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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Source Says, Education Department To Cut About 50 Percent Of Workforce; Trump Says Market Selloff Doesn't Concern Him; U.S. Says, Ukraine Accepts 30-Day Ceasefire, Waiting On Russia; Five Years Since COVID-19 Declared A Pandemic; Philippine Ex-President Accused Of Crimes Against Humanity. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 11, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

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[18:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, a turbulent day in President Trump's trade negotiations, or trade war, depending on your point of view, threatening Canada with yet another tariff. The market's going on another wild ride. Is this chaos worth it? Is it part of the strategy? We're going to talk to Peter Navarro, a top trade adviser to President Trump, who will be live here in studio in just minutes.

Plus, brand new details on that D.C. plane crash involving not just a plane but a helicopter. What the National Transportation Safety Board calls urgent safety recommendations that should be implemented as soon as possible.

And is there a White House push to restore gun rights for actor Mel Gibson who is convicted of domestic violence? One top Justice Department lawyer says she was fired for refusing to do so.

We're going to start this hour with breaking news. In our Politics Lead, sources telling CNN that the U.S. Department of Education is going to start a sweeping round of layoffs, and it's going to begin tonight.

Let's go right to CNN's Sunlen Serfaty. Sunlen, you say that these job cuts look to be steep.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: They certainly will be, Jake. Three sources telling CNN that tonight the Department of Education will start offering -- start making a series of layoffs, sweeping amount of layoffs, 50 percent of their workers, sources tell CNN. Now, currently about 4,400 federal employees work at the Department of Education, so, potentially, up to 50 percent of the workforce certainly will be significant.

Earlier today, members of the Department of Education, they received an email notice from the securities department within that within that agency saying that employees were directed to stop working at 6:00 P.M. tonight. Those who have telework were told to bring their laptops home and that the offices would start to close at 6:00 P.M. tonight, that they would be closed all day tomorrow and that they would anticipate to be reopened on Thursday.

So, while there was no specific reason given for that email, the email did cite security reasons. People in the agency have been very worried and anxious about layoffs so that immediately set out off a flurry of activity whether this would indeed indicate layoffs are coming. And, Jake, according to three sources, again, 50 of the Department of Education will be cut, those layoffs starting this evening.

TAPPER: And we should note last week, it was reported that there would be sweeping cuts at the Education Department but they were going to be expected in the form of an executive order signed by President Trump as soon as I think it was last Thursday maybe. What changed in the way that they're doing this?

SERFATY: There certainly has been an incredible amount of back and forth about this, Jake, certainly underscoring that President Trump wants to make serious changes at the Department of Education, in addition to shrinking the size of the federal government writ large. We did report last week that we had a draft of an executive order that had been written, which instructed the new secretary of education, Linda McMahon, to start the process of doing what she could essentially to unwind the Department of Education, to dismantle the Department of Education. And that's something that Trump, of course, promised during the campaign trail.

This is not an executive order. We do not yet know if an executive order will come, but we do know at least the First part of this dismantling and changes of the Department of Education comes tonight with that reduction in force, 50 percent, potentially as many as 2,000 employees, at the Department of Education.

TAPPER: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much with the breaking news.

Also in our Politics Lead tonight, President Donald Trump, who said just 50 days ago, the golden age of America begins right now, is now also saying that the economy is in quote a period of transition, presumably to that golden age. U.S. stocks sank again today after the market had its worst day this year yesterday. Today, President Trump told reporters that the market selloff doesn't, quote, concern him. He also said, quoting again, he doesn't see a recession.

Right now, the president is meeting with CEOs of America's biggest companies to try and ease their concerns about his economic policy, specifically his tariffs.

Let's go straight to CNN's Jeff Zeleny live outside the White House. Jeff, tell us more about this meeting.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, the president, Jake, is meeting with the business roundtable just across town here in Washington. It's a representative of dozens and dozens of CEOs of major American companies, from Walmart to General Motors to United Airlines and the like, many very recognizable brands whose stocks have been really threatened in the last several days with the administration's policies.

One of the central questions here are these tariffs, the on again, off again, even sometimes hour by hour.

[18:05:03]

It has really created market uncertainty. So, the president was speaking there just a short time ago. The press was only allowed in for a small portion of that. There's a question and answer session that's going on right now behind closed doors.

But earlier today here at the White House, the president spoke for the first time this week, at least publicly about the market turmoil. It was the final hour of the markets being opened. And he said he was asked directly if he was concerned about a recession. And he said, no, I'm not concerned about that at all. And he clearly also was talking about the stocks. He said, what goes up also comes down. He said it's a moment to rebuild the American economy.

But, Jake, he also made clear that one stock in particular was on his mind. That was the stock of Elon Musk's a Tesla company, which has just been hammered day after day, week after week, since joining the administration. And the president stepped into something of an infomercial on the South Lawn of the White House. I don't know if we have those pictures there, but that is -- it was an extraordinary sight. The president was looking at these cars. You can see them there. He said he bought one himself at full price.

And it was quite extraordinary, as the market was literally going down, as the president was talking about buying a Tesla, saying he's not concerned about the economy writ large. It was quite a moment, perhaps a tone deaf moment here as 401(k)s and other stock portfolios were on the line. The president talking about one in particular, Jake, Tesla of Elon Musk.

TAPPER: All right. Jeff Zeleny at the White House, thanks so much.

Let's bring in White House Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro. Peter, thanks so much for being here, really good to see you.

So, first of all, let me just start with the fact that do you buy the argument that President Biden -- I'm sorry, President Trump beat President Biden in no small part because of two issues, one, the border, and the other one, prices, high prices. And if you do buy the premise that prices was one of the reasons, what do you say to people who say this isn't bringing down prices?

PETER NAVARRO, TRUMP SENIOR COUNSELOR FOR TRADE AND MANUFACTURING: Certainly, it was the border and embedded in the border was the sheer mass, millions of people coming in, driving down wages, taking jobs. Interestingly, the statistics on that show that the only people who were net gainers of jobs were people coming in, illegals. So, yes, but, of course, the border, there was the fentanyl issue, people killing, and, of course, the terrible rapes and murders, sdo, yes, unquestionably the border. It wasn't just inflation, Jake. It's the economy writ large. And the problem that the president perceived back in 2016 was that the heartland of this country has lost over the course of unfair trade, I think it's like 90,000 factories now and 5 million jobs. So, it is the economy.

With respect to the price issue, let me try to set your mind at ease and the American people's mind at ease. We have a situation where we've shown that the Trumponomics work to create price stability. In Bidenomics, they created inflation. The difference is this. Bidenomics was basically an overstimulus in a Keynesian way designed to overstimulate the economy.

TAPPER: Because there was so much money that went into the economy after COVID, et cetera.

NAVARRO: Too much money chasing to free goods.

TAPPER: Prices aren't going down though, Peter.

NAVARRO: But hang on. Let me show you what the transition is and I'll show you why things are good. And, by the way, mortgage rates have come down and gasoline prices have already come down as well as oil prices. And those two things alone will bring the overall core down.

But within this transition --

TAPPER: The stock market's going down.

NAVARRO: Well, let's take them one at a time. We have what I call the 3D, the three dimensional attack on inflation, which is consistent with the first term. In this case, it's drill, baby, drill. The difference between $80 a barrel of oil and $50 barrel of oil is at least one point alone on the CPI. That alone is not just oil that we use in heating and putting in our cars. It spreads throughout the production aspects of the economy. So, we're doing drill, baby, drill. We've got the deregulation now, which brings things down, and the DOGE, to the extent that it gets rid of waste, fraud, and abuse. So, we're going to see a tremendous deflationary positive effect that won't take us down recession.

TAPPER: When do you think that's going to happen? Because, as you know, there are a lot of companies and there are a lot of Americans concerned that the tariffs, especially threat of tariff, take it back, threat of tariff, take it back, is creating instability in the market.

NAVARRO: So, let's take one example. So, I've told you 3D, that's our broad Trumponomics. Now, with respect to the inflation we have today and how we're going to handle that, what happens when we place tariffs on? The whole endgame of tariffs is to bring production jobs here, which will increase productivity, real wages, give people more purchasing power and more prosperity.

[18:10:02]

TAPPER: But how long will that take? Because that's a multiyear program.

NAVARRO: It's already beginning because we've already had almost $2 trillion in pledged investments. Remember, the steel and aluminum tariffs went into effect today. Remember the last time that happened, we had $15 billion of investment in the steel industry alone and prosperity.

My point here --

TAPPER: We're talking about the 25 percent tariff on Canada's steel and aluminum, which is still on track to take place tonight.

NAVARRO: I'm talking about the 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum for the world. In other words, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, Turkey, China, New Zealand, Australia, all of that's come in.

The whole point of the steel and aluminum tariffs, let's just talk strategically about that, because there's different strategies for each kinds of tariffs. National security, as the president has said, we can't have a country defendable without a solid steel and aluminum industry. In the first term, we put them on in 2018, steel was at 70 percent capacity utilization. In other words, 30 percent of their factories weren't working. That's not profitable. Our target was 80 percent. We got there.

TAPPER: Right.

NAVARRO: And what happened during the Biden administration was over 300,000 product exclusions and virtually every country got some kind of exemption from that and it took us back down. So, those go back on.

Now, those had zero effect on inflation, zero. And what we got was a strong steel and aluminum industry. So, the thing here, it's so interesting --

TAPPER: How long is this period of disruption, as President Trump calls it? How long is this going to last? Because there are a lot of Americans who are worried they say we voted for Trump to bring prices down and prices are not going down. In some cases, they're going up. And there is loss of wealth in the market. Now, maybe that will return, but that's what's going on right now and there are a lot of unsettled people.

NAVARRO: Sure. Let's, first of all, put this marker down to the extent that the media fuels the recession, inflation kind of talk. That's going to push us into recession and inflation. Because what it does --

TAPPER: President Trump is the one that said that he couldn't rule it out, not me.

NAVARRO: Let me just finish the thought here. My point is simply that there's a lot of people's hair on fire now, which is interesting because the last jobs report we got on Friday was robust. It was a robust report.

TAPPER: Like 150,000 jobs. NAVARRO: Yes, that's a good number. And the unemployment raised like 4.1 percent. And more importantly, the fall in jobs was in the government sector, the rise was in the manufacturing sector. The ISM manufacturing index was -- I went back in my day when I was a macro forecaster and did this stuff on CNBC for half a living. It's like that was the good lodestone of indicators. When that's above 50, you're expanding.

So, my point is that the Trumponomics is taking to us a place where we'll have price stability and growth, there'll be some bumps in between. But the more we're able to implement this with the confidence of consumers and investors, the better off it'll be for consumers and investors.

TAPPER: But meanwhile, the other countries are retaliating with their own tariffs. You just saw the premier of Ontario. He just temporarily suspended it, but he's talking about an electricity surcharge on the U.S.

NAVARRO: I'm so glad you raised that. Let's talk about that. Doug Ford, premier, president of Ontario, premier.

TAPPER: Premier of Ontario.

NAVARRO: He puts a 25 percent surcharge on electricity. People hear that in America and they go, oh my God, you know, how many states that affects you?

TAPPER: Three, Minnesota, Michigan, and New York.

NAVARRO: For all practical purposes, one, because Michigan and Minnesota, it's a nothing burger. It's only 3 percent of New York and New York can replace every kilowatt of that power from Canada at only a slightly higher price and far less than what Canada was choosing.

Now, what did Ford do? Ford realized, hey, they got bigger guns than we did. He had a very good negotiation with one of my favorites in the administration, Howard Lutnick, and we got that solved, and they're not going to be on. It's working.

TAPPER: Trumponomics, Professor Navarro, it's always good to have you here. I don't have 50 minutes for your class, but I do appreciate your being here and taking the questions. And when we -- you know, I want to have you back to talk about this period of disruption because it looks like -- it seems like it's just starting.

NAVARRO: I appreciate the invite, Jake. You know, I'll come here anytime you want, brother.

TAPPER: Thank you, professor, I appreciate it.

NAVARRO: All right.

TAPPER: Coming up, what could be a major shift in Russia's war in Ukraine, a possible ceasefire. CNN's Clarissa Ward is live in Ukraine for us. We're going to go there next with today's breakthrough and the biggest factor that still needs to happen in this peace deal.

Stay with us.

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[18:15:00]

TAPPER: And we are back with our politics lead, and talk about this back and forth on President Trump's trade war, mainly right now with Canada. Let me bring in David Chalian, CNN Washington bureau chief, T.W. Arrighi, a Republican strategist, and Xochitl Hinojosa, former DNC and former Garland Justice Department communications director.

Mr. Chalian to you first, your reaction to what you just heard from Peter Navarro talking about Trumponomics. That's a term, by the way, that I had not heard until Peter Navarro said it just a few minutes ago.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Yes. I mean, clearly Peter Navarro did not want to talk about the gyrations in the market, the real palpable concerns from corporate America and Republicans on the Hill. What he did do, I think, was provide -- I don't know how successful this will be, Jake, but provide a bit more of a roadmap for the overall theory of the case, and the time in which he thinks the administration needs to see some of this through. You pressed him, how long? He didn't give us an exact time frame.

But at least what Navarro, I thought, was trying to do here is saying there's this plan of deregulation, of drilling fundamentals in the economy, and he's trying to look past what is consuming everybody looking at the 401 case right now. And that is a very difficult political position to be in because he seems to be not wanting to engage on the thing that voters are experiencing right now this week.

[18:20:02]

TAPPER: Or the thing that I asked about several times. T.W., today the White House put out a press release saying, quote, the Trump administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits. President Trump himself has said it over and over again, unquote. It goes on to say, quote, Elon Musk didn't say that either. But Musk did say in an interview on Fox Business, something like that in terms of money that they want to cut from Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY: Most of the federal spending is entitlements. So, that's like the big one to eliminate. That's the sort of half trillion, maybe $600, $700 billion a year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, in 2023, the U.S. spent $1.35 trillion on Social Security alone, $800 billion on Medicare, $900 billion on Medicaid. When I asked Congressman Brandon Gill about this, you know, how are you going to get $500, $600, $700 billion in fraud out of these programs? He said that there was a GAO study indicating $500 billion. I reached out to GAO and they said, they pointed me to a study about $162 billion in improper payments. But that ain't $500, $600, $700 billion in cuts.

T.W. ARRIGHI, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, it was each of the last seven years that there was that $162 billion of improper payments. But I want to make a broader point, and I think if you were to give Elon Musk a redo, he would probably say, of course, I don't want to eliminate Social Security, that's ridiculous, mot just politically speaking, but just practically speaking. But here's the problem. When you spend half of the money that the government takes in on entitlement programs as a whole, as we did last year, or by 2040, it'll be 80 percent of the entire U.S. budget. To say we can't find solutions to fix it is actually wildly irresponsible in my eyes.

So, I think it's a good thing to look at the ways that we can combat fraud. and waste and abuse in those systems and then make common sense changes that do not impact current recipients or those who are going to receive these benefits in the near future, especially Social Security, but make changes to those further down the pike, like folks like me in my 30s or others. We need to have a more real conversation. And I want to just make a quick note. If George W. Bush put the policies in place that he proposed in 2005, I don't think we'd be much in this mess.

TAPPER: Xochitl, what do you think?

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, I think that the White House is finally realizing how difficult it is to have several people and principals, not just the president, in the White House. When you have a billionaire like Elon Musk, who is calling the shots and going out there and doing interviews and saying things, you not only have to clean up around the president, the vice president, but now you're dealing with a billionaire who is contradicting the president and not just, you know, and so now Congress is also having to answer for it. So it's getting very, very messy.

One thing I want to actually point out from the interview that you just did with Peter Navarro is he was talking a lot about a period of disruption. And when you pressed him and said, well, how long is that period of disruption? He could not answer it. Jake, my sense is that this period of disruption will last through Trump's whole presidency. And I think that that's what they're worried about. And Republicans will have to answer for that.

Today, instead of, you know, Donald Trump worrying about the stock market because he says he doesn't worry about it, all of a sudden he's -- all of a sudden he's worried about Tesla's stock, and he had Teslas in front of the White House today.

So, I think that the White House's priorities are wrong. And I think that you're seeing that, and it's now reflected in their poll numbers as we continue to see the American people say that they don't agree with his policies.

TAPPER: So, let's turn to one other interesting story that caught our eye the Justice Department's pardon attorney told The New York Times that she was fired because she refused to recommend that actor and director and Trump supporter, Mel Gibson, should have his gun rights restored. To remind people Gibson's not just a notorious anti-Semite. He was sentenced to probation for domestic violence in 2011. He was found guilty of domestic violence.

Xochitl, to you first because you've worked at the Justice Department, what do you make of that?

HINOJOSA: So, I know the pardon attorney well, and I don't think that she would have resigned unless something like this would have happened. I think that's what's occurring right now at the Justice Department is that they're making all sorts of changes and it is on behalf of the president. You see a lot of the changes that are occurring are because Stephen Miller is asking for them. And this is exactly one example. This is someone who's the president's friend. All of a sudden they want to see, you know, him to -- they wanted to restore his gun rights.

And the pardon attorney is a career official. She's not going to -- she does not work on behalf of the president and the White House doesn't understand that. So, that's where you see this push and pull and that's why you saw her resign.

TAPPER: T.W.?

ARRIGHI: Yes, I don't know much about the specifics of that case to be able to say one way or the other if she's telling the truth.

[18:25:02]

What I can tell you is that President Trump inherited the weakest presidency when it comes to executive power over their own branch in the hiring and firing of employees. For the first century of our nation's history, the president had carte blanche to hire and fire at will. He had the power to impound money until the 70s. The president has been shackled. The presidency has been shackled for far too long and it's led to this huge bureaucracy that Elon Musk and Donald Trump are trying to figure out.

TAPPER: David, it's certainly interesting that this comes at the same time that the administration is trying to purge college campuses of noncitizens for saying anti-Semitic things.

CHALIAN: Yes, it seems like this is turning weaponization of justice on its head from what he was talking about on the campaign trail. In the Mel Gibson case, it seems it's not weaponization of justice, it's doling out justice for friends, as you see fit, which seems the exact opposite of sort of what he campaigned against on the trail.

TAPPER: And liberty and justice for pals. Thanks one and all, I appreciate it coming up.

The pending ceasefire deal that could bring an end to Russia's war on Ukraine. We're going to go live to Ukraine next.

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[18:30:00]

TAPPER: Topping our World Lead, a breakthrough after eight hours of talks in Saudi Arabia between senior U.S. and senior Ukrainian officials today. Take a listen to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Today we made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire and into immediate negotiations to end this conflict in a way that's enduring and sustainable and accounts for their interests, their security, their ability to prosper as a nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: An important note, Russia still needs to buy in, and after all, they are the one that started this war.

CNN's Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward just returned to Western Ukraine. Clarissa, how optimistic the Ukrainians are that this actually could mean the beginning, at least, of the end of the war?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think, Jake, it's fair to say that the Ukrainians are feeling triumphant, not because they're optimistic that this is actually going to result in eminent peace, but because essentially they had two main goals heading into these talks. One was to show the world that Ukraine is not the obstacle to peace in this war and the other was to get the relationship between Ukraine and the U.S., which is such a crucial relationship for Ukraine, back on track, to get military aid and intelligence sharing, which the U.S. had canceled last week, back on track.

And they were successful in those goals. They came with two main proposals, essentially saying let's have a truce at sea, a truce at air. The U.S. delegation wanted to take that one step further and said, let's have a 30-day all out ceasefire, during which we can then talk about the conditions for extending that and ultimately bringing about an end to the war.

Now, I don't think the Ukrainians are trustful that President Putin will take this opportunity or that if he does take this opportunity, that he will uphold his end of the deal. But, essentially, what Ukrainians feel is that they are basically calling President Putin's bluff now, and that in doing so, they are no longer on the back foot as they had been feeling after that disastrous meeting between President Zelenskyy and President Trump. Now, they feel that if there isn't a peaceful resolution, if this ceasefire doesn't come off, it's not going to be because of them. And they feel that they're in a much stronger position as a result, Jake.

TAPPER: And there's obviously the question of what is Ukraine going to have to give up for peace in terms of their own territory. CNN's getting reports that Russia is advancing in Kursk, that's a western Russian region taken by Ukraine in a shock offensive last summer. That was really Ukraine's only territorial bargaining chip. So, what's the latest there?

WARD: The situation undeniably in Kursk is looking more and more grim by the minute. For Ukraine, Russia is in Kursk, and Russia is throwing everything that it possibly can at it, 12,000 North Korean soldiers believed to be fighting there. Also, Russia has sent elite drone units. They are putting a massive amount of firepower into Kursk and Ukraine really struggling to hold on to the town of Suja, which is key in terms of getting logistics in and out of that area.

Not clear at this stage, Jake, as to how long they can continue to hold on to this enclave. As you mentioned, this has been seen from the get-go, really, as a way, yes, for Ukraine to sort of force Russia to divert its assets from its battle along the eastern front, but also predominantly as a bargaining chip that it could use at the table. Not clear how long they will be able to hold on to that bargaining chip, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Clarissa Ward in Ukraine, please stay safe. Thank you so much.

And we want to turn back to the politics of President Trump's threat to impose an additional 25 percent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Hillary Scholten who represents Michigan's third Congressional District. Congresswoman, thanks for joining us.

So, your state of Michigan, which borders Canada, is caught in the crosshairs of President Trump's trade war with Canada. Just this morning, Mr. Ford, the premier of Ontario, told CNN he had spoken to your governor Gretchen Whitmer about a now suspended 25 percent surcharge on electricity exports to Michigan.

[18:35:01]

We had Peter Navarro here just a few minutes ago. I'm not sure if you caught it, but he kind of poo-pooed the idea that this was something that anybody should be concerned about. What's your take on this? What impact is it having on Michiganders?

REP. HILLARY SCHOLTEN (D-MI): It's having a huge impact, you know, since the first moment that these tariffs were announced or hinted at, I received an outpouring of support from across industries about people who are deeply concerned.

You know, tariffs have an important place in our economy, in our governance when they're strategic and targeted. That's not what Trump is doing here. You know, these are blanket tariffs that he has been, you know, noncommittal to at best. When you have tariffs with all kinds of exceptions, they don't really do what you intend them to do. And it's left everyone in a real state of uncertainty.

You know, what's worse, the C.R. that, you know, we just voted on that Republicans passed, at the last minute, they snuck in a provision in the rules committee that would allow, you know, tariff by executive order to continue indefinitely. You know, this way of governing is so bad for the economy, it's bad for the American people. We're hearing about it back home. And, unfortunately, the rule that the Republicans just passed is going to allow it to continue.

TAPPER: It sure is interesting how often members of Congress cede their own power and authority, if it's anything controversial, like, you know, going to war or imposing tariffs. I'm not singling you out, but I'm just saying it is interesting how often that happens.

Let me ask you a question. You told our team about a town hall that you had last month in part of your district in Michigan, a township that Trump won by 18 points, and you were surprised by what you heard from attendees in this Republican area. Tell us about that.

SCHOLTEN: Yes. You know, I think it really underscores the fact that, you know, Trump and Musk don't have a mandate on what they're doing right now. The election across the board was very, very close but the actions that they're taking now is creating an uproar from across the country.

You know, I've been holding town halls in the district. We went to a township in the northern part of Kent County, as you know, Jake, Kent County, very swing district. This particular township, Trump won by 18. I showed up. I expected I was going to get skewered for trying to stand up to Trump and Musk. You know, I've introduced bills for additional transparency. I was shocked by what I saw. It was an at capacity standing room only crowd.

And, you know, people were terrified. People were saying, I didn't vote for this. This is not what we were promised. This is an economic security. You know, the price of eggs are through the roof. And when I told them about actions that I was taking, introducing my bill, the Clear Act, the Taxpayer Data Protection Act, there was applause. People were standing and encouraging me to continue fighting back against this. People feel that they've been betrayed.

TAPPER: All right, Democratic Congresswoman Hillary Scholten of the great state of Michigan, thank you so much. Good to see you again.

SCHOLTEN: Thanks, Jake. It's great to see you.

TAPPER: Ahead, the president trying to help the bottom line of Elon Musk using the White House as something of a Tesla showroom while acts of violence and vandalism occur against the Tesla brand across the country.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

TAPPER: Our National Lead now, new safety recommendations following that devastating collision between a military helicopter and a commercial American Eagle Flight 5342 as the flight was coming into land at D.C.'s Reagan National Airport in January. The collision, as you may recall, killed all 67 people on both aircraft.

Today, the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, revealed the shocking number of near miss events at Reagan National. Look at this. From October 2021 through this past December, more than 15,000 helicopters came within one mile of commercial flights, 85 helicopters came within 1,500 feet. The NTSB is urgently recommending that the FAA permanently eliminate that helicopter route when one of the runways at Reagan National are operational.

And our Tech Lead, Donald Trump is becoming the proud owner of a Tesla. Meanwhile, a string of attacks against Tesla vehicles and charging stations have triggered a strong response from the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Some say they should be labeled domestic terrorists because --

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I will do that. I'll do it. I'm going to stop them. Those people are going to go through a big problem when we catch them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Natasha Chen is in Burbank, California. And, Natasha, President Trump just signaled that he would consider designating these acts of violence and vandalism against Tesla vehicles as domestic terrorist attacks. What's the extent of the vandalism? Does it warrant such a move?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, we haven't heard any law enforcement across the country use the words domestic terrorism when describing these incidents they're investigating. They have said in some cases they're investigating for suspected arson, like in the case outside of Boston, where seven Tesla charging stations caught fire. And then there have been other incidents with vandalism, people spray painting on vehicles, spray painting the glass of dealerships or in one case outside of Portland, Oregon, shooting at the cars and the glass of the dealership in the early morning hours last Thursday. One incident in Colorado, a woman was arrested for throwing Molotov cocktails at the dealership and spray painting the word Nazi on the cars, Jake.

TAPPER: And Elon Musk is pointing the finger at Democratic groups and Democratic donors for these attacks. Is there any evidence to support that?

CHEN: Well, no evidence of any big Democratic donors behind all of this. As I mentioned, there was one woman arrested so far in Colorado. It's not clear what her political affiliations are.

There is a website called Tesla Takedown that's behind a lot of the protests we've been seeing where people are at the dealerships chanting. [18:45:06]

That website says the goal is to dump the stock and join the picket lines. One organizer behind that is actor/filmmaker Alex Winter of the "Bill & Ted" franchise, who told CNN that his goal is to try and get a vote of no confidence on Musk from the shareholders -- Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right. Natasha Chen, thanks so much.

And we're back with the global event that changed all of our lives five years ago today.

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[18:50:51]

TAPPER: In our health lead, today marks five years since the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic. You might remember March 11th, on that same day, the NBA announced they were suspending its seasons, which really showed how much wealthy people were taking it seriously.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson announced that down there in Australia, they had tested positive for COVID. Thankfully, they're fine.

By that point, March 11th, CNN and our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, were already calling the COVID outbreak a pandemic.

And Sanjay joins us now.

Sanjay, you've had your eyes on this the whole time. I can't believe it's been five years. Where are we now?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: By the way, I just got to say, I remember that day really well because I think you and I were on the air together, and I remember thinking, we've been reporting on this for two to three months. But then when the NBA weighs in on this and suspends their season, that's when people really started to take this seriously, for sure.

I mean, you know, Jake, I think there are lots of people who are still quite traumatized by this, when you look at some of the images, you know, these are paramedics going into someone's home trying to rescue them. People who are reuniting grandparents and grandkids after, you know, a long time away, all the social distancing.

I think people -- there's a lot of post-traumatic stress. There's another contingent of the population that just -- it's sort of a blip on the radar now. It's not something they think about at all. And then there's a lot of people in between those two extremes, Jake.

Where are we now? Well, if you look overall at the world in the -- in the United States in terms of overall cases, in the world, and keep in mind, you know, we're talking over the last five years, close to 800 million infections. These are -- these are confirmed cases. In the United States, 103 million. So, you know, we're 4 percent of

the world's population, but nearly a seventh of the confirmed cases in the world. And that sort of translates overall to the sadly, the number of people who died, you know, roughly 7 million people around the world who died, 1.2 million of them in the United States.

And that's something that, you know, I think is going to be sort of a hallmark of how we look back on this. Why did the United States get hit so hard? When you look at vaccines, you know, that came about at the end of 2020. Just over a six-month period. And this is from October of '23 to April of 2024.

What was the impact of vaccines? Well, probably around 5,300 deaths averted, 13,000 ICU missions averted, and 68,000 cases of hospitalizations averted as well.

So the vaccines did make a huge difference, Jake. But that is sort of, you know, the status of where we are now.

TAPPER: Yeah, of course, there's also a lot of questions about, you know, the steps that were taken to -- to prevent it, including school closures and the shutdowns and such. We've been asking our viewers about the lasting impacts of the pandemic.

Priscilla writes, quote, my mother died from COVID and this is a year I can't get past. It seems I am still reliving it every day since then.

Cheri, a former nurse on the Navajo reservation, says it was utter devastation. Within a month, I lost two close coworkers to COVID. One beloved ER doctor took his own life, and that's when I left. I never want to experience anything like it again.

Sanjay, what are your own reflections about the difficulties of that time?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I think. One of the big challenges is still what is the impact overall on public health? I mean, you know, we spend $4 trillion on health care, and we had some of the worst outcomes in the world, as you just saw there, Jake. What does that mean going forward? I guess that's more of a forward sort of thing versus a reflection.

But, you know, we're dealing with measles. There's still the concern of H5N1 out there, 500-plus people have been let go from the CDC, more than a thousand from the NIH. We already had a difficult public health system even before this. We got to make sure we can deal with these future potential threats, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

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[18:59:03] TAPPER: In our world lead, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested today on a warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity. Duterte was stopped at the Manila airport after returning from Hong Kong, and he was later put on a flight to The Hague.

Elected in 2016 on promises to wage war on drugs, Duterte's brutal crackdown resulted in at least 6,000 deaths, according to police records. Independent monitors believe the number is much higher because of extrajudicial killings, which Duterte -- Duterte denies, ordering.

In our money lead, Southwest Airlines is getting rid of its most recognizable perk-free checked bags. Starting May 28th, Southwest Airlines will charge for first and second checked bags. As of now, the airline did not say how much. Today's announcement comes after Southwest ditched its open seating policy.

I have two books coming out that you can preorder now. In May, "Original Sin", about President Biden's disastrous decision to run for reelection and the cover up of his decline. And then in October, "Race Against Terror". It's about the hunt to prosecute an al Qaeda terrorist who killed Americans and was out to kill more. You can check them out and preorder them at JakeTapper.com. You can follow the show on X @TheLeadCNN.

If you ever miss an episode, you can listen to the show whence you get your podcasts.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now. Take it away, Erin.