I'd like to request a moment of silence for the victims and their families, please. By the way, Bernie, the problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies, it's in Congress too. Tariff of 25% on Canada and separately 25% on Mexico.
You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Well, you made it to Friday. Congratulations. Welcome, Ben Ferguson with you, and you're listening to the 47 Morning Update, and we've got three big stories for you. First up, Donald Trump is going all in on government reforms after the tragic plane crash in Washington, D.C. at Reagan National Airport. I'll have the latest on what that means coming up in a moment.
Also, fireworks between RFK Jr. and Bernie Sanders. What does it mean for the nomination process? I'll explain that and have the audio for you as well. And finally, Donald Trump is not flinching. Moving on tariffs of 25% on Mexico and Canada. It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now. Story number one.
Tragedy struck on Wednesday evening as an American Airlines passenger jet flight 5342 from Kansas collided mid-air with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport in D.C. The collision occurred around 8.47 p.m. Eastern time as the jet was on its final approach to the airport.
Both aircraft plunge into the icy Potomac River following the crash. Tragically, all 67 individuals onboard the two aircrafts died. Now, there's a lot that we don't know about this crash, and we are going to find that out in the days and weeks ahead.
But the one thing that we know for sure is Donald Trump is demanding answers on what has happened within our government institutions, especially when it comes to the FAA. There is a headline from back on February the 1st of 2024 from the Washington Times that is now coming back to haunt many that are looking at what has happened in our government. The headline reads this way.
FAA turned away qualified air traffic controllers based solely on race. Yes, it actually happened. And it was the policy of the Biden-Harris administration. Donald Trump had a press conference and a briefing about this for the American people. And he did not shy away from talking about the hiring practices within our government. Take a listen.
point out that various articles that appeared prior to my entering office. And here's one. The FAA's diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing.
And then it says FAA says people with severe disabilities are most underrepresented segment of the workforce and they want them in and they want them, they can be air traffic controllers. I don't think so. This was in January 14th, so that was a week before I entered office. They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA's program.
Then, another article, the Federal Aviation Administration. This was before I got to office. Recently, second term. The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency's website. Can you imagine?
What's even more shocking is the fact that at the time the crash happened, the current job listings for air traffic controllers on the FAA's website is, quote, open to people with disabilities, including psychiatric and intellectual delays. That doesn't make you feel safe knowing that your air traffic controllers can have an intellectual disability or have a seizure while directing your flight. And the point that Donald Trump was making is this.
even when there is a tragedy that we are investigating. We are also going to look at how we're hiring the people that are in charge of the situation, and we will make sure that this policy ends. Now story number two. Thursday was a massive day on Capitol Hill for Donald Trump's cabinet nominees.
On Thursday, you had Cash Patel, who's up for FBI director, RFK Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard. All of them taking heat from Democrats who are clearly trying to stop at least one of these nominations at all costs. One of those that they've been really focusing on is RFK Jr. Bernie Sanders thought it was a good idea to go after RFK was some very intense questioning.
Problem was it totally backfired in his face, especially when he was called out for being bought and paid for by the pharmaceutical companies that he says RFK Jr. is being too mean to take a listen. I'm going to make America healthier than other countries in the world right now. We'll use guarantee to do what every other major country has. That's a simple question. And by the way, Bernie,
The problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies, it's in Congress too. Almost all the members of this panel are accepting, including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry and protecting their interests.
I thought that that would... I ran for president like you. I got millions of contributions. They did not come from the executives, not one nickel of pack money from the pharmaceuticals. They came from workers. In 2020, you were the single largest
Because I have seen four pharmaceutical money from workers all over this country. Workers with a single, not a nickel from corporate. I was a single largest, a lot of pharmaceutical dollars. Oh, from workers in 1.5 million.
Yeah, out of 200 million. All right. But you have not answered last question. Wow. Bernie Sanders getting called out saying, quote, you have accepted millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry in 2020. You were the single largest receiver of pharmaceutical dollars, 1.5 million.
You heard the crowd behind RFK Jr. laughing in the face of Bernie Sanders, and the hostility towards RFK Jr. experience at this hearing was directly proportional to how much pharma money each sender received.
In fact, each of them simply repeated the same attacks over and over again. The top attacker was supposed to be Bernie Sanders. Why? Because he got almost 2 million. Then it was Rafael Warnock from Georgia. He's gotten 1.765 million dollars from the pharmaceutical companies. Then Elizabeth Warren, 1.2 million. Ron Wyden, another Democrat from Oregon, 1.2 million. And the list goes on and on.
What they didn't realize was that RFK Jr. was going to fight back the way he did and call them out to their face. Now that wasn't the only fireworks that we witnessed on Capitol Hill. Adam Schiff, the Senator, Democrat from California, many of you remember as the guy that lied to the American people by trying to overthrow the will of the people with Russia collusion in the hoax.
that he pushed for years saying that Donald Trump was compromised. He knew that was a lie and he knew that dossier was paid for by his own party, the Democratic National Committee, and the Hillary Clinton for president campaign. Well, Adam Schiff tried to have his moment with Cass Patel, the FBI director nominee, and he was trying to connect January the 6th to Cass Patel. It didn't go well for him either. Take a listen.
I want you to turn around. There are Capitol police officers behind you. They're guarding us. Take a look at them right now. Turn around. I'm looking at you. You're talking to me. Oh, no, no, no. Look at them. I want you to look at them if you can, if you have the courage to look them in the eye, Mr. Patel, and tell them you're proud of what you did. Tell them you're proud that you raised money off of people that assaulted their colleagues, that pepper sprayed them, that beat them with poles. Tell them you're proud of what you did, Mr. Patel. They're right there. They're guarding you today.
Tell them how proud you are. That's an abject line. You know it. I've never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement. I've worked with these men and women as you know, my entire life. And I did not make a single dime out of it. How about you ask them if I have their backs and let's see about that answer.
Another brutal day for Democrats on Capitol Hill. You can hear it there, Adam Schiff getting flustered after Cash Patel put it right back in his face. The lie is about the police sitting behind him telling Schiff, hey, you want to look at them? Well, guess what? Why don't you ask them if I've got their back? They'll answer it. And what did Adam Schiff do? He moved on as quick as he possibly could. The big question now is,
What day will the vote happen? Now, we've been told that this should happen early next week for all three of these very important jobs. Hopefully, the obstructionist Democrats will be able to finally say fine, let's have an up or down vote. And all three of them will be able to get into their offices and start serving the American people. And lastly, story number three.
Donald Trump promised that he was going to make sure that he put America first with his policies. Donald Trump now making good on that promise announcing in the Oval Office this. And I'll be putting the tariff of 25% on Canada and separately, 25% on Mexico. And we will really have to do that because we have very big deficits with those countries. Those tariffs may or may not rise with time.
Now, Donald Trump has made it very clear, even if you are a friend of ours like Canada or Mexico, it doesn't mean you can take advantage of this anymore. And that's why this will become a reality on February the 1st, depending on how Canada and Mexico respond to this real threat from the president.
Now, what does this actually mean? Well, number one, President Trump says this is about protecting American jobs. Higher tariffs could encourage companies to bring manufacturing and production back to the U.S., reducing reliance on foreign imports and boosting domestic employment as well. He also says this is about strengthening national security. He argued these tariffs are necessary to address illegal immigration and drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl.
by pressuring Mexico and Canada economically. The U.S. may be able to force stronger border security measures and cooperation fighting illicit drug trade flooding our borders. Finally, the President said this is also about reducing trade in balances.
The tariffs could help correct trade deficits with Canada and Mexico by making American-made products more competitive. This could strengthen the US economy and reduce dependency on the imports coming from other countries. At the end of the day, this is about leveraging better trade deals.
And Trump has successfully used tariffs in the past as a major negotiating tool, whether it was the US MCA replacing NAFTA. The threat of these tariffs may push Canada and Mexico to agree to stronger trade terms that would benefit American businesses, American small businesses, and most importantly, American workers.
This is all a bigger part of Donald Trump's promise, encouraging domestic investment. He says higher tariffs will incentivize companies to invest in the U.S. manufacturing and supply chains, leading to increase economic growth and innovation within this country.
At the end of the day, what we had with the Biden-Harris administration was the exporting of jobs and goods and incredible imbalances when it came to these trade deficits. Donald Trump clearly saying, I'm going to do it differently and I'm going to put the American worker
Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now, and for more in-depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow.