'A good report?' GOP lawmaker stuns CNN's Berman over response to shrinking economy

A Republican lawmaker stunned CNN's John Berman when he referred to news that the economy shrunk by 3% due to President Donald Trump's machinations as "a good thing."

Berman presented Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) with Wednesday morning's news that the economy has gone into reverse.

"So, GDP down 0.3% in the first quarter. It was a growth rate of 2.4% in the final quarter of last year, the first contraction since 2022. What do you think this data is telling us?" Berman asked.

Kiley said he thought it was "natural" to have short-term disruption "when you have a lot of change."

"But, I think that when you dig deeper into the data, you see a foundation for medium- and longer-term growth," Kiley said.

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Berman continued, "This report doesn't even cover really the impacts of tariffs. The president's announcement wasn't until the beginning of April. People think that there could be even more headwinds in the second quarter there."

Kiley dodged the question of Trump's tariffs, instead, citing "the relaxation or the lower amount of government spending."

"And, so, that's actually a good thing, in some sense, as we're cutting waste, fraud and abuse. And Americans broadly agree that we need to reduce the size of government...So, those numbers, those kind of top-line numbers that you're citing are partially a reflection of that."

Kiley repeated that "when you dig deeper, you see an increase in exports, you see an increase in investment. And we have this huge runway now where we're going to be taking action very soon as a congress to extend the prior tax cuts and to provide new forms of tax relief, which is going to be an added fuel for investment and jobs."

Berman pushed back, "You keep saying, 'If you dig deeper, this looks okay.' Are you saying this is a good report?"

Kiley answered, "I'm saying that the signs are there for significant economic growth going forward, and I think that we have all the tools at our disposal and, and are on the track to do just that."

Watch the clip below via CNN or click here.