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Protesters in Large Numbers Attend Anti-Trump Administration Rallies Across U.S. and Cities Around the World; Mississippi Valley Including Arkansas and Missouri Hit With Third Consecutive Day of Flooding and Rain; U.S. Stock Market Falters as Trump Administration's Tariff Policy Set to Take Effect; Possible Effects of Tariffs on Prices in U.S. Examined; Consumers Advised to Purchase or Repair Cars Now to Avoid Effects of Tariffs; UConn to Play South Carolina in NCAA Women's Basketball Championship; Head of Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at FDA Fired; Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Announces 10,000 Full-Time Employees Cut at Health Agencies This Week. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired April 05, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:03]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It says on her reservation that she is a friend of Aby Rosen. So she avoids putting down a credit card. She's going to pay by a wire transfer. It wasn't a lie. She was in negotiations to purchase a building at 281 Park Avenue, which is owned by Aby Rosen.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Despite being as broke as your average 20- something in New York, Anna was negotiating a lease for a $50 million headquarters for her arts foundation. Anna had already charmed the beautiful people of New York, and now, armed with a few photoshopped documents and unshakable confidence, she'd get an investment bank to foot the bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Catch an all-new episode of "United States of Scandal" tomorrow at 9:00, right here on CNN.

All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with this breaking news. Protesters in large numbers turning out at anti-Trump rallies across the U.S. and in cities around the world. The so-called Hands Off protests are in response to President Trump's new tariffs and his dramatic cuts to the U.S. federal government, overseen by billionaire Elon Musk. Let's turn now to Ivan Rodriguez, who is covering the protests in Atlanta. Ivan, what's happening there?

All right, looks like we lost that signal. So let's take you to the nation's capital, where we find CNN's Brian Todd in the mix on the national mall. BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, a very large and dynamic

crowd here at the foot of the Washington Monument. I'm going to walk along the crowd here, take a look. You've got thousands and thousands of people here with signs, chants. There's music being played on the stage, speeches going on here as we speak. Again, several thousand people here.

But this is not the only place where they're staging these rallies. This is called the Hands Off movement. The Hands Off, and also Moveon.org are staging rallies. They want to get rallies going in 1,300 cities and towns across the United States, just inside the United States, but also overseas in places like Berlin, Paris, elsewhere in Europe. That's what they're doing, all designed to come out today to show opposition to what President Trump and Elon Musk are doing. The primary point of resistance is to call attention to what DOGE is doing, the layoffs, the cutbacks.

I've got one person here, Jenna Santucci-Freeman. Jenna, talk to me. Your parents are both federal government employees. What are they going through right now?

JENNA SANTUCCI-FREEMAN, BOTH PARENTS WORKED FOR FEDERAL Government: Yes, my dad had to take the fork in the road deal. And so he had to leave the federal government after over 20 years. And my mom works for Health and Human Services right now, and she's worried, you know, about her job security at this point.

TODD: What do they think they're going to do if -- what are they what are they going to do from here? It's very uncertain.

SANTUCCI-FREEMAN You know, that's exactly what it is. It's really uncertain. It's hard to plan when there is seemingly no plan other than to just lay people off. So it is hard for everybody in this predicament to know what's next.

TODD: Thank you for talking to us, Jenna, we appreciate it. Good luck to your family.

All right, guys, look, this is, again, not the only event going on here in Washington. Theres also a pro-Palestinian rally going on. But again, just check out the dynamic nature of this crowd. It is enormous. And just a lot of energy here, so much so that the White House, which is scheduling garden tours for spring and fall, a garden tour was supposed to be held today at the White House. They're postponing it to tomorrow. They say out of an abundance of caution because of the proximity of this rally to the White House and other events going on today here in Washington. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Brian Todd in Washington, D.C., thanks so much.

Lets go now to Atlanta, where protesters there are gathering. There's our Ivan Watson -- Ivan Rodriguez. Sorry about that, Ivan. OK, so you are walking with demonstrators who are making their way to the state capital?

IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. We're actually leaving midtown in a little bit here, entering downtown toward the state capitol. Organizers said that they were expecting about 5,000 people at this march here in Atlanta. I believe I'm near the back of this of this march. But at the same time, I can't see exactly where the end is. Thousands of people, from my estimates, have shown up here to be a part of this Hands Off rally.

I want to bring in Maggie Adams. She's an Atlanta native. Maggie, tell me a little bit about what made you want to be a part of this today.

MAGGIE ADAMS, ATTENDING RALLY: It just seems to me that there's so many great, amazing Americans who are doing hard work in this country. Federal employees and Trump and Musk have come in and cut them all indiscriminately. And it's just, it's cruel the way they're doing this to just almost like torture the people of our society in order to get people to compel to his wishes. And it's really frustrating.

RODRIGUEZ: Obviously, those in favor of those cuts would say taxpayers are saving money because of this. Here, though, a lot of frustration is, would you say, the lack of guardrails?

[14:05:05]

ADAMS: Absolutely. That there -- we get. we want to get rid of waste. But you know, there's a there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. And this is clearly the wrong way.

RODRIGUEZ: Maggie, thank you so much.

And, Fred, as we keep walking toward the state capital, we've been walking here --

WHITFIELD: All right, well, we got the gist of it for the most part. Oh, no. I think he's back. All right, Ivan, go ahead.

RODRIGUEZ: As I was saying, when we get to the state capital, we're going to hear from several speakers, some within the Georgia state legislature, others from the CDC, which we know is very important to many people here in Atlanta since those headquarters are here in the state of Georgia. Also, people from the NAACP. So again, it's just been incredible to see the thousands of people show up here. You can't see the end of this either way you look.

WHITFIELD: And the CDC hit hard with a number of layoffs there as well. All right, Ivan Rodriguez, thank you so much. We'll check back with you there in Atlanta.

Our other breaking story this hour right now, the Mississippi Valley, including Arkansas and Missouri, getting hammered with a third consecutive day of dangerous flooding and rain. More than 100,000 people are without power in Arkansas. And earlier today, a train trestle collapsed, knocking multiple cars off the rails in Mammoth Spring near the Arkansas-Missouri border.

CNN senior national correspondent Ryan Young is in Ravenden, Arkansas, with the very latest. Ryan? RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Fred. Look, the situation has changed since the last time we joined you. If you walk this direction, you can see the state trooper that's been placed here. This is Highway 63. This is the way in northern Arkansas you move east to west, and right now this is shut down. In fact, there's a good chance that we might even be trapped on a certain section of Ravenswood in Arkansas because of how fast the water is moving up. The way we came in, the highway was used. They are now flooded over, and you can see how much that water is covered that bridge at this point.

This storm has been dangerous for many people across America. In fact, there are nine confirmed deaths right now. The rain is steady. We are actually standing in the flash flood warning area right now. We've been talking to firefighters and emergency crews about how they're trying to keep everyone safe. Now there are low lying areas. They gave those folks a call and a heads up that they wanted them to heed the warnings to get out of this, because you can see how the lakes and rivers here have started to spill across the banks, and that's what they've been concerned about for quite some time.

There have been some rescues with boats in other areas. We were trying to make our way to Hardy, which is just down this road. There is no way for us to make it down this way. So state troopers, firefighters, and emergency personnel throughout the area are here. The rain has been heavy. The lightning has been even stronger. And this is just getting more worse as the situation continues to grow. We're going to be looking at this as we try to drive out of here, but this is a situation that a lot of residents have been dealing with for several days. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Ryan Young, you and your crew and everyone else there, be very careful.

All right, still to come, the tariff war may just be getting started. How other countries are reacting to Donald Trump's new tariffs and what the White House is now saying.

And later, the stage is set for a championship game of the ages. Who has the advantage as the two titans of women's college basketball face off for the title?

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[14:13:10]

WHITFIELD: President Trump's sweeping tariffs are now in effect. Overnight, the U.S. initiated a blanket 10 percent tariff on all U.S. imports, meaning you're likely to spend more on just about everything -- groceries, clothing, electronics, even cars, with even steeper tariffs going into effect next week.

Stock markets around the globe are spiraling as the trade war takes hold. The Dow posting its worst back to back losses since the COVID pandemic, falling more than 2,000 points on Friday alone. But other countries are pushing back. China slapping a 34 percent

tariff on all U.S. imports. Their foreign ministry slamming Trump's moves, saying the markets have spoken.

CNN's Betsy Klein is live for us in West Palm Beach near Mar-a-Lago, where President Trump is spending the weekend. Betsy, what more is the White House willing to say to kind of justify all of this?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Yes, Fredricka, we are seeing so much economic upheaval as a result of President Trump's tariff policies. We are seeing a market selloff, foreign retaliation, as you mentioned, including China, anger from corporate America, and even skepticism from the chairman of the Federal Reserve. But really, a reconfiguration of the economic world order.

President Trump, for his part, returning to familiar patterns. He spent this morning at his Jupiter, Florida, golf club, and in a really remarkable split screen moment, as we are seeing these protests play out across the country, the White House issuing this official statement, again, an official statement, saying that the president won his matchup at the senior club championship and advances to the championship round at his golf club tomorrow. Really, again, a remarkable official statement from the White House.

[14:15:00]

But as he arrived at the club, the president making clear that his reaction to Chinas decision to install 34 percent reciprocal tariffs on the U.S. is one of defiance. He said in a post to social media this morning, "China has been hit much harder than the USA, not even close. They and many other nations have treated us unsustainably badly."

Now the president goes on to say, "This is an economic revolution, and we will win. Hang tough. It won't be easy, but the end result will be historic." And the Trump team overall maintaining that they are on the right track here. I want you to listen to these comments this morning from the president's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, on CNN.

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PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR COUNSELOR: The market will find a bottom. It will be soon. And from there, we're going to have a bullish boom. And the Dow is going to hit 50,000 during Trump's term. The S&P 500 is going to have a very broad based recovery. And wages are going to go up, profits are going to go up, and life's going to be beautiful here in America. Trust in Trump.

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KLEIN: Trust in Trump. Navarro says as markets are spiraling, the Dow down 12 percent from a recent high and the Nasdaq more than 22 percent. Now, the president has launched a historically disruptive tariff policy. And we are going to see in the coming weeks and months whether it has its intended effect, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: OK. And I wonder, Betsy, if you've learned whether the president is open to cutting any deals on these tariffs. I mean, he's you know, he's the author of "The Art of the Deal."

KLEIN: Exactly. He views himself as a dealmaker, and he has expressed some openness to cutting deals with countries to trim down those tariff rates. We know that there are active negotiations right now with Israel, Vietnam, as well as India underway right now for potential bespoke trade deals. To that end, a senior White House official tells me today that president Trump will be hosting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this Monday, where they are ostensibly set to talk about those 17 percent tariffs the U.S. has placed on Israel. Of course, Gaza also a topic for discussion next week, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Betsy Klein, thanks so much.

All right, no matter how you slice it, tariffs are going to have a big impact on how and what you buy. CNN's Richard Quest shows us why everyday essentials, items you may not even consider in this trade war, will likely see steep price increases.

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RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: It is easy to think of tariffs on the big stuff -- the automobiles, the dishwashers, and the like. But the truth is, most of us will feel our tariffs at places like this, the Heavenly Deli where you buy your food and drink every single day. Just look, tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. A bottle of San Pellegrino. It comes from Italy within the E.U. Now, I know this costs about five bucks here. Tariff of 20 percent from the E.U., so you're talking about roughly a dollar or so. Who's going to pay the dollar? The importer passes it to the distributor, the wholesaler, the good lady at the desk, and pass it on to me.

You then start looking at other things. Licorice from Australia. Now there's an election in Australia at the moment. Anthony Albanese is facing the public. How is he going to explain how this $7.99 licorice is now suddenly 10 percent more expensive? What's it going to do to the sales?

You've got to buy a new charger. You can never have enough chargers. Of course, Heavenly sells chargers. The charger and the cable come to about 20 bucks. But these come from China. And there is a 34 percent tariff on from China, 34 percent of 20 bucks, do the mathematics yourself. Suddenly this becomes more expensive.

And then you've got the little stuff. The ghost pepper, spicy chicken flavor from Malaysia, costs $2.99. It's described as spicy madness. How about how much madness wants the 24 percent tariff goes on, and the $2.99 goes up? As it says here, "flaming, spicy madness." Are they talking about the food or the tariff?

Whichever way you look at it, everything is going up in some shape or form. And it really is just a question of who is going to eat the cost.

Richard Quest, CNN, at the deli in New York.

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WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much, Richard.

All right, coming up next, tariffs hitting new cars and your auto repair bills. So how do you navigate this sticker shock? Someone who has spent decades in the auto sales industry joins me next with tips.

[14:20:00]

Do you apply the brakes or pedal to the metal?

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WHITFIELD: President Donald Trump's new tariffs are making some Americans think about making big purchases, like a new car, sooner rather than later. The 25 percent tariff on all imported vehicles could mean the difference between someone owning, leasing, or going without a new car. CNN's Danny Freeman spoke with customers in Pennsylvania about how the tariffs may affect them.

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[14:25:00]

ROSA SCOTT, PENNSYLVANIA CAR BUYER: I need to buy a new vehicle before the prices start going up to high.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosa Scott has been eyeing this new Jeep Wrangler for a while. But when she saw the dealership packed over the weekend, she knew she had to act.

SCOTT: I really wanted to wait a couple of months, but it might be too much then.

FREEMAN: So you were hoping to wait a couple of months to buy this car, but you were worried about tariffs in particular?

SCOTT: Yes. I was worried about the prices going up.

FREEMAN: David Kelleher is the owner of David Auto outside of Philadelphia, which sells mostly Stellantis vehicles like Dodge, Jeep, and Ram. But he says new tariffs on imported vehicles will be felt across the industry.

DAVE KELLEHER, PRESIDENT, DAVID AUTO GROUP: When you're talking about GM, Stellantis, Ford, these gigantic companies, we're going to be impacted. Make no mistake about it. even though we're American companies, we're going to be impacted.

FREEMAN: For some, the feared impact means a race against the clock.

KELLEHER: I have a customer that ordered an $86,000 2500 ram. If that can get on a train today, it will be without tariff. If it gets on the train tomorrow. It's going to have a 25 percent tariff. That $86,000 car becomes $103,000 car overnight, And that customer, he's going to turn to me. I'm most likely going to eat that. That's a $20,000 hit. FREEMAN: For others, smaller changes add up fast. Take this new Jeep

Compass American car assembled in Mexico. It costs around $30,000 today, but with a 25 percent tariff, Dave explained these cars could suddenly cost as much as $37,500.

KELLEHER: That kind of change in a price moves that payment $175 a month. And our customers, they're middle class people. They just can't afford that kind of bump.

FREEMAN: What would you advise someone who is looking to buy a car? Should they go out and buy today?

AARON BRAGMAN, DETROIT BUREAU CHIEF, CARS.COM: That has been our advice is to go out and get a vehicle, frankly, as soon as you possibly can.

FREEMAN: Aaron Bragman with Cars.com says it's crucial to remember American made cars will also be impacted, as most cars assembled stateside use parts from overseas, which are expected to be tariffed as well.

BRAGMAN: It's not going to just impact new car prices. This is going to impact repair costs as well. So it's a knock-on effect these tariffs are going to have not just in buying a new car. It's in maintenance. It's in ownership costs. It's a number of different areas that are going to frankly cost American consumers.

FREEMAN: Across the country, customers said they were buying cars early due to the tariffs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just knowing that tariffs went into effect and it's real, now I know that it's something I don't have to think about anymore.

FREEMAN: But Kelleher is now worried for American workers who rely on imported cars for jobs.

KELLEHER: I think what the president is trying to do is admirable. Bring in more jobs to the United States, you know, bolstering the industries in the United States, This is great, great, great stuff. But I'm telling you right now, the impacts of these tariffs are going to make Americans lose jobs. There's no doubt about it.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: Danny freeman, thank you so much, The view from Pennsylvania.

So let's continue our conversation. Right now with me is Steve Rayman. He has owned 13 car dealerships around Atlanta and is a former president of Metro Atlanta Auto Dealers Association. So glad you could be in here and help us navigate all of this. This is a very scary time, right?

STEVE RAYMAN, OWNED 13 CAR DEALERSHIPS: It's confusing, yes.

WHITFIELD: And confusing.

RAYMAN: And complicated.

WHITFIELD: And so a lot of folks who are thinking about the big ticket items, like buying a car, a new car, like getting your car repaired, I mean, they want to know how to navigate all of this. So from a former car dealer perspective, I mean, do folks need to expect that they're going to be paying more right away? Or is this somewhere down the line?

RAYMAN: Well, I think timing is everything. And I think right now is a good time to buy, pre the --

WHITFIELD: Tariff.

RAYMAN: The tariffs. And the reason I say that is that the dealers already have a stockpile of some inventories that they need to sell. And most recently you saw Ford has just come out and employed pricing to everybody, which is really a good deal.

WHITFIELD: And Stellantis.

RAYMAN: -- has just done that.

WHITFIELD: And so what this means, and this is nationwide, this is not just in Michigan or some of the other states where they have plants, but regular folks can enjoy the discounts that employees would enjoy on their new car purchases.

RAYMAN: Yes, and that's not just a supplier price.

WHITFIELD: Why can these dealers afford that?

RAYMAN: Well, it's not actually the dealer. It's the manufacturers that's offering that program, which is great. And the dealers, the margins could be a little bit less, which is good. But the transaction price, the final price to the customer, is better than what it would ever have been before. So right now, with this inventory that these dealers have, it's a great deal. It's a great time to buy a car as long as it's one of those.

WHITFIELD: Yes, if you have the money to do so. And does it mean you still have some negotiating power if you're a customer, even though the automakers are offering these kinds of incentives?

[14:30:07]

RAYMAN: The only thing that you can do is the manufacturers that offered it, you have to sell it for the price that's the employee price. Now you have a trade in. There is some negotiation for the trade in. You have some other kind of programs that you think have, that you might have a college fund or if you're a first time buyer. But the price that they give you on from Ford or from being Chrysler or Stellantis is the price that they make, the only other that they offer, which is way behind the factory invoice that the dealers paid. And the dealers paid for selling the car. So they're really into selling the cars right now. And it's a good program for both the dealer and really the customer.

WHITFIELD: So you paint the picture right now that the inventory is, you know, relatively healthy right now. So if you're going to be buying a new car, you might be able to enjoy this not just for this week or next week, but perhaps for months to come, because there's that much inventory.

RAYMAN: Well, you know, we had COVID. And after COVID there was no cars. Then they started getting cars to dealers. Then they started stockpiling some cars. And after stockpiling some cars like they have now, they're looking for a way, and I think Ford, who was first, and then Stellantis, is offering a way to kind of stay off this tariff thing right now and give a customer an opportunity to go and buy pre- tariff. And, you know, it depends on what dealer and how the dealer wants to operate. But if you look at it and the dealer has, let's just say, 200 cars in a matter of if it's the way they sell, and it depends on their market, when they sell those cars, then the cars are going to be coming in with the tariff on them. And that's going to be a game changer. That's going to change it. And I don't know that they'll continue offering that because nobody knows what's going to happen just yet.

WHITFIELD: Right, the uncertainty is what is so nerve wracking for so many people. So while we talk about it's difficult for buyers to navigate that, even if they, you know, they want to buy a car right now, they're trying to get their money and their ducks lined up. You say there's inventory, but what about the worries for some of the dealers who are concerned about what may be around the corner?

RAYMAN: Yes. Again, I don't want to sound repetitious, but nobody knows right now. You see the charts, you hear different things. Nobody really knows what's really going to happen. Nobody knows today what's going to happen tomorrow. So instead, you know, there's people saying, well, I'm just going to hold on to my car and fix it and not buy.

WHITFIELD: But you may want to fix it soon, like before mid-May.

RAYMAN: You may, because those parts are --

WHITFIELD: Yes, more tariffs potentially for parts.

RAYMAN: It's going to affect all that. But if you are in the market or you're thinking about it, you might think now prior to later on because there is going to be a difference. And when those cars go away, they are going to be tariffed. And the ones that they have now are not.

Now, for the dealers, again, it depends on how aggressive they want to be, but they don't want to have these cars sitting on their lots. They have they employees -- well, yes, they have employees. They have to pay their bills and do all that stuff. And when a car sits, it's inventory, and then you pay interest on the inventory, and it adds up. So again, it's a great time for a customer to buy if you're in the market.

WHITFIELD: So lots of uncertainty. But I think we all are grasping that you think we've got a few months, buyers have a few months to play with before they might get hit really hard.

RAYMAN: Two things. First, depending on the manufacturer, because some manufacturers are different than others, some don't have a big inventory. It just really depends on the amount of inventory they have. But yes, I think you're you know, you're right in saying a couple months away, that is a good opportunity, rather than fixing your car, if you want to buy something, it's a good time because you won't be hit by that tariff.

WHITFIELD: All right, Steve Rayman, thank you so much. Great advice, because, you know, folks want to know what's around the corner. Sometimes you can't, but I think you've offered some great tips for everybody.

RAYMAN: Thank you. It's nice to be here.

WHITFIELD: All right, this breaking news. Parts of Arkansas under a flood emergency. Right now, the state's emergency management director is joining us live.

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[14:38:47]

WHITFIELD: Right now, Arkansas is one of the states in the Mississippi Valley getting pummeled by torrential rain and life- threatening flooding. Today marks the third consecutive day of a level four of four risk of flooding rain in the area, and we're seeing the peak of it right now. More than 120,000 customers are without power in Arkansas.

Joining me right now from Little Rock is Director A.J. Gray, with the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management. Glad you could be with us. So just this hour, our Ryan Young had to get out from where he was reporting because of flash flood emergencies in the area. So what can you tell us about the road closures?

A.J. GARY, DIRECTOR, ARKANSAS DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Yes, so as you know, we've been heavily impacted over the last few days. We stood up our state emergency operations center on Wednesday. Actually started having coordination calls before that to try to get the state prepared for what was coming. And it's been a pretty active last few days, quite a bit of flooding and wind and tornado damage throughout the state.

WHITFIELD: OK. And I'm sorry, Director, I think I said A.J. Gray. So your last name is Gary?

[14:40:00]

GARY: That is correct.

WHITFIELD: OK, apologies on that.

So we heard of this horrible story of a nine-year-old who was going to the bus stop and swept away. What could you tell me about the circumstances of the fatalities that you have accounted for?

GARY: So we have not had any fatalities. We've had just a small number of injuries, but no fatalities have been reported to our office. We've evacuated a few places before the water rose in those areas. So currently we do not have any fatalities.

WHITFIELD: OK, well, that is good news for your state. And then we saw, and I think were about to show pictures of a train trestle that collapsed in Mammoth Spring, sending apparently several of the train cars off the rails and perhaps even into the water. What can you tell us about that?

GARY: Well, that's pretty much the information that we have now. We do, we've had a couple other trains that were hit by a tornado a few days ago. So it's still very active here in Arkansas. We still have some high wind and flooding that's occurring in the state.

WHITFIELD: And with these kind of flood emergencies and warnings, what are you telling people who are able to get warnings from you, get the word? I know you've got a lot of power outages, and in some places cell phones are not working. So what are you trying to convey to people about how they stay safe in these very volatile conditions?

GARY: Sure. So we've been able to really get the word out, again, you know, starting before the weather, before the water really started to rise. We were able to evacuate some people from some low-lying areas. We have a great partnership with the Arkansas National Guard. They've been deployed. Our search and rescue teams have been out for the last couple of days, also Arkansas Game and Fish. So it's a great partnership with all of our state agencies. It's just everybody working together, working with the local officials, locally with the mayors, county judges in the area, local emergency management, everybody just really working together to make sure that our citizens are safe and that we're responding to whatever occurs in our state.

WHITFIELD: All right, all the best to you, Director A.J. Gary with the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management. All the best to you and all of your crews working these emergencies.

GARY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

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[14:47:18]

WHITFIELD: All right, it will be a matchup between women's college basketball dynasties tomorrow. The UConn Huskies will go head to head with the South Carolina Gamecocks for the national title. It's a rematch of the 2022 national title game, where South Carolina came out on top. With me now is NCAA.com host and reporter Michella Chester. Michella, so great to see you.

MICHELLA CHESTER, NCAA.COM HOST AND REPORTER: Thank you for having me. WHITFIELD: OK. This is a crazy exciting weekend, isn't it?

CHESTER: It is. I mean, it doesn't get better than this with two of the best college basketball programs.

WHITFIELD: UConn, for so long women have dominated. But South Carolina has been amazing these past few years, too. So what do you like about this matchup now?

CHESTER: I think it's just the best matchup we could have gotten in terms of women's college basketball. You think of UConn being one of the biggest dynasties in women's college basketball, won four back-to- back-to-back-to-back championships. They haven't won, though since 2016, whereas South Carolina has been dominant. So --

WHITFIELD: Go Dawn Staley.

CHESTER: Dawn Staley, you never want to bet against her.

WHITFIELD: Come on.

CHESTER: Take it from anybody, you don't want to bet against the Gamecocks. But this is Paige Bueckers versus South Carolina. It's a rematch from earlier this season where UConn got the better of them. So it doesn't get better than this.

WHITFIELD: So what's different in the formula or their approach this year, do you think, with this tournament?

CHESTER: Well, I just think that women's basketball is just booming, and there's just so much viewership, there's so much excitement around the sport, and we get to see some of the best players in the country now on the biggest stage. And Paige Bueckers is definitely one of those. She's become not only one of the best women's college basketball players, but one of the best college athletes in the country right now. You think of what she's done. Everybody is going with UConn just because it's her last season, and they're like, she's got to go out with a title, right? I mean, what she's done has been incredible.

Before Friday night with the Final Four, she had three games of 30 plus points. So she has been scorching hot. And that doesn't even begin to cover her teammates who are incredible as well.

WHITFIELD: Well, just when maybe people thought, OK, I mean, especially women's basketball, but women's sports overall, but especially after last year, I guess there was this feeling of like, it can't get any more exciting and electrifying than this, but it continues on this incredible momentum, this incredible wave. And I think it's so -- it's so inspiring. It's so encouraging. But these athletes are just, you know, bar none, hands down, just the most extraordinary that we have seen. And they are, I guess we should say every year it just seems to get better.

CHESTER: It is. And it's you know, we saw Caitlin Clark.

WHITFIELD: With attendance.

CHESTER: Attendance records. It's all across women's sports. And it's kind of what we've been seeing. And I love covering women's sports. It's just, if you build it, they will come. And these are incredible athletes all across the country.

[14:50:02]

And now that we're getting the investments and getting these stadiums and everything for women's sports, people are coming.

WHITFIELD: That's right, the locker rooms, improvements all the way around. Yes.

Do you want to make a prediction?

CHESTER: You know, I'll do it.

WHITFIELD: Yes?

CHESTER: I'll do it. Looking at bracket data, UConn was actually the favorite as a two seed, which has never even happened on the men's side, which is odd, because there's more parity usually in upsets on the men's side. But everybody is going with UConn because they want to go with Paige Bueckers and think that. I love storylines. As a reporter, I'm sure you might agree, I love going for things like that. So I'm going to go with UConn, which I know I said earlier, don't bet against Dawn Staley. So OK, I'm going to go with UConn here.

WHITFIELD: That's OK. You can shake things up.

CHESTER: I just think they're scorching hot. I think they have a trio of the best offensive trio in the country with Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong, best freshmen to look out for. We've got a freshman battle between South Carolina and UConn, so watch out for that. But I'm going with UConn.

WHITFIELD: OK, I like that. You know I'm making no predictions because I didn't do any --

CHESTER: Come on, give us one.

WHITFIELD: Are you kidding me? Forget it. What she said. OK, Michella Chester, what she said.

CHESTER: We'll go with that.

WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much.

CHESTER: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you, appreciate it.

All right, still to come, large crowds of a very different kind gathering this afternoon at rallies across the country. We'll have the latest on the so-called handoff protests -- Hands Off. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:02]

WHITFIELD: A top FDA vaccine official who was forced out by the White House is now speaking to CNN. Dr. Peter Marks, head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and was instrumental in carrying out the federal government COVID-19 vaccine program. He says under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he was given the choice to either resign or be fired. Marks also said the reasons behind that ultimatum aren't completely clear to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PETER MARKS, FORMER DIRECTOR, FDA CENTER FOR BIOLOGICS EVALUATION AND RESEARCH: I fully don't understand it, but I suspect it has to do with a devotion to science and to the public health of this nation. The people, And it's an incredibly great group of people at FDA who are devoted to the public health of this country, they work tirelessly to make sure that we are safe, that we have safe drugs, safe biologics, safe foods, safe pet food. And we do that by following the science. And if you don't believe in science or if you want to ignore the science, it's very hard to have people around who can't see anything other than following them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Dr. Marks wouldn't directly address false claims Kennedy has made in the past about vaccines, but he did say this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PETER MARKS, FORMER DIRECTOR, FDA CENTER FOR BIOLOGICS EVALUATION AND RESEARCH: I'm just going to say this, and I'm not going to directly confront Mr. Kennedy. He'll have to confront his maker for those lies. I just need to say to you, as if I was under oath, the vaccines that make it through the vaccine approval process in the United States are -- not every vaccine is safe, but those that make it through the approval process are safe, effective, and are high quality. No one at FDA would ever let a vaccine out that they would not give to their own children. And it is just breathtaking that anyone would try to dissuade parents from giving their children vaccines, such as the measles vaccine, which is among the safest and most effective vaccines that we have. And one just needs to look at the estimate that 50 million lives have been saved over the past 50 years by that vaccine alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Secretary Kennedy said this week that 10,000 full-time employees were being cut at health agencies on top of the thousands who have already left.

From firing researchers studying opioid addiction to delaying clinical trials to treat cancer, the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency are making some dramatic, often controversial cuts to government.

Joining us right now to discuss his latest documentary special that looks back at the conservative movement's long running war on government is Fareed Zakaria.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": Many Americans have been shocked by the Trump administration's ruthless gutting of government. But this anger at the federal government is not new. In my latest special, I look back through history to see how we got to this pivotal moment.

As he took the oath of office in 1981.

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: I, Ronald Reagan, do solemnly swear.

ZAKARIA: Ronald Reagan began his big crusade against government.

REAGAN: So help me God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I congratulate you, sir.

(APPLAUSE)

ZAKARIA: He believed an ever growing federal bureaucracy was stifling the American people.

REAGAN: Thank you.

ZAKARIA: Culminating in the malaise of the Carter years.

REAGAN: In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.

ZAKARIA: Reagan's solution, the most radical attempt to downsize government since the new deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ronald Reagan, his supporters hope the new FDR of the right.

ZAKARIA: He would not waste any time --