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Quest Means Business

Fed Holds Rates Steady Amid Unusually High Uncertainty; Powell: Trump Tariffs Have Hampered Progress on Inflation; Russian Missile Strike Hits Railway Infrastructure in Ukraine; Russia and Ukraine Each Return 175 Servicemen in Prisoner Swap; FBI Investigates Attack on Tesla Cars as Possible Terrorism; Ben and Jerry's Claims CEO Fired Over Company's Politics. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired March 19, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:07]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It is Fed Day, everyone. And as you can see there, there was nothing that the Fed or its Chairman said to spook

the markets. In fact, they got a good little bump. As you can see, those stocks getting a lift. Why? Because the Fed appears to be on track for more

rate cuts this year. Those are the markets and these are the main events.

The Federal Reserve predicts lower growth and higher inflation for the U.S. economy as tariff uncertainty is biting.

President Trump suggests the U.S. could take over Ukraine's nuclear power plants. That was in a call with President Zelenskyy.

And Turkish markets plunge after the arrest of a key rival of President Erdogan.

Live from New York. It is Wednesday, March 19th. I'm Paula Newton in for Richard Quest, and this is Quest Means Business.

And a very good evening to everyone.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell says unusually high uncertainty is making it difficult to predict where the U.S. economy is headed. The Central Bank

decided to hold interest rates steady. As expected, Powell said the economy remains strong overall, with inflation easing and the labor market

specifically in good shape.

Still, he said, Donald Trump's tariffs are likely contributing to higher inflation and he said the President's other policies could also have strong

effects as well.

He told reporters that the fed is trying to take everything into account here. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEROME POWELL, US FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: The other factor, though, as I mentioned, is just really high uncertainty. What would you write down? I

mean, it is just -- it is really hard to know how this is going to work out. And again, we think our policy is in a good place. We think it is a

good place where we can move in the direction where we need to.

But in the meantime, it is really appropriate to wait for further clarity. And of course, you know, the costs of doing that, given that the economy is

still solid are very low.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: You can hear there the chair not getting ahead of anybody, including the White House. Now, the Fed also released its quarterly dot-

plot, which predicts where rates are headed.

Now, most members still expect two cuts this year. That was enough, as we were saying earlier, to send the Dow higher.

Now the economic projections are more worrisome. The Fed raised its inflation forecast and lowered its expectation for GDP growth.

Matt Egan is at the Fed in Washington. I was a little underwhelmed. I have to say, Matt, but what are your impressions, especially since the overall

message is, look, this is a solid economy.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Paula, look, the word of the day was "uncertainty." Again and again and again, Jerome Powell talked about how

high uncertainty is right now. At one point he even said uncertainty is remarkably high, and you know in many ways, the Fed is holding interest

rates where they are right now because they don't know which direction to move right now.

I mean, do they try to hit the gas by lowering interest rates to prevent a recession, or do they tap the brakes in response to inflation by perhaps

raising interest rates? Right now, they don't know. And so they are staying where they are, not unlike a driver who is stuck in heavy fog. Of course,

right now, it is not real fog. It is the fog of the trade war.

Now the fed didn't change rates, but it did make some significant changes to its projections. As you mentioned, downgrading GDP forecasts, warning of

slightly higher unemployment and most significantly, they're now forecasting higher inflation. So all of those metrics moving in the wrong

direction, and yet Fed officials, they are still penciling in two interest rate cuts this year. I think that is one of the reasons why markets have

responded so positively.

Of course, it is hard to square that. Cutting rates twice more and yet so much uncertainty and a worsening inflation outlook. It is also hard to put

too much weight into that.

Now, I also had the chance to ask Fed Chair Jerome Powell about the recent market turbulence, the recent losses on Wall Street and whether or not he

is concerned that that's going to cause businesses and consumers, particularly high income consumers, to cut back on spending.

Take a listen to what Powell said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: But what matters from a Fed standpoint for the macro economy is material changes to overall financial conditions that are persistent. And I

would just point you to the bigger picture again. You know, the real economy, the hard data are still in reasonably good shape.

It is the soft data, it is the surveys that are showing, you know, significant concerns, downside risks in those kind of things. We don't

dismiss that. We are watching it carefully. But, you know, we don't want to get ahead of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:05:10]

EGAN: So, they are watching carefully to see if those bad soft numbers spill over into the real economy. Right? At what point does weak consumer

confidence translate to people going on fewer vacations? Going out to dinner less?

And look, it may not be that case, and in which case the Fed does not want to get ahead of that by cutting interest rates. So, we will be watching

very carefully to see how the numbers play out, and until there is a big change in the real economy, in terms of significant weakness or significant

problems on the inflation front, the Fed, they might stay on hold here at this point -- Paula.

NEWTON: Interesting. Appreciate you being there, Matt Egan for us at the Fed in D.C.

Now one person who knows these issues well is Loretta Mester. She served as President of the Cleveland Fed from 2014 until June of last year.

Now think about this. She was at the helm for all of President Trump's first term, the pandemic and the 40-year high inflation, we all remember

it, of 2022, and Loretta Mester joins us now.

A warm welcome to the program on Fed Day, no less. We are really fortunate to have you here.

LORETTA MESTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE CLEVELAND FEDERAL RESERVE: Thanks very much.

NEWTON: I do want to get your first impression -- Thanks. Thanks for being here.

I do want to get your first impressions: Lower growth, higher inflation. As we just said you were at the table. How do you view the Fed's assessment

and how do you believe it will handle the White House? The Trump policies going forward?

MESTER: You know, well, I think the Chair was very explicit about how they're going about it. And you know, I think, the forecast changed in a

way that should have been expected given what the data we've gotten, and what the uncertainty around the economy can do to people's spending and

business spending.

I mean, we saw that in the first Trump administration when there was a lot of uncertainty about the tariff policy, that there was uncertainty and that

uncertainty actually weighed on business investment. It is hard to make decisions that are long term investment decisions if you really don't know

what the policies are going to be.

I remember many businesses telling me at the time and the businesses I am talking to today are still telling me, hey, just tell me what the rules of

the game are. I can play the game, but if I don't know the rules of the game, it is hard to play the game.

So that basically means that they are on a sort of a wait and see and so their decisions are going to be shorter run decisions. They are not going

to really want to make long term investment decisions in an environment where there is uncertainty.

And same thing for consumers, right? No consumer really wants to spend all their money if they don't really know what's around the corner.

NEWTON: But then that's where it turns tricky, right? When we are talking about the effects of these tariffs, given we don't even know any of these

policies and likely may not for at least a few weeks. Again, from Mr. Powell, we've heard that word "transitory" in relation to inflation.

Now, you know, as you said, he is very explicit about the uncertainty to come. The lingering question is could that in the end tank the economy? We

have seen sentiment down. I want you to listen now to the answer that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave in the last few days. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS: Mr. Secretary, can you guarantee the American people here and now that there will be no recession on President Trump's

watch?

SCOTT BESSENT, US TREASURY SECRETARY: Look, Kristen, you know that there are no guarantees.

If we kept on this track what I could guarantee is we would have had a financial crisis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: You know, I really want your insights on this and if you agree with him, I mean, he claims that, you know, there need to be fiscal cuts. The

tariffs are necessary or else the United States will hit a financial cliff.

MESTER: So everything is about timing, isn't it, and dynamics. So it is true that we are not on a sustainable fiscal path over the medium to longer

run and that is something that all administrations going back very -- you know, many, many years have said, steps have been taken in some

administrations to try to rein in spending. But in general, right, we haven't done a good job as a country to do that. So that's true.

But there is also the effects of sort of how you go about doing that and that also can affect the economy. And I think we are seeing some of that in

sort of people feeling a little insecure in terms of where things are going.

So again, it is one of these, yes, I think everyone can get behind the fact that we need to get our fiscal house in order. We want government to be as

efficient as it can be, but then how do you go about doing that to make sure that the economy stays on the really good path that it has been on?

And I think that's going to be for the administration, that's something they are going to have to consider.

For the Fed, you know, they have a dual mandate goal. They are going to stay focused on their dual mandate goals, which are full employment and

price stability and they are going to take actions to, you know, basically promote those goals.

And so what they have to do is they have to take as given what is going to happen in fiscal policy. They don't set that. They have to take that as

part of the environment.

[16:10:10]

And not only our fiscal policy, but also what happens on our trading partners because, you know they are, you know, deciding how they are going

to react to tariffs, and then that's part of the economic environment that they have to react to.

So there is a lot of uncertainty around that, and then add to that the other policies, right, that would work on the other side. If you think

trade policy and generally it does sort of cause a slower growth than the tax policy and the deregulation might cause faster growth.

And so if that's trying to evaluate the fiscal policy, it has to take all parts of that into consideration.

NEWTON: All right, you've been around the table there. In terms of what tariffs will mean and everything you just put together, which is a highly

complicated picture, can you view tariffs as mere friction or do you believe it might require a wholesale recalibration of what the fed might

have to do in six months? Nine months? A year?

MESTER: Well, I think what they are going to do, which they should be doing, is thinking about will the tariffs themselves and the fact that

prices will go up for certain goods, both businesses will raise the prices and consumers will face higher prices, will that destabilize inflation

expectations?

We are already seeing, right, some of the measures in the survey measures move up. Now, most of them that have moved up have been short run inflation

expectations, and they move with sort of prices one to one lots of times. But it is those medium term and long run, what do people think inflation is

going to be over the medium and long run, which can affect their behavior, which can allow one of price changes to become inflationary?

We saw that during the pandemic. Yes, supply shocks, if you look at the textbooks say they should just feed through. And of course, I was at the

Fed at the time and there was a lot of thinking that, okay, those would basically be one of price changes and once the prices worked through the

economy, it wouldn't be inflationary.

Well, what happened was, we didn't have our policy well calibrated to that series of supply shocks and we did get an inflationary environment. That

could happen this time if the Fed isn't watching for that.

What I heard the chair say today is they are watching for that. They are not going to overreact, but they are going to look to make sure that they

keep policy well in position to be able to address first, perhaps higher inflation and inflation pressures that might come early because of trade

policy, but also they have to keep a look on what is the longer run implication and that could be, right, a drop in our -- you know, in our

economy because of the DOGE cuts, immigration, what's happening on other parts of the fiscal package. So they are going to keep watching that, too.

NEWTON: Yes, certainly the Fed did a job of really outlining the uncertainty and the risk ahead for the economy.

Loretta Mester, thank you so much, and we hope you join us again. Appreciate it.

MESTER: Thanks.

NEWTON: Now the White House says that peace in Ukraine has never been closer. The optimism follows a phone conversation between Donald Trump and

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.

Mr. Zelenskyy describing the call as positive, substantive and frank, also saying he was ready to implement a pause on attacking energy infrastructure

as Ukraine works towards a lasting peace.

President Trump described the conversation as very good, adding "much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in

order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs." Russia has continued, though its attacks on Ukraine as these

discussions are unfolding. Ukraine's state railway company says its infrastructure was hit by a missile attack earlier today even. The company

says an electricity system powering its railways was among the targets struck. It comes a day after Russia's leader had agreed to pause attacks on

energy systems.

Jeff Zeleny is at the White House and indeed, you were at that briefing with the Press Secretary and you asked about the discrepancy with the

readouts, which I found fascinating because it did not seem that yesterday, everyone was on the same page.

What are they telling you now that they've had that fulsome call with President Zelenskyy?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Paula, certainly not on the same page, and clearly those images that you're showing there from

Ukraine also showing that really that Vladimir Putin and Russia are not at least it appears not to be following the letter of at least a limited

ceasefire.

But look, the bottom line to all of this is that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not agree to the broad ceasefire that President Trump had already

worked out in advance last week with Russia, with the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He stopped well, well short of that.

But one of the many discrepancies in the readout from the Kremlin versus the White House is energy versus energy and infrastructure. We tried to get

an answer to that question today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: There were a couple of different readouts from the Kremlin and the U.S. on a couple of different points. One was energy and infrastructure.

The U.S. statements said energy and infrastructure. The Kremlin said energy infrastructure. What is your understanding of what the actual substance of

that disagreement was? And then one other question on --

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I would defer you to the readout that was provided by the White House. That's our understanding and

that's the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: "So that's our understanding and that's the truth." The difference here, of course, is energy and infrastructure. Infrastructure is a much

broader description of buildings and roads and other things and energy infrastructure would be something of the like of infrastructure related

just to energy. But never mind all of those semantics and language debates, it still seems that there are strikes happening against Ukraine by Russia.

So it is very much unclear how much progress has been made, at least on the early steps of a ceasefire. Yes, the conversation between the American

President and the Ukrainian leader was positive, so that is a development. There is no doubt about it. It was 19 days ago that the Trump

administration essentially sent to Zelenskyy out of the White House after that, you know, dramatic breakdown.

So conversations are back on track. The question is, what will that lead to? And is Putin committed to a broader ceasefire or not? We don't know the

answer to that question -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, and some of that answer may come in the next few hours when we see what kind of attacks happen overnight.

ZELENY: Right.

NEWTON: Jeff Zeleny for us at the White House. Appreciate it.

Now Europe is taking steps to reduce its dependency on the U.S. for security. The E.U. just unveiled an $870 billion plan to boost its own

defense. A report live from Paris after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: Protesters took to the streets of Istanbul earlier after authorities arrested a major rival to Turkish President Recep Tayyip

Erdogan. Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was detained as part of what is being called a corruption and terrorism investigation. Turkey's main

opposition party was expected soon to make Imamoglu its presidential candidate.

CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.

[16:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A key rival of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been detained.

Just moments before he was taken from his home, Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu posted this video message.

(EKREM IMAMOGLU speaking in foreign language.)

HANCOCKS (voice over): "Hundreds of police officers have been sent to the door of my house," he said. "The house of the 16 million people of

Istanbul. We are up against huge bullying, but I will not back down," he says. "I love you all. I entrust myself to the people. I will be standing

tall."

His detention comes just days before he was expected to be chosen as Turkey's main opposition party's presidential candidate.

Authorities said he was detained as part of corruption and terrorism investigations, along with detention orders issued for around 100 other

people connected to the mayor according to Turkish media.

(PROTESTERS chanting.)

HANCOCKS (voice over): "The day will come, the tables will turn," protesters chanting outside Istanbul's police headquarters as critics

denounce the detentions as political, part of an ongoing government crackdown on the opposition following Erdogan's major defeat in local and

mayoral elections last year.

The head of Imamoglu's Republican Peoples Party called the detention a "coup attempt against our next President."

(DILEK IMAMOGLU speaking in foreign language.)

HANCOCKS (voice over): Imamoglu's wife called the accusations against him laughable, blaming false information on social media. "Such a thing is, of

course, impossible," she said. "It cannot be. It is a huge slander. Everything will come out in the open."

Turkey's next presidential election is not scheduled until 2028, but some analysts say Erdogan could call for early elections to allow him to bypass

term limits.

Imamoglu's detention comes one day after Istanbul University announced it had annulled his decree over irregularities. Without a university degree,

he is disqualified from running for President.

(EKREM IMAMOGLU speaking in foreign language.)

HANCOCKS (voice over): "We will, of course, take this illegitimate decision to court," he said, speaking alongside his family on Tuesday.

Demonstrations have been banned across Istanbul until March 23rd to maintain public order, and many social media sites restricted, but some

supporters still took to the streets to protest the mayor's detention.

(EKREM IMAMOGLU speaking in foreign language.)

HANCOCKS (voice over): Imamoglu has been a vocal critic of President Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey for more than two decades.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: The E.U. has unveiled a plan to boost military spending over the next five years and support its defense industries. Now, the Rearm Europe

plan frees up roughly $870 billion, nearly a fifth of that will come from new E.U. spending, and that's important.

Member states would be allowed to, in fact, borrow the rest, and the plan aims to close credibility gaps, support Ukraine and allow joint purchases

and build new partnerships and spur innovation.

Melissa Bell is with us from Paris.

You've been keeping an eye on this, and I am curious how transformational could this be? Not just obviously they want a more robust defense posture

for the E.U., but this is different, right, in terms of how and where it sources its military needs.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And very different, Paula, of course, with regard to how European nations have so far dealt

with defense procurement, their budgets and the coordination.

For years, this debate has been going on in Europe about how there can be better harmonization, more federalism when it came to defense and really

this is a big step in that direction.

Certainly what the Commission is calling for, for the time being, that Europe should be by 2030, in a much better position to defend itself. I

think it is important and worth noting to note, Paula, that since 2021 and 2024, Europeans in the E.U. have already increased their defense spending

by 30 percent.

What this proposal does is massively increase that through a system of loans, essentially, initially 150 billion euros first of all, that could be

given to European governments in the shape of loans, changes to the European rules with regards to budgetary requirements could be made as

well, and the European Commission reckons that a further 650 billion euros could therefore be mobilized.

But there are a number of steps to go through before this can be achieved. As ambitious as the plan is, and as desired as it is by many European

federalists specifically, many of these proposals will have to be agreed to by national governments, some of them by the European Parliament as well.

And remember, Paula, that as ever, Europe is a disparate bunch of nations. There are those countries that are more indebted than others. There are

those countries that are closer to a realignment with Moscow than others. They are less willing to engage further with Ukraine and probably closer to

the American line at this stage, and then another part of these proposals would be that Brussels would act as this kind of central purchasing

platform, rather as it had, you'll remember during COVID, when it had really managed to get its act together with regard to vaccine procurement.

[16:25:13]

The big difference then, of course, was that everyone in Europe was scared about this virus and there was this sudden will to come together and act.

This time, there are varying degrees, as I said, of fears in Europe, about exactly the threat that Russia represents and there will be many

disagreements to come about how joint projects are managed, who runs them, how they are dealt with.

An important part of this will be the rearming of Europe, Paula, and you mentioned it a moment ago from European builders. So there is this will to

reestablish or reinvigorate Europe's military industrial base. That will of course take time. But first there will be these political arguments.

You really have very big differences between countries like, say, France, that believe very forcefully that this needs to happen and this needs to

happen quickly. A lot of countries much closer to Ukraine, on Europe's eastern flank, and then there are countries much less willing to play the

game.

So this is the beginning of a series of arguments that will take place across Europe. Still, the will is there and it is an important -- would be

an important leap towards greater federalism in what many Europeans and certainly the commission believes is a time of existential threat faced by

Europe, and I think it speaks volumes about just how seriously Europe has taken what many regard as the abandonment of its American ally -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, that can't be left out of this conversation and the fact that it has completely changed the impetus there in the E.U. about how they are

going to do this and how quickly they are going to get it done.

Melissa Bell for us, grateful. Appreciate it.

Still to come for us, the Trump administration is promising harsh consequences for anyone vandalizing Teslas. We will explain when we come

back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed prisoners of war during their call. Ukraine

confirming today that it completed a large POW exchange with Russia.

Now, 175 servicemen were swapped on both sides. Now, here you see with the flags, you can see Ukrainian prisoners of war, of course, celebrating their

freedom. President Zelenskyy called it one of the largest exchanges yet.

Clarissa Ward is with us from Kyiv.

Grateful to have you with us, Clarissa. And you know, we will, of course, get to the whole emotional scenes there. But there was also a discrepancy

as to whether or not this was actually brokered by the White House, given the fact that this was already planned beforehand, right?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This was definitely planned, certainly, before the conversation between President Trump and

President Putin last week. And actually, President Zelenskyy thanked the United Arab Emirates for their role in helping to facilitate this. We know

that the UAE has helped to facilitate previous prisoner exchanges as well.

But certainly this felt like a big day, a big moment. This is not the largest prisoner exchange that we have seen. And there was one last month,

February 5th. But given the sort of intensity of the moment, it felt significant. As you mentioned, it was a topic of conversation between

President Trump and President Zelenskyy today on the phone. That conversation, according to officials, went a lot better than expected, was

actually pretty relaxed. There was even some joking.

But we know that the prisoner of war issue is a real priority for President Zelenskyy, and we had the fortune, actually, Paula, of being there at the

moment that those 175 prisoners arrived at the hospital in the northern town of Chernihiv and were reunited with their families once again. Take a

look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD: We're waiting now here with family members of the 175 Ukrainian prisoners of war who have just crossed over the border back into Ukraine,

some of them after three years in captivity in Russia. The images that we've been seeing of that moment, as they sprint through the border

crossing, grabbing a Ukrainian flag and now on their way back to be reunited with loved ones.

Who's the cake for?

(Voice-over): I'm waiting for my husband, who has been in captivity for almost three years, and yesterday was his birthday, Alyona tells us. It's

like splashes of fireworks and emotions. My heart is beating out of my chest.

If you take a look now, the bus doors just opening and people rushing forward desperately hoping to get a glimpse of their loved ones. People

calling out the names of loved ones as they try to find their family members amid the 175 Ukrainian prisoners of war who are getting off of

these busses, some of them seem to have some injuries, others look like they're in good shape, though clearly dazed.

You can see Alyona has found her husband Andriy. She gave him a huge, huge hug and presented him with that birthday cake that she's waited three years

to give him.

It's just incredible to see how much emotion there is in this crowd. Everywhere you walk, people are hugging. They're crying, they're laughing,

and just the sense of relief. Some of these men held for three years.

This man is talking to, I think, his wife for the first time. You can see just how emotional the incredible toll of what these men have been through.

Can I ask you guys, how does it feel to be back home in Ukraine?

YEVHEN, FREED UKRAINIAN PRISONER OF WAR: Amazing.

WARD: Amazing.

YEVHEN: Yes, beautiful. Magnificent. Great. Super.

WARD: How long have you been dreaming about this moment?

YEVHEN: Three years.

WARD: Can I ask? You look thin. How were the conditions in the prison where you were held?

(Voice-over): Look, if I tell the truth, it'll affect the guys who are still there, Yevhen (PH) tells us. But I would say in the 21st century,

people should be treated better than us.

We don't know exactly how many Ukrainian prisoners of war there are in Russia. The estimates are around 8,000 or even more.

[16:35:00]

I asked President Zelenskyy a question at a virtual press conference yesterday. I said, what could President Putin say or do that would give you

more optimism about this peace process, and he said to return all the prisoners of war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (on-camera): And we did see also, Paula, a lot of family members of soldiers who have not come home yet, who are still missing relatives,

anxiously awaiting them. And no word yet on when we might see another prisoner exchange like the one we saw today -- Paula.

NEWTON: Yes, painful for those families, especially when they see the conditions of, you know, how thin, as you pointed out, that some of those

prisoners of war have been.

Again, grateful having you on the ground there, Clarissa. Appreciate it.

Now, Tesla shares got a much needed relief on Wednesday. They closed more than 4 percent higher, snapping a two-day losing streak. The carmaker's

value has tumbled about 40 percent since the start of the year. That's owed in part to falling sales and a political backlash against CEO Elon Musk.

The FBI, in fact, is investigating an attack on a Tesla facility as a possible act of domestic terrorism. A person dressed in black set fire to

some Tesla cars Tuesday at a repair center in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's one of several attacks on Tesla showrooms, charging stations and vehicles

across the United States.

The Trump administration has come out aggressively in defense of Tesla and Elon Musk, who has become one of the president's strongest supporters. In

fact, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi put out a statement calling the repeated attacks nothing short of domestic terrorism.

John Miller joins us now here in New York.

And, John, I can ask you this, given your prior positions, especially here in New York City, dealing with the issue of terrorism as a law, as a former

law enforcement official, is that appropriate? Is this domestic terrorism? Could it be domestic terrorism?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the way this gets complicated is when people discuss whether or not something

is domestic terrorism through the lens of politics. But if you take it through the lens of what were the actions and what was the motive, you

would have to kind of look at this holistically, which is you've got attacks against Tesla facilities in Loveland, Texas, in Las Vegas, in

Seattle, in multiple locations happening at once at the same time when Elon Musk is closely aligned with Donald Trump and making big moves in

Washington within the government.

So it would be almost irresponsible to think that they're not connected or not connected to politics. So if you go by the FBI definition of domestic

terrorism, which I think we can pull up, basically it says any violent criminal acts committed by individuals and-or groups to further ideological

goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social or racial environmental nature, this fits into the

category of multiple acts that seem to be motivated by politics, coming from people who are hoping to intimidate or coerce change in those

politics. So the FBI is handling this with their domestic terrorist squads.

NEWTON: It is interesting. I only have about 30 seconds left, but this is chilling, right? Because in terms of the actual driver of a Tesla, this

poses a threat to many people, right?

MILLER: Well, people have been heckling Tesla drivers and so on, and they've been getting heat on the road, which is pressuring them to maybe

switch cars. That, of course, does not fall under the category of terrorism. That is strangely First Amendment protected speech.

NEWTON: Yes, it is interesting just to see where all this would go. And it doesn't show any signs of stopping so far.

John Miller, thank you for the explanation. Appreciate it.

MILLER: Thanks.

NEWTON: Now Ben and Jerry's is accusing its parent company of firing the CEO over the ice cream brand's progressive streak. It's the latest

development in a dramatic feud between Ben and Jerry's and Unilever. It kicked off in 2021 when Ben and Jerry's announced it would no longer sell

ice cream in the occupied West Bank. Three years later, Unilever announced it wanted to spin off the brand. In January Ben and Jerry's accused

Unilever of suppressing a post mentioning Donald Trump. In March of this year, the CEO was fired.

Unilever has not responded to CNN's request for comment. Our Vanessa Yurkevich has been following all of this, and she joins us from New York.

Now, we just have, you know, went through the background here, but what more are you learning about where all this could be headed?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is just the latest from Ben and Jerry's. They are claiming in a new lawsuit

that their CEO was fired because their parent company, Unilever, simply did not like their progressive views on social and political issues. Also, Ben

and Jerry's is claiming in this lawsuit that Unilever fired the CEO without board approval, full board approval, and that is in violation of their

merger agreement from 2000.

[16:40:04]

Just to show you a little bit about what this lawsuit said, Ben and Jerry's says Unilever's motive for removing Mr. Stever is his commitment to Ben and

Jerry's social mission and essential brand integrity, and his willingness to collaborate in good faith with the independent board rather than any

genuine concern regarding his performance history.

And as you mentioned, this is just the latest claim from Ben and Jerry's that their parent company, Unilever, has essentially been silencing the

brand from speaking out publicly on social and political issues so much so that they say that Unilever has blocked Ben and Jerry's from posting about

things like ending the war in Gaza, calling a ceasefire, posting about abortion, climate change and universal health care, if it mentions Donald

Trump, refraining from posting about Palestinian refugee Mahmoud Khalil, who is in a detention center right now, in ICE detention center, and also

just posting about celebrating Black History Month.

Now, Unilever is a U.K. brand. As you mentioned, they are looking to sell Ben and Jerry's. They announced that last year. That is yet to happen, but

this has been a long stream of complaints from Ben and Jerry's against their parent company over what they are claiming is trying to suppress them

from being outspoken and public about certain social and political views.

We did reach out to Unilever to ask them about this latest firing of Ben and Jerry's CEO, David Stever, and also these other complaints that Ben and

Jerry's has had over the years.

But, Paula, we have not heard back yet from Unilever on this.

NEWTON: Well, it is certainly something that will continue to watch. And again, protected speech in one country is not protected speech in another

country. It tends to get very complicated with these things.

Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks for wrapping it all up. Appreciate it.

And that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for now. A reminder that the markets, all three indices got a fairly good boost today from the Fed announcement. Stay

with us now, though. Up next is "MARKETPLACE EUROPE."

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