODRYGA: Among those killed were medics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, first responders from Gaza civil defense, and UN staffers.
Meantime, Israel has countered the latest ceasefire proposal put forward by Egyptian mediators.
ASHER: Senior officials tell CNN they are asking for 11 living hostages and half of the deceased hostages to be returned in exchange for a 40-day pause
in fighting. The original draft, which Hamas accepted over the weekend, called for the release of five hostages and a renewed ceasefire.
GOLODRYGA: And Iran is wasting no time reacting to the White House, saying that it would respond in kind to any U.S. military action against it.
ASHER: Yeah. This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump says that Tehran could face possible bombings and secondary tariffs as well if it doesn't
reach an agreement with the U.S. over its nuclear program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I can't imagine them doing anything else but making a deal. I would prefer a deal to the other alternative, which I think everybody in this
plane knows what that is, and that's not going to be pretty, and I do not prefer that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Trump has also been heaping threats and criticism on Russia as well, and now the Kremlin is responding. Moscow says it continues working with
Washington on rebuilding bilateral relations as well as peace in Ukraine.
GOLODRYGA: President Trump has been telling NBC News that he could impose additional tariffs on Russian oil if Vladimir Putin doesn't cooperate in
ongoing negotiations to end his war in Ukraine.
[11:25:00]
Now, the U.S. President's warning to the Kremlin came shortly after his administration presented Ukraine with a new version of a draft agreement.
ASHER: The deal would give the U.S. access to Ukraine's oil, its gas, its minerals. Trump says there will be, quote, "big, big problems" if Kyiv
tries to back out.
CNN's Clare Sebastian is tracking that story for us out of London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With efforts to get to the point of a ceasefire in Ukraine essentially stalled, the U.S. appears to be stepping
up efforts to get a mineral deal over the line, a central part, of course, of President Trump's strategy to ensure the U.S. gets something in return
for helping Ukraine.
Two sources familiar with the matter told CNN on Friday, the U.S. has put forward a new proposal, and one that goes beyond the original arrangement
that was set to be signed on February 27th, the day of that Oval Office pact between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy. Well, the new proposal would
apparently give the U.S. more access to Ukraine's mineral reserves, and would apply to all mineral resources, including oil and gas, according to
those sources, who also said it does not contain any promise of post-war security guarantees for Ukraine.
Now, Zelenskyy has maintained he is open to signing a mineral deal in principle. Let's slip some frustration last week, he said on Thursday, that
the U.S. keeps changing the terms of the deal, and on Friday, he called the new proposal an entirely different document, which contains some things
that hadn't been discussed and some things that had already been rejected. On Sunday, President Trump hit back.
TRUMP: I think Zelenskyy, by the way, I see he is trying to back out of the rare earth deal, that if he does that, he has got some problems, big, big
problems.
SEBASTIAN: Well, the risks for Ukraine are clear. The last time presidents Trump and Zelenskyy fell out, the U.S. paused military aid and intelligence
sharing, though later reinstated it. Now, the difference now, though, more than a month on, is that Trump is signaling he is also willing to get tough
on Russia and ramp up economic pressure to sign on to a ceasefire, without which, of course, the U.S. cannot start reaping the benefits of Ukraine's
mineral wealth.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: Turning to France now, where there has been a major upset in politics in that country, after a court bars Marine Le Pen from running in
the next presidential election. We'll have a live report from Paris just ahead.
ASHER: Plus, a look at the growing number of student detentions by American immigration officials, as one university makes changes to try to win back
federal funding.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to One World. I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. Here are some of the international headlines we are watching today.
ASHER: The U.S. President Donald Trump is gearing up for what he calls Liberation Day. The President plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on
countries around the world on Wednesday. A 25 percent tariff on imported cars also takes effect this week as well.
GOLODRYGA: The death toll in Myanmar has soared above 2,000 following Friday's massive earthquake. Rescue workers are desperately searching for
survivors as time is running out to reach victims who may be buried underneath the rubble.
ASHER: And police in South Korea say a man attending a family grave may have ignited a huge wildfire last week. The man has not been charged.
Multiple fires ravaged the southeast of the country, killing 30 people. The fires, which have now been put out, burned about 48,000 hectares.
GOLODRYGA: Well, far-right French leader Marine Le Pen now banned from running for public office for five years after a Paris court found she and
others were guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds, using the money to pay staff who were working for her political party, the National Rally,
in France. Her lawyer says she will now appeal.
Joining us now, CNN's Melissa Bell live from Paris. And Melissa, the ramifications of this ruling not just impacting Paris there. We're hearing
responses from some of Le Pen's supporters. Far-right leaders from around the world coming to her defense and outrage. Just talk to us about the
implication of this ruling.
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the first and most immediate implication appears to be her presidential hopes for 2027.
This was, according to many people, looking ahead to this next presidential election, likely to be the one in which she had the best hopes. It would
have been her fourth run for the French presidency, and that appears now to be a hope dashed with questions about who will stand for her party instead.
But, to the immediate outcome of this verdict and sentencing, the judges went all the way to meeting the prosecution and its demands, not only that
she do -- she face sentencing in terms of jail time, and she now has a two- year suspended sentence, but also a two-year sentence that she will serve from home with an electronic bracelet. The prosecution had also asked for a
fine. The sentencing included it, but the prosecution had, to the surprise of many, also requested that she be deemed ineligible to stand for public
office, and many people had expressed surprise at that, not just from within her own political party, by the way, but the current Justice
Minister tweeted that it would be a judicial overreach, should the judges go in that direction.
And yet, that is precisely what has happened today. The judge is handing down the sentencing that I described, but also announcing that she would be
ineligible for 2027. That has huge ramifications. And as you say, we heard very quickly from the Kremlin, saying that it believed the democratic norms
had been broken here in France. We've heard also from Viktor Orban tweeting "Je suis Marine", and in the last few moments, Elon Musk has tweeted about
this as well, speaking of what he described as the radical left's inability to reach power through the polls, accusing it then of seeking to do it
through the courts.
Now, the judge went -- the presiding judge went to great lengths to explain precisely because what she anticipated would be these objections, the
reason for the sentencing and its severity, and specifically the ineligibility ruling, and it was, she said, the vast system that had been
put in place by the National Rally, Marine Le Pen's party, over the course of several years that had allowed the embezzlement of EU money that should
have gone to paying for parliamentary assistance at the European level, that instead had gone to funding the party at a time when it was cash-
strapped and needing it.
So, speaking of a vast system of embezzlement, she found not just Marine Le Pen guilty, but several of her party's MEPs and a great number also of
parliamentary assistants guilty on those charges of embezzlement. So, a huge blow to Marine Le Pen personally, who has been fighting for decades,
let us be clear, for her party to become its President, seeing off her father himself, and also fighting, of course, these last few decades, and
it would have been her fourth time to become President.
[11:35:00]
That appears to have been brought to an end.
GOLODRYGA: Melissa Bell, thank you so much.
ASHER: All right. The FDA's top vaccine official is now out of a job, forced out by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Dr. Peter Marks is
leaving with a harsh critique of his boss. We'll have more details on this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: The FDA's top vaccine official begins his final week on the job after being forced out by Health Secretary RFK Jr.
GOLODRYGA: Dr. Peter Marks had a key role in Operation Warp Speed, the federal government's COVID-19 vaccine development program. He has long
steered the FDA's regulation of vaccines and is a widely respected scientist, but was reportedly given an ultimatum by the new HHS Secretary
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., "resign or be fired". So, he resigned effective April 5th. And in his resignation letter, Marks wrote this, in part, "It
has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his
misinformation and lies." Really not holding back there.
We want to bring in Dr. Paul Offit. He is the Vaccine Education Director at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and part of the FDA Vaccine
Advisory Committee. Dr. Offit, always good to see you. You've called Peter Marks brave for standing up for what he thought was right, giving that
damning condemnation in his resignation letter. What is the impact of his resignation and what should Americans be questioning at this point?
DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, & DIRECTOR, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: All right. So, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has this
fixed, immutable belief that vaccines cause harm like autism and diabetes and multiple sclerosis, and he is hell bent on proving that, and in order
to prove that these things that are false, he is going to need to have people fall in line behind him, people like David Geier, who he has
recently appointed as a data analyst, who has a history of doing poorly controlled studies that basically are so methodologically flawed as to be
inconclusive at best, since we're uninterpretable at worst.
So, I think that's what RFK Jr. wants. He wants to find someone who, like him, believes that vaccines cause autism, and Peter Marks is not going to
be that guy.
[11:40:00]
So, I think Peter Marks probably had no choice but to step down, because Peter Marks stands for high-quality science, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
doesn't.
ASHER: When you think about his stepping down and what's happening in the United States right now, I mean, you think about the ongoing measles crisis
in Texas, we're talking about at least 400 cases and rising, and also the long list of serious potential complications from measles, hospitalization,
death, encephalitis, pneumonia, the list goes on. These are really serious complications. And when you have somebody in charge of Health and Human
Services, who is talking about alternative treatments instead of just -- instead of the fact, knowing the fact that vaccines obviously provide safe
and effective treatments and prevention for measles, what concerns you the most about the timing of all this?
OFFIT: Well, first of all, you have an ongoing outbreak that's supposedly about 500 people, and that's low because those are just confirmed cases,
meaning confirmed by PCR, confirmed by serology. Many of these folks, for example, in the Mennonite community in West Texas, when they have measles,
they're told not to go to the doctor. So, the estimate is probably closer to 2,000 cases of measles currently going on in this country, and it keeps
doubling. Now, apparently it's extended into a Mennonite community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I think it is wholly likely that we will
see a second child death sometime in the next few weeks for a virus that's no doubt going to circulate to at least mid-May.
I think this is awful, and what you have as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, as someone who, during this time has been on national news
and said measles vaccine kills people every year, measles vaccine causes blindness and deafness, measles vaccine can -- causes the same symptoms as
natural measles. And so, I think he has been acting irresponsibly and I think RFK Jr. has to step down if we're going to save America's children.
GOLODRYGA: Well, the likelihood of that happening are slim to none. But, it was interesting to hear from Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who had served in Trump's
first administration as the FDA Commissioner at that time, this morning suggests that once those who are vaccine skeptical see the impact and the
severity of measles, especially in those communities where we're seeing more outbreaks that just the shock value alone and fear factor of their
children also contracting the virus could lead them to ultimately become vaccinated. I mean, I guess this is a really warped sense of a silver
lining. But, do you concur? I mean, is there that possibility, if people start seeing the impact of measles around them in their communities, that
they will, in fact, become vaccinated?
OFFIT: Right. So, I lived through the 1991 Philadelphia measles epidemic, when we had 1,400 cases and nine deaths in a three-month period. I mean,
schools canceled trip to the city. Our city was a fear destination, and I saw certainly people panic and wanting to get vaccines as soon as possible.
In fact, we vaccinated down to six months of age. But, I'm not sure I completely agree with the fact that there is a zero chance that RFK Jr.
steps down. I have to believe that President Trump does not like being President of measles land, and this is only going to get worse. I would
like to think this is not what he wants to see happening.
ASHER: Talk to our international audience about why Peter Marks is so revered in this community. I mean, obviously Operation Warp Speed and the
COVID-19 pandemic and his role in that, just give us a sense of why this is such a loss for HHS.
OFFIT: Right. So, here is a virus, SARS-CoV-2, that was isolated and sequenced in January 2020, and then within 11 months, we had done two large
clinical trials of the mRNA vaccines and been able to release them within like an 11-month period. I think it's one of the most dramatic medical and
scientific achievements in my lifetime. I mean, it was a novel technology. It was an unusual virus that had unusual clinical or biological
characteristics. And Peter Marks was behind that. He was the one who named it Operation Warp Speed. He was a Star Trek fan. And Operation warp speed,
I think, in Star Trek (inaudible) than light.
And so, he is very much to be credited for that, a vaccine that probably saved three million American lives. He is a hero, and yet, in this sort of
world upside down, he becomes a villain, at least in RFK Jr.'s eyes, who called the COVID-19 vaccine the most dangerous vaccine ever made, which is
just wrong.
GOLODRYGA: And Operation Warp Speed happened under Trump's administration. So, he very well could have taken credit for that, which he initially did,
but as we see, times have definitely changed over the course of the last few years.
Dr. Paul Offit, thank you so much.
[11:45:00]
Good to have your expertise on our air.
ASHER: All right. Still come here on One World, only four teams remain in the college basketball National Championship race, and experts say it may
be the greatest men's Final Four in history.
GOLODRYGA: Go Houston.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(VIDEO PLAYING)
ASHER: Immigration officials are declining to comment on the arrest of an international graduate student at the University of Minnesota. The
university has not identified the student, but says the arrest is a deeply concerning situation.
GOLODRYGA: Yeah. The student was detained at an off-campus residence. Activists say people are being taken without being told why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAMONA MALCZYNSKI, UNITED GRADUATE WORKERS, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO: The nature of the ICE abductions of international graduate students and
immigrants across the country since the Trump administration came into office has been horrific. People are being taken without being told why,
and by officers who are sometimes masked and not in uniform.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: The student's attorney is calling it a highly sensitive situation, and it comes as nearly a dozen students across the country have
been detained by federal agents.
ASHER: Rafael Romo is following this story for us. So -- I mean, you have the student there, referring to it as ICE abductions. Just in terms of what
we're seeing out of Minnesota, we don't know necessarily the name of the student or the nationality. That information has not been released. So,
what more do we know about that situation on the ground there? Obviously, this is happening across the country.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Zain and Bianna It is very important to understand the context in which this is happening. Right? The detention
comes as several foreign nationals affiliated with prestigious American universities, and we've been reporting about it, have been arrested amid
the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
This case stands out due to the lack of information about what exactly happened to the student. Number one, officials have not released the
student's identity, the location where this individual is currently being held, or the reason for the detention. CNN, of course, reached out to
Immigration and Customs Enforcement to request information about this case, but so far, there has been no reply.
Now, the University of Minnesota disclosed some details in a letter sent to students, faculty and staff on Friday, calling what happened a deeply
concerning situation, as many on campus rallied in support of the detained student, expressing concern and indignation. According to the letter, an
international graduate student was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday.
[11:50:00]
The detention happened off-campus, but the student is enrolled at the Twin Cities' campus. University of Minnesota Rebecca Cunningham said in the
letter that the university had no prior knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities before it occurred.
Several Minnesota officials, including Governor Tim Walz, have reacted with both concern and surprise about this case, given that what authorities have
so far provided no information about the reason why this international student was detained. This is what state Senator Doron Clark had to say
about the case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF DORON CLARK, MINNESOTA STATE SENATOR: What stood out to me was the lack of information. We don't know. We don't know where the student is. We
don't know the student's name. We just don't know what happened and without -- the only way we found out was not from the federal government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: And Zain and Bianna, this is the latest case in a wave of international students who have been detained by immigration officials. You
may remember Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University graduate student, whose lawyers say she is unfairly being punished for speaking out in favor of
Palestinian rights. A video of her detention showing six plain clothes officers encircling her on the street near her apartment in Boston -- in
the Boston area went viral last week. Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent pro- Palestinian activist and Columbia University student, is also among those people being detained.
But, again, lots of questions that need to be answered here. Now, back to you.
ASHER: All right. Rafael Romo live for us there in Atlanta. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: And before we go this hour --
(VIDEO PLAYING)
ASHER: Auburn, Duke, Florida, and Houston are the Final Four teams standing in the race for college basketball's National Championships.
GOLODRYGA: Now, these four teams have been historically good this season, and it is just the second time in the history of the NCAA tournament that
the four number one seeds have all reached the Final Four.
ASHER: Let's bring in CNN World Sports Coy Wire with more. So, we're down to the last four teams. What's interesting here is that every team's path
has been a little bit different. Some teams have had their journey marked by defense, some marked by a little bit of comeback. But, this could
actually be the greatest sort of Final Four in history. Tell us why, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah. It has got the big hitters all in the Final Four. The only other time the Final Four history all four teams have
been one seeds was in 2008, and in a wild bit of history repeating itself, it was on the exact same dates as this year's, April 5th and 7th, and in
the exact same place, San Antonio.
Sunday night, two seed Michigan State facing top overall seed Auburn, and Johni Broome, you can't spell Broome without the boom, arguably the best
player in the nation. But then there was this scary moment for the star in the second half. He falls awkwardly on his leg and his arm. His mom was in
tears. Broome left the game, but his Tigers held it down, and about six minutes later, he is back in the arena like Maximus. Crowd erupts, and with
his very first shot back, big man hits a three pointer. Are you not entertained? Broome finishes with 25 points, 14 rebounds, as Auburn wins 70
to 64. They're on to just their second Final Four in school history. They will face Florida next.
Houston spanked the ball in right out of the volunteers, leaving them nothing but tears. A defensive master class by Houston holding Tennessee to
just 15 points in the first half, fewest and a half of any elite eight game all time. Any hopes for a Tennessee comeback were stomped by Emmanuel Sharp
in a couple of three pointers a minute apart. Houston wins 69 to 50. They will play Duke in the Final Four.
On the women's side, Dawn Staley's South Carolina are headed to their fifth straight Final Four. The defending champs down to the wire with Duke
hanging on to a two-point lead with less than 10 seconds to go, and the Blue Devils hopes fell short. Gamecocks win 54 to 50. South Carolina's
resiliency continues to shine there, 20 and one in the last four NCAA tournaments. Next stop, Final Four in Tampa.
Also for the UCLA Bruins, this year's top overall seed advancing to their first Final Four in school history. They beat mighty LSU, the 2023 champs,
72 to 65. We have two more women's games today, Texas/TCU and UConn/USC, both with trips to the Final Four on the line.
GOLODRYGA: OK. So, if you were to predict, Coy, where do you see Houston coming out here? Just asking, random question.
WIRE: Asking for a friend, wearing your Houston red today. Well, if I said Houston is going to win it all, then our Andy Scholes would be over the
moon, because he went there.
[11:55:00]
But then, that would mean my boss, Jen Bernstein, would be very mad that I didn't pick her Florida Gators. So, I'm going to make both of them mad. I
think Duke is -- just looks unbelievable this year.
ASHER: Duke has had such an easy run, right? So far, they've had such an easy journey.
GOLODRYGA: Until they play Houston. That is Cougars.
WIRE: They have the best player in the country, Cooper Flagg, a freshman who is 6'9" and can just dunk over anybody in his way. We'll see if he can
do it, two more times to be crowned a champ.
GOLODRYGA: So --
ASHER: Look at that. All number one seeds.
GOLODRYGA: So, Coy thinks Houston will win it all. All right. Coy Wire, thank you so much.
WIRE: So, you're saying there is a chance.
GOLODRYGA: You're saying there is a chance, Coy.
ASHER: You're saying there is a chance.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Go Cougars.
ASHER: I'm going to support Bianna. Amazing.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. I'm a Cougar fan now.
All right. Stay with us. We'll have more One World after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
