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The Lead with Jake Tapper

U.S. Added 266,000 Jobs in April, Well Below the 1M Expected; Biden Admits There is a "Long Way to Go" in Economic Recovery; Pfizer Applies for Full FDA Approval of Its COVID Vaccine; In 2015 Stefanik Harshly Blasted Trump's Rhetoric and Policies; Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R- IL) is Interviewed About the GOP Family Feud; Federal Grand Jury Indicts Four Ex-Officers in Minneapolis for Violating Floyd's Civil Rights. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired May 07, 2021 - 16:00   ET

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


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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And do you show an MRI, do you show how the behavior changed? I mean, this is real and we'll see how far this can go in court and if other people end up claiming something like this, too.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Of course, we'll continue to follow those cases. But for now, THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

(MUSIC)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: So, I hope the pending swarm of ravenous cicadas does not ruin your view of the rogue Chinese rocket hurtling towards Earth.

THE LEAD starts right now.

Major hiccup in the major economic comeback. President Biden reacting to a jobs report according to all the experts and not in a good way. Where are all the jobs? Or should we be asking, where are all workers?

She said Donald Trump is, quote, not who we are as a country, but now she's the congresswoman Donald Trump wants to replace Liz Cheney. So how did Elise Stefanik go from being a Trump skeptic to one of the biggest spreaders of the big lie?

Plus, wear your mask and earplugs. A thundering herd of billions of cicadas are coming, so where are they headed?

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

We start today with our money lead. And President Biden today attempting to put a positive spin on a massively disappointing jobs report. President Biden saying any growth proves that the economy is moving in the right direction but even he is admitting that there's a, quote, long way to go. The April jobs report shows the U.S. added 266,000 jobs which in

normal times would be a solid performance, but economists had predicted that the widespread vaccine rollout and the reopening of the economy would spur hiring, and they had expected that jobs report to show at least 1 million, 1 million new jobs added to the economy. Instead, the U.S. got just about a quarter of that.

And while President Biden is attempting to spin those numbers, his treasury secretary offered a more blunt assessment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY: If I had had to write down a number is my best guess it would have been higher, but I've watched data for a long time, and I think that it is extremely volatile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Phil Mattingly joins us live from the White House.

Phil, what does the White House think went wrong?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jake, White House officials I've spoken with all day and have really led with one thing, and that's caution, caution of reading too much into a single report. Yes, there's a level of political expediency there when it's a miss that's just this large compared to what economists expected.

But there's also numbers themselves. If you dig into this report, there's a lot of contradictory data that doesn't underscore a single through line as to why the miss actually happened. Obviously, there are signs that there is a tightening labor market, something that Republicans and some economists have been pointing out to the White House with concern given the scale of President Biden's $4 trillion economic proposals that are on the table.

But you also saw industries that were hardest hit by the pandemic add significant number of jobs. You saw chokeholds really when it come to the supply chain really have an impact on certain industries as well. You saw people not going back to work or staying away from work perhaps because of fear of the virus or perhaps they don't have childcare. In other words, the pandemic has led to a recovery and led to a jobs report where folks don't necessarily know what to expect, treading through new ground here, no question about that.

However, if there was one message from President Biden when he discussed this jobs report said, he believes what the administration has done up to this point has helped and what it needs to do is much more.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today's report makes clear, thank goodness we passed the American Rescue Plan. Help is here and more help is on the way and more represent is needed. We're still dig our way out of a very deep hole we were put in. No one should underestimate how tough this battle is. We still have a job to do here in Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And that job is really going to kick into high gear in earnest next week. Obviously, the president has made very clear he wants bipartisan negotiations related to at least a piece of the plans he's put on the table. His infrastructure proposal, he will get that the with multiple White House meetings with Republicans, trying to see if there's a pathway forward to move forward on that economic agenda, jobs report or not, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Phil Mattingly at the White House for us, thanks so much.

Joining us to discuss is CNN's Richard Quest and columnist and associate editor for "The Financial Times", Rana Foroohar.

Richard, let me start with you. What happened? I mean, how did we end up with such a disappointing jobs report especially after $2 trillion in stimulus?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: Well, a lot of that stimulus hasn't arrived yet, but you're right. You're right, Jake. You call it disappointing. I would add to that confused because the underlying numbers across working hours, average hourly week, all those sorts of things were good and yet the headline number was so far off what people had expected, the discrepancy was so large.

[16:05:03]

And so I come back to the oldest answer of all which is don't read too much into one month's numbers which is the absolute safety net that economists always use at times like this.

The thing to watch out for is what the market did today. Now, the market, the Dow and S&P, were at record highs. Why? Because they liked this poor number. It suggests if things are not going as well as they think, as people had hoped, it suggests that interest rates will not be going up any time soon.

This is a confused number. Take it with a pinch of salt.

TAPPER: Rana, I want to get your reaction to something that we heard from President Biden this afternoon. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We knew we were facing a once in a century pandemic and once in a generation economic crisis, and we knew this wouldn't be a sprint. It would a marathon. Quite frankly, we're moving more rapidly than I thought we would.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Give us a reality check on that.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Yeah, well, he's absolutely right. The thing that changes the labor market in big ways are pandemics, wars, natural events. That means that there's a lot going on at once, and I think that you can actually see that in this report.

You know, you've had women dropping out of the workforce now for many, many months trying to deal with child care, trying to deal with elder care. I think that that's still a big factor here.

You also have unexpected shortages popping up. So, truck drivers, I mean, just try filling a position for a truck driver. Not easy these days. That's about the supply chains that have been bottled up and the logistics problems having to do with the pandemic.

You know, certainly, there are -- there's -- Republicans saying there's some issues, you know, the payout being so much that people may not be looking for work as actively as possible, but I also think that technology is playing a role because companies are investing a lot right now in digital resources, technology software and, you know, that's going to create jobs longer term, but it's going to displace some people in the short term.

TAPPER: Yeah, and, Richard, let's talk about what Rana just referred to, Republicans blaming Democrats, blaming the Biden administration saying, of course, it makes sense. You keep giving $1,400 checks to people. The public is getting these enhanced unemployment benefits from the federal government. Of course, they are not flocking back to the workplace.

What do you think? Is there anything to that?

QUEST: Yes, yes, there is something to it. Anecdotally, there isn't a restaurant I haven't been to here in New York where the mate d or the owner or manager hasn't said to me we can't find workers.

When you ask why, they say because at the moment people are being very picky because they can get just about or maybe a bit less or maybe a bit more by going on unemployment with the enhanced benefits.

Now, look, this might not be a particularly pleasant argument for liberals or socially acceptable argument at the moment, but anecdotally and the number and the evidence shows it, that the higher level of unemployment benefit at the moment of insurance is potentially acting as a disincentive in certain key industries. It's a fact, yes.

TAPPER: And, Rana, the Republican governor of Montana said his state would stop participating federal programs of boosted unemployment next month. Instead, Montana is going to offer a $1,200 return-to-work bonus. What do you make of that?

FOROOHAR: Well, you know, what I make of that is we have a very big country with totally different job situations in different states and this has always been one of the issues in trying to regulate the labor market in America. I mean, $15 an hour works in some places and not so well in others. There's a lot of variation right now, and frankly I'm for states having a little bit of flexibility to deal with the problems that they have.

TAPPER: And, Richard, Speaker Pelosi reacted to the jobs report saying, quote, the disappointing April jobs report passes the urgent need to pass President Biden's American Jobs and Families Plan.

Do you think this might make it easier for Biden to sell $4 trillion worth of infrastructure and social safety net programs such as childcare, elder care because of what happened?

QUEST: Well, they will certainly try and it's an argument that will be made time and again. But as I come back to what you said at the beginning, it's a disappointing number. It's a confused number, and I think that anybody who really knows what they are doing here will say hang on. We need to see -- we need to see the June number.

Remember, the revisions were lower so things aren't as good as we thought they might be, but we need to see a June number and a July number and certainly I don't think this number you can hang $4 trillion on, not at this point, no. They will try, but it doesn't really hold up to it.

TAPPER: Richard and Rana, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

And coming cup, I'm going ask the Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm about the disappointing jobs report and when that might mean for the U.S. economic recovery.

Plus, a big change could be coming soon on the vaccine front. It could change a lot of vaccine hesitant minds and hearts. That's next.

And breaking today, new charges from the feds for the man convicted of murdering George Floyd and three other former police officers.

Stay with us.

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TAPPER: In our health lead today, today, Pfizer became the first vaccine-maker in the United States to apply for full FDA approval. That would, of course, be a step up from its current emergency use authorization.

Now, some doctors hope that non-emergency authorization will help reduce vaccine hesitancy as CNN's Erica Hill now reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pfizer applying for full FDA approval of its vaccine for ages 16 and up. DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: For a

lot of people who are on the fence, who are worried about, well, this is emergency use, should I get vaccinated, it will give them confidence, and then there are a lot of businesses who want to require that their employees be vaccinated but have been waiting for this full approval. I think that's going to bump up vaccinations for a lot of folks.

HILL: A third of the U.S. population is now fully vaccinated.

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More than 150 million have at least one dose, but the average daily pace of vaccinations continues to drop.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: When you get vaccinated though, you break that chain of transmission by giving the virus one less place to hide in your community.

HILL: That proof in the numbers. The average rate of hospitalizations and daily reported deaths across the country continues to fall. At normal life, it feels closer than ever.

DR. CHRIS T. PERNELL, AMERICAN COLLEGE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE FELLOW: We need to give people a sense of hope and encouragement that things are going to get better because they are getting better.

HILL: New York City restaurants can now see diners inside at 75 percent capacity.

Kentucky governor's aiming for an end to all capacity restrictions by July.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): We just held the largest sporting event since the COVID pandemic started. We are doing this right.

HILL: The former head of the FDA says it's time to move forward.

DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: I think we should start lifting these restrictions as quickly as we put them in. I think the only way to earn public credibility is to demonstrate that you're willing to relax these provisions when the situation improves. That's what gives you the credibility to implement them when things worsen.

HILL: Air travel just hit a new pandemic report. The TSA screened more than 1.64 million people Thursday, a recent travel survey industry finds 72 percent of Americans plan to take a vacation this summer. That's up from just 37 percent in 2020.

Yet another sign of pre-pandemic norms slowly returning.

JHA: Just pay attention to how much infection there is in the community. Exercise some basic level of safeguards. I think it's very safe to do stuff this summer.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HILL (on camera): So in terms of where we're at, I do want to give you some new numbers from the CDC, taking a look at what happened since that pause was lifted on Johnson & Johnson's vaccine. Well, in the two weeks since the pause was lifted, those doses accounted for just 3.5 percent of total doses administered over the past seven days.

Jake, as you know, we've been talking about how the pace of vaccinations is slowing overall, but that obviously a much bigger drop.

TAPPER: All right. Erica Hill, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Let's bring in our chief medical correspondent for CNN, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, when many people showed up to get the shot they were notified their vaccine was not fully approved, only authorized for emergency use. So, Pfizer submitting this new application today. Will there be a big difference if the FDA ultimately grabs full non-emergency approval?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't think there will feel like a big difference, Jake. I mean, there's plenty of vaccine that's out there so people who want it can obviously still get it. It may help change the minds of people who said, look, I'm drawing a distinction between authorized which feels too rushed and now approval.

But the vaccine itself did go through the large clinical trials, safety, follow-up to gain authorization and now, it's that same process, just longer, and that's what -- they are using that data to get approval. Let me show you the data they're going to submit to the FDA. It's going to look very familiar because it reflects I think a lot of what they saw during the authorization process.

In terms of preventing illness across the board, over 90 percent, 91 percent effective there, and for severe disease, the kind of disease that will lead you to the hospital, 100 percent effective which is, you know, incredible. We cited these numbers before, but they hold up, Jake.

As part of this as well, they have to prove that they can manufacture at the scale that they need to manufacture for approval, and it might make the process of these booster shots getting through the process quickly in the future as well. So we'll see what happens, but I think those are some of the advantages for them.

TAPPER: So assuming that Pfizer does get full non-emergency approval, that does raise questions about whether or not a vaccine requirement for people to return to work or school is appropriate. California's public university systems are among a growing lives colleges that say they would require an FDA-approved vaccination for in-person class as opposed to emergency use.

What's your take on possible mandates in the name of public health? GUPTA: Well, you know, we had those already. I mean, this is not a new

thing. Elementally school, you and I have elementary schoolchildren or grade schoolchildren and they do require vaccines in many school districts to attend school in person. Adult vaccinations are not as common, but there are school districts and university systems around the country that require things like hepatitis B vaccinations, even flu vaccinations. So this isn't entirely new.

I think that the idea that this would be approved versus authorized is going to make that -- that case easier to make. It's not that it won't come with a fight. I know the University of Michigan where I went to school, they proposed this idea as well. They are getting some pushback on whether or not they can actually do this but, you know, private organizations certainly can, public organizations I think can make a much stronger case now.

TAPPER: On incentives, Rowan University in New Jersey is offering students a $500 credit towards registration or housing with proof of being vaccinated.

And check this one out in Tennessee. People who get a shot in Memphis can enter a sweepstakes for a new car.

Do you think these kinds of incentives can go further than just telling people get your shot to save your neighbor, possibly a cash bonus or new car? Does it work?

GUPTA: Well, you know, Jake, I didn't know the answer to that. So, you know, we went and looked at some of the data around this because they are polling on this sort of stuff it turns out it can make a difference in a specific group of people.

Let me show you, you know, the willingness of people to get vaccinated. You've seen some representation of these numbers in the past far left, the dark blue, people who say they have already gotten it and on the right side are the people of less likely to get it, but it's area in the middle that's been shrinking a bit so people have been more likely to flip over and get the vaccine, but it's that area in the middle where the incentives can make the biggest difference.

What they found interestingly in this Kaiser poll, Jake, was that out of all those various incentives, some of the biggest ones with the biggest impact were money, $200 seemed to be the sweet spot and also having paid time off. So, you know, you are saying I'm going to get the shot. I may feel like I have some symptoms or not feel well after the shot. I want paid time off for that. Those incentives seem to make the biggest difference.

TAPPER: All right. I mean, I did it for free. Dr. Sanjay Gpta, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Not even a beer.

GUPTA: You got it.

TAPPER: Anyway, he started the #coverupjanuary6th over GOP efforts to boot Liz Cheney from leadership. Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger joins us to talk about what he calls a capitulation to crazy. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:26:28]

TAPPER: In our politics lead today -- inappropriate, insulting, offensive, that's how New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik once described Donald Trump's rhetoric and policy proposals. But that was then, way back in 2015 and 2016. Now, Stefanik is one of Trump's fiercest defenders, willing to push the big lie, even vote to overturn the election and disenfranchise millions of Pennsylvanians.

Stefanik is also poised to replace Congresswoman Liz Cheney and House Republican leadership, even though Cheney is empirically more conservative and votes for Trump policies more reliably. But Stefanik now has Trump's backing.

Not too long ago, however, CNN's KFILE found out that Stefanik was singing quite a different tune.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): I think he has been insulting to women. I think that this may be Mr. Trump's peak moment and I think we're going to see his numbers change. I think in the presidential field there are some candidates who over the long run, and they have already started this process, are somewhat disqualifying themselves with untruthful statements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Untruthful statements.

CNN's Manu Raju is live from the Hill.

Manu, Stefanik is now sharing those untruthful statements.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, she's aligning herself very closely with Donald Trump, this despite the fact that she five Republicans voted less often with Donald Trump than she did.

And you mentioned those critical statements, but she got on Trump's radar in 2019 when she vigorously defended him during the first impeachment and has aligned with him as Trump tried to overturn the electoral results and joining efforts to try to disenfranchise voters across key battleground states and breaking with Liz Cheney who called out Donald Trump.

But today on a radio program, the late Rush Limbaugh's radio program, she went on to make clear that she has strong pro-Trump credentials.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

STEFANIK: We need fighters. President Trump is a fighter on behalf of the American people and voters want voters to stand up for them, and that's what I'm committed to doing, to unify the message, to earn the support of our Republican colleagues and fight for hard-working American families.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, part of reason why she's doing that is she's trying to shore up her right flank amid criticism over her past vote willing record. There have been questions about whether she's conservative enough to be the number three House Republican.

She is meeting on Monday with the House Freedom Caucus, which is the most conservative of the House Republican conference. We'll see what comes out of that, but come Wednesday, Jake, that's when we expect the vote to occur to replace Liz Cheney and put Stefanik in her place. That vote could be delayed, though, if more conservative speak out and ask for the leadership to postpone it.

TAPPER: All right. Manu Raju on Capitol Hill.

Let's go right to Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.

Congressman, good to see you.

So, Stefanik is saying she wants to unite the Republican Party but she's been lying about the voting in Georgia run by a Republican, supporting the deranged audit of votes in Arizona run by a Republican. How does that unite the party?

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): It doesn't. You know, unity has been interesting because everybody has been talking about unity and what they say is, let's unify under everything that Donald Trump says, as a party.

Well, Donald Trump says the election was stolen. Donald Trump says January 6th was just a bunch of hugging and kissing.

That's not unity. That is capitulation. And what is saying is that anybody that believes the truth just four months ago, that there was an insurrection led by Donald Trump and many of his supporters, if you believe that, somehow we can co-exist with a lie.

[16:30:12]

And you just can't -- truth and lie cannot co-exist. There are going to be always shades of gray in things, but this is something where there's no shade.

And so, unity can't exist under those pretenses. So, what they are saying is, if you don't go along with the big lie, if you don't go along with the fact that the election was stolen, then you basically need to go and that's what that unity is.

And, you know, Elise particularly, look, I was friends with her. I've been saddened with kind of this evolution because Elise I think is the exact kind of leader the party needs to lead people away from this dark moment we're in. But instead for whatever reason, she made the decision to go on Sebastian Gorka's show, to go on Steve Bannon's show and to get this position perpetuating this big lie.

TAPPER: Has she reached out to you to get your vote?

KINZINGER: No, I don't -- I don't think she will be reaching out. I'm pretty clear where I stand which is, you know, Liz Cheney is saying the same thing that Kevin McCarthy said right after January 6th, that this is Donald Trump, and it's time for us as a party to focus on idea and move on.

Liz has been consistent. Obviously, Kevin McCarthy hasn't. No facts have changed since January 6th except for the fact that there was a belief that the only way to win a majority was to go back to Donald Trump and I think it's that action, by the way, that is actually the thing that has rehabilitated Donald Trump in the party. We had a real opportunity to leave him behind, and instead, we just basically put the paddles on and he's back to life in the party.

TAPPER: But still, Stefanik is likely going to be next Republican conference chair, right? She has the votes.

KINZINGER: I guess so. Yeah, that's what I'm hearing, and, obviously, I'll vote for Liz and hope there's enough people to retain here, but it may very well be Elise and, you know, that's the decision that the party makes.

The party -- you know, I'm one member of the party. I'm going to do my best. I'm going to fight as hard as I can to save the party, but the party is not just me. They're going to make a decision.

And quite honestly, if we go the route of the big lie and Donald Trump, you may get a temporary hit (ph) of -- maybe win the majority, I don't know, I don't think you will, but I guarantee you in the long arc of history, this is not going to bode well for Republicans.

TAPPER: How many of the Republican caucus do you think actually believes this lie? Actually thinks that the fix was in and all the Republican governors and Republican election officials and Republican- appointed judges and the U.S. Supreme Court, everybody is in on this. The election was completely stolen. There was crazy software, the Chinese sent in bamboo ballots, whatever.

How many of your colleagues actually believe this, do you think?

KINZINGER: Oh, keep in mind the CIA, the DOD attacked the CIA server farm supposedly in Germany as well as many other crazy methods.

TAPPER: Right.

KINZINGER: How many actually believe it? Five probably, if that, maybe. I don't know, but it's in the single -- it's low.

People don't believe it, but what they are doing is they're sitting around saying, I need to continue to exist in this job so that I can make an impact. I don't have the courage or the strength or the ability to -- to swing this party so I'm going to put my head down and go along. And some people have made the decision that grabbing on to the Trump train again even though it has been derailed is the best way for us to push whatever. And some just want to destroy the place, so like legislative terrorists, as John Boehner called them.

But, you know, the reality is, I asked all of my colleagues to listen to the interview right here on CNN with Don Lemon that Officer Mike Fanone had, where he opened his heart as to what he feels, the difficulties he's had, and he's speaking on behalf of the D.C. metro that showed up heroically and Capitol Police officers that had hand- to-hand combat defending the Capitol that day.

As far as I know, there's a lot of my colleagues that have not listened to that, particularly Kevin McCarthy has not heard whether he's talked to Officer Fanone. I would certainly encourage him to do so before he goes on playing this big lie.

TAPPER: And Fanone, he recently wrote a letter to members of Congress, saying, quote, I was pulled out into the crowd, away from my fellow officers, beaten with fists, metal object, stripped of my issued badge, radio and ammunition magazine and electrocuted numerous times with a Taser. It's been 119 days since 850 metro police officers responded to the Capitol and stopped the violent insurrection. The time to fully recognize these officers' actions is now, unquote.

Other than Liz Cheney, have any other Republican leaders in the House stood with the men and women in blue and recognized what happened January 6th to people like Officer Fanone?

KINZINGER: Honestly, I don't know. I haven't seen Kevin do it. I haven't seen Steve Scalise do it. I've seen them go on, you know, only media that's not going to ask them that question where they can continue to say the big lie theory and smile about Donald Trump.

[16:35:06]

I would encourage anybody, look, you know, you hear a lot of leaders now saying it's time to move on. Let's focus on the future and ideas. And, I agree, let's focus on the future and ideas, let's do that after we have a full reckoning, or while we're having a full reckoning of what happened just four months ago.

This isn't a decade ago. This isn't, you know, even five years ago. This is four months ago. Let's have a reckoning of what happened.

The number of officers that put their lives on the line that have scars both mentally and physically because of what happened on January 6th that was caused by our party. It was caused by our party, and we as a party that believe in this country and we salute the soldiers when they come home from service, we as a party have a responsibility to ourselves and to the American people for a full reckoning, a full accounting and then moving on with an optimistic view of the future and not simply reflecting people's fears back to them for fund- raising.

TAPPER: Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, thank you so much for your time today. We appreciate it.

KINZINGER: You bet, Jake.

TAPPER: Derek Chauvin now facing federal charges in George Floyd's death, and for another alleged use of excessive force grabbing a 14- year-old by the throat.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:40:45]

TAPPER: In our national lead today, today, a federal grand jury indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd's murder. The indictment alleges that they violated many of Floyd's constitutional rights. These federal charges come just two weeks after a jury found Derek Chauvin guilty on state murder charges kneeling on Floyd's neck last year for nine and a half minutes, and as the three other officers involved, Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane all face a trial on state charges in August.

CNN's Omar Jimenez has been following the Floyd case from the beginning and he joins me now.

Omar, exactly what are these four officers now charged with, and could this lead to another trial? How is this handled?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake. So, these federal charges are coming in addition to the state charges, so these four former Minneapolis police officers could face a new trial in federal court. Now, with these federal indictments, we're seeing three counts of civil rights violations listed, and they all apply slightly differently to each of these former officers.

Like with Derek Chauvin, for example. In count one, it focuses specifically on him and it says he held his kneed across Floyd's neck and his right knee on George Floyd's back and arm, as George Floyd laid on the ground, handcuffed and unresisting, and kept his knees on George's neck and body even after Floyd became unresponsive.

Count two focuses which focuses on Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng says the defendants willfully to intervene to stop defendant Chauvin's use of unreasonable form.

And count three, which encompasses all the officers, including former Thomas Lane, the defendants saw George Floyd lying on the ground in clear need of medical care and willfully failed to aid Floyd.

Now, we've reached out to the attorneys for all of these former officers. Eric Nelson, the attorney for Derek Chauvin along for Officer J. Alexander Kueng said no comment, and we should note this is different than the state cases playing out where Chauvin was recently convicted and where he awaits sentencing and different from the recently announced Department of Justice probe into patterns and practices at the Minneapolis Police Department. TAPPER: And Chauvin also faces new charges in connection to a 2017

case.

JIMENEZ: That's right. That's right. A separate federal indictment for Derek Chauvin that came out today focuses on a 2017 incident where he responded to a domestic assault call and allegedly put this teen on the ground, his knee on his neck and kept that knee there allegedly even after he was in handcuffs, stopped resisting and when he was in the prone position. So two counts of civil rights violations being charged there as he faced multiple and that other indictment which, of course, all of the four former officers tied to George Floyd's death -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Omar Jimenez, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Also in the national lead today, North Carolina, a judge's order allows the family of Andrew Brown Jr. to see more body camera videos that show the deadly encounter with deputies in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, but the family can only see a portion of the footage. Brown was shot and killed April 21st when deputies tried to serve of him a warrant on drug charges. The new court order reveals there's nearly two hours of footage. Incident but the Brown family can only view fewer than 20 minutes.

CNN's Evan McMorris Santoro is in Elizabeth City, not far from the Virginia border.

Evan, why is the judge restricting what the family can see?

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, the judge says that the law here in North Carolina around body cam footage only allows him to show the family the portions of the video that actually have Andrew Brown Jr. in them, and it requires him to shield anything that can identify specific deputies. So you get this very convoluted order that shows specific time codes that have been clipped together and edited together and redactions that are required to shield the deputy's identification.

Now, the sheriff's department said a very few minutes ago that they will go ahead and show that video to the family on Tuesday. That's a big moment for them, but, still, it obviously leaves them and the most of the rest of us in the public dark about what the majority of this body cam footage shows.

[16:45:04]

The Brown family has seen 20 seconds of footage so far on April 25th. They said that that footage makes it clear to them that this shooting was unjustified.

A source close to the family told CNN today that they don't expect this new footage to change that perception very much. As for the rest of us we haven't seen any of the body cam footage and we're not going to for quite a while it seems. What we have seen is some footage from before and after the shooting that was captured in other place. We've seen some footage of the sheriff's deputies rolling up in a

heavily armed wearing tactical gear in a sheriff's department pickup truck rolling up in a house. That was captured by a city camera on the corner of the house where Brown lived and we see some footage of the aftermath of the shooting captured by a neighbor across the street who filmed from the porch.

So that so far is all that we have seen, and according to the judge it's all we're able to see for quite a while -- Jake.

TAPPER: Evan, will the courts ever allow this video to be released publicly ever?

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That's a really -- that's very much an open question, Jake, that's a right question and an open question. A bunch of media outlets including CNN have pursued legal action to get this video out, and a lawyer for that media group told CNN today that they are going to go ahead hand look at the judge's order and plan to do an appeal and try to get that video footage out. Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Evan, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Coming up, the biggest brood of cicadas ever is about to come out of the ground. Will your backyard be their Airbnb? That's next.

And will that tree also catch a falling Chinese rocket? The latest on the rogue chunk of metal hurtling towards earth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:00]

TAPPER: In our national lead, something you will not be able to ignore, and I've got to admit, this story really bugs a lot of people on my staff. Loud, racket-making, watch out or you'll step on them with a crunch bugs called cicadas are reemerging by the billions in the next few days. It's a story someone had to do.

Enter CNN'S Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With a roar to rival a passing jet, the cicadas are on the move, a remarkable move called brood ten and when the males let loose with their mating call.

MARK SHEPERDIGIAN, ENTOMOLOGIS: That's airplane noise. We were in the center you wouldn't hear that airplane.

FOREMAN: This particular strain emerges in the mid-Atlantic and a few Midwestern states, living underground on tree roots, counting the seasonal cycles of those trees and coming into the light only once every 17 years to fascinate entomologists in the right place at the right time like the Smithsonian's Floyd Shockley.

FLOYD SHOCKLEY, NATIONAL MUSUEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Periodical cicada mass emergencies are one of those once or twice in a lifetime kind of thing. I hope people aren't scared but enjoy the show.

FOREMAN: In busy areas, a million and a half could appear per acre, a trillion in all rising when the soil temperatures reaches 64 degrees. Are they dangerous? No, though they can damage some small trees where they lay their eggs. Are they edible? Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yeah. That's the sound you want to hear.

FOREMAN: There are videos online offering recipes like this one from the Tennessee Farm Bureau if you can stomach it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do I eat the eyes, too? A little crunchy. Got a leg stuck between my teeth here.

SHOCKLEY: If you spice them right, they taste a lot like shrimps.

FOREMAN: Why are there so many? Because everything eats them. Cicadas survive only because there are too many to be devoured entirely. Will they be around long? No, just a few weeks.

SHOCKLEY: Periodical cicadas are only out as adults for that one thing, it's to mate, lay eggs and die.

FOREMAN: But will they bug some people? Absolutely.

There's even a new film this spring, and you guessed it. The creepy guys are called cicada.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unbelievable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (on camera): So, scientists say if you're caught in this creeping crawling cicada storm, don't think of it as a scary nuisance but a natural wonder like the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls. That's what they say -- Jake.

TAPPER: And in our out of this world lead, a telescope in Italy managed to snap a picture of that out-of-control Chinese rocket that's going to fall out of orbit and hit somewhere on Earth this weekend. The derelict rocket about the size of a school bus has so many people looking up.

The government of China tried to offer reassurances. A foreign ministry spokesman says most of the rocket will be destroyed during re-entry, and the probability of it causing harm on the ground is, quote, extremely low. Feel better now?

Coming up, a match made in MAGA heaven. A GOP lawmaker who peddled the pizza-gate conspiracy story standing next to the subject of an actual sex trafficking investigation at a rally for Trump supporters this weekend. Guess where? Florida.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [16:58:57]

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

This hour, one ex-diplomat calling the experience traumatic. Multiple U.S. diplomats telling CNN they are being held back because of discrimination. Their stunning stories ahead.

Plus, I'm horrified. That's what one Florida resident has to say about Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz launching a speaking tour today, even after the feds launched an investigation into whether he broke sex trafficking and prostitution laws.

And leading this hour, a major disappointment, and that's our money lead. Today's new jobs report revealing the U.S. added substantially fewer jobs that had been projected, just 266,000 jobs were added in April instead of the 1 million jobs expected by economists.

And today, President Biden trying to downplay the lackluster performance saying, quote, we knew this wouldn't be a sprint. It would be a marathon, unquote.

President Biden also use these underwhelming jobs report as an opportunity to push his $4 trillion worth of economic proposals saying the investments are needed to dig the U.S. out of an economic collapse -- as CNN's Phil Mattingly now reports.