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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Trump Heads To China For Meetings With Xi Jinping; Americans Paint Bleak Picture Of U.S. Economy; Sam Altman Testifies In Elon Musk-OpenAI Trial; CIA Escalates Secret War On Cartels With Deadly Operations Inside Mexico; Fired FBI Official, Suing FBI, DOJ, Kash Patel And Others, Speaks Out For The First Time; New CNN Poll: Americans Paint Bleak Picture Of U.S. Economy; CA Mayor Admits To Acting As Illegal Agent For Chinese Govt. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired May 12, 2026 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[17:00:30]
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right, thanks for being with us today. Don't go anywhere. Jake Tapper is standing by for The Lead. Hi, Jake.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Hey, Kasie. Thanks so much. We'll look for more tomorrow in The Arena.
HUNT: See you tomorrow.
TAPPER: The Iran war is only one issue for the president as he heads overseas for a huge trip. The Lead starts right now.
President Trump wheels up for China and leaving a pile of problems behind him back home in the US. Issue number one, American wages getting eaten up by inflation. Hear Trump's piercing attack on a reporter on his way to the plane.
Plus, as Trump heads to China, an American mayor is stepping down, pleading guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government. The encrypted messages prosecutors say she was exchanging with a Chinese government official and a deadly covert operation in Mexico involving the CIA and drug cartels. This CNN exclusive is rolling out here on The Lead.
Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. We start in our World Lead trouble abroad, trouble at home for President Trump as he is now en route to Beijing for a critical meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This follows weeks of trying and frankly failing to convince the Chinese government to use its leverage to prod Iran to agree to the U.S. terms and end the war.
Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with how the Iranians are handling negotiations, so much so some Trump aides say he is now more seriously considering restarting major combat operations in Iran.
Today, the president was asked if he had a red line that would cause him to end the ceasefire. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, we're going to see and we'll be thinking about it on the flight and we'll be thinking about it for the next little while. But we've beaten their military very soundly. That's over with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Things are also not going so smoothly for President Trump here at home in the U.S. not just because of the high gas prices caused by the Iran war, which will cost you an average of $4.50 per gallon today. For the first time in three years, Americans wages are no longer outpacing inflation.
That is according to the new Bureau of Labor Statistics, which translates to life is getting less affordable and if you want to know how Americans feel about the state of the economy, look no further than our brand new CNN poll where 76 percent of the American adults polled say the cost of living is their family's top economic problem, 77 percent say Trump's policies have increased the local cost of living, and 75 percent say the war with Iran has had a negative impact on their personal financial situation.
So while hard working Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities and blaming the Iran war for at least some of that, surely the president is reading the room and focused on doing something about it, right?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And as soon as this war is over, which will not be long, you're going to see the golden age of America, frankly, and you're seeing it now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To what extent are American financial situations motivating you to make a deal?
TRUMP: Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about America's financial situation. I don't think about anybody. If the stock market goes up or down a little bit, the American people understand it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: So that's the president saying out loud he does not think about Americans financial situations handing Democrats readymade attack ads for midterms when he is talking about making a deal with Iran. And if you think perhaps he's said something more nuanced or empathetic online, we look at his Truth Social page where, well, it looks like there was a rapid fire posting spree, more than 60 posts and repost after 10:30 p.m. last night and restarted again this morning filled with bogus conspiracy theories off color memes, a whole lot of nonsense, including an AI generated cartoon of the Governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, showing him eating tons of food and saying he's too busy to keep Chicago safe. Shocker.
The president reposted former President, former General Rather Mike Flynn claiming the 2020 election was stolen for the 4000th time. The 2020 election was not stolen. None of Trump's content that night, last night having to do with solving his very real growing political problems having to do with the U.S. economy.
[17:05:05]
CNN's Kristen Holmes is already in Beijing waiting for the president to arrive. Kristen, what all is Trump expected to tackle once he arrives in China amid all of this turmoil at home and obviously with the Iran war?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, when it comes to the Iran war, Jake, this is going to be looming large over this meeting, despite what President Trump says, that they're going to be talking about business deals, which of course they will, trade tariffs. The Iran war itself is going to put really a blanket over this. And there are many analysts who believe that Trump is now coming into this from a weaker position than he was in, even back in October when the two leaders met back in Korea. And that's why we saw President Trump push this trip six weeks.
He believed that the war would be over by then, that they could move on. And when you talk to a number of officials, they believe that China has somewhat of the upper hand, particularly when it comes to controlling or having access to Iran in the way that the United States does.
Now, to be very clear, Xi Jinping has stayed away from publicly aiding Iran, who is its closest partner in the region. But it is likely that President Trump, and we heard this from U.S. officials, that he is going to do this, is going to push for President Xi to get involved to try and force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Now, this is what President Trump said his message to the president of China on the war of Iran would be.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I think, number one, we're going to have a long talk about it. I think he's been relatively good, to be honest with you. You look at the blockade, no problem. They get a lot of their oil from that area. We've had no problem. And he's been a friend of mine. He's been somebody that we get along with. And I think you can see that good things are going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, we do expect there to be some business deals made. We know President Trump is traveling with roughly a dozen of America's top CEOs, Elon Musk, Tim Cook included there. But if you believe that his mind is focused on the financial situation of Americans, I will point you to this true social post which says this. He essentially is calling journalists who report on the Iran war treasonous or virtually committing treason. He says when the fake news says that the Iranian enemy is doing well militarily against us, it's virtual treason. And that is such a false and even preposterous statement. They are aiding and abetting the enemy. All it does is give Iran false hope when none should exist. These are American cowards that are rooting against our country.
And then he obviously goes through what he has said before about them destroying the military in Iran and the various leaders. This is coming at the time when President Trump has encourage the DOJ. And the DOJ is going to look in to journalists. They say they're looking into the leakers, not necessarily the journalists themselves. And of course, we know the Wall Street Journal has had a subpoena at this point.
TAPPER: All right, Kristen Holmes in Beijing, thanks so much. Joining us now to discuss Republican Congressman Tom Barrett. He represents a swing district in Michigan that includes the city of Lansing. He's a U.S. army veteran who deployed to Iraq, Kuwait and the Korean DMZ.
And in an effort to prevent what he calls an endless war, the congressman recently introduced an authorization for the use of military force that would give President Trump until the end of July to complete the military objectives and would bar ground combat operations. Congressman, thanks so much for being here. We appreciate it and thank you for your service.
Why did you feel it was important to bring this resolution and what is your reaction to the reporting that Trump is more heavily considering restarting operations in Iran?
REP. TOM BARRETT (R-MI): Sure. And the reason I brought this forward, I've been working on reforms to authorizations for use of military force since I really came to Congress. In fact, one of the proudest votes I took in the term that I've been elected was last year in the National Defense Authorization Act. For the first time in my life, we closed out two authorizations that were dormant from the 19, you know, one from the 1990s Gulf War, the other from the war in Iraq that started in 2003, the same war that I deployed in 17 years, almost to the day after I came home, we voted to repeal those authorizations.
This is an effort to reclaim Congress's role in the authorization and use of force. Congress has sole authority to declare war. By extension of that authority, we have the right to decide how we are going to go about the use of force. And that's why I introduced this resolution.
It has clear parameters in place. It has a clearly defined mission, and it has a clearly defined end date. One of the things that frustrated me in my military service was that when we were engaged in these decades long conflicts, there was no clearly defined mission and no end date for that conflict to wind down.
This effort that I've introduced allows the president through the end of July and to defeat or degrade significantly the Iranian ability to develop a nuclear weapon. But it very clearly does not allow for nation building, the use of ground troops, except to, you know, do rescue missions and things of that sort. But it lays clear guide rails in place and has an end date in mind so that we can wind this conflict down.
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I think the blockade that has been in effect has been a significant leverage point. So it would allow the President to continue to do that. But again, it doesn't allow for nation building or some of the other things that have dragged us into Middle Eastern conflicts that have taken decades to resolve.
TAPPER: Do you think that there will be sufficient support among Republicans for your resolution to pass?
BARRETT: You know, I certainly hope so. I introduced this in good faith because I want to bring the conversation to the head about what we need to do to reclaim that constitutional authority. The War Powers Act that goes back to the 1970s is very clear. The president is given 60 days in delegated authority from Congress to act without congressional -- without congressional approval.
After that point, which we just passed roughly a week and a half ago, the President needs to have authority from Congress to act. That's why I put forth what I think is the appropriate way to go about that. We've already had positive conversations with other members. I actually was talking to another member of my conference on my way over here who is giving me some encouragement as well.
So we're hoping to have good conversations in that. I'm hoping to have conversations with Democrats about it, about how we can go about the most responsible way to carry this forward.
TAPPER: So you represent a battleground district in a battleground state, Lansing area, Michigan. The President said today he was asked if he's thinking about Americans financial hardships, which I'm sure you hear about all the time when he's trying to bring it into the war. And he said no, he doesn't think about that at all. That's not -- that's not what he's thinking about.
No, I understand the context of what he's saying. He's trying to say no. I'm just focused on them not having a nuclear weapon. But because of this war, your constituents are hurting. So do you think that was a mistake for him to say it the way he said it?
BARRETT: Well, you know, I certainly do see and feel the reality of what people are facing in my district. I mean, gas is, you know, $4.40 a gallon. As I, you know, left for the airport to come here today to Washington, D.C. I see that I filled up my gas tank yesterday. I know what people in my district are looking at and seeing and feeling when gas is more expensive because of this adversarial effect of what the Iranians are doing.
But I also want to make sure that my kids and hopefully someday my grandkids have affordable energy and a nuclear free Iran. And those two things don't have to be mutually exclusive. I think we can get to the resolution point with the blockade that we are doing to bring the Iranians to the table to leverage that into a peaceful outcome that doesn't necessitate the use of American ground troops. And that can wrap this conflict up in a timely way.
And then we can get back to the issues of making an abundance of American energy so that we're not so dependent on foreign adversaries as it relates to our own energy independence here in the United States.
TAPPER: So one of the things that's going on is some of your fellow Republicans are questioning whether the Pakistanis are the right people to be trying to mediate an end to this conflict. And I want you to listen to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham earlier today expressing frustration during a hearing with Secretary Hegseth and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Razin Caine. He's referring to a CBS News report about Pakistan helping the Iranians. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I don't trust Pakistan as far as I can throw them. If they actually do have Iranian aircraft parked in Pakistan bases to protect Iranian military assets, that tells me we should be looking maybe for somebody else to mediate. No wonder this damn thing is going nowhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: You know, CNN has not confirmed the report that the Pakistanis are allowing the Iranians to use their airspace or their bases. But that's Senator Lindsey Graham. He's -- I imagine he is citing that for some reason. Do you have concerns about Pakistan being a mediator?
BARRETT: Well, I certainly haven't seen any evidence of that either. I'm not saying it isn't true, but I haven't seen any evidence of that myself. So I have to withhold judgment until I would see that. To me, I think that, you know, ultimately the parties, whether we do it in Pakistan or we do it somewhere else, it's going to be the parties of the United States and the Iranians that are going to bring this issue to a resolution.
We are calling for a peaceful outcome of that. We would love if the Iranian people can have a prosperous and free country. But that's not our only objective in this. And really that's not our American interest in it. That would be a great outcome if it happens.
But really our exclusive effort in this has to be to make sure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon the way that the North Koreans did in the 1990s, for example, as we set out diplomatic ways to prevent them from doing that. They were secretly developing a nuclear weapon that entire time and different than the North Koreans.
The North Koreans have a survivability instinct about them that they hold the region hostage with that. The Iranians have a martyrdom jihadi interest if they were to develop a nuclear weapon. We can't allow that to happen. I think that ultimately it's going to come to the United States and the Iranians to make an agreement as to how that can take place and whether or not the Pakistanis are the right place in Pakistan or somewhere else is the right place to do it. I'm agnostic as to where it gets done as long as the outcome of that keeps Americans safe.
TAPPER: Republican Congressman Tom Barrett of the great state of Michigan. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it and thank you service as always.
[17:15:00]
Later here on The Lead, a line of questioning that led President Trump to once again go after the news media this time calling a female reporter a quote dumbest person. But first Open Air CEO Sam Altman in and on the stand showing no love lost when Elon Musk left the tech company they started together. Altman's testimony today and how that outcome could change the future of artificial intelligence. That's next.
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TAPPER: In our Tech Lead, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the stand today in a trial that could determine the future of his company and potentially the AI industry as whole. Elon Musk is suing the company that he helped co found and fund. Musk says OpenAI betrayed him and its original nonprofit mission by shifting to a for profit model. CNN's Hadas Gold is outside the courthouse in Oakland, California.
Hadas, what did Altman tell the court?
HADAS GOLD, CNN AI CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Altman spent several hours on the stand today and he tried to tell the jury and the judge that it was Elon Musk who just wanted to control OpenAI from the start.
[17:20:02]
He said that Musk pushed for OpenAI at one point to become part of Tesla, even offering Sam Altman a position on Tesla's board. And that when Musk failed to gain control, he left and stopped donating money to OpenAI and eventually started his own competitor, XAI.
Altman tried to show that Musk was on board with the shift to a commercial venture, saying that it was the only way to be able to gain enough money and compete against the likes of Google. There was even a really weird moment where Altman testified that at one point Musk was asked if he were to gain control, what would happen if you were to die? And Musk said that it would be his children who would inherit the control of OpenAI.
Altman said that was a hair raising moment. He was very uncomfortable with that. Musk's attorneys, for their part, they really tried to focus on Sam Altman's character. One of the first questions out of the gate from them to Sam Altman was, are you completely trustworthy? They went through a laundry list of allegations from former OpenAI board members and executives who accused Sam Altman of various points of lying and of deceiving them.
But Sam Altman responded that he considers himself to be honest. He called those moments misunderstandings. And really the question is, is for the jury, even if they believe
that Sam Altman may have deceived people in the past, does that translate over to what Elon Musk is alleging in this lawsuit. In that OpenAI deceived him and unjustly enriched themselves and breached the charitable trust when they transition from this full nonprofit to having a for profit structure.
Because keep in mind, OpenAI is still technically overseen by this nonprofit foundation. So big question for the juries to think about. But much of today's testimony was just about Sam Altman's character and who he is as a person. Jake.
TAPPER: When can we expect a verdict?
GOLD: Yes, a lot of people are keeping an eye on this because as you noted this, if Elon Musk gets what he wants, which includes OpenAI completely reverting to their nonprofit structure, that would obviously scramble the landscape because OpenAI is trying to have an IPO this year. Elon Musk also wants Sam Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman to lose their positions on the board. So there's a lot riding on this. The closing arguments are expected on Thursday.
The jury will then have their time to deliberate while the judge considers the remedies. Ultimately, though, it's up to the judge here. The jury's verdict is just an advisory basis for the judge. And the judge will be the one to decide whether Elon Musk has a point in all of his allegations and whether he will get all of the remedies that he wants.
Because keep in mind, she doesn't have to agree with his remedies. She could decide on something else that could not alter the landscape of AI as directly as what Elon Musk wants. But we are expecting this entire trial to wrap up according to what the judge said by May 22. So just a few days from now.
TAPPER: All right, Hadas Gold. Thanks so much. Next, brand new CNN exclusive reporting revealing the extent of high risk CIA operations in Mexico targeting drug cartels.
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[17:27:10]
TAPPER: Some exclusive and brand new reporting in our World Lead for you, CNN is learning details about secret and deadly operations carried out by the CIA inside Mexico against alleged drug cartels. Joining us is CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand who's bringing us the story.
Natasha, you've been working with a team of reporters on the story. Tell us.
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So I want to show you a video first, just about what we're talking about, which was taken on March 28th. And it's on one of the busiest highways in Mexico just outside of Mexico City. There you can see that car exploding. We're told that was actually a targeted assassination carried out by CIA operations officers on the ground. It was facilitated, I should say, by CIA operations officers on the ground. And this is part of an expanded campaign to go after cartel members inside Mexico. The person in that vehicle was part of the Sinaloa cartel, according to our sources. And they were on, you know, the radar of the CIA as well as Mexican officials before they carried out this attack.
It was a very mysterious explosion. It was never fully acknowledged by the Mexican government. And what we're told now is that this was, in fact, facilitated by the agency.
Now, what this signals here is that the CIA has essentially been carrying out these kinds of attacks, these kind of targeted assassinations and deadly operations inside Mexico for several months now. And they have assassinated or taken part in deadly and lethal operations against several mid-level cartel members inside Mexico.
And it a significant expansion of the kind of thing that the CIA has actually been willing to do inside the country. And it comes from, of course, this fixation that President Trump has with eliminating the cartel, the entrenched cartel networks inside that country that he says the Mexican government is not doing enough to confront.
So, you have these CIA operations officers on the ground now who are kind of taking matters into their own hands. And we should note that, you know, there is not a full awareness necessarily all the time by the Mexican government of what these CIA officials are doing.
However, the CIA does tend to partner with some of its more trusted, you know, local partners on the ground in carrying out these operations. Very elite Mexican security forces, for example. But needless to say, Claudia Sheinbaum, who is the Mexican president, she has expressed extreme displeasure just in recent weeks with the CIA conducting operations on the ground in Mexico, saying that any foreign agents who are actually in the country need to be kind of, you know, made their presence known to the Mexican government.
And we should just note that this all kind of burst into public view last month because two U.S. embassy officials who were actually CIA operatives, they were killed in a car accident in the Mexican state of Chihuahua after coming back from a raid on a meth lab that the Mexican government says it knew nothing about.
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And so this is part of a significantly expanded presence we're seeing on the ground in Mexico right now. And, you know, it's very risky according to our sources who told us that they are concerned about the possibility of serious blowback to the agency and across the border into the U.S.
TAPPER: A fascinating story. Wow, Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Coming up, FBI Director Kash Patel and his combative defense when confronted about reports of excessive drinking once he denies. Plus, an exclusive from CNN's Anderson Cooper, his conversation with
fired former acting FBI chief Brian Driscoll digging into his claims about political purging inside the bureau.
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TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead today, FBI Director Kash Patel got into a heated exchange with a Democratic senator over the allegations against him of excessive drinking.
During a Senate hearing, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland pressed Patel about "The Atlantic" magazine's reporting, alleging that Patel is, "Alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences." Patel denies the allegations and is suing "The Atlantic," says the reporting is false, and insisting he's never been drunk at work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): These are serious allegations that were made against you. In the allegations that you filed, you drinking margaritas with a gangbangers through and on video.
KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Actually, it's just supposed to show you --
VAN HOLLEN: You running a $7,000 bar tab at the lobby bar has been filed by your own office. You drink during the day. That's you. This is the ultimate example of hypocrisy.
Mr. Chairman, are you willing to take the test, it's called the audit test, that members of our active duty military and others take to determine whether they have a drinking problem?
PATEL: I'll take any test you're willing to take.
VAN HOLLEN: I will take it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Also in our Law and Justice Lead today, a CNN Anderson Cooper 360 exclusive for the very first time, the Trump administration's former acting FBI director, Brian Driscoll, is talking about his firing from the FBI. Driscoll served as acting director for 31 days, capping a 21-year-long career in public service.
He's now talking about what he saw and tried to stop inside the bureau as the Trump administration took over and ultimately forced him out. Driscoll spoke with Anderson about his time at the FBI during the second Trump administration. He points to an interaction he had with Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official at the time, who wanted a list of all FBI employees who had been involved in investigations related to President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRIAN DRISCOLL, INITIALLY, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR OF THE FBI: Initially, he wanted to fire the essentially the top six, the executive assistant directors and a few field leaders. We were resistant to that. Let them get to retirement please, and not potentially compromise their health benefits for their family, their pension. He articulated, I'll think about it.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The following day, according to Driscoll, Bove wanted a lot more, a list of FBI employees associated with investigations into the January 6th attacks at the Capitol. He says he also referenced a core case team of investigators, which Driscoll says did not actually exist.
DRISCOLL: Upwards of 6,000 agents, analysts, professional staff, FBI employees of all types, were working investigations that they were told to work. We don't choose. And Rob and I were on that list as well. It had nothing to do with us. It was everybody else.
COOPER: So Bove is wanting a list that would have as many as 6,000 names on it. Did those people do anything wrong?
DRISCOLL: No. There was never any specific allegations or accusations coming from Bove that, OK, these people on this list committed some kind of legal or policy violation.
COOPER: In the lawsuit, it says that Bove told you that an allegation of misconduct was not necessary for him to terminate FBI personnel if he subjectively felt a loss of confidence in their ability to carry out the president's agenda.
DRISCOLL: When that request was made, we take it in. OK, tell me more why. Oh, well, you know, cultural rot in the FBI.
COOPER: That was a phrase they used, cultural rot.
DRISCOLL: Yes. All of these other uninformed and wrong opinions that they felt very strongly about. So I was telling them this is wrong. And if there is corruption or misconduct, we've looked into it, but we will look into it again. But I don't have the trust to just blindly give you a list of names and hope that they don't get fired.
I was resistant legally and professionally, resistant to providing the names unless you tell me they're going to be subject to existing processes to investigate any accusations of misconduct, corruption, whatever. Articulate to me that process. And the only response I got was they will be subject to a DOJ led review. And he couldn't articulate what that review would entail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: Brian Driscoll sued Kash Patel, the FBI and the U.S. government for wrongful termination and retaliation. The Justice Department rejected those claims and filed a motion to dismiss. CNN has reached out to the White House, the Justice Department, the FBI, Director Kash Patel and received no response. Emil Bove declined to comment as well. Anderson's full interview with Brian Driscoll airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern exclusively on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360.
Coming up next, the topic that led President Trump to lash out at a reporter before taking off to China.
[17:39:57]
Plus, a special appearance from all the top late night comedians with Stephen Colbert ahead of his final show on CBS next week. Hear the comment from Jimmy Kimmel that got quite the reaction from the audience.
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TAPPER: Our Politics Lead now. A new CNN poll should be a wake-up call for Republicans as we head into the midterm, 73 percent of those poll say current economic conditions are poor and the cost of living keeps rising. Just today, we learned that the inflation rate in April soared to 3.8 percent. That's the highest it's been in three years.
As of today, with less than six months until voters go to the polls, nearly eight in 10 Americans say that President Trump's policies are making the inflation problem worse. My panel joins me now. Jeff Zeleny, here's how those polls, some of them articulated how things are going for them personally. "My life is not affordable. No one cares." Or "It's more expensive to exist." Or "You're just staying afloat instead of getting ahead." Or "It should not be like this."
[17:45:16]
And let us remember, of course, this is the issue that helped Donald Trump get re-elected. How worried should Republicans be?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: They should be very worried. And this isn't news to them, obviously. This is something that Republican candidates have been hearing all the time. And add a few others. I can't afford to fill my gas tank. It is now twice as much as it cost before. The rent is too high.
I hear this constantly as we travel across the country. Republicans hear it as well. This is not a surprise to the President. I mean, he suggested that the economic concerns and worries of the American people are not his problem. That is something that I think we're going to hear again and again.
I think we remember when President Obama in that campaign at the time, Senator Obama, made a lot of hay out of the fact that John McCain said the fundamentals of the economy are strong. I mean, that is not something that's good for a incumbent President. But look, the question, the flip side is, do Democrats have a policy to make things better?
TAPPER: I haven't heard --
AYESHA RASCOE, NPR HOST, "WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY": Well, that's -- that's the thing. The Democrats don't have a plan to fix the economy because the economy is really hard to fix. There are some structural issues going on. But usually the party in control is the one that gets like all of the blame. And Trump is not doing a good job at all. He's basically, you know, when it comes to messaging on this, it's like we're going into a golden age. People don't want to hear about a golden age when they're paying $4.50 or $5 at the pump.
TAPPER: Yes.
RASCOE: Like that just doesn't resonate.
TAPPER: And look at this, Ayesha. The President's not pulling on the economy. Democrats do not have Congress locked down by any means. This same poll showed that the Democratic Party's lead on the generic House ballot is not growing.
RASCOE: Yes.
TAPPER: I mean, and as you note, well, I mean, look, I'm old enough to remember Nancy Pelosi recapturing the House in 2006, I think it was. She had like a whole 20 point plan or whatever. Same thing in 2018. No offense to Hakeem Jeffries, but what is the messaging from Democrats?
RASCOE: I think that's -- the Democrats right now really don't seem to have a message. They don't really seem to have a leader, right? Like they don't have a voice at like one voice, not a unified voice.
TAPPER: Yes.
RASCOE: And I think that is the issue. And that's what people are kind of, you know, that's what we're seeing in the polls is that people are like, well, throw them all away because we don't know who is going to be advocating for us. And what is the plan? And there may be have -- there may have to be some hard conversations about what the American dream looks like now. But I don't think any politician right now wants to have that, you know.
TAPPER: Yes. And one of the things one of the things they're hearing from President Trump is talk about the ballroom, talk about the reflecting pool. Obviously, he talks a lot about Iran. Before he left for China today, he took questions from reporters. I want to play an exchange he had with a reporter from "MSNOW," I should note, happens to be a female reporter, happens to be a female reporter of color reporter from "MSNOW" who asked him about the White House ballroom construction and the cost of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've doubled the size of it because we obviously need that. And we're right now on budget, under budget and ahead of schedule.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The price has doubled? The price has doubled?
TRUMP: I doubled the size of it, you dumb person. I doubled the size. You are not a smart person. (END VIDEO CLIP)
RASCOE: I mean, you know, and I should say, like, yes, reporters can report. They can do stories that politicians don't like. It's not that we have no power at all. But in that situation, when someone's calling you dumb, the reporter can't say back to the President, well, you're dumb, too, or whatever they may feel, right? Like it's very one sided, right? Like he's insulting people in a very personal way and they can't really fight back, which kind of seems like a bully.
TAPPER: He also does seem to have a predilection for taking on women and women of color.
RASCOE: Absolutely. And we saw it over and over again when I was at the White House. So many women of color from April Ryan to Abby Phillips and others who were, you know, personally attacked. And some of them -- a lot of them got threats and all sorts of things. So it's not just him saying things like, oh, you know, sticks and stones may break my bones. Like people actually do threats on some of these reporters. It's serious.
ZELENY: And it's also a deflection. I mean, the reality is the cost overruns on the ballroom, the reflecting pool, all that is adding up. And it's one of the many factors that people are sort of calculating in there. So that issue is not going away, particularly when the Senate is going to either vote or not on spending taxpayer dollars on the ballroom that he said wasn't going to be funded that way. So absent the insults, which he's always going to have, the substance of this is a problem for Trump.
TAPPER: Yes, which is maybe why he was he responded the way he did. He said this issue is not going away. But something that is going away is the late show with Stephen Colbert. And last night we saw a very rare thing. All of these late night hosts came together on Colbert's show in a moment of support for him, especially the way that his show was canceled while "CBS" was under attack by Trump and the FCC. Take a listen to this exchange with Jimmy Kimmel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[17:50:15]
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": You're all fine hosts and leaders of shows in your own right. Is there anything that we have not touched on before we move on to this? I'm curious.
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!": The outrage that your show is being thrown off the air.
COLBERT: Yes, yes. Yes, it's weird.
KIMMEL: I mean, I hope that in this, you know, I really I'm waiting for angry Stephen to come out. I want to see you go nuts just on a level.
When this guy takes off his glasses and shakes out his hair, it's the sexiest damn thing you've ever seen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: But there is there is a serious thing going on there that Kimmel knows well, which is pressure by the government, the Trump administration on oligarchs. And all of a sudden, all these critics of the presidents are being taken off the air.
RASCOE: Well, and also you have the FCC threatening, you know, a network anchors and network, you know, comedians basically saying that they're going to investigate them. They're going to investigate their licenses and all of these things. I mean, so this is a very even though it's like funny and they're making jokes, it is a very serious threat to freedom of speech. When you have the government directly saying, oh, you're saying things we don't like, we're going to investigate you. We're going to use our power as regular regulators to come after you.
ZELENY: I mean, no doubt. I mean, and the reality is the -- we're only in not even a year and a half of the Trump administration. So look, is everything so much has changed from the FCC point of view. Who knows what's going to happen by the end of the term there. But I thought seeing the comics there together. One thing's clear. The jokes aren't going away because a lot of things aren't funny, obviously, but other people still have their shows and the Trump administration is still going to be hammered by a lot of this as many presidents have before them. He's not unique in this at all.
TAPPER: Well, the -- and the other thing, I mean, Kimmel obviously was taken off the air briefly, and then there was a renewed push to take him off the air. A few weeks ago, Seth Meyers at the "Upfronts" a day or two ago said, hello, my name is Seth Myers, or as the FCC calls me next. I mean, there is this real chilling factor out there when it comes to speech. And it's not just late night hosts. It's also news.
RASCOE: It's absolutely news. And, you know, they're using whatever levers they can to come after what they call the fake news or whatever. And I mean, even NPR lost our federal funding.
TAPPER: Yes.
RASCOE: You know, look, it's so these are real issues that are having real impacts.
TAPPER: All right. Thanks to both. Really appreciate it.
Coming up next, the U.S. mayor stepping down, preparing to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government. The encrypted messages that prosecutors say she was exchanging with a Chinese government official.
[17:52:57]
Plus, more confirmed cases of Hantavirus since this time yesterday. What we know about passengers staying at hospitals here in the U.S., including new details about how at least one man is passing his time. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, a Southern California mayor resigned and will plead guilty to acting as an agent for the Chinese government. Eileen Wang had served on the city council for Arcadia, which is just outside Los Angeles, since 2022. She was selected as mayor in February of this year, but prosecutors say she spread pro- China propaganda in the U.S. before her time in office at the behest of officials of the Chinese government, which is a federal crime.
CNN's Josh Campbell takes a look now at some of the material that could send the now former mayor to prison.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Your reaction to this sentence?
EILEEN WANG, FORMER MAYOR OF ARCADIA: I don't have the comments right now.
CAMPBELL (voice-over): Eileen Wang, who just stepped down as the mayor of Arcadia, California, previously acted as an illegal agent for the Chinese government, according to her plea agreement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office. She's agreed to plead guilty and has resigned.
JUSTINE BRUNO, ARCADIA DEPUTY CITY MANAGER: These are serious charges. This is the conduct of one individual. So no other city council members are under investigation. The city's not under investigation.
CAMPBELL (voice-over): Wang is accused of acting on behalf of the People's Republic of China officials from 2020 through 2022, before she ran for Arcadia City Council and later became mayor, sharing articles on a website called U.S. News Center that purported to be a news source for the local Chinese-American community.
She acted without prior notification to U.S. officials as required by law. The charge against her carries a term of up to 10 years in federal prison. According to the plea agreement, Wang, along with her ex-fiance, exchanged encrypted messages with a Chinese government official who instructed them on content to post and in one instance to correct an article published in "The L.A. Times."
The PRC official thanked them for their reporting. Defendant responded, received, then sent the PRC official a screenshot showing that the article had been viewed 15,128 times, to which he responded, great. Defendant then responded, thank you, leader. Wang's attorney said in a statement the conduct relates to a "media platform" that she once operated with someone whom she believed to be her fiance and not to her conduct as an elected public official.
Prosecutors in the case say Wang's actions underscore a looming threat from the Chinese government.
AMANDA ELBOGEN, ASST. U.S. ATTORNEY, NATIONAL SECURITY DIVISION: The campaign that China is engaging in and enlisting agents here who are not acting overtly really undermines our national security and it undermines the democratic fabric of our society.
[18:00:00]
CAMPBELL (voice-over): Josh Campbell, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, there are now 11 cases of Hantavirus.
