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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Canada Retaliates Against Trump with Tariffs On U.S. Imports; Secy. Rubio: Canadians Don't Agree With Trump's Argument On Canada Becoming The 51st U.S. State; Anti-Israel Activist Will Remain In ICE Detention; White House: Khalil Led Group Distributing "Hamas Propaganda". Ukraine Agrees To U.S. Proposal For Ceasefire With Russia; Newsom's Podcast With Conservatives Fuels 2028 Rumors; Answering Your Questions About COVID-19. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired March 12, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Or are you?

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Oh my God, don't. Absolutely not. I was going to wish you happy birthday. Now I can't say anything nice to you at all, but happy birthday anyway.

TAPPER: Thank you. I bought myself this tie. It's UNC colors because my mom went to UNC and 56 years ago, let's be honest, she's the one that deserves the honor, not me. All I did was cry. She did the tough work 56 years ago. So this is for you is for you, mom.

HUNT: Well, you have an excellent crew. Along with you, Mitt Romney, Tammy Duckworth, James Taylor. Also share your birthday. So have a good one.

TAPPER: Darryl Strawberry. Let's not forget Aaron Eckhart, Courtney Vance. Thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: Thank you.

TAPPER: We'll see you back in "The Arena" tomorrow.

HUNT: See you soon.

[17:00:38]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Inflation may be cooling, but the trade war is still heating up. The Lead starts right now.

Tensions between the U.S. and our European allies on full display inside the Oval today. President Trump now promising to fight back even more after Canada and Europe retaliated against Trump tariffs. Brand new CNN polls show the president is losing support for his economic policies. And now we're getting some breaking news from Capitol Hill about a possible pending government shutdown.

Plus, despite Ukraine agreeing to the ceasefire proposal today, Russian President Vladimir Putin showed up to the front lines of his war dressed in military camouflage. Does this look like a potential peace partner? And their time stuck in space finally almost over. The rocket SpaceX sent to bring Butch Wilson Moore and Suni Williams back to Earth will launch in just a few hours after their week-long visit to the International Space Station turned to a nearly 10 month stay.

Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper and we start in our money lead as President Trump's tariff chaos is sparking an entire global trade war. Today, the European Union striking back at the U.S. with what they're calling retaliatory tariffs after President Trump's tariffs and all steel and aluminum coming into the U.S. went into effect at midnight. Canada also retaliating, slapping more tariffs on U.S. goods, including computers and cast iron. Today, a top economist at JP Morgan predicted a 40 percent chance that the U.S. could see a recession this year, blaming the possible recession on, quote, "extreme U.S. policies."

All of this comes, it appears the U.S. could be headed toward a government shutdown now with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer saying minutes ago that Republicans who control the majority of the Senate do not have the 60 votes to pass the government funding bill. Let's get straight to CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill.

Manu, is this shutdown inevitable? I mean, the House adjourned, right?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the House adjourned which is why the Senate Democrats are essentially in this position that they're agonizing over. They can make a choice here. They can accept a House Republican bill to keep the government open through September despite their concerns about spending cuts. And despite their concerns, that does nothing to rein in Donald Trump or Elon Musk. Or they can vote to block it and shut the government down.

And how long they could last would remain to be seen if there's ample concern about going down that route. But just moments ago, Chuck Schumer did warn that he said his caucus is prepared to vote to essentially block that Republican bill from going forward. And then they do have the votes assuming Chuck Schumer can keep his members in line to block this measure, requires 60 United States Senate, 60 votes to advance this to a final up or down vote.

Now, I did catch up with one Democratic senator who is breaking with his party leadership. That is Senator John Fetterman, who is warning his party not to block this proposal and warning about a potential recession if the Democrats were to go down this route.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): Is the Democrats are going to have the choice to vote for whether you want it's the cloture or the final one, you know, and if you refuse to -- or you withhold your vote, you are voting about shutting the government down. And so that's always been my point. Now, it's a CR that we all agree, we don't like and we don't cosign on all of those elements. But for me, it's about we can't ever allow the government to shut down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And there are a lot of Democrats, Jake, who are in that camp right now. And it remains to be seen how long Schumer could keep them on his side. We expect that they would need at least eight Democrats to vote to break a filibuster. That vote could happen as early as Friday morning. And that vote would just be hours before the deadline, which is 11:59 p.m. Friday night.

And if it does ultimately lead to a shutdown, Jake, some Democrats are just simply worried what Donald Trump would do in that situation. Having the government shut down, having Congress having to rely on Republican votes to reopen the government, how much Trump would demand in that case? Which is why at the end of the day, some Democrats and Republicans believe a deal could be averted in the last minute here. Democrats ultimately could decide to vote for this Republican bill and send it into law. So some time to play out here. But at the moment, Jake, the Democratic leader indicating he plans to fight this as soon as Friday.

[17:05:19]

All right, Manu Raju, thanks so much. Let's go to CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who's at the White House now.

Kaitlan, there was one economic highlight today. Good news, inflation slowed more than expected in February, but that progress on inflation could be short lived because President Trump's trade war is expected to increase prices for Americans, at least according to economists.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Jake, they've been touting those numbers over here at the White House today, very proudly saying this is a good sign about the economy after about 48 hours of questions about the uncertainty that has been caused by President Trump's tariffs. But really the question is whether or not that's just a brief reprieve and that his tariffs that he is implemented and plans to continue implementing is going to cloud over those good numbers that came out in that inflation report today. And that has been something that the president's economic advisers have been closely attuned to. We saw Kevin Hassett, one of his top advisers, out here on the North Lawn earlier today, speaking only briefly and then going back into the West Wing for a planned meeting that he had.

Jake, we saw the president, you know, putting these tariffs in place overnight that are across the board on aluminum and steel tariffs. And then we saw the retaliation that followed that was promised if the president actually did go into effect with that. And as I was speaking to a Canadian official at 9:00 p.m. our time last night, he was saying they were waiting until they were actually implemented to believe that they were going to happen, given we've seen how the White House has threatened some of these tariffs, backed off of them, threatened to double them, backed off of that. There was a real question of what they would actually look like.

But as the president was greeting the prime minister of Ireland earlier here at the White House today, typically a pretty friendly and jovial event and it certainly had those undertones. He was talking about trade and the E.U. retaliation, Jake, and saying that he is, of course, in his words, going to respond to their retaliation with a retaliation of his own, he says. He was lashing out at the E.U., that is, Ireland is part of that, of course, that 27 nation bloc and going after them.

And also, Jake, as this is really kind of coloring over every meeting he's had with the world leader. This is something that gets brought up whether there is a trade deficit or today he was highlighting the fact that Ireland has attracted a lot of U.S. companies with their low tax rates. The president seemingly very critical of that and talking about what that's looked like. And so, this is something that is brought up in nearly every single meeting that he has with a world leader. But the president has largely been undeterred, Jake, by the stock markets, by the numbers, by the apprehension that some of these business leaders have been feeling even after coming face to face with them here in Washington.

And not only that, Jake, talking about the tariffs that went into place last night, the president is highlighting the ones that he says are still to come, those reciprocal tariffs in just a matter of weeks from now.

TAPPER: All right, Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. And you can look out for Kaitlan in just a few hours on "The Source with Kaitlan Collins." That's weeknights at 9:00 Eastern only here on CNN.

And with me now is the Canadian Minister of Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs, Dominic LeBlanc.

Mr. LeBlanc, thank you for joining us. So Canada launched retaliatory tariffs on $29 billion worth of American imports. This is after President Trump's tariffs on aluminum and steel went into effect at midnight last night. What kind of American goods will this impact?

DOMINIC LEBLANC, CANADA MINISTER OF FINANCE AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS: So, Mr. Tapper, thank you for having me on the program. We had said we don't believe that these tariffs are justified as imposed by Mr. Trump's government. We understand the national security context. I had a good conversation with Secretary Howard Lutnick earlier today. But we have said all along that Canadians expect their government to respond to what we think are unjustified tariffs in the context of a free trade agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

So what we did is we matched dollar for dollar, the American tariffs at the same percentage. So, the Americans were importing about $29.8 billion of steel and aluminum to the United States. We applied the same percentage to the steel and aluminum exports from the United States to Canada. But in order to get to a dollar for dollar figure, we applied the tariffs to sort of a basket of other consumer goods, sporting equipment, some computers, some other electronics. We had made a public commitment that we would respond dollar for dollar in the sense the same quantum and the same percentage as the American tariffs.

So that's what we announced today. But we announced this with regret, our hope, and my conversation with Mr. Lutnick, I'm seeing him in Washington tomorrow. Our hope is that we can quickly find a way to get to a situation where both economies can prosper and we don't have this sort of back and forth in terms of tariffs. It's not in the interest of Canadian or American consumers.

[17:10:11]

TAPPER: I want to play some sound from what President Trump said in the Oval Office earlier today about U.S. trade policies with Canada. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It doesn't make sense that our country allows electricity to be made in another country and sold into us. Who did that deal for the United States? So we've had a lot of bad trade policies and yet we're doing very well right now. But we're doing well because I won the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Do you have a response?

LEBLANC: So we understand and we took note of the president's comments around electricity. This was a threat that the premier of Ontario. So a sub national government, the equivalent of one of your governors. But our biggest province in Ontario has electricity sales contracts with some American states. This was a commitment that the premier of Ontario had made.

He spoke to Secretary Lutnick, decided to suspend that particular measure. My conversation with Secretary Lutnick today, again, we certainly understand and respect the energy security requirements of the United States. But Mr. Tapper, the challenge for us as Canadians are, and Premier Ford had an election in the province of Ontario that concluded a couple of weeks ago and he won a large majority, he's a Conservative premier in Ontario, because Ontarians wanted him to stand up for the economy of Ontario against what they think is a completely unjustified application of tariffs. And first it was border fentanyl that now it's steel and aluminum. So, the premier of Ontario in that context is frankly giving voice to Canadians that are understandably upset and want us to find a way to get back to being good economic and security partners like we've always been.

TAPPER: I want to play some comments from Secretary of State Marco Rubio from today. He was asked about President Trump's continued push talking about Canada becoming the 51st state of the United States. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Should become the 51st state from an economic standpoint. He says if they became the 51st state we wouldn't have to worry about the border and fentanyl coming across because now we would be able to manage that. He's made an argument that it's their interest to do so. Obviously the Canadians don't agree apparently.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But do you agree with that? Were you going to discuss that becoming the --

RUBIO: Well, that's not what we're going to discuss at the G7.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: This is something that we keep hearing from President Trump about Canada becoming the 51st state. He keeps saying that the Canadian people want that, although I've seen polling from Canada that suggests otherwise. What's your response?

LEBLANC: Again, I referred to the election in our largest province in Ontario. And to say that there was a negative reaction to those comments would be an understatement. Canada, Mr. Tapper, wants to be the most reliable economic and security partner and neighbor that the United States could possibly have. That's certainly been how we've viewed that relationship for decades. It was President Reagan that signed with former Conservative Prime Minister, the late Brian Mulroney, the first free trade agreement.

These partnerships go back decades. But Canada is an independent, sovereign, proud country. And frankly, Canadians find it insulting that somebody as important in global affairs as the president of the United States of America sort of belittles Canada by saying, oh, you know, you should -- you're not an independent, sovereign country. You should join the United States.

The fight against fentanyl, Secretary Rubio talked about sort of the security, the border security and fight against illegal drugs is something that, again, we're happy to do in total partnership with the United States authorities, it's something we've done. The federal police in Canada are embedded with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The same thing is true in the other direction. So, we should build a partnership that's based on trust and respect. And frankly, that kind of stuff understandably insults Canadians and gets a negative reaction and makes it harder for us to work with President Trump to deal with some of the economic and security issues that we want to deal with in partnership with him.

TAPPER: Canadian Minister of Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs, Dominic LeBlanc, thank you so much, sir, for your time. Appreciate it.

LEBLANC: Thank you, sir, for having me on the program.

TAPPER: The first hearing held today for the anti-Israel activist who was arrested by immigration officials in the U.S. as the Trump administration tries to deport this non-citizen from the United States. Plus, President Trump says top U.S. officials are heading to Russia. But Russia's Vladimir Putin is visiting his troops in camo. Is Putin taking this ceasefire proposal seriously?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:19:18] TAPPER: In our national lead, the anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil will remain in ICE custody for now, but today's court hearing in New York City did grant more access to the attorneys fighting for his release. Protesters once again lining the streets today in New York calling for him to be freed amid free speech concerns about the arrest. Mahmoud Khalil was born and raised in Syria. He has been a legal resident of the United States since 2023, first on a student visa and now on a green card that the Trump administration wants to revoke. CNN's Gloria Pazmino was in the courtroom today.

Gloria, what happens now in this?

[17:20:01]

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake, you know, it was a packed courtroom. A lot of supporters showed up here this morning to show support for Mahmoud Khalil. Now, what we learned here today was not significant in the sense that we're not entirely sure just how the case is going to proceed. The judge did not make any grand decisions today. He only directed the parties to file motions by the end of the week.

And we learned that the government plans to make an argument that New York should not have jurisdiction over the case. And the reason they're saying that is because, as you remember, Khalil was detained here in New York, then transferred to New Jersey and then to Louisiana, where he is now. And the government plans to argue that that's where the jurisdiction should be, either New Jersey or Louisiana. In the meantime, the judge did agree with Khalil's attorneys that they need more access to him. They complained during the hearing today that they have not been able to have privileged conversations with him while he's in detention.

As you know, Jake, conversations while you are in jail are usually monitored by the government. So the judge did direct them to make sure that he is getting those phone calls. In the meantime, his lawyers continuing to make the case that this is not about public safety or support to a terrorist organization, but rather a question of the right to political speech and protests. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAHER AZMY, ATTORNEY FOR MAHMOUD KHALIL: Mr. Khalil's detention has nothing to do with security. It is only about repression. United States government has taken the position that it can arrest, detain, and seek to deport a lawful permanent resident exclusively because of his peaceful, constitutionally protected activism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Jake, the government did say today that the deportation of Kahlil is not imminent and that there will be a due process. We will see. And we expect those motions to be filed by the end of the week. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much. Joining us now, the former acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf.

Thanks so much for joining us, Chad. The White House has not provided specific evidence about Mahmoud Khalil's support of Hamas that we have seen. A White House official did show us these flyers that his group on campus distributed. And the flyers show images of Yahya Sinwar, the former head of Hamas, the Hamas logo, Hassan Nasrallah, the former head of Hezbollah. Both Hamas and Hezbollah considered terrorist groups by the United States.

Is that direct evidence enough to prove that Mahmoud Khalil should be deported when he hasn't been charged with a crime in the United States?

CHAD WOLF, FORMER ACTING DHS SECRETARY, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Well, I think it is. Obviously, though, they're in court, Jake, and they're probably going to have to supply some additional evidence if the judge asks for that. But again, we're talking about an individual that has supported and espoused support for a foreign terrorist organization. That -- and so I think that alone, given that the law inside in the INS, the Immigration and Nationality Act, gives the Secretary of State the ability to make a determination of whether an individual's certain views and actions go too far and affect the foreign policy and the national security of the United States. That's the action that's been taken here.

I understand, you know, the attorneys for this individual trying to claim free speech. I think it's an interesting prospect that the court's got to find. But I do think that the Trump administration is on some solid footing here to remove this individual.

TAPPER: So, look, I have no evidence that he has or has not espoused support for Hamas or Hezbollah. I don't know the group that he belongs to. I think it's called Columbia United Apartheid Divest. They definitely did on all sorts of social media, but I haven't seen any evidence that he specifically did is being a member of a group that espouses something enough to meet this level of qualification to be deported?

WOLF: Well, I suspect that the government, whether that's Secretary of State or, sorry, the Department of State or DHS or others, has some additional evidence. We've heard the president talk about how he's looked at tapes, he's seen some of this. And so I think that's actually going to come out in court. I think this is a little bit unique in the sense of this hasn't been done a lot, although the United States government does revoke green cards all the time for certain actions that go beyond the requirements of keeping that green card or your student visa. So the idea of revoking visas, revoking green cards, denaturalizing individuals is not unique.

The United States government does this from time to time and quite extensively, I would say. And so, this is another part of that. Obviously, this is unique given the press attention that it has now.

[17:25:04] TAPPER: So the Trump administration is using, as you noted, the Immigration and Nationality Act to explain and justify Khalil's arrest, even though he is a legal resident. The law specifically states, quote, "An alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable." So that is their justification and interpretation of the law to say that they can deport him.

I, again, Hamas and Hezbollah are considered to be terrorist organizations. And I'm quite sure that no members of Hamas or Hezbollah would have any problem with me being slaughtered right now. But is it enough to say that this individual espousing beliefs that we all find repugnant, that that would potentially seriously adverse foreign policy consequences for the U.S. I don't know how his doing -- it certainly is uncomfortable and awful and harassing to Jewish students at Columbia in general espousing those kinds of things, whoever does it. But potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences?

WOLF: Well, again, that's the determination that the Secretary of State has made. But I think it's important to remember that whether it's a student visa that this individual came into the United States on initially and then obviously over to a green card, neither of these are rights. Neither of these are guaranteed to any individual. These are all benefits that the United States government provides for individuals to do. And if you're going to then take that benefit and say that I'm going to support in any way, but very forcefully way a foreign terrorist organization that wants to see death to Americans, well, then I do think it's the federal government's ability.

I do think it's their right to say, look, if you're going to do that, you're just not going to do that here in the United States and we're going to remove you. Again, you don't have a right to be here on those types of student visa or green card. That is a benefit provided by the United States. And so we should have the ability to say, you've gone over the line, you violated law and we are going to remove you.

TAPPER: All right, former acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, thanks so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

He's one of the most recognizable figures of the MAGA movement. So why is Steve Bannon sitting down with Democratic darling California Governor Gavin Newsom? The odd couple ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:50]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In our World Lead, for those looking for clues as to whether Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, will agree to the 30- day ceasefire deal proposed by the United States, look no further than Putin today visiting the front lines in Kursk wearing military camouflage. This marks his first trip to the region since Ukraine attacked it. This came just hours after Secretary of State Rubio said U.S. officials would soon be presenting the proposal to Russia. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: As far as the Russian reaction to it, that -- that's really the question here and that is -- this is a few hours old. We're going to bring it to them directly. We're going to say that Ukraine is prepared to stop all battlefield activity and begin the immediate process of negotiating enduring end of the war. And we'll see what the response is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now live from Moscow. Fred, how is the Kremlin handling this proposal?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Why -- Why, Jake? I think one of the things that we have to keep in mind is that the narrative here is completely different than what Secretary of State Rubio has just been saying, the Russians certainly, if they feel that the ball is in their court and they're under any -- any sort of pressure, they are going to play that ball at a and in a way that they see fit. You just talked about those images of Vladimir Putin there on the front line in the Kursk region.

Well, some of the things that Vladimir Putin said there is he said that first of all, the Russians want to kick all of the Ukrainians off their territory and also create a buffer zone in that area, which obviously could take months of combat operations to do. So the Russians right now feel that they have the edge on the battlefield and that they are not going to be pressured or rushed into any sort of ceasefire agreement. There was one senior Russian lawmaker earlier today, Jake, who came out and said Washington needs to understand that any sort of ceasefire or peace agreement is going to happen on Moscow's terms, not on Washington terms. Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Fred Pleitgen in Moscow, thanks so much.

Let's go to the other side of the negotiating table, proverbially and theoretically, I guess at this point, Ukraine. CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward is in Kyiv. Clarissa, what is President Zelenskyy saying about this proposal?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, Jake. President Zelenskyy gave a press conference today and he was really walking a very straight line. He only spoke in Ukrainian. He did not do any riffing in English. He would not, despite the best efforts of a number of reporters, be drawn into more talk about his spat with President Trump in the Oval Office. He really wanted to keep the focus on where the narrative is now, which is how Ukraine wants it to be.

Effectively, we are not blocking peace. The words he used, I believe, were to say it's very important to me to end this war and I very much want Americans to know and to feel this. He talked a little bit about some of the mechanisms that might need to be in place in terms of monitoring a ceasefire, in terms of enforcing a ceasefire. And really, though, what's interesting, Jake, is when you talk to people on the streets in Kyiv and get a sense of the mood here, I won't say that people are overly optimistic that peace is around the corner. They're quite cynical about previous ceasefires that have existed with Russia and which most of which have been violated by Russia, but they are feeling definitely more triumphant, more confident, very happy to have that relationship between the U.S. and the Ukraine back on track and to be in a place where they believe effectively that they are calling President Putin's bluff, that they are saying the onus is now on you to put your money where your mouth is, so to speak, and show the world what your intentions really are and whether peace may be a part of that or not.

[17:35:29]

In either instance, I think President Zelenskyy and Ukrainian officials still believe that this will be a net positive because if President Putin does reject the ceasefire agreement, then he will likely incur the wrath of President Trump. And of course, Ukraine would like very much to see a wedge in that relationship. Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Clarissa Ward and Kyiv, Ukraine, thank you so much.

He is frequently talked about as a top Democrat who could run for president in 2028. So why is California Governor Gavin Newsom sitting down with some of the most powerful MAGA figures on the Internet? Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:40:27]

TAPPER: Our Politics Lead now, opposites apparently attract. California Governor Gavin Newsom, one of the most recognizable and powerful Democrats in the United States, is sharing his new podcast platform with none other than Steve Bannon in what appears to be an act of unity, I guess. Newsom is using his podcast to try to elevate and converse with some of the more extreme MAGA voices in an effort to bridge the gap across the aisle, I suppose. Bannon says the first step in bridging the divide is to work together to get the so called oligarchs under control. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: If we're ever going to get a control of the oligarchs, you as governor --

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Yes.

BANNON: -- and as quite frankly the leader of that wing of the party, have got to work with us to say, hey, this can't go on any longer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So one of the oligarchs that Bannon has been targeting is Elon Musk. Bannon has not held his tongue when it comes to the way he feels about Musk. He's referred to him as a danger to democracy. But Bannon says Democrats are the reason Elon Musk is in the Trump administration. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWSOM: You called him evil. You called him a racist.

BANNON: You have a parasitic, parasitic illegal alien.

NEWSOM: Parasitic illegal alien, I think was your exact phrase. Your phrase, not mine. Though we may share some commonality in terms of concern about what he's doing. But that said, let me --

BANNON: Hold it. No, hang on, hang on. You guys love to see -- you loved all the oligarchs, in particular Elon, until they flip. And remember, all the rest of these oligarchs were all progressive Democrats until 11:00 p.m.

NEWSOM: I would, I refer to him as libertarian, and I know these guys intimately, known them for decades.

BANNON: So you know the danger we're dealing with?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's bring in our friend Peter Hamby to try to make sense of this. He's the founding partner of Puck News and host of Snapchat's "Good Luck America." So, Peter, what is this strategy of Governor Newsom, who obviously has presidential ambitions? First he interviewed Charlie Kirk, big MAGA guy. Next he interviewed Steve Bannon, big MAGA guy. Not just MAGA, we should say. I mean, these guys have been accused of some pretty hateful stuff. Why is Governor Newsom doing this?

PETER HAMBY, HOST, SNAPCHAT'S "GOOD LUCK AMERICA": He also interviewed longtime conservative radio host, Michael Savage, yesterday, I should say. Also, I'm told he sat down with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who ran for vice president. Obviously, we don't know when that's going to air yet. So it's not just folks from the right wing. Let's start with what he's literally saying this is for.

Gavin Newsom, term limited, out next year, might run for president, might not. You should consider that he might not is basically saying we need to learn from the other side about why we lost. I think if you're stepping back, it is fascinating, Jake. And the question you asked, why he's doing it is the question on everyone's mind out here in California. And basically what every Democrat around the country is talking about this week, which, by the way, probably is what Gavin Newsom wants.

I think him and other Democrats were experimenting with TikTok and other platforms, think that, and this is a lesson I think they could learn from the MAGA side of the universe, is that attention is good no matter what. And Gavin Newsom is certainly getting attention. But if you listen to these podcasts, the one with Bannon today, the one with, Michael Savage, he's asking them, literally, why do you think we lost? You know, and I want to be here to have a civil discussion.

The first episode with Charlie Kirk, he was probably a little too solicitous of Charlie Kirk, not that Charlie Kirk didn't come actually armed with facts. He was pretty smart. And Bannon, I thought, was pretty smart today. And I think Newsom's thinking is we should respect a little bit in a certain way, these people that beat us at the ballot box and try to learn from them. But that's a very difficult proposition in a very partisan, you know, media environment.

And Gavin Newsom playing journalist doesn't work as well because he's a Democrat also, and his followers are Democrats. And they want him to see, they either don't want him to platform these people or they want him to throw punches. And he seems like he's smiling his way through it.

TAPPER: So that -- that's what I wanted to ask you. So, first of all, what does Governor Newsom say about Democrats mad that he is so called platforming these people. And second of all, he's still governor. Like, this is a lot, I mean, this is -- he's done four or five podcasts in a week. I mean, he has a day job, right? In California, it's not like everything's swimming.

HAMBY: He's -- he's creating more content than you, Jake. I mean, it's just like every -- every hour he's dropping something new. He is term limited out next year. They're Democrats --

[17:45:05]

TAPPER: That's next year, though. That's next year.

HAMBY: I know. No, no, I'm -- I'm agreeing with you. One thing that's going on in the water out here, Gavin Newsom, as thirsty as some people think he is, as much as he has a knack for getting media attention, he actually doesn't like sitting down with reporters that much. He doesn't like being in unscripted settings. So this is a way for him to own the message. And we've seen that from politicians before.

But, yes, I mean, he certainly seems like he's spending a lot of time on this podcast, you know, while California has its range of issues up in Sacramento. You know, I -- I going back to the tone and tenor of this, it's interesting if you look at the comments, Jake, look at the TikTok comments on some of these clips. And by the way, they're getting millions of views. So the attention thing is working.

The TikTok comment section on Gavin Newsom's clips are like a war zone right now. Like, they're saying, why are you platforming these people? How dare you? But if you go to YouTube and all these platforms, Snapchat, where I work, sort of have different sort of makeups in terms of -- in terms of their audiences, the YouTube comments are actually pretty nice. It's like they say, I'm reading here, it's so refreshing to watch a civil political discussion. I respect this a lot. I'm a Democrat, but I love seeing you talk to people across the aisle.

And so I'm interested to see how this plays beyond just the very online Democrats, leftists who don't like it, and maybe Normie Democrats out there who are like, we got to do something different. Let's listen to the other side. And, you know, I'm interested to see how this plays the longer it runs.

TAPPER: And look, we just did a block on it, the whole thing. Peter Hamby, our Special Lead California correspondent, I've just anointed you. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Always great to have you.

HAMBY: Thanks Jake.

TAPPER: You can read his stuff on Puck, of course.

It's been five years since the start of the COVID pandemic, but the lingering impacts remain today. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to answer your most pressing questions about long COVID.

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[17:51:36]

TAPPER: In our Health Lead, this week marks five years since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic due to COVID-19. In fact, five years ago today, the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball suspended their seasons and the NCAA even canceled March Madness. Our Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is back to answer your questions about the lingering impact of the pandemic. Sanjay?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: And, Jake, we get a lot of questions about COVID and many questions about long COVID specifically, like this one from Candy in Oregon, who asks, what are the stats for people who have breathing problems long after having had COVID-19. So first of all, long COVID or what was initially called long haulers, we have a better idea of what this is. These are symptoms that seem to persist at least three months, generally speaking, after that initial infection.

But for a lot of people, the symptoms persist a lot longer. People may be struggling with it still today, and about 30 percent of the population had long COVID. So those are the numbers. And it can be all sorts of different things, fatigue and brain fog and dizziness, taste and smell issues. That's a big one. And sleep problems as well, but also breathing problems. About 40 percent of people with long COVID seem to have persistent breathing problems.

It seems to be caused by thickening or scarring of the lung tissue after that initial infection. That seems to be what's really driving it. People may have decrease in exercise tolerance. They might even have difficulty going up a few stairs as a result of this. So it's just something to keep in the back of the mind. The good news is, Candy, there is evidence that even simple directed breathing exercises are as simple as it sounds, can have a big impact overall on your breathing difficulties. And you got to make sure to not get another infection. That's one of the big ones as well. We got George from California who asks this. I would like to know what the latest rule of thumb is regarding vaccinations. I just got the flu and COVID vaccines in September and hope for the best. So George, you're doing the right thing. Staying up to date on your vaccination is really important. And keep in mind with regard to flu, which you mentioned, it's been one of the worst seasons for flu as well in the last 10 years.

So if you're having bad respiratory symptoms, it's worth getting checked out to find out if this is flu or COVID because there might be some antivirals you can take, especially if you get diagnosed early. Also keep in mind, if you're over the age of 65, if you have immune compromise, you're at higher risk. So really making sure you stay up to date on vaccination is important. If you've had COVID recently, you're likely to have some immunity from that.

But with natural immunity or with vaccine induced immunity because the viruses mutate so regularly, that's why you need to stay up to date on your vaccinations. That immunity will sort of wane over time.

And finally, let me do one more question. This one is from Isabella in Sweden who asks why do we all seem to have gone through a shift in how we experience time and what is this phenomenon called? The phenomenon is called subjective time distortion. And yes, I mean, while time is fixed, how we experience it can be very subjective and can be greatly influenced by what is happening in the world around us.

So whether it be a pandemic or a natural disaster or a conflict, or just something that is all consuming, a lot of our attention is now focused on that one thing and that's what really drives subjective time distortion can cause all sorts of different symptoms. You just experience time differently. The key is, as you might imagine, is to not focus all your attention on that one thing. Get out there, experience different things that can make a big difference. Jake?

[17:55:24]

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

A bleak warning from one of the top investment managers in the world who tells CNN that the U.S. economy is, quote, weakening as we speak, unquote, because of Trump's trade war. I'm going to ask a Republican senator whose state borders Canada all about it next.

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[17:59:55]

TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, top financial experts in the United States are sounding the alarm about President Trump's tariffs. One telling CNN that the U.S. economy is, quote, weakening as we speak, unquote. This comes as the President announces even more tariffs.