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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Trump Touts First-Year Achievements In Rambling News Briefing; Trump's Greenland Threats Loom Over Threats Over Davos Ahead Of Arrival; Trump On How Far He'll Go To Get Greenland: "You'll Find Out"; Trump Touts First-Year Achievements In Rambling News Briefing; Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Is Interviewed About Department Of Justice In Violation Of Epstein Files Law. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired January 20, 2026 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right. Thanks very much to my panel. Really appreciate all of you joining us. Thanks to you at home as well. Jake Tapper is standing by for "The Lead."
Hi, Jake.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: That was quite a press conference, huh?
HUNT: It was. I'm sure you will break it all down. TAPPER: OK, Kasie --
HUNT: Never a dull moment,
TAPPER: -- we'll look for more tomorrow in "The Arena."
HUNT: Sounds good. See you soon.
[17:00:44]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News. JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. We're
going to start with breaking news on our world lead. President Trump today marking one full year in office with a marathon rambling, at times incoherent, possibly unsettling White House news briefing clocking in about 15 minutes shy of two hours for any supporters of his looking for reassurance that the Trump doing wild 1:00 a.m. social media post is not the same Trump in the White House. Well, they probably were not reassured the first hour and change was an entire monologue.
The president began by complaining about his public relations, a common complaint of politicians who have horrific poll numbers. Then he started showing off mug shots of people he said were undocumented migrants who'd been apprehended as part of his ramped up ICE efforts. This all comes amid some reports that the president has privately expressed discomfort over the optics of how some of these ICE raids have been carried out. The president then talked about crime in Minnesota.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We brought Minnesota down, way down, even though everything's a fight, you know, because they want to keep those people that are lying on the floor. They want to keep those people in Minnesota, but they really don't. I don't think the real people of Minnesota -- very corrupt place. And the elections are totally corrupt. I feel I won it all three times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: He feels, he feels he won it all three times. As Ben Shapiro often says, facts don't care about your feelings. President Trump lost Minnesota all three times, fair and square, every time. Not really surprising. Minnesota has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1972.
And in fact, Minnesota was the only state that Mondale won in the Reagan landslide of 1984. Anyway, the subject eventually turned to one of the president's least popular ideas, his escalating campaign to take over Greenland by hook or by crook. He has said he will impose new tariffs on European allies who oppose this. And today, when pressed on whether a Supreme Court ruling against his tariffs might derail his strategy, the president said, we'll have to use something else. And remember, the president has still not ruled out military action in Greenland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How far are you willing to go to acquire Greenland?
TRUMP: You'll find out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Oh, boy. So Greenland is, of course, part of Denmark, and Denmark is a founding member of NATO. And despite all our NATO's allies' stark resistance to the president seizing Greenland, Trump insisted that NATO would be very happy with his plans for Greenland. The president then seized an opportunity to take yet another swipe at NATO.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The big fear I have with NATO is we spend tremendous amounts of money with NATO and I know we'll come to their rescue. But I just really do question whether or not they'll come to ours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: He questions whether they will come to ours. The only time NATO Article 5 has been invoked an attack one is an attack on all. The only time it's ever been invoked was after the U.S. was attacked on 9/11 and all the other NATO countries agreed to fight the American war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Now, in between some of Trump's other newsworthy lines, there were plenty of frankly bizarre, rambling moments, including this one where he dug up the past to complain about Joe Biden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Ended Joe Biden's weaponization of our government and removed his handpicked radical left Marxist prosecutors from the Department of Justice like deranged Jack Sick Smith. He's a sick son of a bitch. They gave me the worst of the worst and here I am. How did that happen?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Here he is indeed. And on the subject of the weaponization of our government, the U.S. Justice Department right now under Trump is investigating the governor and the attorney general of Minnesota and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, for what, we don't know. But opposing Trump has a way of landing you in the sights of his Justice Department. Let's begin with CNN senior White House Correspondent Kristen Holmes.
[17:05:07]
Kristen, help us understand the strategy, if there is any, behind President Trump speaking today at the White House.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, I will say there is a strategy. President Trump has always believed that he is his own best messenger. I will remind you of John Barron, who was President Trump's pseudonym when he called and posed as his own publicist. He always has believed that he is the best messenger when it comes to anything that he is doing. And you heard a lot of frustration from him today.
He has seen all of the same poll numbers that we have seen. Just a reminder, it's not just public polling. They have their own internal polling. They know that people are unhappy with President Trump's handling of the economy, in particular, they are also unhappy overall, but especially when it comes to the economy. And President Trump said multiple times in multiple different ways during this press conference that he was essentially not being promoted enough, that his people were not promoting what they were doing enough, that he didn't have good enough PR, that the message wasn't getting across.
He even said that he didn't even want to do this press briefing, but because there was this lack of promotion that he felt like he had to get out there. And that's why you saw him out here really kind of ticking through this list of accomplishments. And I will tell you, Jake, from being in the room, it did not seem as though these were prepared remarks in any way. The White House had handed out a huge stack of paper beforehand that said 365 accomplishments and 365 days. And President Trump seemed to be kind of thumbing through it in real time, stopping reading various things from there and then elaborating on them, as you noted, often going off script, talking about elections in Minnesota or fraud or a litany of other things.
At one point, he actually said that you could walk with your lover now in Washington, D.C. and you would be safe. And this was just -- that was just some of what he talked about. But it all goes down to one thing. President Trump feels as though his team and the country and the media are not giving him enough credit. And it goes to several other things that he talked about.
He specifically mentioned that he felt snubbed by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. He blamed the Norwegian government, which, of course, we will note the Nobel Peace Prize Committee is a separate and independent entity. But it was just an airing of grievances for an hour and 45 minutes as he wrapped up his first year.
TAPPER: All right, Kristen Holmes at the White House, thanks so much.
Let's bring in two of our wise men, CNN's David Chalian and Phil Mattingly.
Phil, Wall Street was a notable backdrop today. The markets were low all day, and then they continued to dive, dive, dive when the president spoke about Greenland. Do you think they notice? Do you think they care?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So it's not necessarily great when you were a White House and the principal is standing up holding a lengthy press conference in every kind of corner of every single news screen is the markets, and they're down over 800 points, and they're not going up in any way, shape or form, in fact only dipping further down as your principal is talking. And I think perhaps on some level, it's a great example of when the president talks about how their problem with the economy and the fact the American people aren't feeling what they've been able to accomplish in the economy is their message. Maybe he's the messenger that might be a problem here, which is something to consider.
The other thing that I think is actually really interesting is the market reaction on this versus what happened when the news of the subpoenas of the Fed chair, Jerome Powell came out, where there was very limited market reaction, some initially in the beginning. And I actually texted a Wall Street executive at the time, I said, why is the market not reacting more to this? This seems like a pretty significant matter. And he texted me back, one year in markets have a better idea of what's real and what's -- let me read that, oh, what's theater, what's theater. That executive is in Davos.
I texted him back today. I said, what's the difference today?
TAPPER: Yes.
MATTINGLY: And he said, the markets no longer have a better sense of what's real and what's theater. Trump is going to Davos tomorrow. What do you expect? He just said, buckle up. This is a different moment right now.
TAPPER: So they thought, oh, it's just theater. And now they're just like, I don't know what this is.
MATTINGLY: Yes, we're back to kind of April Liberation Day. What on earth is happening right now? We can't read which way this is going. TAPPER: David, unlike young Philip, you and I are old enough to know and have seen and covered president after president after president, who thinks the problem is just their PR. President Trump falling into that long list. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I blame ourselves. I think we've done a much better job than we're able to promote. We're not promoting. We're doing a great job. And we're sort of letting the promotion take care of itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I mean, I think one of the issues is that he is his own worst enemy, because in addition to whatever he's doing for the economy, he's talking about Greenland, he's talking about election lies. I mean, what do you think?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Which is why I think in our most recent poll last week showed that nearly two thirds of the American people believe he's focused on the wrong priorities.
[17:10:06]
So he's out of -- when he's out promoting, to your point, Jake, he's not always promoting the things that the country, the American people are most focused on. I totally concede and agree with your point. Every politician and president we have covered has had this moment.
TAPPER: Everyone.
DAVID: Not always in the press briefing room standing next to their press secretary complaining about their PR, but nonetheless, that was his main message today. I also thought, Jake, it was pretty intriguing. You noted at the top he was sort of holding up the criminals, illegal migrants --
TAPPER: The mug shots. Yes.
CHALIAN: -- the mug shots from Minnesota, that to me was his biggest tell to date that he understands he has a perception problem on this ICE enforcement peace in Minnesota.
TAPPER: Perception and or reality.
CHALIAN: And -- but that he has a problem --
TAPPER: Yes.
CHALIAN: -- that he was trying to address.
TAPPER: Yes. So, Phil, on NATO, on the subject of NATO, the president really seemed to contradict himself. At one point he said NATO will be, quote, "very happy" about the Greenland deal, which we know that's not true. At the same time, he questioned whether NATO's allies would ever come to our defense, which is crazy because of the only time it's ever been invoked, Article 5 is in our defense. And even earlier, he reposted on Truth Social this crazy post referring to NATO as the enemy within.
So, I mean, how's he going to be received in Davos when he comes in -- face to face with all these NATO leaders?
MATTINGLY: You asked if White House officials of the president were aware, kind of the market dynamics going to that press conference. You could tell the president was aware of what his reception will be like in Davos. When it went into that press conference, I think he mentioned that he was going over there and kind of joked about the fact he's probably not going to be super well received.
What's been striking in talking to European diplomats over the course of the last 36 hours is I mentioned kind of the Wall Street concern right now or the unsettled nature of Wall street officials that many of which are already in Davos. European officials are treating this as if it's a crisis moment and what's about to take place in Davos, the meetings the president is going to have, whoever meets with him, the meetings that they'll be having on the sidelines as well, aside from the president. It is that kind of a moment of we need to figure out. I think Mark Carney in Davos today earlier said, this isn't a transition, this is a rupture. And I think that's how it's being viewed, how the White House navigates this going forward.
Because, David, you know better than me, but my sense is they don't feel like this has gone up astray or off the rails in any way, shape or form when it comes to their views on NATO, when it comes to their views of European leaders and their European counterparts. The president's in large part voicing what you hear behind the scenes from many of his senior officials.
TAPPER: Yes.
CHALIAN: And they see European leaders not fully standing up and not knowing what to do. And therefore, that is a signal to Donald Trump, keep pressing forward to seize more power because I'm not facing actual real resistance yet.
TAPPER: All right, David Chalian and Phil Mattingly, I don't feel better. Thank you for that. I appreciate it.
My next guest studies the words of presidents for a living and analyzes the potential impact not just today, but years from now. What is he taking away from President Trump's first year and this press conference today? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:16:57]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But look at this. These are all -- each line is something that we did. Nobody did that before. And it's big stuff too. Look, we have the hottest country in the world. (END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: One of those achievements is taking away Hunter Biden's Secret Service protection. And it's true, no one's done that before. We're back in the politics lead. President Trump touting what he sees as his 365 biggest accomplishments of his first year in his second term, on the one year anniversary of his inauguration with a at times rambling White House news conference filled with myriad of lies and attacks.
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson wrote on his Substack today, quote, "The behavior of the President of the United States towards our European allies in Greenland is beneath the dignity of the presidency and is shameful," unquote. That was before the news conference. Let's discuss all this with presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.
Professor, this was an extraordinary nearly two hour long news conference. As someone who has studied and written about many presidents, what stood out most to you?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, I think right off the bat, President Trump dismissing all of his PR people and saying they can't do it, only I can. Maybe he's right, but the result was very rambling and disassembling. It didn't have a accord to it. It was sort of a themeless pudding. Clearly he was concerned about what's going on in Minnesota and the public reaction against ICE and the idea of over enforcing in certain locations.
But also the Greenland hanging over there. I mean it's hard to believe he's going to be going to Davos now with Greenland the talk of the world instead of this unity which is the core of U.S. foreign policy from Harry Truman all the way to first term Biden, which is NATO, NATO, NATO. So I'm not sure where he put points on the board. I don't think it was a great recap of his first year. But it reminds us, Jake, that really the year has been known about Trump being ubiquitous and that his feral belief that his presidential powers are unlimited.
TAPPER: Trump repeatedly blamed his predecessor, President Biden during today's news conference. Do presidents typically talk this much about their predecessor after a full year in office? I mean I get in the first few months you say we have to clean up the mess that so and so did. I mean, you know, Clinton said it about H.W. Bush, Bush said it about Clinton and on and on. But at this point he still does it.
Is that normal?
BRINKLEY: I think he should drop the Biden beating up immediately. It's been a long year of doing that. You know, FDR would punish Herbert Hoover. It was called the Hoover Dam and he stripped Hoover's name off of it and called it the Boulder Dam. He tripled and forced the idea of any homeless shelter was a Hooverville.
[17:20:00]
But Joe Biden has prostate cancer. He's been sick. He's been through a lot. It's sort of bullying downward at this point. And it's not going to help him in the midterm elections to keep triple and doubling and quadrupling down on Joe Biden.
So hopefully Trump and his advisors will put America first, as they claim, and stop working to wedge the country apart. Reagan was very -- you know, big landslide in 1980. But once Reagan, you know, got shot and recovered from all of that drama, the Democrats coalesced enough around him. You know, famously with Tip O'Neill and others. Trump just seems to want to continue to divide the country.
And, you know, you have to look -- you know, it's obvious to anybody that's his game plan.
TAPPER: Today, the National Archives announced a traveling exhibition celebrating the 250th anniversary of this great country, this great cradle of democracy. Of course, the country is marking this 250th birthday as the Trump administration is shunning many of our traditional allies, our longest ally, France, our special ally, the U.K., as the president praises dictators such as Vladimir Putin, who he's inviting to sit on his Gaza Board of Peace. What do you make of all that?
BRINKLEY: Well, first off, this Freedom Plane is a great idea, I think, from the National Archives, which is to get some of our seminal founding documents out of D.C. and have them circulate around the country. It's going to begin at The World War I Museum in Kansas City and carry on to places like Atlanta, University of Southern California, L.A., many other places, culminating in the fact that it's America 250. We want to unify this country somehow. It's, I think, the overweening issue along with the affordability ones. And so let's all kind of remember that our country was built to last.
It's not about a president or two years, but at somehow we've got to kind of rally behind the Founders thinking and rally behind the Constitution and think more broadly instead of our partisan silos. And I think the Freedom Plane, just like the Freedom Train when were young, you know, I think is a good -- it's a good move by the National Archives.
TAPPER: Doug Brinkley, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Breaking news in Minnesota, how the U.S. Justice Department just escalated investigations there, including issuing subpoenas to five top officials in the state. New reporting first on CNN coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:26:50]
TAPPER: Breaking news in our national lead. Federal subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department have been served against several officials in Minnesota. That includes Democratic Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis Jacob Frey, the Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison, and the Democratic mayor of St. Paul, Kaohly Her. Plus, this CNN exclusive, leaders the Justice Department are now pressing the FBI to investigate campaign contributions to some of these Democrats. It's all part of the DOJ's accusation that state and local leaders are obstructing federal immigration enforcement efforts. Let's bring in CNN's Shimon Prokupecz, who's in Minneapolis and CNN's Katelyn Polantz here with me in D.C.
Katelyn, first to you, tell us what you've uncovered about this probe into campaign contributions and how does this fit in to the DOJ's wider investigation into these Democrats in Minnesota?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: It's not exactly the same investigation as far as I'm aware and as far as we were able to tell from the sources we were talking to. But since Renee Good's death in Minneapolis, since things have really erupted between the administration and the state and local officials there, there has been a push from the leadership in Washington of the Justice Department to get the FBI in Minnesota to investigate political contributions, campaign finance violations, potentially, if they're able to find them. And this is going back to that viral white right wing interest in the public benefits fraud schemes in Minnesota. The theory here is that people who received government money could have been putting it into campaigns. Just so happens those campaigns could very well be Democrats the Trump administration is publicly opposed to.
So when you put that all together, this could be another way of looking at Democrats. It's something the Justice Department wants right now and it's something the FBI, they've been investigating for years and they even have said in the past couple days to Justice Department leadership, we haven't found anything of substantial evidence, but it comes at a really significant time where they're surging prosecutors into Minnesota, where the U.S. attorney's office is facing all kinds of strife. The attorney general is visiting. And then of course, that other investigation that we know about today that we were able to confirm, subpoenas going to state and local officials to the governor's office, seeking communications related to their response to immigration officials in the state.
TAPPER: Just to clarify, when you say that the Justice Department officials say or the FBI officials say, they haven't been able to find anything, they're talking about the campaign contribution issue, not the fraud in Minnesota, which is real.
POLANTZ: That's right.
TAPPER: OK.
POLANTZ: And -- yes. And the fraud they have been prosecuting. There's almost 80 defendants there.
TAPPER: Yes.
POLANTZ: That's its own thing. This is about looking at officials who are political leadership and trying to connect them potentially to that scheme.
TAPPER: Shimon, on to you now. Today we learned about the subpoenas being served top officials in Minnesota. And we're also hearing from the man leading ICE enforcement operations in Minneapolis.
[17:29:54]
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So Greg Bovino today decided that he and the head of ICE here were going to have a press conference and they took a few questions, but clearly defending their actions here, defending how they've been going about finding people that they want to detain and then deport, defending their actions on the streets of here in Minneapolis, where so many people are afraid to leave their homes, businesses are suffering, restaurants are unable to open, doors are being locked all across the city because of what folks are afraid of here. But Greg Bovino defended his actions. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG BOVINO, BORDER PATROL COMMANDER AT LARGE: Leaders like Tim Walz or Mayor Frey have relied on heated rhetoric and accusations that distract from the facts. And what we do is legal, ethical, and moral. Everything we do every day is legal, ethical, moral, well-grounded in law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PROKUPECZ: And you know, Jake, Bovino loves to say ethically, legal, and moral, but, you know, we're starting to hear from police chiefs here in the state of Minnesota, smaller police departments that are very concerned, very concerned over what they're hearing from people who live in their communities over civil rights violations, that they're saying is occurring at the hands of these federal law enforcement officials who are stopping people, who are asking people for identification to show proof of their citizenship.
Local officials here in Minneapolis, even the police chief here, raising questions over the tactics that are being used. But Greg Bovino says they are going to keep going. They're going to keep doing what they're doing. And right now, there's no letting up. They're just going to keep doing what they're doing here, Jake.
TAPPER: Shimon Prokupecz and Katelyn Polantz, thanks to both of you.
Coming up next, the world leaders calling out President Trump and his plans to take over Greenland. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:36:13]
TAPPER: We're back with the World Lead, President Trump's insistence on grabbing Greenland. But in that nearly two-hour briefing with reporters earlier today, he offered no hints on how he will accomplish that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How far are you willing to go to acquire Greenland?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You'll find out. (END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Over the weekend, President Trump threatened to impose 10 percent tariffs starting on February 1st on European nations like France and Denmark and the U.K. that are opposed to his ambitions to take over Greenland. The President said he would raise that tariff to 25 percent if a deal is not reached by June.
And if a pending ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court derails that plan because tariffs are supposed to be given by Congress, not the President, well, the President was also asked about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happens to the tariff threat to Greenland if the Supreme Court comes out and rules against you on the tariffs? And --
TRUMP: Well, I'll have to use something else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Now, before the President's appearance at the White House briefing today, he spent the night posting about Greenland on Truth Social. He included a screenshot of a private text message sent to him from French President Emmanuel Macron that reads, in part, my friend, we are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I do not understand what you're doing on Greenland.
Let us have a dinner together in Paris together on Thursday before you go back to the U.S. Trump posted another screenshot of a text from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, where Rutte wrote in part, "I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland." Trump then posted two memes, one showing himself, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President J.D. Vance, planting an American flag in Greenland
Another one of these memes showed European leaders in the Oval Office surrounded by a map that shows Greenland and Canada and Venezuela and Cuba as part of the United States. A reminder, President Trump has still not ruled out military action in his quest to acquire Greenland. Given that, we heard this warning today from the nation's prime minister.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENS-FREDERIK NIELSEN, GREENLAND PRIME MINISTER (through translator): It's not likely that there will be a use of military force, but it has not been ruled out yet. This leader from the other side has made it very clear that is not ruled out. And therefore, we must, of course, be prepared for everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: This all will likely lead to one heck of a meeting in Davos, where Trump will come face to face with many of the same European leaders. Tomorrow, the President will deliver an address in the morning, which follows this pointed address delivered from French President Emmanuel Macron.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: It's a time of peace, stability and predictability. It's a shift towards a world without rules. Where international law is trampled, underfoot and where the only law that seems to matter is that of the strongest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: More notable reaction from Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, who is not known for clashing with President Trump, to say the least. He wrote on X today, "appeasement is always a sign of weakness. Europe cannot afford to be weak, neither against its enemies nor ally. Appeasement means no results, only humiliation. European assertiveness and self-confidence have become the need of the moment." Well, the President has succeeded in uniting Europe, uniting them against us.
[17:39:44]
One year back in office, what was President Trump's biggest achievement and biggest failure? We asked a Republican and a Democrat for their take. You might be surprised at their answers. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, 365 days of Trump 2.0, one year anniversary today. One big lesson since the President's return, expect the unexpected. And we saw that repeatedly over the last year in the Oval Office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I'm not playing cards.
TRUMP: Right. You do allow them to take land.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, no.
TRUMP: You do allow them to take land.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody can take land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: From combative moments with world leaders to viral photo ops from politicians, not seemingly thrilled to share the spotlight. But not all meetings with political rivals have ended in fireworks. Some ended in praise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We agree on a lot more than I would have thought. I want him to do a great job, and we'll help him do a great job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Here now to discuss two political experts. Before we get to the highs and lows, what did you make of President Trump's press conference today, his effort to trumpet his own accomplishments?
[17:45:03]
RAMESH PONNURU, EDITOR, NATIONAL REVIEW: Well, I think he feels defensive about it. As much as he says how popular he is all the time, he's aware that the polling is indicating otherwise. It was very interesting that he seemed to dis his entire public relations team saying he's the only person who can make that case. And he does have some things that he can legitimately tout, like lower gas prices. But a lot of the other things that he said, voters aren't feeling it.
CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It sounded familiar to me. Remember we were on this program talking about Joe Biden who had done so much, but he got no credit, and the communications of the Democrats should get better because we were going to build roads and bridges, and unemployment was at an all-time high -- all-time low, stock market at an all-time high. It was the P.R. department. I would warn my Republican friends that it ain't always the P.R. people.
TAPPER: Well, I have to say also, just in defense of his P.R. people, like Karoline Leavitt, Stephen Chung, they are vociferous defenders of President Trump. All those people that do his P.R. at "Fox," they do it --
ROCHA: Every day.
TAPPER: Every day.
ROCHA: Every day.
TAPPER: And I don't think it's their fault. I mean, it -- there -- I think as always with Biden or whatever, there's a substance issue also, don't you think?
PONNURU: I think that there are some things that voters, most voters, are not directly aware of, and they read about it in the paper or watch it on T.V., and some things they know directly. They know what is happening with their paychecks, their wallets, their bills, and it's very hard for any P.R. team or any president to spin them out of that.
ROCHA: They know Joe Biden was old, and they know this White House is chaos. There's two things they know.
TAPPER: So one of the other things that he's doing is, and I've heard a lot of media reports in the last day, people going and talking to Trump supporters, how they feel, and something, I think it was on NPR this morning, no Trump supporter that this reporter talked to, not one, liked this Greenland thing, which the President talks about a lot. It's not one of the things that they elected him for, but he talks about it a lot. And he's on social media, posted about, I mean, this bogus 2020 election claim, and then this image of the flag of the hemisphere, the map of the hemisphere with American flags in Greenland, Canada, Venezuela.
He reposted a thing that said NATO is the real threat, the enemy within. He offered something else, this little video of a woman complaining that Muslims outbreed us. That's a quote, outbreed us. I mean, this is also one of the reasons why I think polls indicate voters don't think he's focusing on their priorities.
ROCHA: And there's a reason for that. Voters can kind of understand Venezuela, dictator bad, replace, OK, Iran, OK, kind of understand they've never been a partner of ours, but American voters don't like a bully. And they see Greenland as like this equal arbiter of somebody who's not bothering nobody, don't mess with nobody, and Trump's like, I'm going to take it, it's mine. The American public understands a bully, and they don't like that at all.
PONNURU: Where did that come from? Why is he talking about this? I think that is the predominant sentiment from people. It's often my sentiment. Trump is very good at generating news, creating headlines. There's 1,000 stories just in the last month, Trump saying something on some new subject. The flip side of that ability is it makes people wonder, is he focusing on what we focus on?
ROCHA: Yes.
PONNURU: That was a problem for Democrats last time. People thought that Democrats were not focused on the issues that they themselves were. It'll be a problem for Republicans if they think that about them.
TAPPER: So let me mark this one year because we've been pretty critical so far because the president keeps bringing up things to criticize. But I'll say something positive that he's done in the last year. You don't have to if you don't want to, but Ramesh, I want to give you an opportunity to. He did stop the war in Gaza.
Now, that's not why he was elected, but that's empirically a good thing. I don't know how long this peace plan's going to succeed, but whatever, that's one good thing.
PONNURU: I think there are quite a few accomplishments. And I would say one of the central campaign promises was he was going to stop illegal immigration. And he did, in fact, succeed at that. He has shut down the border to illegal immigration. Now, the flip side of that for him is it's fallen as a public priority because he succeeded.
ROCHA: Yes, and I would agree, surprisingly enough, that he did shut down the border. And, you know, if he would have shut down the border and then sent ICE agents to go get the worst of the worst and not go into the streets terrorizing Latinos because they're Latino, he would -- his numbers would be out of this world because the American people can see we're not talking about the border. The border's shut down. That is a positive. TAPPER: Yes, I mean, I've heard Republicans in Capitol Hill express concern that President Trump scores a victory and then screws it up after it does a touchdown in the end zone and gets, you know, the points are taken back. Thanks, one and all, really. Oh, OK, I'm sorry, I was misunderstanding. Let's talk about, OK, so those are the accomplishments. What do you think was the lowest moment of the last year for the President?
PONNURU: Cool, well, I think that the pardons of the January 6th riot or blanket pardons.
TAPPER: One year today, yes.
PONNURU: Yes, I think that was, you know, look, January 6th and the entire campaign to overturn the election that preceded it was a disgrace, a constitutional disgrace, and he added to it with that act.
[17:50:03]
TAPPER: What do you think was the lowest moment this year?
ROCHA: I think all of the focus on all this international stuff. I think the American people gave him a shot because he spoke to them about their needs of lower prices and I'll be your vendetta and all the things, America first. The only thing I've seen is American corporations first and not American workers first.
TAPPER: All right, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.
The Justice Department is well, well past the deadline to release all of its files as required by law, a law that Trump signed into law himself on dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Is there anything or anyone to hold the Justice Department accountable? We're going to get into that next.
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[17:55:01]
TAPPER: In our Law and Justice lead today, it has been one month and one day since the Justice Department was required by law to release all of the files related to Jeffrey Epstein with the names of the survivors and victims redacted. By its own admission, the Justice Department has released only about 1 percent of the total Epstein files. That's a move that puts the Department of Justice in violation of federal law.
On Friday, Manhattan's top federal prosecutor said that the judge in the case lacks the authority to appoint a neutral expert to oversee the public release of the documents. Let's bring in Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California, who has led the charge, along with Thomas Massie in the House, Republican of Kentucky, to have these files released.
So, Congressman, you filed the brief looking for you and Massie for the special master to handle these files. You've also been in contact with survivors of Epstein's abuse who are pushing for this. What's your reaction to the Justice Department denying this completely?
REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: It's shocking. Look, the Department of Justice didn't just argue that Thomas Massie or I don't have standing. They didn't argue not to have a special master. They're arguing that the judge doesn't have the authority to enforce the law.
It is a disgraceful argument. They're basically saying we don't want to release these files and there's nothing you can do about it. And I believe that Judge Engelmayer will see through that. I think he's going to consider the statements of two survivors, Haley Robson and Lisa Phillips, who've shown incredible courage, and is going to either have a special master or order the release of documents to comply with the law.
TAPPER: So as I understand it, Congressman, the Justice Department is arguing in response that there is no mechanism, there is no way for you and Massie to sue to enforce the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Is that true? And if so, did you ever discuss when writing the law that there should be some sort of repercussion if they don't follow it built into that law?
KHANNA: We did discuss it, and we were told that it would be obstruction of justice if they do not file the Epstein Transparency Act, if they do not comply. Now, it's one thing for them to say, we don't have standing to sue. Massie and I don't. We came in as amicus curiae, meaning friends of the court.
But what they're saying is that the judge himself doesn't have the authority to say they need to comply with the Epstein Transparency Act. And our view and legal counsel has said that those who don't comply are actually obstructing justice and could face prosecution, if not under the Trump administration, a future administration.
TAPPER: So we know in recent days that the Justice Department says that they've increased the number of lawyers working on turning over the files, redacting the names of the survivors, et cetera. From your perspective, what does that mean? When do you think we will start to see more files? When do you think we'll see all the files?
KHANNA: I really don't understand it. It seems like they have a third of the most important attorneys in the U.S. District of New York, the Southern District of New York, working on this, and yet they're not producing the relevant documents. To me, it's not about how many documents they produce.
They're not giving us what the survivors want, which is the statements the survivors have made to the FBI agents, which name the other rich and powerful men who were involved, who engaged in the sex trafficking. They're not releasing the prosecution memos, which show that there were a lot of counts that were not pursued for Epstein and the co-conspirators.
And what I don't understand is if the President thinks it's a hoax and if there's nothing there, and if they think this is all a conspiracy, just release the files. But they're not releasing the files where the survivors have said the men who abused them are implicated. TAPPER: They also say that there's been too many redactions, that people who should be named in the files, their names in the files that have been released, the 1 percent, too many of their names are hidden. You're leading a bipartisan effort to block what you call a reckless move, stopping President Trump from being able to take military action to seize Greenland. You say Greenland. You say this is about avoiding dumb word -- wars. You say it's about honoring our NATO allies. Do you think Americans should be concerned about the president's rhetoric that he might actually send in the military?
KHANNA: They should be saddened by it. The America I believe in engaged in wars of liberation, not wars of conquest. And for the President of the United States to be threatening European allies with tariffs, threatening NATO and talking about marching in and taking Greenland is against everything this country stands for. We are not Rome. We were not the British colonial empire which jailed my grandfather. We are a nation that freed the world from Nazism and communism. And President Trump is making a mockery of those American principles.
[18:00:10]
TAPPER: Congressman Ro Khanna, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
