CBS Evening News, 03/06/25
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From CBS News headquarters in New York, this is the CBS Evening News. The fog...

of trade war. Good evening, I'm John Dickerson. I'm Maurice Dubois. The financial markets were rattled today by the commander-in-chief and general confusion. Conflicting signals from the president about his trade war sent stock prices tumbling. The Dow lost a full percent. The Nasdaq, more than two and a half. President Trump granted more exemptions today to his 25% tax on imports from Canada and Mexico.

For one month, goods covered by the USMCA trade agreement will not be subject to the tariffs. He gave that same exemption yesterday to Detroit's big three automakers. This is not the first time the president has threatened or imposed tariffs and pulled back. And the uncertainty goes well beyond Wall Street. Ed O'Keefe is at a curling center in Toronto. Ed? Second piece.

John, good evening. The on-again, off-again tariffs are mostly off-again except for here in Canada's largest province, which is warning of economic pain for at least some Americans.

We have to put an end to this. This is mass chaos right now around North America and actually around the world. Doug Ford is premier of Ontario, the hub of Canada's economy and home to 40% of Canadians. He dismissed President Trump's pause on tariffs. He said that before and he switched his mind a few days later or a week later.

So once I touch a stove and I get burned once, I don't touch that stove again. He needs to drop all tariffs. And if he doesn't drop them for good, Ford says Ontario, which transmits electricity to the United States, will put a 25% tariff on power sent to Minnesota, Michigan, and New York starting Monday. Ford got into a heated phone conversation this week with the U.S. Commerce Secretary and has banned the sale of American-made spirits in Ontario liquor stores.

So if I hear you, you're turning off the lights and you're running the bourbon dry in response to what the United States is doing. The last thing I want to do is turn off the lights. I'll put a tariff...

But let's straighten this out. And to the American homeowner in Minnesota or New York or somewhere else that gets its power from electricity, they're going to see the electric bill in a month and they're going to realize, whoa, a lot more expensive than it was. That's correct. What are you telling them? And there's one person to be blamed, and that's President Trump. Even if the tariffs are temporarily off, the anger has hardly subsided at the private Royal Canadian Curling Club.

where members stopped drinking American bourbon and California wines on the premises weeks ago. This is one small thing that we can do. And Danielle Brown says growing Canadian anger isn't about the American people, just the American president. It's really just sad and a shame that leadership is actually maybe for positioning, who knows why, kind of trumping up these allegations that we're maybe not as good partners as we actually are.

Now, Ed, we usually think of Canadians in kindness, but in this case, they seem pretty angry right about now. Why are they digging in so hard? Well, Maurice, in their view, and the reality is, there have been free trade agreements between the U.S. and Canada in place since the late 1980s. Many may remember NAFTA, more recently, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement that was negotiated in part by President Trump. They're sick of being pushed around, and they're not quite sure what it is the president wants done by early April to call off this trade war entirely.

And Ed, if these tariffs stick, what other kinds of products or what other ways will Americans be affected?

Well, let's walk our way across Canada to give you an example. In British Columbia, the lumber from there helps build American homes. In Alberta, the oil and gas gets pumped into American cars. Fertilizer from Saskatchewan gets scattered across the heartland. And we went to a steel manufacturer here in Ontario who makes window wells and garden beds that get bought up all across the American suburbs. And then, of course, there's the produce, blueberries, tomatoes, and yes, maple syrup. The cost of them would go up as well. Okay. Ed O'Keefe tonight in Toronto. Thanks so much.

The mass firing of federal workers is starting to come into focus. A report out today says more than 62,000 U.S. government jobs were cut in February. That brought the overall job losses to 172,000, the highest total for any month since the pandemic.

The Department of Government Efficiency, which is behind the firings, does not put out a complete accounting. But our teams here at CBS News have found that cuts by Doge have affected at least 18 federal departments and agencies. The Social Security Administration said last Friday it is cutting about 7,000 workers. The Department of Defense announced plans to cut about 5,400 probationary employees.

And in the most significant job reduction so far, an internal memo from the Department of Veterans Affairs revealed the VA plans to cut 15% of its workforce by the end of September. Carter Evans in Los Angeles spoke to a combat veteran who is worried about the impact of the VA cuts.

You know, these are my two meritorious service medals. U.S. Army veteran Rob Hamm was 18 when terrorists attacked on 9-11. I remember watching it and just feeling like, whoa, this world has changed, and it's violent and scary. And you felt like you needed to do something.

I did. He served several tours in Afghanistan as a paratrooper and combat photographer. His unit, often close to highly toxic pits, used to burn waste. I definitely had some chest stuff when I came back. Are you worried that it might become an issue? When I look at the statistics, the odds of me getting some kind of related cancer that I will need help from the VA is very high.

Ham had produced videos for the VA documenting medical professionals caring for cancer patients and treating homeless veterans. Rolling back the level of employees that cover all of these different services is going to impact care.

100%. Look, the VA was never perfect and it will never be perfect. A message posted on X by VA Secretary Doug Collins explained the massive layoffs authorized by DOGE would shrink the number of VA employees by 72,000. We'll be making major changes, so get used to it. Right now, VA's biggest problem is that its bureaucracy and inefficiencies are getting in the way of customer convenience and service to veterans.

The VA has been plagued by scandals in recent years, but the agency did have someone overseeing the organization. Inspector General Michael Missal was fired. We identified fraud, waste and abuse every day of the year. It's really hard to come in and just start cutting positions without really understanding the implications of those cuts. I believe we're going to overcome this.

I believe when you start to piss off veterans, we rise together. We should rise together. When we as a country send people to war, we have a sacred obligation to take care of them when they come home. Full stop.

And Carter Evans tells us many of the new VA employees were hired during the Biden administration to provide services under the PACT Act. It expanded benefits for soldiers who, like Rob Hamm, were exposed to toxins. Now, some of the top stories from around the world in tonight's evening news roundup, beginning with another possible death from measles. The New Mexico Health Department says an adult who died recently had tested positive for measles

and had not been vaccinated. Tomorrow, Omar Villafranca reports from West Texas, the center of the measles outbreak. - Pope Francis, still battling pneumonia, thanked well-wishers for their prayers in a message recorded in his native Spanish. -

The pope is 88. He is in stable condition. And a federal judge ruled President Trump did not have the power to fire Gwen Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board and ordered her reinstated. The case is now likely to reach the Supreme Court. The president is expected to sign an executive order as soon as this week, dismantling the Education Department. Nancy Cordes joins us now from the White House. And Nancy, why is the president so focused on putting this one department out of business?

Well, Maurice, President Trump says this is all about sending the power back to the states so they can make their own decisions about education. One problem with that, though, is that the Department of Education actually doesn't have any say right now in what is taught in local schools. By law, that is left to the states.

the Department of Education does do, though. It's essentially a pass-through for billions of dollars that go to help schools educate students with disabilities, help schools in low-income areas, and of course, billions to help low-income students go to college through grants and loans. We've seen a draft of the executive order that he's expected to sign, and it's still very unclear how all those funds would get dispersed if this agency is radically downsized.

Nancy, the agency was created by Congress, funded by Congress. Can he do this? Technically, he can't close it entirely. Congress created the agency, so Congress would have to eliminate it. But even Linda McMahon, the secretary of education, while acknowledging that that is true. I mean, we might want to talk.

shutter an agency in order to essentially gut it. If you cut thousands of staffers, if you cut thousands of programs, you can achieve the same effect. And just like with USAID, all of this is likely to end up in the courts. Okay. Apologies there for a technical issue. Nancy Cordes at the White House. Thank you so much.

Still ahead on the CBS Evening News, Loni Quinn on the return of atmospheric rivers bringing rain to the West. Plus, I talk with a fired FEMA executive who says she was targeted by Elon Musk. I feel betrayed, not by my colleagues, but by a department, an agency that I gave my life to.

And I Own America, saving forests and Native American families.

President Trump's firing of federal workers has been so rapid and so haphazard, it's been hard to figure out what the impact might be on the rest of us. But we could find out the next time there's a natural disaster. Because among those fired are more than 200 workers at FEMA, including the chief financial officer. In her first interview, Mary Comins told me her firing came after she alleges Elon Musk spread false claims about her work. My name has been slandered.

I've been personally attacked. My family has been harassed. President Trump denied me of my rights. For two decades, Mary Comins was an unknown bureaucrat at the Department of Homeland Security until one Tuesday afternoon when the world's richest man posted her photo on X to his 219 million followers, calling her actions criminal. I'm apolitical. I've served both Republican and Democrat presidents.

with honor and integrity. Most recently as the chief financial officer for the disaster relief agency FEMA, managing a budget of up to $100 million.

In early February, Komen says one of Elon Musk's top lieutenants, Brad Smith, zeroed in on a program approved by Congress to reimburse cities and states for housing undocumented migrants. He specifically asked a colleague who oversees the grants program, responded, "No." And Brad Smith said, "That's the right answer."

payments to state and local entities should continue under the normal process and procedures. So you're thinking at that point

that we were squared away. Squared away until five days later when Musk posted the Doge team just discovered that FEMA sent $59 million last week to New York City to house illegal migrants, saying the agency violated the law. That really came as a surprise to me and my colleagues. Did you document all of this, what happened? I did.

But it didn't matter. The next morning, a colleague delivered the news. Comins had been fired at the direction of the president. The official Department of Homeland Security had put out a press release here. It says, "You were fired for circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury New York City hotels for migrants."

That is not a true statement. I was fired illegally by the Trump administration for doing my job. In that same press release, the agency called Comins a deep state activist. I feel betrayed, not by my colleagues, but by a department, an agency that I gave my life to.

Now, Brad Smith, a Doge official, did not respond to our request for a comment. Neither did a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. Mary Comins has filed a lawsuit against the department asking for damages, alleging defamation and that her firing was illegal.

Maurice, targeted by the richest man in the world on Twitter and all that, does Cummins feel physically in danger? She absolutely does. She feels threatened. She feels that other people are out there using her name badly, saying terrible things about her. She's called the local police, changed her movements. She's got the police keeping an eye on her and her family. Yeah, tough moment. Yeah, thank you. Now to the weather. The atmospheric rivers are back. And Lonnie Quinn here now to tell us that that means rain in our west. Lonnie.

Yeah, and we need rain out west. The atmospheric river, guys, is exactly what the name suggests. It's a flow of air in our atmosphere that holds a lot of rain, basically traveling over the same path. This very sort of unclear picture is Huntington Beach, California. Unclear because it's raining right now. They need the rain.

First part, the very first part of this atmospheric river is just coming on shore as of right now. Thus the rain I just showed you in Huntington Beach and boy do they need it. Huntington Beach is in extreme drought conditions depicted by that red color. Wherever you see those little flashes of deep red, that's exceptional drought, extraordinary drought.

the type of drought that really brings about problems. We have areas that need rain and there will be more bouts to come. So there's a little atmospheric river setting up today. There's gonna be much bigger bouts of rain that come in next week. So there's your first system. Behind it, system number two is even bigger. This is next week. So the big show is next week. And if you deal with system two, system three, the biggest of all,

The grand total here looks to be about four inches of rain for areas right now that are five inches below where they should be. So that should bring them back to about average. And each storm I showed you goes from coast to coast. Gentlemen. Lonnie Quinn with all of the systems. Thank you, Lonnie. Our program to preserve forests has become a lifesaver for some Native Americans. Ion America is next.

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Taste the real Amsterdam, explore the real Barcelona, and discover the real Johannesburg, along with many more destinations around the world. Secure your real deal today and seize the moment with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Restrictions apply. See terms and conditions at klm.com. The forests needed to be thinned to prevent wildfires. Native Americans needed firewood to keep warm. Sometimes things work out just right.

Janet Chamleon has tonight's Eye on America. It's a tradition as old as the Washoe tribe itself.

A home heated by a wood fire, the way Eileen Mazie, a Washoe elder, has always lived. Without the stove, what access would you have to heat? Without the stove, at this time, we would have no heat. The custom is harder to hold on to in modern life, as most tribes don't control the land around them and can no longer take the trees for firewood. But now, a creative solution through a partnership between the National Forest Foundation and

and eight tribes across five states. A win-win. Wood banks created from trees cleared for fire prevention that otherwise would have gone to waste. This is what they brought you? Yeah. It goes to Native American communities where poverty rates are almost twice the national average and where a cord of wood lasting six to 12 weeks can cost a budget-busting $400. When you don't have it, it's life or death.

We visited a national forest near Maisie's home, where Caitlin Lonergan of the National Forest Foundation told us too much wood can be dangerous. Why does this wood have to be taken out of the forest? We're dealing with an overgrowth problem. We are taking this material off the landscape so there's not as much fuel to burn.

On average, a California fire season burns close to a million acres. January's Los Angeles fires burned more than 16,000 structures. Lonergan showed us this snow-covered pile that's been cut down. The forest thinning reduces tinder that can drive a wildfire. It's material that we need to get rid of, but it's not much value in more traditional markets. But it's of immense value to indigenous communities across the state.

across the American West, facing bitter winters with limited access to affordable heating. What is the significance of a partnership between tribes and a federal agency? Over the past 150 years, the Washtenaw Tribe has been shut out from a lot of its historical lands. And now being able to

have some influence on what is actually happening in the tribe's ancestral lands. Most of this is Jeffrey Pine. Kenneth Cruz oversees distribution to the Washoe tribe, a community of about 1,500 near Reno, where elders like Violet Pete get the wood for free. What was it like that first time they delivered to you? It was nice and I didn't have to worry about

wondering where my next wood was going to come from or how much I could use. We want to be able to preserve that beauty and continue to pass it down for not necessarily just our children, but for everyone that's here. The land's original stewards now allies with the government, preserving forests and sustaining Native tribes. For ION America, Janet Shamlian, Dresslerville, Nevada.

Tomorrow at about this time, Steve Hartman will be here with On the Road. Maurice and I will be right back with some of the most beautiful creatures on Earth quickly disappearing.

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I'm ready for my life to change. ABC Sunday, American Idol returns. Give it your all. Good luck. Come out with a golden ticket. Let's hear it. This is a man's world. I've never seen anything like it. And a new chapter begins. We're going to Hollywood. Carrie Underwood joins Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, and Ryan Seacrest on American Idol. Season premieres Sunday, 8, 7 central on ABC and stream on Hulu.

Have you ever spotted McDonald's hot, crispy fries right as they're being scooped into the carton? And time just stands still. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.

We end tonight with one of nature's masterpieces, the butterfly. Enjoy watching them now because they are disappearing at an alarming rate. One of the most comprehensive studies published today says that over the past two decades, the butterfly population in the continental United States

has fallen more than 20%. - For some species, it is even worse, with losses more than 90%. - Butterflies are like canaries in a coal mine, warning of threats to the environment. But there is hope. The authors of the study note that butterflies are capable of rapid recovery. - With conservation efforts, we can be the wind beneath their wings, a small price to pay for so much beauty.

That's the CBS Evening News. I'm John Dickerson. I'll see you soon on Evening News Plus. I'm Maurice Dubois. We'll see you right back here tomorrow night. Have a good night.