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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Soon: Trump Meets With Indian Prime Minister; Trump Aims For Massive Reciprocal Tariffs Despite Inflation Concerns; Trump Says He Trusts Putin On Ukraine; State Department Freezes $400M Order of "Armored" Teslas; Order To Drop Charges Against NY Mayor Adams Prompts Multiple Resignations In NY And At DOJ; RFK Jr. Sworn In As Health & Human Services Secretary. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 13, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: -- after her electric fence collar battery died.

[16:00:06]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: She is so cute.

KEILAR: She's adorable.

SANCHEZ: Yeah.

KEILAR: You're going to get lost in those -- those puppy dog eyes.

SANCHEZ: A hundred percent doing it right now. It would be so heart wrenching to lose your pet that way and not be able to find them. We're fortunate that retired Detective Chad Taverna (ph) is out there with his heat seeking drone.

KEILAR: Yeah, he specializes in this. What an awesome dude. Love it.

SANCHEZ: Hey. Thank you so much for joining us today.

THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: President Trump admits his tariffs could, in the short term, cost you more money.

THE LEAD starts right now.

President Trump in the Oval Office this afternoon announcing his plan for even more tariffs. The president says it will all benefit the United States in the long run, even if it hurts your wallet in the short term.

But when could you see those spikes? And then those savings? I'll ask a top White House trade official.

Another major headline from the Oval. President Trump says he trusts Russian President Vladimir Putin when Putin claims he wants to end the war in Ukraine. But European officials are warning this could lead to a, quote, dirty deal. And a top U.S. prosecutor just quit her job after she was ordered to

drop the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. And then moments later, two more Justice Department officials walked out the door. Are even more resignations on the way?

(MUSIC)

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

At any moment, we are expecting to see President Trump for the third time today. This time in a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But Trump has already made multiple headlines today. Let's start with tariffs.

In his first appearance earlier today, the president kicked off the process to introduce sweeping reciprocal tariffs matching higher rates that other nations currently charge to import American goods. This could potentially boost America's revenue. It could also potentially ignite a global trade war and theoretically add to inflation.

When pressed by CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Trump himself acknowledged the possibility that in the short term, prices could go up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- right at the top of the pack.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Mr. President, because of these tariffs, who do you think voters should hold responsible?

TRUMP: Oh, I think what's going to go up is jobs are going to go up and prices could go up somewhat short term, but prices will also go down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The second time this afternoon we saw Mr. Trump moments ago he was swearing in the ever controversial Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, despite decades of anti-science, anti-medicine activism.

All of this comes as Trump's long promised firings of federal government employees have begun at least dozens so far no longer have jobs. While some employees are being fired, at least 75,000 other employees have accepted Trump's deferred resignation or buyout program, which a judge allowed to move forward today after it had previously been paused. Other Trump agenda items, though, still are caught up in court today. A judge extended the pause on Trump's plans to dismantle the USAID agency.

We have CNN team coverage of every one of these headlines.

Let's start with CNN's Jeff Zeleny at the White House.

And, Jeff, the president today had a whole lot to say about a whole lot of things. He was asked more questions about these proposed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Tell us more about what he's saying today.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, the reverberations certainly continue for this reset relationship, if you will, between the U.S. and Russia.

The president saying flatly he trusts Vladimir Putin. And yes, he said Ukraine should have a seat at the table. But he continued his efforts to essentially just to treat them as one partner, not the central player. In this, of course, it was their country that was indeed invaded by Russia.

Now, this reset of relations is coming as just a day by day, hour by hour. We are seeing the president return to an old posture with his old friend Vladimir Putin. He called for Russia to be reinstated in the group of seven. Of course, that was the group of seven nations that Russia was expelled from 11 years ago for invading Ukraine the first time, and think of what has happened since. But again, the president calling for Russia to be reinstated again, giving Putin what he wants, and that is a return from his isolation on the world stage, even as you were saying, the swearing in there, the president has chosen to attend virtually all of the cabinet secretaries, and most of them, the top ones, have been in the Oval Office.

I was just there a few moments ago with RFK, Jr. He called for the radical transparency of HHS. I asked him if he planned to fire anyone on day one. He didn't answer that question, but he said that science will be his guide.

Of course, overlooking the fact that there's so much controversy is waiting behind him. But Mitch McConnell, the lone Republican to join Democrats in opposing him.

Jake, all of this is coming as the president is meeting with the Indian prime minister in this hour, as you said, he'll be arriving here on the north driveway at the White House any moment.

[16:05:01]

But before then, Elon Musk met with Modi first today, actually, and an interesting exchange here about a possible conflict of interest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: When Elon Musk met with Prime Minister Modi earlier today, did he do so as an American CEO, or did he do so as a representative of the U.S. government?

TRUMP: Are you talking about me?

REPORTER: No. Elon Musk? TRUMP: Elon, I don't know. They met and I assume he wants to do

business in India. But India is a very hard place to do business in because of the tariffs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So the bottom line to all of that, Musk, of course, the world's richest man, getting a meeting with Modi before the president does and the president conceding, yes, of course, Musk wants to do business in India.

TAPPER: Jeff, just -- just quickly because I want to make sure that I heard you correctly. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. promised radical transparency and then wouldn't answer your question.

ZELENY: He went on to talk a lot, but did not say if he would fire anyone today. And also talking about the history of being in the Oval Office back, of course, when -- when President Kennedy was there.

But again, Jake, that is the question. What is this radical change he proposes to make? But he did not devolve that.

But we shall see. He is sworn in now as secretary of the Health and Human Services Department.

TAPPER: Yeah, that's just not so transparent, is all I'm saying.

Vanessa, tell us more about these reciprocal tariffs. What is the president's goal here and what is he saying about how this could impact Americans' bank accounts?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Well, the president saying that he's hoping that more jobs come out of these reciprocal tariffs, essentially, that companies would choose to move their establishments and their businesses here to the U.S. to avoid tariffs, and that U.S. consumers would choose to buy made in America products to avoid a lot of these tariffs. But this is probably not going to happen at the scale that he's hoping. Instead, U.S. businesses are going to have to pay those higher tariffs, pass them down to the U.S. consumers, and ultimately figure out whether they can still afford their labor force.

And on prices, he said that prices would go up in the short term. He is right on that. But likelihood here is that they're going to go up in the long term as well, because once you start reciprocal tariffs, that country can then reciprocate -- reciprocate, and you have a trade war, you have tariffs going higher. And then you have U.S. consumers paying higher prices.

And I want to address what he said on farmers. He said farmers would ultimately benefit from these reciprocal tariffs. History has shown us that oftentimes farmers actually bear the brunt of tariffs. We saw it with China back in 2000, 2018 that China put tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports. And that has hurt farmers so much that the federal government, Jake, has had to actually subsidize them in order for them to be able to have -- to live and to pay for their farms and to keep in business.

So these reciprocal tariffs, while they sound like they're tough on trade, they could actually have really bad implications for everyday Americans, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. And Paula, we're also tracking Trump's agenda items that are caught up in legal battles. A lot of judges putting pauses on things he wants to do. There's a new development today in his effort to dismantle USAID, which helps relief programs all over the world.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the most significant test of his ability to reduce the federal workforce. This hearing today was before a Trump appointed judge who had already put a pause on this plan to eliminate USAID until this week. He extended until the end of next week. He said by the end of next week, he is

going to make a decision about whether Trump has the power to do this.

But during, the hearing, he was focused on three key issues. The first thing he wanted to know is, okay, what's next? Like, where is this going? The other thing he wanted to know is what recourse foreign aid workers would have if they are hurt by the president's plan.

He also grilled lawyers about whether the government could guarantee the safety of foreign aid workers if this goes forward. Many of us have read on CNN.com and elsewhere the harrowing tales of aid workers trying to leave the Congo once Trump announced these plans.

Now look, whatever the judge decides, it's going to be appealed but it will certainly be a signal as to how successful Trump might be in implementing this plan.

TAPPER: And, Rene, we know the Trump administration has been trying and planning to lay off many thousands, if not millions of federal employees. And those firings have now begun.

What are you -- what are you learning so far about the scope of it?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, this is a new phase for the workforce. Before this, we had been talking about paid administrative leave, and now we're talking about terminations. Earlier today, we've been talking about Department of Education, the Small Business Administration, where individuals, employees there received letters saying that they were terminated.

But now, at this hour, I can also add the Department of Energy is also planning on laying off several employees, probational employees as well, actually in another 50 minutes from now, according to our reporting.

So, now, what we are seeing again, Jake, is at from agency to agency, employees are being told they're no longer on the job. They have lost their jobs. In one case, they're given very little heads up before their computers are then disengaged, and they are told that they then have to leave the building.

TAPPER: All right. Rene, Paula, Vanessa, Jeff, staying on top of all of it. Thank you so much.

Let's turn now to Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California.

Congressman, good to see you.

President Trump threatening more tariffs, as prices Americans pay for nearly everything are climbing. Now, we should note, it's not as bad as the inflation of 2021, 2022, but it's still going in the wrong direction.

What's your reaction?

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Look, I'm for strategic tariffs of things that we make here like steel and aluminum. The problem is the president is having blanket tariffs also on things that we don't make here. And he's been flip flopping on it as he did on Mexico and Canada. Look, the Michigan survey has shown that now inflation expectations over the next year have risen. Consumer confidence has declined in a way it hasn't since seven months. And I think it's the uncertainty more than anything that is hurting.

TAPPER: You represent Silicon Valley in Congress. You've known Elon Musk for more than a decade. One of his Tesla factories is actually in your congressional district. So you reached out to work with Musk and with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to help them cut government waste. Now, you spoke to "Politico" about Musk and DOGE, and you said this, quote, I assumed that there would be someone in adult in the room to enforce the Constitution, but there's not, so -- unquote.

So how do you see Musk and DOGE not abiding by the Constitution? Tell us more about that.

KHANNA: Well, originally, when he was appointed and Vivek Ramaswamy was appointed. Vivek actually called me, Elon texted me and I said, look, if you want to make cuts on the bloated defense budget with the five prime contractors, I'll assemble a group of Democrats, come to the Hill. I actually had spoken to Senator Warren and Senator Sanders, other Democrats about it, and I thought that we could have a constructive conversation.

Instead, what happens is, first of all, they're focused on USAID, which, regardless of your views, is 0.1 percent of the federal budget as opposed to the Pentagon. That's 56 percent of the discretionary budget.

And Musk and DOGE just start stopping payments arbitrarily and think that they have the authority to do that. They do not. Congress has the power of the purse. Then you have the vice president saying, defy the court orders. I mean, literally he's saying, be Andrew Jackson. Don't even listen to the court orders.

That is what has really alarmed people -- at least Democrats on the Hill.

TAPPER: So one tactic by Democrats who are the minority in the House and the Senate to counter DOGE has to be has been to join these protests outside of government buildings where these cuts are being made.

Scott Galloway, who is on the show quite a bit, an influential podcaster, he suggested that Democrats do that, but today he told Dana Bash, his reaction to how the strategy has played out with Democrats protesting outside government buildings. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT GALLOWAY, CO-HOST, "PIVOT": Yeah. Dana, I was wrong because it looked more like a seniors home when they canceled Jell-o night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What's your reaction?

KHANNA: Well, personally, I haven't gone outside these federal buildings. Partly, I know I can't sing on key. I know some of my colleagues have tried to sing and do all of the things.

My view is, and I respect them. And my view is, it would be far better to have real Americans telling their stories about how a cut in cancer research funding or a potential cut in Head Start funding or funding for Title I for schools is affecting them.

People don't trust politicians and they don't have a lot of faith in federal buildings. And so I just don't think it's the right look or messaging. I'd much rather we have real people telling their stories.

TAPPER: So why aren't you?

KHANNA: We're working on it. I mean, I -- we're working on it. We did in my district. But I think what we need to do is have a national approach where we're having people come to the Hill to tell those stories, maybe have a national town hall to tell those stories.

But the focus, in my view, has to be on actual people who are being harmed instead of politicians, even in terms of USAID. Let's talk to the doctors and nurses who are helping with these incredible treatments on malaria in Africa or HIV. I think that would have a lot more power than my going outside USAID and making some speech.

TAPPER: Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California, good to see you, sir. Thanks for coming on.

KHANNA: Thank you.

TAPPER: Much more ahead on President Trump's brand new comments on Putin and efforts to end Putin's war on Ukraine. Plus, CNN's team on the ground in Russia spoke directly to the country's foreign minister about the Trump-Putin relationship. We'll bring that to you.

Plus, what we're learning about a proposed government contract with Tesla for $400 million that is raising some conflict of interest questions, as it might for Elon Musk. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:18:48]

TAPPER: Topping our world lead, European leaders are expressing shock today and warning of a dirty deal, perhaps in the works between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to end Russia's three-year military campaign against its neighbor, Ukraine.

During a rambling Oval Office news conference Wednesday, President Trump refused to say if he saw Ukraine as an equal partner in negotiations about its own future. And today he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Will Ukraine have a seat at that table for those negotiations?

TRUMP: I mean, they're part of it. We would have Ukraine, we'd have Russia, and we'll have other people involved, too. A lot of people, a lot of a lot of forks in the -- a lot of forks in this game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: A lot of forks in this game, a famous idiom.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in London. And CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow.

Nick, we also heard this today from President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Sir, on Ukraine. When Putin says that he really wants peace, do you believe him?

TRUMP: Yeah, I do. I believe he wants peace. I believe that President Putin, when I spoke to him yesterday, I mean, I know him very well. Yeah, I think he wants peace. I think he would tell me if he didn't. I think -- I'd like to see peace.

[16:20:02]

REPORTER: Do you trust President Putin?

TRUMP: I believe that -- yeah. I believe that he would like to see something happen. I trust him on this subject.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Nick, as someone who's been to Ukraine many times covering this horrific war, how do you think those comments are going to play in Ukraine? NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I

mean, unfortunately, sounds a little bit like Trump is putting an awful lot of faith in his, at times very rickety relationship with the Kremlin head.

Remember, Ukraine has been at war for over ten years now and has seen multiple ceasefires and peace deals in the earlier phase of the war in '14 and '15, broken by the Kremlin, who simply used it to let their proxies continue their military goals. So, there's a history here of Russia not being trustworthy.

And indeed, Ukrainian officials reminded the world of the other deals that Russia has gone back on, made since the full scale invasion nearly three years ago now. So yes, there's a lot of trust being put in Putin here that maybe, perhaps some perception that Trump has gained that turns out to be accurate from their entente. I'm sure many will be concerned that there is simply that kind of entente between Washington and Moscow after three years of isolation and distance.

But one more important thing to think about, Jake, is that Russia is winning on the battlefield. A peace now would slow its momentum, would stop it from taking more ground. It's been on the advance for months, and Ukraine is really struggling to hold them back. And is likely to feel its morale and support wane in the weeks ahead.

So on a practical level, given Putin hasn't obtained his goals yet of taking the territory he wants, I think it's impractical to think Russia suddenly wants to freeze the front lines. That's essentially what peace is meaning in the first stages. So I'm sure many in Ukraine will have heard the last two days, frankly, and will be in horror. We've heard of people thinking about leaving the country practically.

This is a very bad piece of news. They're trying to make it sound like Ukraine will be at the table now, but it sounds, frankly, more like Trump and Putin are going to work out what this deal is.

TAPPER: And, Fred, you heard directly from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I certainly did. And I think one of the things that we also have to point out, Jake, is that the Russians really do feel that they have a lot of momentum now going on after this phone call between President Trump and the Russian President Vladimir Putin. In fact, the Kremlin today said they were really impressed by President Trump's position on all of this. Their near-term goal, by the way, is to get a summit going in a third country between Putin and president Trump. The Russians are saying that is already in the works.

And so I asked the foreign minister today, Sergey Lavrov, whether he believes that relations between the U.S. and Russia will get on track very quickly. He then launched into a tirade against the Biden administration, but also against America's European allies.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Yesterday after the phone call between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, are you more hopeful now that there can be real and fundamental change and improvement in U.S. Russian relations?

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): What struck me was that now the entire world is in a state of shock, viewing the phone conversation and the news about it as something extraordinary. This shows to what extent the staff of the Biden administration, led by their president and their European satellites, have abandoned dialogue and diplomacy as a method of communication with the outside world, opting instead for threats, sanctions and the arming of the regime in Kyiv to wage war against the Russian Federation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So the Russians right now, Jake, really feeling pretty good about their chances of not just improving relations with the United States under the Trump administration, but also the not too distant future getting a negotiated settlement to the end of the war in Ukraine, and one that is very favorable for Russia, Jake.

TAPPER: And, Nick, just yesterday, the brand new secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, said Ukraine's membership in NATO is, quote, unrealistic. So that wouldn't happen.

Today, Hegseth appeared to walk that back saying, quote, everything's on the table. This, of course, after he got criticized for basically giving everything up before any negotiations began.

Former Obama national security spokesman Tommy Vietor characterized this as a, quote, huge mess up by Hegseth. He wrote Putin a big check that's already been cashed. Maybe don't make an unqualified Fox News host secretary of defense, unquote.

The leaders in Europe also feel that damage has been done with Hegseth announcing ahead of time Ukraine won't be a member of NATO, and it's going to have to cede territory beyond what it had lost in 2014.

WALSH: Yeah, look, however realistic that perception was in those comments -- yeah, look, Ukraine isn't going to join NATO on a practical level and isn't going to take back territory to its 2014 borders. The concept of this, the idea, the threat of this was part of the negotiating stance here. And Hegseth called his boss, Donald Trump, the best negotiator on earth in today's comments as well.

So it may be that Hegseth was put out there to reassure the Russians that public policy of the new Trump administration was Ukraine wouldn't be in NATO, wouldn't go and try and retain its maximalist border ambitions.

[16:25:02]

But that's also removed cards for the negotiating table and the capacity for NATO to play bluff here.

One more important thing, Jake, to Trump's comments, have a real world impact. And he held out the possibility that Zelenskyy is going to have to face elections soon, and that his polling is pretty bad. That in itself begins to sound a kind of clock ticking on that administration in wartime, when it's still trying to defend perilous front lines.

The things we're hearing, however much they may be a reflection of reality, have real world consequences. And I think it's the flippancy we're seeing from the White House and their staff that leaves many Ukrainians troubled.

TAPPER: CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Russia, Nick Paton Walsh in London, UK -- thanks so much.

We just saw Indian Prime Minister Modi arriving at the White House ahead of a sit down with President Trump. The two men are scheduled to take questions in the next hour. We'll bring you some of that live. Also at the White House this afternoon, President Trump admitted that Americans could see in the short term price increases because of his new tariffs and potential trade war.

How much? How long? I'll ask a top White House trade adviser next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:27]

TAPPER: Our money lead now. The U.S. State Department is pressing pause on its $400 million deal with Tesla. The contract would have provided armored electric vehicles, but it drew quite a bit of scrutiny, as one might imagine, given the potential conflict of interest with first buddy and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who now regularly pops up in the Oval Office with President Trump when he is not wreaking havoc on the federal government.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is here now.

Sunlen, this has been a bit of a whirlwind over the last few days. Tell us more.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It certainly has, Jake. This going back originally started in the Biden administration, and they set out to purchase $400 million for armored electric vehicles. A State Department official tells me that when the Biden administration was looking to get interest from private companies to make those vehicles, only one company responded. And that company was Tesla.

So the State Department's procurement document, it clearly lists in this document, $400 million to be spent in 2025 on armored Teslas. Now, once outlets like CNN and others started asking questions about this, about this big purchase of Teslas by the government, of course, given Elon Musk's role, at 9:12 last night, the document from the State Department, it suddenly was edited, was updated simply to say armored electric vehicles. So the Tesla taken out of it. A State Department spokesman tells CNN that no government contract has

been awarded to Tesla or any other vehicle manufacturer to produce armored electric vehicles, and that plans for right now are indeed on hold.

Elon Musk, for his part, in the middle of all of these questions, he was out on X pushing back that Tesla was -- he did not know was getting this huge amount of money. He said he never was made aware of this plan.

But Jake, this is certainly a really great example of the types of conflict of interest that are going to keep bubbling up for this administration. And certainly, as Elon Musk is in their orbit.

TAPPER: And there's no oversight. I mean, there's nobody overseeing Elon Musk's abilities with his potential conflicts of interest. And look, he's a -- he's a brilliant man with a lot of issues before the government, but there's nobody keeping an eye on it other than we in the fourth estate.

Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Maybe that's why he likes to discredit the fourth estate so much. Just wondering.

Also, in our money lead, President Trump declaring today is the big one when it comes to tariffs. Yet he stopped short of actually imposing what are called reciprocal tariffs.

Joining us now to discuss get more information, Peter Navarro, President Trump's top aide for trade and manufacturing.

Peter, welcome back. Good to see you, sir.

PETER NAVARRO, TRUMP SENIOR COUNSELOR FOR TRADE & MANUFACTURING: Good to see you, my friend.

TAPPER: So tell me -- tell me about the decision the president decided to direct agencies to study tariffs rather than to implement them today. Tell me why he did that. Obviously, he believes strongly that the tariffs are fair.

NAVARRO: The plan is called the fair and reciprocal plan. And what it does, Jake, is address a global trade imbalance of $1 trillion deficit on our end, caused not just by systematically higher tariffs around nations of the world, but also what the president calls non-monetary barriers or non-tariff barriers. And I'll give you one example that illustrates just how -- how gross a problem this is.

The European Union has a 10 percent tariff on autos, and we have a 2.5 percent. So that's four times higher. But in addition to that, Jake, they have a value added tax that works as a 19 percent tariff on our autos. And also a huge export subsidy. And so, what you observe is Germany sells us eight times more cars than we sell them. We run a more than $200 billion deficit with them. And it's all driven by this unfair trade. The president says he's

going to calculate equivalent, reciprocal tariffs to stop that, unless these foreign countries reduce their trade barriers.

It's the proverbial win-win for America because we'll get our production back and we'll get our factories back. We'll get more jobs.

TAPPER: Right.

NAVARRO: We'll get higher wages. That's the -- that's the plan.

TAPPER: So why do -- why not just --

NAVARRO: Just going full bore on this.

TAPPER: Yeah. So why not just impose them. Why do you need to study it? It sounds like you have the facts and figures on your -- on your -- on your fingertips.

NAVARRO: Great question. Instead of doing across the board global tariff, which has not been ruled out, I might add, this approach will customize the tariffs depending on the country, starting with the countries that we have the highest deficits with, and it's kind of like fingerprints.

[16:35:01]

Every -- every country has like a different profile in terms of how they stick it to us. For example, Japan has really low tariffs, but it has very high non-tariff barriers. Other countries, it's kind of a mix or the reverse.

So what the process is going to be and I know you're interested in that. The secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick, and the USTR, Jamison Greer, when they're confirmed, are going to get right on, on a country by country basis, studying them. This won't take long.

We're --

TAPPER: A month or two months?

NAVARRO: April 1st.

TAPPER: April 1st. OK.

NAVARRO: Start rolling some of these things out.

But I want to stress to your viewers here, we should all be together on this regardless of political party because once you learn how badly the world is treating America, you understand why we lose so many blue collar jobs and factories, and why our standard of living --

TAPPER: Right.

NAVARRO: -- has been eroded, why we have a Rust Belt instead of a thriving manufacturing belt. TAPPER: So let me just ask you.

NAVARRO: Sure.

TAPPER: We heard the president today acknowledge that in the short term, prices could go up. How much could they go up? How concerned are you?

NAVARRO: Well, look, here's -- here's the beauty of this. If you and I were having this conversation back during the first term, as we did, there was a lot of people hairs on fire. It's like inflation, inflation, recession, recession.

What we learned from the historic China tariffs, the steel and aluminum tariffs, the tariffs on dishwashers and all of that is we didn't get any inflation at all. We got price stability. But more importantly, we got our jobs back and life was good in America.

There's a -- there's a long process I can go through and explain why inflation really won't be a big problem if a problem at all. And it starts with things like when these big exporting countries face a higher tariff, they have to sell to us. So what's the first thing they do is they lower their prices. So that takes a bite out of any inflation. Then they mess around with their currencies, they manipulate them. Or as the trade deficit goes down, the currency goes down. That gives us more purchasing power. That's another bite.

Supply chains adjust and equally important, Jake, for -- for workers in America, as we get more investment here because of the tariffs, we got 15 billion when we put the steel tariffs in last time. Productivity goes up.

TAPPER: But I'm not the one who talks --

NAVARRO: Wages go up, and that means more purchasing power. So, that's why --

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Right, so you said -- you said inflation is not -- yeah, I hear what you're saying. And I -- you know, I hope you're right, but I'm not the one that said prices are going to go up. President Trump is the one who said prices are going to -- possibly go up in the short term.

NAVARRO: I was there when -- when -- when they had that dialogue with one of yours, Kaitlan Collins. And what he said was there might be some modest effects, but more importantly, jobs are going to go up and wages are going up. And that's -- look, our mindset here. And again I want to stress this.

Look, this is not a partisan issue. It's an American issue. Every country in the world out there which trades with us and has a big surplus with us, Japan, Korea, the whole entire E.U., Brazil, they all cheat us, Jake. They do it with higher tariffs. They do it with these sneaky, kind of, non-tariff barriers like the VAT. TAPPER: Right.

NAVARRO: I mean, the VAT is 19 percent, Jake, if I just calculated this, there's a $22,000 differential between when an American car company sells a $50,000 Cadillac over in Europe, it winds up being $65,000 by the time it goes through the VAT and tariff mill.

Over here, it's -- that $50,000 BMW goes down to almost $40,000. That's -- how do you compete with that? That's why --

TAPPER: Yeah.

NAVARRO: -- they sell us eight cars for every one. It's not because Americans don't make good cars. It's not because the design.

TAPPER: Yeah.

NAVARRO: It's because of the unfair trade.

TAPPER: So --

NAVARRO: It's all as a country get together and support this.

TAPPER: All right. Peter Navarro, President Trump's top trade adviser, come back please.

NAVARRO: Good to see you, Jake.

TAPPER: This is going to be going on for weeks and months and years. And you're welcome back anytime to talk about it. Thank you so much for joining.

NAVARRO: All right, my friend.

TAPPER: An interim U.S. attorney and two top Justice Department officials are quitting this afternoon, apparently over the fallout over the Trump administration's order for them to dismiss the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has had some nice things to say about Mr. Trump.

Are more resignations on the way?

Stay with us.

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[16:44:12]

TAPPER: Our law and justice lead now, the Trump administration's order to dismiss the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams is prompting multiple high level resignations at the Justice Department and at the Southern District of New York's U.S. attorney's office.

Trump's acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, issued the directive to the Southern District to dismiss the case against Mayor Adams not based on the case itself, but because Bove argued that the corruption case would prevent Mayor Adams from doing his job and from fully cooperating with President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.

CNN's Kara Scannell has more on this.

And, Kara, tell us who is now resigning and how big a deal this is. Do you think there are going to be more resignations?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we're already starting to see the serious fallout from that directive. The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Danielle Sassoon, issued her letter of resignation today around 2:00 p.m. after saying that she would was unable to fulfill her duties. This is all as they've been under intense pressure to dismiss the case against Eric Adams.

Then, when Emil Bove then tried to get the Main Justice, the prosecutors in Washington, D.C. public integrity section to take up the case, there were two senior prosecutors in those units who resigned as well. And we're also learning from a memorandum that we just obtained that Bove has informed Sassoon that the line prosecutors were working on the Adams case would be placed on administrative leave and investigated by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, and will remain on this leave until that investigation is over.

Bove calls this move by the Southern District of New York one of insubordination. Now, Jake, he is an alumni of that office. He worked in that office. He held senior positions in that office.

So this clash with the southern district, which is known for its independence, really is something here. And the question now is will Bove himself move to dismiss this case? Will he get other prosecutors in Washington, D.C., to file that paperwork, or will it prompt other resignations? That is still a question that remains unclear at this time.

But, you know, Adams is set to go to trial in April. So unless Bove or someone else intervenes here, that case will go forward. But it seems that Bove will make some additional steps in order to dismiss that case, you know?

But the Southern District is known for its independence. The ripple effects of this are really still unknown. Will this extend to any other cases? You know, is this going to prompt additional resignations from that office? And remember, New York does some of the most serious prosecutions in the country -- Jake.

TAPPER: And, Kara, correct me if I'm wrong and I'm sorry for putting you on the spot, but Danielle Sassoon, who resigned. She's conservative, right? She's a Federalist Society, clerked for Antonin Scalia, right?

SCANNELL: That's right, Jake. I mean, she is someone that the Trump administration put in this position after the former U.S. attorney who was appointed by the Biden administration resigned. So she is someone from that office who has really had a huge career in that office. She brought the case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto guy. She was named the head of appeals and then was appointed to run that office and even wrote an op-ed in 'The Wall Street Journal" criticizing pardons that President Biden had given, so someone who appeared to be someone that the Trump administration was aligned with.

She, though, drew the line here and would not dismiss this corruption charges against Adams.

TAPPER: Fascinating.

All right. Kara Scannell, thanks so much.

RFK, Jr. is now in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services. RFK, Jr., what could go wrong? I mean, just decades of anti- vaccine, anti-science, anti-medicine activism. So what does this mean for your health? What does it mean to your access to vaccines? That's next.

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[16:52:00]

TAPPER: In our health today, earlier this afternoon, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Take a listen to him in the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I'm up every morning on my knees and prayed that God would put me in a position where I can end the childhood chronic disease epidemic in this country. On August 23rd of last year, God sent me President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Okay, Senator Mitch McConnell, a survivor of polio in his childhood, was the only Republican who voted against confirming Kennedy. McConnell saying that Kennedy's, quote, record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories, end quote, does not entitle him to lead the nation's top health department, to say the least.

With me now to discuss, Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Good to see you, Dr. Offit.

So there are four Republican senators who are also physicians, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and John Barrasso of Wyoming.

And all four of them voted to confirm RFK, Jr. today. What\s your message for those four? DR. PAUL OFFIT, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER DIRECTOR, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

OF PHILADELPHIA: Not exactly profiles in courage, were they? I think they made a political decision and certainly not a decision for the public health in this country.

TAPPER: Let me play some of what RFK, Jr. has said over the years about vaccines, childhood vaccines especially. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNEDY: There's no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.

What would I do if I could go back in time and I could avoid giving my children the vaccines that I gave them? I would do anything for that. I would pay anything.

Very, very strong evidence -- the Spanish flu was vaccine induced flu.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Just for the record, all of that's nonsense. And the Spanish flu was not vaccine induced flu. There wasn't a vaccine for decades afterwards.

Dr. Offit, what are your concerns now about what might actually happen now that this person is head of HHS?

OFFIT: So there were two things that happened at his confirmation hearing that told you what was going to happen. One, several senators asked him after RFK Jr. to admit that vaccines don't cause autism. Look, said, Senator Sanders, here's dozens of studies showing vaccines don't cause autism. Can you at least admit that? And he wouldn't.

Then he said, children have a higher rate of chronic disease than ever before. And what rate did he list? He said one inch 36 children have chronic disease. Why one in 36? Because that's the rate of autism spectrum disorder.

So he's telling you he thinks vaccines cause autism and he's telling you children have chronic disease, meaning autism. Of course, he's going to do everything he can to make vaccines less available and less affordable. He is about to -- to certainly hurt the vaccine infrastructure in this country.

And I think what's about to happen is he about -- is about to join hands with Donald Trump and march together into measles land, because I think that's what's about to happen.

[16:55:07]

TAPPER: What is the alarm like within the medical community, especially those like you who are who are active when it comes to pediatrics and active when it comes to vaccines?

OFFIT: Well, I mean, we choose pediatrics because we choose to stand up for children. And now, you see, children are going to be put in an even worse position. As it stands, vaccine rates have started to erode. That's why you're seeing measles outbreaks in five states right now. And that's the most contagious of the vaccine preventable diseases.

We had a dozen deaths from pertussis whooping cough this year. That's more than anything in the last seven years. And we all fear this is about to get worse when we now had have a head of health and human services who has for 20 years been a science denialist, anti-vaccine activists and conspiracy theorists were all pretty much overwhelmed by how bad this is about to be.

TAPPER: Dr. Paul Offit, thanks so much, I appreciate it.

The leader of the world's largest democracy is at the White House right now. What does the prime minister of India want from President Trump? We're moments away from hearing from them both.

Stay right here.

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