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Trump Golfs As Markets Plunge, Recession Fears Rise; Trump's Tariffs Rattle Markets, Raise Recession Fears; Aired: 6-Global Markets On Edge After Trump Tariffs Drive Steep Losses, Trump Fires NSA Dir., Several Top National Security Officials; Sources: WH Fires Multiple Administration Officials After Trump Meets with Far-Right Activist Who Labeled Them "Disloyal"; Who Will Pay For President Trump's Tariffs?; Agriculture Secy.: There Will Be A "Short Time Of Uncertainty"; U.S. Farmers, Ranchers Brace For Impact Of Retaliatory Tariffs; Mass "Hands Off" Protests Against Trump, Musk Held Nationwide. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 05, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:22]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

President Trump spending the weekend at his golf course in Florida for a third straight day even as economists sound the alarm bells warning of a looming recession after the stock market plunged Friday following President Trump's aggressive new tariffs.

But the president is telling Americans, don't worry, posting this to Truth Social today: "This is an economic revolution and we will win. Hang tough. It won't be easy, but the end result will be historic."

Last night, just after midnight, a new 10 percent tariff on all imports going into effect. Now, economists warn Americans are about to pay a lot more for pretty much everything. CNN's Betsy Klein is in West Palm Beach, Florida.

And look, Betsy, the President has been at a golf course. He's been in Florida. He appears to be pretty relaxed about all of this fallout. What is the White House saying?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Yes, even as we are witnessing what is really a fundamental and historic reshaping of the global economic order, the upheaval has included a market selloff, foreign retaliation, anger from corporate America, and, of course, skepticism from the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

But it has been business as usual for President Trump, who spent his third day at one of his golf properties, today in Jupiter. And I just want to highlight this very stark split screen as we saw Americans taking to the streets across the country in protest of some of these tariff policies. The White House issued this official statement saying: "The President won his second round matchup of the senior club championship today in Jupiter, Florida, and advances to the championship round tomorrow." So again, the White House discussing the Presidents win at his own golf club as Americans' 401 (k)s are plummeting. But as he arrived at his club, the President, as you mentioned, telling his supporters to hang tough in a post amid those retaliatory tariffs from China.

And I want to draw your attention to recent comments this morning on CNN from the President's Trade Adviser, Peter Navarro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER NAVARRO, SENIOR COUNSEL FOR TRADE AND MANUFACTURING: The market will find a bottom, it will be soon. And from there, we are 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 is going to be beautiful here in America.

Trust in Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Trust in Trump, as markets are spiraling. The Dow down 12 percent from its recent high and the NASDAQ down more than 22 percent.

Now, the President has acknowledged there will be some short term disruption, but what happens in the long term, Jessica, is really anyone's guess at this stage.

DEAN: And Betsy, I also want to ask you about your new reporting tonight, turning to DOGE. You have new reporting on where they might set their sights next. What are you learning?

KLEIN: Yes, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell me that DOGE's next target could be the Department of Homeland Security and negotiations are actively underway between DOGE, the White House and senior DHS leadership about cuts to its workforce in the coming days.

And most striking, Jessica, we are learning that that could impact the U.S. Secret Service, which is bracing for potential staffing cuts, significant layoffs, though no final decision has been made, particularly the scope and scale of said cuts.

But this comes at such a challenging time for the Secret Service, what top officials have referred to as an unprecedented and dynamic threat environment, including those two assassination attempts on President Trump over the summer.

[18:05:10]

And from our reporting, talking to current and former agents, there is low morale, burnout, staffing and retention issues within the agency.

Top officials have also testified on Capitol Hill after the Butler assassination attempt that the agency is underfunded and under resourced. And perhaps most startlingly, all of this comes just weeks after they spent an unprecedented $2 million on that Super Bowl recruitment ad. What we are learning is that this could impact technical and administrative staff, but also could impact new hires at the agency -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Betsy Klein with the latest from West Palm Beach, thank you so much for that.

And joining me now, politics reporter for NOTUS, Jasmine Wright and White House correspondent for "The New York Times," Zolan Kanno- Youngs. It is great to have both of you here on this Saturday. Let's just talk about what things look like, political optics for a minute.

The markets are plunging. There is 401 (k) anxiety. People are wondering should they buy a car and rush to buy a car now or not? Or wait, we don't know. There are fears of a recession and Zolan, the President is playing golf.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I thought. Betsy described it correctly when she said that this was a jarring split screen -- these sprawling, aggressive tariffs that have now been implemented, causing anxiety amongst economists, foreign leaders, as well, including traditionally allies of the United States, as well as some Republicans, too.

Remember a central part of the Trump administration's domestic agenda is pursuing tax cuts on Capitol Hill, pursuing legislation that would pursue tax cuts.

Well, now. You also have on the other hand, the implementation of these tariffs that most economists would say amount to a tax hike. U.S. importers are paying for these tariffs and most economists would say that then, the burden is passed on to the consumer, that actually consumers are going to be paying more for products.

So now you risk a contradictory sort of approach here by the administration and it does have Republicans, at least some Republicans concerned. You've heard from some Republicans also that have expressed concern about these tariffs.

DEAN: Yes, and some of them certainly have. And Jasmine, in terms of explaining this, and so that's the optics and kind of what we are seeing. The messaging around all of this. You know, you hear from the White House, we heard from Peter Navarro. He says trust in Trump. This is you know, the bottom -- we are going to find the bottom and it is going to be amazing.

Howard Lutnick saying --

(AUDIO ISSUES)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:12:40]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): It's kind of like remodeling your bathroom. It is a mess during the process, long term, it is a great benefit on that, but you do have some scramble at the very beginning of it.

So, we are going to go through some scramble for a little while on this.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): I am going to give the President the benefit of the doubt. Tariffs is a double-edged sword. I know the President has used it effectively in the past.

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): When I ran in 2010, I ran on one issue, jobs. All my ways have been on the focus on how do we get more American jobs. That's what this is going to do.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But isn't there going to be a significant increase on cars for instance. The people -- do you think people will want to pay more for the cars?

SCOTT: People want American jobs. This is about American jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: All right, we are rejoined by Jasmine and Zolan.

Thank you for hanging with us. We had a little technical problem, but we are back. We are back on track now.

And, Jasmine, let's pick up with you, because we were talking about how Republicans who do have to -- a lot of whom, definitely in the House, all of them, some in the Senate who are going to be up for reelection in 2026, have to talk about these tariffs.

And so what are you learning about how the messaging is going for them versus how the White House wants to message this?

JASMINE WRIGHT, POLITICAL REPORTER, NOTUS: Yes well I think that you just heard how the messaging is going from them. For Republicans, it is kind of all over the place. There are a few, just a handful of Republicans who have admitted, yes, this does look a little crazy or things don't look as great right now, and then there are others who are basically repeating the White House's talking point, which is trust in the president.

I think that that is the fundamental messaging coming out of the white house, even though you see Donald Trump on the golf course, even though you see some mixed messaging on whether or not, these tariffs are going to eventually lead to a negotiation, which at least some of the countries his staff is saying, no, these are not negotiations where Donald Trump is pretty clearly saying on Truth Social, yes, these are negotiations.

But I think ultimately, they are saying trust in the President.

Now, Donald Trump is not the first President to ask the American voters for their trust when it comes to the economy. Just recently, that is what Joe Biden did when he was President. But I think the question is how long Americans will go along with it and whether or not they're getting the full, clear idea of how bad it could be.

I think you're starting to see just a little bit of Donald Trump acknowledging maybe what everyday people are feeling after that Truth Social post when he said, "hang tough." But I think what's really notable here, Jessica, is the fact that we haven't seen him. He hasnt talked to the press, he hasnt addressed the camera, he hasn't talked to Americans beyond social media.

And I think that's notable for a President that likes to get his voice out there, who likes to get his comment out there and likes to get his spin out there.

[18:15:06]

And so I think the question is going to be not just how long the American people can hold on, but when we are going to see Donald Trump actually address this.

DEAN: Yes, that is a good question, and Zolan, in the meantime, you know, you hear from people who kind of the thinking was always, I guess in the first term, look, Donald Trump is going to pay attention to the stock market. He doesn't -- he is keeping an eye on that. If it really goes off a ledge, like he will pull back, he won't commit to it. He will just turn around on a policy. But that is not happening right now.

And so what is your sense of what their stomach is for how much they are willing to take?

ZOLAN-YOUNG: I think when you look at this administration as a whole in this White House, the story of or the difference of Trump 2.0 to Trump 1.0 is there is not as many guardrails, and they are willing to move forward, with really Trump's instincts and some of and, you know, ambitions such as things like this tariff and to an aggressive extent that we've seen it.

We probably wouldn't have seen that in Trump round one, because there were some people that would be pushing back. I think of Rex Tillerson, I think of Steve Mnuchin. Now, you have people surround him and really an infrastructure where you allow Trump to be Trump.

So, you know, we are seeing an erosion of guardrails really surrounding this administration. And yes, the stock market is one. Yes, he does care about optics. We will see as Republicans go out and hear from their constituents, if frustrations rise as consumer prices go up, that could be definitely a factor.

But at this point, you know the story of Trump's second time in office is, you know, he is going to move ahead with these policies that he touted during the campaign and the case of tariffs, something that he has touted even before he entered public office.

DEAN: Right. I mean, you certainly can't accuse him of hiding the ball here. He has been very, very open and clear about what he wants to do. And now he is, in fact, doing it.

Jasmine, I do want to ask you about this kind of back and forth between Elon Musk and the White House Trade Adviser, Peter Navarro. Peter Navarro was on our air earlier today. He is one, of course, of the most ardent supporters of this tariff policy, but during this back and forth with the Deputy Prime Minister of Italy today, Elon Musk called for a zero tariff situation between the U.S. and Europe, they then kind of went back and forth on one another.

What do you think of all of that?

WRIGHT: Yes, I mean, I think one question that reporters have certainly had is when will we hear from Elon Musk on tariffs? Donald Trump has been asked about whether or not Elon Musk has put his input in tariffs? He has basically said no, he has never asked me for anything, particularly we know because of Tesla, his company, SpaceX, all of these companies that are going to be affected by some of these tariffs, particularly the ones on China.

And so there has been a question of how Elon Musk feels, and now we finally know. And I would say that, you know, Peter Navarro is not just a major supporter of these tariffs, he is one of the architects of this major -- as Zolan put it -- really just wide spread tariff across all of these countries. He is one of the architects.

And so I think that that type of infighting is something that this white house has really tried to make it seem like it is not there, particularly because it was such a facet of the first year around or first term that it was in there, and so I think that this is just kind of a fascinating look at Elon Musk going off once again on his own. The question is, is whether or not the White House is just going to say, as they have in the past, basically, that, you know, he doesn't speak for the White House. He is talking in his own capacity versus kind of embracing that message and saying, we have a wide range of views within the White House about how people feel on tariffs.

But I think Zolan is right that the infrastructure is there and its very pro tariff, and I think it is going to be a while until we see Donald Trump holistically back away from this, because he has believed it for so long, really, 40 years in fact.

DEAN: Right. All right, Jasmine and Zolan, thanks again for hanging with us. We appreciate you both on a Saturday night.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Thanks so much.

DEAN: Yes, and joining us now is Ross Gerber, the co-founder, president and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management.

Ross, we just were talking honestly about the politics about this, the optics, the messaging. I want to talk to you about the financial piece of this. That is where you're the expert.

And first, I just want to get your thoughts on what is going to happen Monday when U.S. markets open? ROSS GERBER, CO-FOUNDER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, GERBER KAWASAKI WEALTH AND INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT: Well, I think there is a lot of people hoping that this just will go away and the markets would go back to all-time highs. So it is a pretty simple thing, if you want the market to go up, just get rid of all this stupid tariff policy.

Because anybody who is telling you that this is going to create jobs just doesn't understand the modern economy. People like Peter Navarro just don't really understand how businesses work clearly, which is right now as we speak, deals are not happening from multi- international companies to sign up, for example, to open new stores here in the United States. They are literally being canceled as we speak because of the uncertainty of the products they need to ship in to make these businesses profitable.

[18:20:07]

Not to mention the small business owner that's you know, having their goods now held at port, having to sign a document saying, whatever the tariffs are going to be, you're going to pay it. Who do you think pays these tariffs? It is literally the largest tax increase in American history.

And the problem is, is that this is really going to throttle the economy and consumer spending. So anybody who thinks this is going to create any jobs or tells you as such also doesn't understand the future is in robotics and A.I., which is exactly what Elon Musk is working on, is to make our society incredibly efficient through robotics and advanced factories. Why would we want to actually open, let's say, apparel and, you know, other manufacturing facilities here when the cost of labor is so much cheaper everywhere else.

So this is backwards economic policy and the markets will continue to go down to represent the future value of American profits, which is clearly going to be hit.

DEAN: And listen, I think it is almost said -- it has been said ad nauseam now, but the truth is that business, Wall Street, they want certainty, that that is the way you do business is because you know what is happening, you know how to plan ahead, you know how to do a deal.

And the White House is saying, trust Trump. That's what they keep saying. What do you think Wall Street's response is to that?

GERBER: Wall Street knows Trump's track record of trusting Trump with business, which is bankruptcy after bankruptcy after bankruptcy. If anybody, I am going to trust is maybe Elon Musk for business, which has made me personally a ton of money, but I definitely don't trust Trump.

His track record speaks for himself of being drowned in debt and making horrible business decisions. So I don't trust Trump. What I trust is what the markets are telling us. The bond market literally yields collapsed this week and stocks fell as fast as I've seen them in a long time and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the United States economy going into this week. That's the insane thing is, the markets are literally screaming to the Republicans, look at what you're doing, it is not smart, and markets don't lie.

And so it is going to just continue to get worse until hopefully this negotiating stance that they are taking will yield some positive results. But as I've been telling people, world leaders don't want to be bullied. It is not the way you get good deals from world leaders.

And so I think this approach, most people are thinking, oh, well, you know, we will get all of these deals done and it will ultimately be great for America. And if that happens, that's great. So if we can negotiate with 92 countries over the next two weeks and sign deals with all of them to lower trade barriers, that would be a huge success for Trump, but the chances of that happening is almost zero.

So I think, the reality of the damage being done every day right now is substantial. We've already lost trillions of dollars based off this bad deal, and Americans need to push back, call their senators and congressmen, because I don't even think the President should have the right to just raise taxes on small businesses all across America, just unilaterally.

DEAN: Yes, and just quickly, before I let you go, you're obviously in the finance world. The market means a lot to you. It has how you've made a lot of your money, to other Americans who aren't invested in that way, how does this -- what do you say to them how this is going to affect them and affect all of us?

GERBER: Look, let me be clear, I manage money for the public. I have over 8,000 clients at Gerber Kawasaki that we serve of all wealth groups and that's how my company works and we deal with people all over the country and I can tell you that everybody is invested in America. Everybody either has a pension fund or a 401(k) fund, or some retirement fund of some sort, or even assets like your home are affected by these decisions.

So when you actually think about the effect, nobody is going to be spared from this bad policy and the irony of it is, it is going to hurt Trump's most loyal supporters the most compared to people who work in the cities and have higher incomes.

So I think Trump supporters really need to reassess this approach and probably reach out to their representatives because they are the ones that are really going to feel the pain when they go to the markets and when they go to buy clothes, or when they go to buy a car or anything, the prices are going up and they're going up, just like in COVID, it is going to all happen all at once, and people are going to be shocked.

So I am warning people, I am warning -- this is why I am on, on a Saturday is please, we've got to reverse this policy or get deals done or something before their economic calamity. That is the potential that Trump is driving us into.

DEAN: All right, Ross Gerber, we are thankful you're here on a Saturday. Thanks so much for your time. And still ahead, a major shakeup in the U.S. Intelligence community. Two of the nation's top officials fired after President Trump's meeting with a noted conspiracy theorist who pushed for their removal. What this means for National Security? We will talk about it.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:29:31]

DEAN: Just in, CNN learning, White House advisers were against President Trump meeting with far right activist, Laura Loomer this week and have tried to prevent her efforts at greater access to the President. Within 24 hours of their meeting, the Trump administration fired the director and the deputy director of the National Security Agency, as well as four staffers on the National Security Council.

They were all a part of a list that Loomer, who once claimed 9/11, was an inside job brought in of people she considered disloyal to the President.

Former Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh is joining us now.

Sabrina, thanks so much for being here with us. I first just want to start with your assessment of the fact that Laura Loomer, this far right activist who traffics in these conspiracy theories, has this much not just access to the President of the United States but can compel him to action in this way.

[18:30:21]

SABRINA SINGH, FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Hey, Jessica. Well, it's good to be with you.

I mean, I think it's very concerning. Someone like Laura Loomer, as you mentioned, you know, a 9/11 conspiracy theorist, having access not only to the President, but being able to shape his decisions about key National Security officials around him, including our military officials and professionals.

You know, Gen. Haugh is someone that has served over 30 years in the military. And at a time when we know cyber hacking is truly at an all- time high, I mean, last year we saw Chinese hackers unleash Salt Typhoon, which targeted nine of the biggest telecommunications companies in the United States.

Firing the person that's in charge of, you know, safeguarding our cybersecurity systems from our adversaries and to do that in - with, you know, with just this dismissal of not just him, but also the civilian, his counterpart, it's very concerning. And it's shocking that we're taking, you know, that the President is taking advice from someone like this.

DEAN: And just in terms of where you're getting at it here, but in terms of this national, the National Security implications, what could this potentially mean moving forward? And you rightly note the threat of cybersecurity hacks and threats is really at an all-time high right now.

SINGH: Well, I think that remains to be seen, is - you know, is Laura Loomer or people like her going to continue to be in the President's orbit and influence his decision-making when it comes to our National Security? You know, there's already, I think, a deep concern within Congress about how the entire National Security apparatus operates as, you know, we discussed those - some of those Signal chats and classified information being moved into those chats to discuss military operations.

But you know, when you're talking about people giving advice to the President about his National Security team and then firing our military officials who are supposed to be apolitical, you know, including the person who commanded Cyber Comm, someone that has served under, you know, Democratic and Republican administrations, it remains to be seen what else is going to be done and that is really concerning.

DEAN: Mm-hmm. How common is it to use loyalty to a president as an indicator for how good someone can be in that job versus loyalty to the Constitution, to the United States of America?

SINGH: You know, I don't think it's very common. I - you know, our military officers or even our ambassadors or others when they're sworn in, it's an oath that you take to the Constitution that you will uphold that sacred duty to serve the Constitution and to serve the American people. Of course, the President is the commander in chief. He can make decisions about general and flag officers. But at the end of the day, I mean, you know, the Pentagon didn't offer any type of reason for why the Cyber Comm commander was fired.

And my fear is that you're going to see more of this, you know, purging of leadership, not just at the Pentagon, but at other agencies that, you know, overlap with National Security. And that's deeply concerning, not only when you have cyber hacking threats at an all- time high, but you know, the threats of our adversaries all around the world. I mean, China's looking at us, Russia and Iran. So, it's deeply concerning, and I think a lot remains to be seen. And that's why, you know, I hope that Congress gets more involved in this and demand answers from this administration.

DEAN: Yes, to that end, our adversaries, as they're watching this happen, you know, what - how - what do - how do they see this?

SINGH: You know, I'm sure our adversaries are looking at this quite fondly. The dismissal of someone who served 30 years in uniform over partisan reasons, I mean, that gives our adversaries an insight into how this administration operates. And you know, not just this, but of course, you know, the Signal chats as well. It all shows how this administration operates, who's in the inner circle, how the President can be influenced.

And at the end of the day, you know, our adversaries can do targeted campaigns at these, you know, right-wing conspiracy theorists, individuals. And if they have the President's ear, that's deeply concerning. And that can - you know, they can bring messages into the Oval Office. You know, I think we should all be very concerned about that.

DEAN: Yes. All right, Sabrina Singh, as always, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

SINGH: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Mm-hmm. Still ahead, how will the Trump tariffs impact U.S. farmers and the cost of food? We're going to be joined by the founder of the National Black Farmers Association. That's next.

[18:35:02]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:39:40]

DEAN: President Trump continues to insist the cost of his tariffs will be paid by the country of origin, but that's simply incorrect. CNN's Richard Quest explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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.

[18:40:06]

Just look. Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs.

A bottle of Sanpellegrino. 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 passes 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 he 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. Thirty-four 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. It costs $2.99. It's described as spicy madness.

How about how much madness once 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's 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Richard, thank you.

Meantime, U.S. farmers are bracing for the impact of Trump's sweeping global tariffs and the possibility of losing the biggest export market for many of their crops, China. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins saying farmers and ranchers understand why Trump is doing this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE ROLLINS, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: They understand that there may be a short time of uncertainty. But for the long haul, as we restructure the American economy and the government - American economy and our private sector with the government playing a role in that, President Trump's vision of using tariffs. At the end of the day, this president committed to putting Americans first and as part of that are our farmers and our ranchers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And joining us now is the farmer and president of the National Black Farmers Association, John Boyd Jr. John, thank you so much for joining us on this Saturday evening. We really appreciate it.

JOHN BOYD JR., FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BLACK FARMERS ASSOCIATION: Thank you.

DEAN: I first just want to get your perspective as a farmer, as someone who also works with a lot of farmers ...

BOYD: Yes.

DEAN: ... how is this going to impact them? Do you agree with how the Agriculture Secretary just framed that?

BOYD: No, I don't agree with what she said. You know, farmers don't have a whole lot of time. And this is planting season right now for America's farmers. And we should be in the field with our corn planters and all of these things. Farmers don't have operating loans. And the United States Department of Agriculture is closing offices around the country that farmers depend on to do these loans and services that the secretary is talking about.

Every time the President says the word tariff, the prices continue to decline on corn, wheat and soybeans, and the market is just in complete havoc here. So, the President says we've got a whole lot of time to bear with them and find new markets at home, all of these things he said. But the farmers that are calling us every day have cast a web of uncertainty based on what the President is saying.

They're saying, John, should we plant our crop or shouldn't we plant it? I don't have a farm operating loan in place. What am I going to do? The President is really scaring America's farmers right now.

DEAN: Yes. And to your point, it's - they don't have huge amounts of lead time where they can kind of maneuver. They either need to plant when it's planting season or miss that season. That's kind of how it works.

BOYD: (INAUDIBLE) --

DEAN: Yes, go ahead.

BOYD: Thirty to 45 days is the window of opportunity for me to plant my crop.

DEAN: Yes.

BOYD: And right now as I speak to you, I don't have a farm operating loan in place. And I'm meeting with seed dealers to see what I can do to get my crop in the ground. And it's due to the fact that the prices are so low based on the President's announcement on tariffs that the bankers say, hey, Boyd, I can't lend money based on $9 soybeans, and $5 wheat and $4 corn.

So, what is the President proposing to do?

[18:44:59]

The last time he was in office, he came out immediately and imposed tariffs on China. The number one purchaser of U.S.-grown soybeans. The price was $16.80. That price plummeted all the way down to $6 a bushel. So, the President says that the tariffs work. They didn't work the first time, so we don't have a winning opportunity or anything to look at to really compare this to. So, it's really bad news for America's farmers right now.

DEAN: And to your point, when President Trump enacted these tariffs in his first term, his administration spent billions to help farmers out when they were hit by those tariffs, what you were laying out there, when all of that happened. Are you anticipating that that is going to happen again, that there will be federal help for farmers?

BOYD: Well, the problem with the President's programs that he put in place last time as well is you get into a paper chase with the United States Department of Agriculture. Farmers really want a fair market. And one thing America - most Americans don't understand is farmers are price takers. We don't make the price, you know? And corn, wheat and soybeans, the three major commodities, are controlled by the market, not by America's farmers.

So, as the President put this program in place, farmers have to go into USDA offices and apply, which now this administration is firing USDA employees and have fired quite a few of them. And they're closing the offices that I spoke about that farmers have to go into to get this so-called relief that the President is talking about.

So, you can't have it both ways, is my message to this president and this administration. If you support America's farmers, then leave the offices open. That's something that I support. At least farmers can get the loans and services, release the grants and loans to America's farmers.

We need emergency loans right now in this country for America's farmers. And what this ag secretary is talking about isn't what we need, and we haven't been at the table. So, all of these announcements that the President is putting out there, the farmers weren't at the table and say, hey, Boyd, you know, what, you know, do you and other America's farmers think about this.

They're saying this is going to be good for us, and it came up with that through probably Stephen Miller and so many other people that have been advising this president.

DEAN: I'm from Arkansas, originally. I grew up there. I knew farming families. It's not an easy job. It's really hard. In addition to the physical labor, it's stressful because there's so much, as you know, that you don't control, including the weather, including, you know, you have to rely on the commodities market to see - you see you don't have - what the price is going to be.

What kind of implication do you think this has for these families, for these people who have been in farming for a long time? Do you think it will push some of them out of farming ultimately?

BOYD: This is - farming is the hardest occupation known to man. It never ends. I can work 24/7. As a matter of fact, when I leave here, I'm going back home to my farm in some kind of way. I'm hopefully getting my crop in the ground. Hardest occupation known to man.

Farmers are the most independent people and proud people. They're not really going to come out and speak out against this president. They are in small talk saying how bad these decisions are. But these tariffs are going to put America's farmers out of business. There's no way we can stay in business with $9 soybeans and some of these other dismal prices out here and the future of America's farmers.

Once that farmer loses his farm, guess what, people? He can't go down and work at some fast-food joint or something like that. He becomes a pillar of salt, and that's what this president is doing. The very people, the very population that voted for him, I didn't vote for him, but many farmers in this country campaigned for this president, voted for this president and we're the first ones that this president is punching in the face as America's farmers say, you know what, you guys can take this hit, and, you know, go out and make yourself a new market and have fun selling your goods at home, almost in a really insulting type of dialogue the President has been speaking to America's farmers.

So, on one hand he says he supports us, he loves farmers, but what he's doing is running us out of business with these tariffs. This is a war. This is really a trade war what the President has started, and he imposed tariffs on everybody except for Russia, and we can't figure out as farmers is when Russia became America's best friend. We can't figure that part out.

DEAN: All right. John Boyd, Jr., thank you for your thoughts on this.

BOYD: Thank you.

DEAN: We appreciate it.

BOYD: Thank you so much. Support America's farmers. Thank you.

DEAN: All right. We'll be right back.

[18:49:53]

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[18:54:31]

DEAN: Thousands of anti-Trump protesters taking the streets across America. The Hands Off movement organized more than 1,200 rallies across the United States to protest federal cuts. Brian Todd is at the rally in Washington, D.C. with more. Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jessica, a very large and dynamic show of resistance here at the foot of the Washington Monument to what President Trump and Elon Musk are doing with DOGE, the government cutbacks that we've been reporting so extensively on, the layoffs, all of the downsizing in the federal government.

[18:55:02]

This is a show of resistance to it. Take a look. Thousands upon thousands of people here at the foot of the Washington Monument. You've got signs as far as the eye can see. People as far as the eye can see. Speeches going on. Music, chants, everything, this is really one of the largest shows of resistance that we have seen to date since President Trump took office.

And we spoke to some rally goers about what their main motivations were for coming out here. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Your parents are both federal government employees.

JENNA SANTUCCI-FREEMAN, DAUGHTER OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES: Yes. TODD: What are they going through right now?

SANTUCCI-FREEMAN: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: So, a lot of concern and determination to fight back among rally goers here at this event. And, you know, it's interesting that it's even affecting the White House schedule today, Jessica. The White House scheduled a spring garden tour for today, but because of the size of this rally and another unrelated rally going on around here, they've had to postpone the garden tour until tomorrow, Jessica, they say, out of an abundance of caution.

DEAN: All right. Brian Todd for us in Washington, D.C., thanks for that.

And still ahead tonight, we're going to be joined by a Republican congressman who supports Trump's tariffs. We'll ask him about what he's seeing and find out what he's saying about the reshaping of the U.S. economy and the money being lost in the market.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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