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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Soon: Trump & Speaker Johnson News Conference; Attorney Turned Witness Quietly Leaves Trump Legal Team; Sources: Iranian Attack On Israel Imminent, Likely By Iran's Proxies; Today: Trump & Johnson Speak Amid GOP Dysfunction; Mexico's New Efforts To Curb Illegal Immigration. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired April 12, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:14]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: We're waiting on an update from officials after a tractor trailer crash into a Texas Department of Public Safety Office in Brenham, Texas. That's by Houston. There are multiple serious injuries there. We'll, of course, continue to monitor that situation.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yeah. Really serious pictures coming in from that.

THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

And we begin today with multiple breaking stories, all of which will have wide-ranging impacts on the 2024 election.

Moments from now in Florida, former President Donald Trump will welcome the House Speaker Mike Johnson to his Mar-a-Lago resort. The two men are holding a press conference in which they will discuss they say election security, though we should note, the last time the two teamed up on this issue, they worked to try to undermine the 2020 election. So skepticism may be warranted.

We are told the two Republican leaders are expected to highlight the issue of non-citizens voting in federal elections. And if you're thinking, doesn't federal law already ban non-citizens from voting in federal elections, you would be correct. It is true. But some municipalities allow non-citizens to vote in some local elections, like the mayor of Tacoma Park, Maryland.

But that said, the Republican Party is seizing on this issue to try to make a larger political issue for the run-up to November. We shall see how allegiant to the facts of the matter, Mr. Trump and Mr. Johnson will be.

This Mar-a-Lago meeting comes as both men are staring down their own political challenges. Speaker Johnson facing a threat to his leadership from some of Trump's most loyal followers on Capitol Hill, the MAGA caucus, and Trump -- well, on Monday, Mr. Trump is set to become the first former president in the history of these United States to face criminal trial. Mr. Trump allegedly tried to buy the silence of former adult film star and director Stormy Daniels to cover up a dalliance. He tried to do that before the 2016 election. He's accused of. He denies this.

But after months of trying to delay a trial for falsifying the business records to cover up that payment, it appears that Mr. Trump and his legal team are running out of options.

The Biden campaign for its part, will, also during our show today, go on the offensive. They say over what they believe will be a winning issue for the president who is struggling in the polls, abortion rights. Vice President Kamala Harris today has been dispatched to Arizona to slam a ruling earlier this week by the state's top court that revived a 160 year-old near-total ban on abortion. The period that this law was passed was a period when women could not vote, or in many places in the United States owned property. It's a period when historian say the age of consent in Arizona was ten.

We will bring you all of these events as they unfold today. Let's begin with CNN's Kristen Holmes in Palm Beach, Florida.

And, Kristen, Donald Trump and Speaker Johnson, they have a history of teaming up to push out falsehoods about the elections at least to the 2020. What can we expect from today's Mar-a-Lago event?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Jake, and you bring that up, and I am told that they are going to likely relitigate the election of 2020 in addition to talking about what you mentioned, which is this issue of non-citizens voting. And I will say it is not just the mayor of Tacoma Park, but also some local school boards across the country. They also allow non-citizens to vote.

But it is not a wide-scale issue and certainly not an issue in federal elections. Something that are the kind of elections that someone like Donald Trump or Mike Johnson would be focusing on. Now, I did get some pushback after talking on CNN about this issue earlier from his team, Donald Trump's team, where they said, this is also about preventing in the you char non-citizens from voting.

But again, there is not much data that shows that this is a wide-scale problem in any capacity. However, we are looking at in an election year, an election year in which immigration is a top issue and we know that Donald Trump and Republicans are seeking to stoke fear around this issue. They are say that it is connected to both crime and now the election as well, Donald Trump has grown as far as to say that Democrats actually want to have undocumented immigrants coming over the border so they can help them in the 2024 election, although Republicans have put forward, lawsuits or legislation and various states and they don't want non-citizens voting.

But again, Jake, as we have said, it's not a wide-scale problem this does seem to be an opportunity for Johnson to appear side by side with Donald Trump at this time.

TAPPER: All right. Kristen Holmes, we'll come back to you. Thank you so much.

Let's discuss with our panel.

And, Jamie, today's Mar-a-Lago visit reminds some of us of something. This is not the first time a House speaker has gone down to Florida and a display of loyalty.

[16:05:04]

And is this event -- there's Kevin McCarthy for those at home who are not watching, are those in their car, picture of Kevin McCarthy with Donald Trump throwing him a lifeline.

Is this about Johnson needing Trump's help so he can stay speaker more than anything else, do you feel?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

TAPPER: Yeah.

GANGEL: To quote Yogi Berra, I think we're back to deja vu all over again. You really have to wonder what Kevin McCarthy is thinking today as he watches now Speaker Johnson making the same pilgrimage down to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring and yes, there's this issue that they're going to have this press conference about, but the reality is, at the end of the day, Mike Johnson says he doesn't want to talk about his private conversations with Donald Trump.

But if you want to stay in power, you need Donald Trump. And that's why he's there today.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: But the key difference between that moment and this moment, that was at a moment of weakness for Donald Trump. Kevin McCarthy going down and yes, on bended knee, wanting to be in his good graces and understanding that Trump's still had power in the party in the aftermath of January 6. But that moment of Kevin McCarthy doing that actually helped build up Donald Trump in that moment.

Here, I think the power dynamic is a little different. I think it is Speaker Johnson who's looking draft off a Donald Trump, who is actually sitting atop the party in a very powerful position right now within the Republican ranks.

TAPPER: And its interesting, Sarah, because right after Speaker Johnson won the speakership, he had a press conference with a bunch of House Republicans and a reporter asked him about the fact that he had led the charge in the House to overturn the election, just for simplicity sake, let's put it that way.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure.

TAPPER: And they -- that reporter was heckled by the Republican members of Congress. They didn't want to talk about it. They wanted to move on. They didn't want to talk about the election of 2020. It was a new day. So what's going on with this?

MURRAY: Well, I mean, look, if you want Donald Trump to appear beside you for an extended period of time and talk about how great you are, a good way to do that and say, you know what we should talk about, we should talk about what you like to call election integrity. And if you want to bring up how, you know, the 2020 election was stolen from you, I will stand next to you and I will support you in that.

And I think that, you know, this is a good indication of how much Speaker Johnson needs Donald Trump right now, I also think that there is a realization in the Republican Party, there's a realization among members of Congress that Donald Trump is not going to stop talking about this. Donald Trump is going to keep talking about this.

He's going to talk about issues like non-citizens voting. They are not actually real issues that are widespread problems when what Republicans would really like him to talk about is mail-in ballots and how that they're okay this time around and maybe Republican should actually mail those back-ends so that we have a shot of beating Joe Biden this time around, spelling out what Donald Trump is going to say today.

I think that there is a belief among Republicans that this is just what life is going to be like.

TAPPER: So there was a study in 2016 -- or the study was 2017 of the election of 2016, the Brennan Center, which is a progressive group, but they did an analysis of 23.5 million votes in 42 jurisdictions to look at what kind of a problem this was, because remember Donald Trump was saying that even though he won the election, the only reason he lost the popular vote by 2 million or 3 million votes was because of all the undocumented immigrants that had voted.

And the Brennan Center found that in this sampling of 23.5 million votes, there were 30 instance, 30 of suspected noncitizen voting. So that is a rate of 0.0001 percent of the votes cast. So, it's not nothing.

CHALIAN: It's not nothing.

TAPPER: But it is not a problem.

CHALIAN: But it is not a problem, that is exactly right.

And today they are trying to put forward if they have any solutions, we'll see, in search of a problem. I mean, I think to Sarah's point which is interesting is, yes, appeal to Donald Trump and say, hey, I'll come and talk about this thing you love talking about. Not only that, let's try to weave it in to the issue that you do -- that you talk about every day, immigration, which is of great concern to voters.

So if we can find a way so that we're not just talking about the 2020 election, looking at the past, but actually tie it to an issue that you're trying to fuel your candidacy with this time round. Imagine how appealing that could be for Trump, but, Jake, the statistics you point to are significant.

And I think this gets lost all the time. When were talking about voter fraud or vote -- problems in voting, what we should be talking about is where that is widespread and has actual impact on outcomes, 0.0001 percent is not that, that's not an actual problem. That's just human error on the smallest possible scale.

TAPPER: Yeah,

CHALIAN: You're not -- you're not upending somebody else's right to vote because those 30 incidents of 23 million happened.

[16:10:02]

TAPPER: Phil Bump extrapolated this out, so at the rate of 0.0001 percent, that would mean in 2020, 200 non-citizens vote.

MURRAY: Right.

TAPPER: Again, not enough to throw anything.

MURRAY: But also, there's a reason that you're not seeing a bunch of noncitizens go try to vote. I mean, one, it's against federal law. Two, it's against state law. Three, if you ever want to try to become a citizen of the United States when you go through that process they check to see if you have ever tried to vote before, and they're going to hold that against you. You're not going to become a citizen of the United States.

You can be fine. You can go to jail, you can be deported. These are all things that consequences that you can face if you try to vote as a non-citizen. And when you talk to places like the Brennan Center, which as you pointing that are more progressive, they say a lot of what we've seen in cases like this where its non-citizens who do go vote, is that they have been misled or that they have misunderstood. And for whatever reason, they thought that they were eligible to cast a ballot.

TAPPER: So let's go back to what speaker Johnson back when he was just Congressman Johnson did, he during the period of December 2020, when Donald Trump was trying desperately to hold onto power, the Texas attorney general filed an amicus brief saying that for states that Biden coincidentally happened to have one should have their electoral votes cast thrown out and Speaker Johnson, Congressman Johnson, had an amicus brief.

MURRAY: Right. Any rallied support for members of Congress.

Now, you got an early exclusive copy of former Congresswoman Liz Cheney's book. She wrote about that moment and she said, quote, when I confronted him with the flaws of his legal argument, Johnson would often concede or say something to the effect of we just need to do this one last thing for Trump.

So I guess it wasn't just one last thing though. GANGEL: It's never one last thing. And that's what were seeing here

this afternoon. And it's never going to be just one last thing as long as he's in control of the party.

Look, Mitch McConnell thought that Trump would fade away. A lot of Republicans did. That has not happened.

Liz Cheney said one other thing about my Johnson, which I think is worth repeating. She said, the amicus brief episode reveal the side of Mike I had not seen before. He appeared especially susceptible to flattery from Trump and aspire to being anywhere in Trump's orbit.

So this is just going to go on and imagine if Trump wins again.

CHALIAN: We should probably also know what the Supreme Court did with that Texas AG lawsuit.

TAPPER: They threw it away.

CHALIAN: Exactly.

TAPPER: Threw it in the thrash.

One other last question I have for you, David, obviously, the border is actually a problem in this country and there are too many undocumented people in this country. And it's sapping all sorts of resources and cities and counties, et cetera. So I'm not belittling that.

But how much does this play into this white replacement theory? That a bunch of people have put out there. This racist and anti-Semitic theory that a bunch of devious Jews are in court, you know, bringing in brown people -- this is not my view -- to replace the white populace of America.

You hear this among racists in this country. You hear this from Donald Trump in this country. How much is today's press conference -- how much of that dovetail into it?

CHALIAN: Well, sure, it's dabbling in those waters, right? It's trying to have a little bit of titillation for those that want to put forward that conspiracy theory and that's what I mean by using this. As you said -- immigration is a real issue for millions of Americans. And Donald Trump is going to campaign on it hard.

But when you do this like narrow slice to appeal to all this fringe stuff or stuff that has been proven not to be true. You're trying to peel pieces from all the components of these waters of conspiracy that helped fuel the energy inside Trump's support -- base of support.

TAPPER: The crimes committed by an undocumented immigrants with MS13, that is a serious problem. This bogus voting thing is not a serious problem.

Everyone, stick around. We have a lot more to come. We're standing by for whatever comes down in Mar-a-Lago. We are also

following fast-moving draw elements with Donald Trump's legal cases as he faces his first criminal trial on Monday. An attorney on his legal team is now gone. And CNN's Kaitlan Collins who broke this initial report will join us next to discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:18:21]

TAPPER: Topping our law and justice lead today, a hugely consequential day in Trump's ongoing legal battles. And just over 60 hours, jury selection will begin in New York. And former President Trump's hush money cover-up trial will officially kick off. It will be an unprecedented event, and unlike any other of his court proceedings thus far.

And at the same time, Trump's other criminal cases are still actively playing out this afternoon in Florida. For example, Trump's close aides are telling a judge what they know about the former president's handling or mishandling of classified documents. Carlos de Oliveira and Walt Nauta are accused of conspiring to help Trump hide the documents and lie to the FBI. It's their first major test before that judge.

Elsewhere in Trump legal lands, CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports a Trump attorney who became a critical witness in that classified documents case quietly left the Trump legal team and Kaitlan is with us now.

Kaitlan, tell us who this attorney is and how big of an issue could this be for Mr. Trump?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So people will remember this attorney because he was often seen going in and out of courthouse in Washington. He accompanied Trump when he was arraigned in Washington on the federal election charges last fall. But this is Evan Corcoran.

And the reason this is such a big deal that he is quietly left Trump's legal team without a lot of notice, is that he is not just a former Trump attorney. He became a critical witness in the classified documents investigation. And that's because this was the attorney that was brought on to help Trump tried to fend off charges in that case, but in turn, he was the one who was sent to the Mar-a-Lago storage room that was looking for classified documents after they got a subpoena from the Justice Department asking for those classified documents back.

[16:20:04]

He went through all the boxes personally. He was the one who had found a few dozen of them. But what he didn't know at the time and what we didn't realize until the indictment came out was there was this orchestrated effort by Trump, according to prosecutors, to move documents out of the room even before Evan Corcoran, this attorney, went through the room to look for them. And we now, of course, later learned about that from other witnesses and co-defendants in this case. And Evan Corcoran was the one who also was notable because he had taken these notes. They were voice memos that were then turned into these notes. They kind of went into meticulous detailed, Jake, about his interactions that he had had with Donald Trump, including moments where Trump suggested they not cooperate with the subpoena, suggested that Evan Corcoran lie to the justice department, and also suggested that he hide documents from them that he'd go to his hotel room. And if there was anything bad in those classified documents that he found that he just take it out from what they were giving back to the Justice Department.

And so he is now a witness in this case. If the classified documents case goes to trial, Jake, you can bet prosecutors are going to want Evan Corcoran on the stand, but now he is no longer in Trump's legal orbit. You really couldn't obviously represent him and they classified documents case anymore. He was still representing him in the election case, but no longer is on the legal team at all, Jake.

TAPPER: Fascinating, fascinating stuff.

Back to the hush money cover up trial, which is scheduled to begin Monday jury selection. After three failed attempts to delay that case, what are your sources telling you about Trump's demeanor, his morale in the lead up to Monday.

COLLINS: He's basically accepted that it is happening on Monday. They certainly were trying to delay it. I mean, they already succeeded in delaying at least a month after they filed that motion about information that they believe documents they got their hands on too late and its already starting later than it was supposed to.

But I think that what Trump has accepted now at this point is that it is inevitable that it is going to start on Monday. So, that has been really the main focus for his legal team over the last several days is preparing for what Monday is going to look like. We know it's going to be a massive battle over just getting a jury impaneled for this ahead of the actual trial and of itself beginning.

And it's going to be a new reality for Donald Trump himself. I mean, he has been spending a lot the time a courtrooms lightly. This is the first time he's doing it for a criminal trial where there's going to be that jury in the room. He's going to be sitting there.

And I think, Jake, what we've picked up on from talking to sources, what's going to be the most difficult for him is seeing people like Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal and all of these people in his past get up there and likely testify. But also people who once were really close to him, people like Hope Hicks and other of his closest confidants and former aides that are also going to be potentially call to the witness stand.

I think that is what's going to be the most difficult for him. But obviously, you know, he'll be in that courtroom several days a week for at least about six weeks or so. TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins, we'll be checking in with you throughout the show. Thanks so much. You can also look out for Kaitlan tonight and every week night on "THE SOURCE", at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN. Great show. Please watch.

Join me for CNN special coverage of this trial, the hush money cover- up trial. We'll be here Monday morning, starting at 9:00 Eastern. You can watch here on CNN and streaming on Max.

We heard from President Biden about an hour ago, he told reporters at the White House that he expects Iran will attack Israel, quote, sooner rather than later. His response when asked if American troops are at risk, we'll bring that to your next.

Plus, what CNN is learning about the intelligence about this anticipated pending attack.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:27:29]

TAPPER: We're back with our world lead now. Iran's message to the United States: do not get involved. The U.S. is currently on high alert for a significant retaliatory attack by Iran against Israel.

This afternoon, President Biden was asked how imminent he believes this attack is. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My expectation sooner than later.

REPORTER: What is your message to Iran in this moment?

BIDEN: Don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Then, CNN's MJ Lee asked President Biden this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Mr. President, are American troops at risk as well?

BIDEN: We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will defend -- help defend Israel. And ran will not succeed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, Iran is expected retaliatory attack is a direct response, Iran says, to what they also say was an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian consulate in Syria last week, which killed senior Iranian military leaders. Let's get right to CNN's Oren Liebermann at the Pentagon and CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem.

Oren, we're hearing that the U.S. is moving additional assets to the Middle East. What kind of assets?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. won't be specific about what types of assets these are, but likely air defense because that's the critical need here and that is the expectation that either Iran or its proxies will try to attack Israel in all likelihood, either using some sort of missiles, drones, or rockets.

And to prevent that from happening, what you need obviously is air defenses and the troops to carry out that mission. It's worth noting that U.S. troops in the region, specifically in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, have already been on high alert for the past six months, especially since the attack that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan.

So they're already on the lookout for any potential risks here. In terms of defending Israel, we've learned from two U.S. officials that the U.S. will also do what it can to intercept any Iranian launches or Iranian proxy launches at Israel. We have seen some of that over the course of the past few months where U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea have intercepted Houthi drones, or rather Houthi long-range cruise and ballistic missiles targeting Israel. It is also possible that U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria with their air defenses, could try to intercept some sorts of launches that Israel, depending of course on where they came from.

Worth pointing out that the commander of U.S. Central Command, General Eric Kurilla, is in Israel right now, meeting with senior Israeli leadership. We have also learned that in the conversations between U.S. and Israeli officials, the U.S. has urged Israel in its response to whatever is coming from Iran, the not be too escalatory there. And there you see not only the expectation of the Biden administration, but also they believe Iran that there is a need -- a desire here, not to escalate an already tense situation in the region.

TAPPER: Jeremy, what are Israel officials doing to prepare for this anticipated strike?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, tonight, there's no question that Israeli officials, Israeli forces are at a heightened state of alert, anticipating a possible Iranian response, to that alleged Israel really strike on diplomatic compound in Damascus. Israeli officials are preparing.

We've seen the top general, Herzi Halevi, visiting troops today, meeting with top commander saying that the Israeli military is prepared to respond to any potential threat from Iran or from any he one else. What we're also seeing is Israel working to try and deter the possibility of an Iranian strike in part by projecting this strength, by vowing that any kind of Iranian strike on Israeli soil will result in a similar response from Israel on Iranian soil. And we're also seeing Israeli officials try and use that allyship with the United States to try and deter Iran as well.

Here's the defense minister Yoav Gallant who met today with the head of the U.S. central command, General Kurilla.

(BEGIN VIDEO LCIP)

YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): Our enemies think that they can pull apart Israel and the United States, but the opposite is true. They are bringing us together and strengthening our ties. We stand shoulder to shoulder in our struggle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And amid that uncertainty, Jake, tonight, Hezbollah firing a significant barrage of rockets at northern Israel, 40 rockets all intercepted by Israeli air defense systems or falling in open areas, not the response that we're anticipating from Iran and its proxies, but the latest in that back and forth over that border -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Oren Liebermann and Jeremy Diamond, thanks to both of you.

We're going to listen to see if Vice President Kamala Harris touches on this. She is expected to speak this evening in battleground state Arizona. She's focused on abortion rights there.

Plus, former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger is going to be here. He served on the now-defunct January 6 Select Committee. I'm going to ask him about 2020 election lies still playing a major role in American politics today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:36:33]

TAPPER: We're back, and awaiting today's joint news conference from Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson at Mar-a-Lago. We expect both of them to repeat Trump's lies about the election of 2020 and elections in the U.S. in general. So many lies, so little time.

CNN's Marshall Cohen has been keeping track of them all.

Marshall, remind us about Trump's history of spreading false information about elections and what you anticipate he might say today.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Jake, it's hard to know where to start, but as we wait for the former president, we can prepare the audience and inoculate them with the truth.

So looking back to 2020, the top-line question about that election, it was a free and fair election. Trump lost fair and square. It was not rigged, and it was not stolen.

You're going to hear him say that, just remember, it wasn't rigged. We're also expecting him to talk a lot about non-citizens voting in our elections. Foreign nationals, undocumented immigrants voting in our elections, that is extremely rare. It's only allowed in some small jurisdictions, some cities.

But on the federal level, it's illegal. Right-wing groups, left-wing groups, they have studied this extensively. I looked at a study where there was a billion ballots examined over 20 years and there were only 100 examples of undocumented or non-citizens voting in our elections. So, it just doesn't happen, Jake.

Mail-in voting, furthermore, it's safe and secure. Lots of Republicans do it all the time. It's just not a controversial way to cast a ballot. And also, Jake, Donald Trump has claimed that Democrats made fake ballots in 2020. That's also just a total lie -- Jake.

TAPPER: Trump is going to be alongside Speaker Mike Johnson, who played his own important role in attempts to overturn the election. What did he do?

COHEN: Yeah, before he ascended to the speakership and became second in line to the presidency, Mike Johnson was not that well-known, but he did make a name for himself in 2020. If you only remember one thing about Mike Johnson 2020, let it be this, hours after the insurrection on January 6, he was on the House floor and cast votes to throw out Biden's electors from Pennsylvania and Arizona. If he had his way, that would have disenfranchised 10 million voters. The will of the people in those two states would have been cast aside.

Before January 6, Jake, Mike Johnson urged the U.S. Supreme Court to nullify the results from four states that Trump lost. He rallied his fellow House Republicans to sign onto an amicus brief for the court, urging them to throw out the results from four states. The court said no.

And also Jake, it was Mike Johnson promoting some of the wildest conspiracy theories, not just garden variety claims about mail-in voting, but those crazy claims about dominion voting machines, flipping millions of votes. It wasn't true then, it's not true now.

TAPPER: All right. Marshall Cohen, stick around. We're going to need you.

Let's bring in former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans have served on the house select committee to investigate the January 6 attack.

Congressman, good to see you.

So the chairman of that committee, the January 6 committee, Congressman Bennie Thompson, called today's press conference about what they're calling an election integrity. He's calling it a sham. Obviously, you know, the proof will be in the pudding. But what's your take on today's presser?

[16:40:01]

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, it's going to be a sham. I mean, here's the interesting thing, I remember serve -- when I was serving on the committee, you know, my colleagues, my Republican colleagues would come up. And, of course, a lot of them would quietly say, good job. You know, like, I can't do it because of my district, but I'm glad you're doing it.

But a few of them would say things like, you know, we just need to move on from 2020, we just have to look forward and move on. The irony of all of this is the ones that aren't moving on from 2020 right now is Donald Trump. And it's because Donald Trump is scared to death about these court cases.

So it is in his interested, at least in his mind, to continue to try to shift the public narrative to convince people that the election was stolen. The interesting thing, and, of course, it wasn't, what you'll see is probably two different things between Johnson and Trump. Trump will come out with all these outlandish comments as the prior reporter announced, you know, everything from stolen election, you know, illegals, voting or whatever, what you'll see from other members and maybe this includes Speaker Johnson is like this concern about how the rules changed at the last minute.

And what they're doing, Jake, because politicians are really good at signaling multiple things to multiple groups at one time, they're signaling to the election was stolen crowd that oh, yes, I have concerns about the election but they're also doing it in a way that's not embracing full-on Donald Trump-ism.

And that's where they need called out, like do you agree with Donald Trump's statements, that illegals voted in the millions or are you saying something totally different? And they're throwing enough stuff at the wall that theyre confusing the American people. And that's what they aim to do.

TAPPER: Well, this is -- this is the result of them throwing all that stuff at the wall. A Fox poll asked registered voters if Joe Biden was legitimately elected in 2020. That's a question by the way, that Speaker Johnson will not answer.

Sixty-seven percent of Republicans in that poll, 67 percent say that they do not think, he will -- Biden was legitimately elected. Of course, Biden was legitimately there is zero evidence of widespread voter fraud as Attorney General Bill Barr said publicly in December 2020, and yet Republicans continue to believe that the 2020 election was illegitimate because Trump's, as it was, and its amplified by the Speaker Johnsons and the Fox Newses and all that.

How concerned are you that if Trump loses again in November and who knows what's going to happen that, but if he does, how concerned are you we can see a repeat of January 6?

KINZINGER: Well, I'm really concerned. Now, you know, the advantages, Trump doesn't have the instrument of -- the instruments of power but he does have the crowds that can show up. Here's the thing, Jake, for democracy to survive -- for any self-governance to survive, all you need is this basic compact between Americans that, you know, you'll vote, your vote counts, whoever gets the most votes wins and has a certain amount of power. That's it. That's all you have to agree on.

What Donald Trump, frankly, now, Republicans have done, is convinced a significant amount of the party that even that basic compact -- that basic contract we have to have the self-govern is invalid and it's false. And that is really dangerous, especially in a country that we're proud of, the fact that we were founded on revolution. We believed that we know taxation without representation. And now, these Republicans are playing with fire, convincing their base that in fact their voice isn't heard.

And I got to tell you, if this goes on for a long time, what we will see will be violence. There is no other outcome of that. And that's frightening to me and that should be frightening to all Americans.

TAPPER: On another subject, today, the House voted to reauthorize a two-year extension of the government surveillance power known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, despite resistance from many Republicans, including Trump, who took to Truth Social asking Republicans to kill FISA. He said it was illegally used against me and many others. They spied on my campaign, unquote.

What would it mean for national security do you think if Republicans had ultimately killed FISA?

KINZINGER: Well, imagine the ability to understand what your enemies are saying when they're discussing attack plans with each other, when they're discussing spying, when they're discussing all that kind of stuff, imagine having the ears to that and going through a legal process to get there and then all of a sudden, you lose those ears and you lose that ability to hear it? It would be dangerous and terrible for our national security.

TAPPER: Congressman Adam Kinzinger, thanks so much.

Coming up next, CNN with exclusive access at the border on how Mexican authorities are going after people tried to enter the U.S. illegally and why their methods are proving successful.

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[16:48:42]

TAPPER: In our world lead. CNN is getting an exclusive look into how Mexico is strengthening its border security at the U.S.-Mexico border. Looking to curb illegal immigration, Mexico is now building temporary base camps and spots where migrants are known to easily pass through.

CNN's David Culver goes to Mexico to see how effective this new -- new border enforcement is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You can see behind me here, there's a huge gap in the wall in this is where Mexican officials tell us that a lot of the smugglers are either directing or bringing some of the migrants to so that they can easily cross. (voice-over): Which makes these rugged back wrote that preferred and profitable routes for cartel-backed migrant smugglers.

We're about an hour east of Tijuana, driving with Mexican migration officials along the U.S.-Mexico border, but we detour after learning a group of migrants has been rescued, has officials hear say.

We pull up and find about a dozen folks who described to me there were attempts to claim asylum in the U.S.

And he said he tried to cross, but Mexican officials stopped him from being able to go.

That's because Mexico is now stepping up its efforts to stop migrants from crossing illegally into the U.S.

Following requests from the Biden administration, Mexico is now pouring resources like the national guard and Mexican army in to help patrol and detain migrants like these, eventually transporting them to southern Mexico.

[16:50:12]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where we separate them by nationalities and then from them, we determined the deportation process.

CULVER: What's happening here goes beyond stepped up patrols. In recent months, Mexican officials have built base camps, deploying troops to some of the most popular illegal crossings sites.

The smugglers van, are there several of these vehicles just left abandoned and --

UINDENTIFIED MALE: Like seven vehicles in total --

CULVER: In this area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the area.

CULVER: As we pull up, we realize we've been here before.

We've seen so many people across through this property this right here.

At this spot late last year, we met U.S. residents fed up with migrants coming through their land.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They can come to the front door our cameras captured hundreds each day and night.

That has stopped in recent weeks, and it stopped primarily because of what were seeing on the Mexico side of things. This is a remote base on the border. You've got Mexican immigration officials. You've got national guard and you've got Mexican army who are here 24/7.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have our fridge, microwave, coffee. CULVER: You have moved resources to live 24/7 on the border. Why is this important for Mexico to be doing that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to prevent migrants to get in touch with the criminal groups.

CULVER: The number of migrant encounters reported by U.S. Border Patrol appears to reflect the impact of Mexico's actions, dropping 42 percent from December to January alone, and seeming this stay low.

But officials warn cartels and their smugglers frequently adjust their tactics and keep close watch.

They're watching us right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They see when we are patrolling and when we leave a spot.

CULVER: It's a crisis that has also sparked uneasiness for Mexican residents.

It's gotten so frustrating for these folks in particular that the community got together, wrote a letter to their governor petitioning for more resources and for that reason that you have where you can see right here members of the Mexican national guard for now patrolling neighborhoods like this one to keep migrants from coming through.

Authorities here urge migrants to use the U.S.'s CBP One app rather than to risk crossing with smugglers.

Mexican officials at this location even help pre-screen up to 500 migrants daily for the U.S. asylum interview process.

So he's in communication with U.S. officials, but on the other side and they're sending documents back and forth to make sure that they have the right information.

While this is a more orderly way to claim asylum, it can take awhile to get an appointment.

Martha Gilad (ph) says she's waited five months for this day.

So I asked why they didn't go through the smuggling route, which so many choose to do. (INAUDIBLE) and she said that for one, it costs an extreme amount of money and the other aspect remember her was they wanted to be able to enter legally through the appointment, try to build a better future there.

The road ahead is uncertain for both the migrants and for those protecting the border. We see that firsthand as we leave the remote border camps

The reason why we stopped and pulled over is because there are these spikes that we've noticed all along the different dirt roadways that take us to the border wall.

Evidence of smugglers' desperate attempt to salvage their profits.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of these.

And while it slows them down momentarily, for now, they forge ahead and their efforts to curb the flow of a migrant crisis that's consuming resources on both sides of the border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CULVER (on camera): Back here alive on the U.S. side of the U.S. Mexico border, Jake, this is one of the two walls that they have in this portion. You can see behind me, there's actually a second one on the ridge and on the other side of that one in Mexico. But just in the past few minutes, we've seen a handful are so migrants who have already made it to the U.S. side and are walking up to be processed right now.

One of the things that we wanted to check in on is with the residents. We had met about four or five months ago who live in San Diego County and who had complained to us about the surge of migrants. They do to tell us that in the past few weeks, they've noticed fewer migrants coming across onto their properties. So they're seeing a significant impact of these added resources from the Mexican side in particular.

Also worth noting, we got in the past few minutes or so confirming the latest numbers from last month, that trend nationwide continuing downward, another 2 percent. So, so the figures as of now, going the right direction according to officials.

[16:55:03]

However, the question will be, Jake, how do you sustain this, especially as both countries, U.S. and Mexico are in years with presidential elections and politics could derail this at any moment.

TAPPER: All right. David Culver in San Diego, thanks so much for that.

This next hour is going to give us a real snapshot of politics in America right now in 2024. The vice president, Kamala Harris, is set to campaign in battleground Arizona. The topic she wants to focus on is abortion rights. Then down in Florida, at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump, and House Speaker Mike Johnson are going to talk about what they call election security. We're going to cover the contrast. Keep it here.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD.

I'm Jake Tapper.