Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Markets Close Down Of Trump's Midnight Tariff Deadline; Trump Tariffs Threaten Supply Chains For U.S. Business; White House Praises Supreme Court After Deportations Ruling; Man Pleads Guilty To Attempted Assassination Of Justice Kavanaugh; Millions Under Flood Warnings With More Rain On The Way; Authorities: Former MLB Player Octavio Dotel Among 66 Killed In Roof Collapse, Dozens Still Missing; Near-Collison Investigation Reveals Air Traffic Control Breakdown. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 08, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to the Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, a clash of the economic giants, the United States set to impose new tariffs on China in just hours, Beijing already promising to retaliate. But how does this global trade war affect businesses here at home? How does it affect your wallet? I'll ask a small business owner who sells the appliances that your family likely uses every day.

Plus, amid all of this economic turmoil, two of President Trump's top advisers have turned their attention to attacking each other like 12 year olds, from moron to dumber than a sack of bricks. How is this helping the American people?

And a big advancement when it comes to preventing and diagnosing Alzheimer's, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to explain how a simple blood test could both determine your risk for the disease and help reduce that risk.

The Lead Tonight, U.S. stocks tumbling to their close this afternoon, despite opening with a massive rally this morning. This comes as tensions are escalating between the United States and China as Trump's 104 percent proposed tariff, you heard that right, 104 percent proposed tariff on Chinese goods, is set to go into effect at midnight.

We're going to start with CNN's Business at Large Editor Richard Quest. Richard, the market was actually up for several hours today.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Yes, there's a phrase known as a dead cat bounce, and that's essentially what we saw. It's just a reaction to having been down so far. Some people may be deciding to buy, some people. But just look at the way those gains, which were quite substantial to begin with, but there was no way they were ever going to be maintained. Not as long as the sort of Damocles of tariffs were held over the market. It was entirely optimistic on the basis that just perhaps there would be a reprieve.

But as noon came and went, and the Chinese have not given any indication that they will get rid of the retaliatory tariff of 34 percent. So, now we have the escalatory tariff of 50 percent on top on top on top, 104 percent goes to China tonight. And don't forget all the others. You've got Japan and it's 24, whatever it is, percent, you've got the E.U. with its 20 percent. You've got the auto tariffs. They are all now rolling into force over the next 24, 48 hours. And so the world that is a tariff is now the world that we know.

TAPPER: Yes, don't forget our longest standing enemy, Canada. Do we know yet how this proposed 104 percent tariff on Chinese goods will impact the U.S. economy and the U.S. consumer?

QUEST: We haven't got the numbers because, quite simply, this is moving so fast. No -- economists cannot model it quickly enough. But we do know from anecdotally what business leaders are telling us, they say, number one, goods from China will be too expensive, simply too expensive. They won't even be importing them into the United States because nobody can eat that sort of amount. So, that's going to be a dramatic effect. There will be certain goods that only can be got from China. U.S. manufacturing will feel the effect.

You're going to see completely prices increase across the board for those must-have items, but the rebalancing of supply chains from China to U.S. manufacturers will get underway tonight at midnight if those tariffs are not removed.

TAPPER: Richard Quest, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Trump's trade representative, USTR Jamieson Greer, testified before Congress about tariffs.

[18:05:03]

Greer previously served as chief of staff to the trade representative in Trump's first term when he helped renegotiate the trade agreements between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, or NAFTA 2.

Let's go right now to CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. And, Manu, it got pretty heated with Mr. Greer today.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and he urged patience, Jake. He suggested that a lot of these issues, a lot that the Trump strategy will not be resolved overnight. Even he contended that his policies achieving some results that the roughly about 50 countries or so are coming to the negotiating table.

But there was a number of Republicans and Democrats expressing skepticism about this Trump policy, some concern about how it's being implemented and worried about the impact in the short-term if prices are going to be increased and whether the long-term strategy will be effective.

And I put the question to a number of Republicans in particular about whether their constituents themselves will be willing to pay more for goods in the weeks ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Do you think your constituents are willing to stomach higher prices caused by these tariffs?

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): No. Look, high prices obviously are not something anybody wants to pay.

I understand the consternation that people have. But when you're making a change in U.S. policy, as they have, obviously, there's going to be a little bit of a short-term, you know, volatility in the market. We obviously need to watch that and we need to make sure that these agreements get done quickly and as a result, you will see the market boom.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Of course, it concerns me. I mean, my God, it's a stability issue. You know, businesses hate uncertainty. We've got a lot of uncertainty in business. You always come up with decisions. You create one throat to choke. I'm just trying to figure out who I should compliment or who I should hold accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And the question is, how much patience will Republicans be willing to give the administration?

There is a bipartisan push on Capitol Hill, Jake, to give Congress a check of sorts on the president's powers, but the Republican leaders in the House and the Senate do not plan to move on that bill, but there is, of course, the reality that the midterm elections could draw closer and closer, raising pressure on the leadership to act or the administration to pull back, Thom Tillis, who you heard from just there, up for reelection and what could be a tough race. He told me, Jake, he expects unforeseen political consequences for the GOP if the economy is not on the right foot by next February. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Manu Raju, thanks so much.

Let's bring in Democratic Congressman Morgan McGarvey the great commonwealth of Kentucky. So, Congressman, you represent Louisville, Kentucky, a key city in America's bourbon industry. And let me remind everyone that bourbon is only made in Kentucky. Are you already seeing impacts on Trump's tariffs, for instance, against Canada on the bourbon industry? And as this trade war escalates, are you worried about what might come next?

REP. MORGAN MCGARVEY (D-KY): Absolutely. I mean, just in Canada alone, by pulling whiskey off the shelves in Ontario Province, that'll cost some of our companies in Louisville, Kentucky, tens of millions of dollars. And it's the uncertainty. It's the on again, off again, on again, off again, jack up rate. Donald Trump wakes up and decides what to charge somebody.

You know, when you're talking about these tariffs and these fancy orders, for us in Louisville, Kentucky, that's a paycheck, right? This is everybody from the farmers who put the corn in the ground to the Coopers who put it in the barrel, to the union workers who put it in the bottle, to the people who drive it to the stores and we don't have to guess what's going to happen.

We saw it when Trump was first president. He had the same policy of just blanket tariffs with no strategy, chaos causing. And what happened to bourbon? It cut exports in half hundreds of millions of dollars. That's jobs, that's paychecks, that's families being hurt by these policies.

TAPPER: Well, I mean, what do you say to the Republicans who say that's what Kentuckians voted for? I mean, President Trump was very out there during the campaign. He believes in tariffs. This is not a surprise. And I don't know what Trump won Kentucky by, 20 points, 30 points. I mean, so what do you say to constituents who come to you who voted for him?

MCGARVEY: Right. You know, and our phones are ringing off the hook right now, because people are not just mad, they're scared. They see their 401(k)s. They see their kids' college savings. They see it just cratering and they are really nervous right now. And I don't think people signed up for this level of chaos for this level of --

TAPPER: Were they paying attention during the first Trump administration?

MCGARVEY: Exactly right. I think maybe it's like having kids, you just forget what it's like when they're infants, so you have another one. But I think that what we were reminding people is this is Donald Trump doing this, and congressional Republicans have the power to stop it, to have the power to actually stop this uncertainty, to stop the chaos from Donald Trump's tax on Americans, and to put in place a responsible trade policy. Right now, they're refusing to do it, but you're seeing more of a bipartisan push for it.

TAPPER: I think both of your senators are opposed to this, both Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell. I want to play what Missouri Senator Josh Hawley told CNN's Manu Raju today about Trump's tariff policy. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Your question is, are people at home, are they willing to ride with the president on this? I think they are.

I think people are willing to give him some rope here and see if he can get a good outcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:10:02]

TAPPER: We hear that from a lot of Republicans that, you know, people have faith in Donald Trump.

MCGARVEY: Yes, they have to say that right now because I think they're scared of Donald Trump in their own primaries. The reality is we can talk about this partisan, nonpartisan, the market is not lying. And the market has absolutely tanked since Donald Trump took office and since he injected this uncertainty, these tariffs without any strategy, whatsoever, into the marketplace. And people are feeling that. They're feeling that they've either lost their jobs, they're afraid of losing their jobs. They're watching their own 401(k)s and we're talking about everything from someone's retirement savings. Even to teacher's pension funds aren't safe in Donald Trump's economy,

TAPPER: So, Trump's 25 percent tariff on imported cars and car parts went into effect last week. It's already sending tremors throughout the auto industry. Ford stock has fallen around 10 percent over the last week. As a result, Louisville, as I don't need to tell you, home to two Ford plants, which provides jobs to about 9,000 workers who are members of the United Auto Workers. The UAW does support these tariffs, at least officially the organization does. What are you hearing from the workers, though? Are they with the union?

MCGARVEY: Look, I mean, people are scared. People are worried. That's what this type of chaos and uncertainty does. And, again, when we talk about tariffs, we have to remember, a tariff is a tool. A hammer's a tool. A hammer's not good or bad. It's good for putting a nail on a wall. It's not so good for fixing your iPhone. How you use it matters. And how Donald Trump is using this power is not responsibly, and it's not going to help working people or working families.

TAPPER: All right. Congressman Morgan McGarvey, thank you so much. Thanks for being here. I appreciate it.

Small business owners are bracing for the fallout of this intensifying trade war. Next, we're going to go live to a warehouse in California to see how the tariffs will affect your ability to buy products that your family uses every day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: In the Money Lead, Trump's tariffs are rattling business owners across the country as they confront this new reality for the global market and ask how and if they can still operate with skyrocketing prices on foreign products. Yesterday, we brought you a factory owner who supports the tariffs.

Bobby Djavaheri joins us now. He's the president of Yedi Houseware appliances in Los Angeles and feels a little bit differently. So, Bobby, your business sells air fryers and pressure cookers, dinnerware. How have you had to adjust the way you operate to accommodate for the tariffs, both that are in effect and are coming?

BOBBY DJAVAHERI, PRESIDENT, YEDI HOUSEWARE APPLIANCES: So, thank you, Jake, for having me. We've been adjusting on a minute by minute basis, and unfortunately, when you're a business owner. And you have such volatility and uncertainty, it makes it very difficult to forecast your production orders for Christmas, for example, when your peak season is going on and you don't know how much capital you got to allocate for your Christmas orders, for marketing, for hiring, for advertising and so forth, and also what your end cost is going to be on landed goods.

We don't know if the tariffs are going to stay at 100 percent, which is madness already, or 300 percent. It's the unpredictability makes it very, very frustrating.

TAPPER: So, the Trump administration's goal, they say, with the tariffs is to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. Are you able to buy your products made in America right now?

DJAVAHERI: Jake, we have one of the most popular air fryers, waffle makers, Suvies (ph), electric pressure cookers in the world, okay? They are all made in China. Nowhere outside of China is able to make hundreds of thousands of air fryers, for example. There's nowhere outside of China that can make air fryers as an example. And no, there is no facility in America that can make any of our small electrics. You know, if there was, I would be there yesterday.

TAPPER: Is it no way that it can be made or there's no way it can be made in a price that would be affordable for the American consumer?

DJAVAHERI: Both. I wouldn't even know what the price would be. You know, I can't even guess what the price would be, but it would definitely be three or four times higher than what it is now. And also there's no facility that makes it either, though. There is no facility outside of China that can make me an air fryer for my business.

TAPPER: So, give me an example. Let's say that the Trump 104 percent tariffs that are going into effect this evening against Chinese goods that come to the United States, what does that mean for you in a practical way?

DJAVAHERI: For example, let's say if an air fryer costs $120 in retail, it could go all the way to $300 retail. And that makes it very, very difficult to run a business. It makes it very difficult to hire individuals. You know, we've been around for 50 years. This business was found by my 93-year-old father who is an immigrant to this country. This is unfathomable to him and it's unprecedented and it's very, very frustrating.

TAPPER: So we had the secretary of agriculture on State of the Union on Sunday morning, and she was talking about maybe some economic aid to farmers who are going to be hit hard by these tariffs. Do you think that small business owners like yourself should also benefit from government largess to help you get through this?

DJAVAHERI: I appreciate you asking that. That's another thing. You know, we feel like we're collateral damage here in the middle of this trade war, that there's no end in sight. How come there hasn't been a put a mechanism put in place for small businesses, medium-sized businesses to say, hey. American business, we got your back. Let us do this. Trust us, but let us help you with this, you know, grant or this mechanism to help us help you shift your business this way. You know, we're in the dark here and it's unbelievable. TAPPER: Bobby, I think our camera is able to show some of your warehouse there. Can you show us around? I mean, is this what your inventory usually looks like or have you been stockpiling because of this?

DJAVAHERI: We were able to stockpile a little bit in the first, you know, from December until March.

[18:20:01]

And at this point, we've got some shipments on the water right now. And as far as after that, we're going to be placed on a halt to see what's going to go on. Because, again, the uncertainty is -- you can't plan with uncertainty. Businesses need to try their very, very best to predict the future and it's making it almost impossible to forecast what business would look like.

TAPPER: So, you agree with those who say that tariffs are a tax? Because the 104 percent tariff on a cooker that comes in, that you would sell for $125, now you're saying you would have to sell it for $300 because of what you're paying for that rice cooker or air fryer or whatever, you would agree that's for the, with those who say a tariff is a tax?

DJAVAHERI: I appreciate you asking me that. We are the ones, the importers are the ones that get the invoices from the Customs Department. We are the ones that have to pay the government all the tariffs, taxes, whatever you want to call them, a tariff, a tax. It's a synonym to me. And that all gets billed to us, which we have to bill the consumer at the end.

TAPPER: All right. Bobby Djavaheri, thank you so much for joining us and for showing us your warehouse and stay in touch, okay? We'll come back.

That was interesting. Let's bring in the panel. We have Bryan Lanza and Xochitl Hinojosa. Brian, let me start with you. I wish this were a more substantive debate that I'm about to turn to, but two of Trump's top advisers, Elon Musk, and his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, are involved in a fight, a public spat. CNN's Alayna Treene asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about it earlier today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: There's been some public sparring between Elon Musk and the president's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, on some of these tariffs. Musk actually referred to Navarro today as, quote, being dumber than a sack of bricks. Are you at all or is the administration, the president, at all concerned that this is maybe impacting the public's understanding of these tariffs? It might be messing with the message on it?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No. Look, these are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs. Boys will be boys and we will let their public sparring continue. And you guys should all be very grateful that we have the most transparent administration in history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I'm not sure the public insults are what people talk about when they mean transparency. But here's something to ponder. Elon Musk is the most successful businessman in the world. He is the wealthiest person in the world. I have said before, whatever you think, and certainly people have issues with a lot of things he's done, he's a genius. And whether it's SpaceX or Tesla or any number, well, I don't know about Twitter, but he's out there and he might know something about international trade.

BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER TO TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: He knows a lot. First of all, thank you for having me, Jake. Listen, I think what we're seeing here is a Harvard academic, Peter Navarro, who has an economic theory, how to remanufacture the United States. And we also see Elon Musk, who has a proven track record of actually manufacturing the United States. And you're seeing the theory come up against real world experience in front of our eyes. And President Trump is letting this debate happen, and it's adding uncertainty by every measurement.

Listen, Peter Navarro is a friend of mine. I've known him for a very long time. And he's always held his position. And he's held it before he ever met President Trump. I mean, the book came out, you know, China attacks, you know, before President Trump, and he strongly feels this.

TAPPER: Yes.

LANZA: And he found a voice in President Trump who shares the same concerns ultimately about China, that Elon doesn't.

You know, there are real concerns with China being our supply chain in an array of issues.

TAPPER: Sure.

LANZA: We learned that from COVID. We learned that, you know, from PPEs. We learned that when it comes to an international crisis that China is not a transparent partner and that they cannot be relied upon to have this responsibility of our supply chain. And so there is some value to removing that supply chain out of China. There's also more value in removing that supply chain out of China, whether it's tariffs or other means, because China, at the end of the day, is an authoritarian government, that is expanding its military, the largest expansion we've seen in world history. And we should have pause for that. And we're seeing that.

Now, is tariff policy the best way to put a pause on that, analyze if that's the smart thing to do? You know, President Trump feels it is, and we're making the case. At the end of the day, like this tariff conversation is primarily rooted around China, and China has made decisions to gut our American infrastructure, to gut our American --

TAPPER: Sure. LANZA: In previous presidents, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W. Bush allowed that to take place and Donald Trump raised his hand in 2014 and said no more. This is not right.

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the problem is, and what you heard from Bobby, who you just interviewed right now, is there's a lot of uncertainty in what's happening. And I think that, yes, I think we can all agree that we would love to move manufacturing to the United States, but the reality is that this takes ten years.

[18:25:01]

This takes about a decade. Right now, businesses can't plan from one day to the next. They can't plan ten days from now. And people are going to lose their jobs, and unfortunately, it is going to hurt our economy.

And it's embarrassing right now that the White House, and they're saying boys will be boys. But right now, the American people want the White House to come up with solutions. They don't want people fighting out in the public, calling each other names. They want to have some reassurances that Trump knows what he's doing instead of causing chaos in our economy, which is currently happening.

TAPPER: So, take a listen to Republican Senator Thom Tillis talking to CNN's Manu Raju earlier today. Oh, the, am I reading this? Okay. So, business people think Long-term, make long-term investments. The American people think every two years and they generally reward an administration in Congress that gets us on the right track.

Keep in mind, if we're not on the right track by February, I think there'll be serious political consequences. But, I mean, honestly, it's April. I mean that's a lifetime away. That's several political lifetimes away.

HINOJOSA: Yes. I mean, I think that's absolutely right. I mean, it is. It's just tough right now what is happening with the American people. You see poll after poll showing that they don't agree with tariffs. People voted for this but they don't agree with what is happening now that it's going to impact the American people. And so I think that the White House really has to think through what their strategy is to win people over.

TAPPER: Last word?

LANZA: Listen, I think their strategy is stronger communications. You can make a case that we need to change our supply chain and that China is not a trusted partner. You know, we can make it all day in this next hour. We can have town halls and the vast majority of Republicans and Democrats are going to agree we can't trust China anymore. And President Trump is using the mechanism, the fastest mechanism to get to that point. I think that's a good thing.

There is uncertainty. There's a tremendous amount of uncertainty. But let me tell you what. There's more uncertainty by keeping the supply chain in China. We know that today. TAPPER: Bryan Lanza and Xochitl Hinojosa, thanks to both of you. I really appreciate it.

The U.S. Supreme Court could rule at any moment in the case of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported El Salvador. Are we getting any hints as to what the high court might decide? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: To our Law and Justice Lead now. We're standing by for an expected U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the case of that Maryland man mistakenly deported to the notorious prison in El Salvador. It will come in the wake of yesterday's decision to allow President Trump to use the Alien Enemies Act, signed into law by President John Adams, to rapidly deport alleged gang members from other countries in this country illegally. Although the court made clear that officials must give detainees subjected to the act notification and, quote, reasonable time to challenge their removal.

Here now, are CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paul Reid and CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig. Thanks all for being here.

So, Priscilla, what does this ruling mean for these types of deportations going forward? Do they have to do anything more than the just kind of like stick them in a plane and fly them out before the judge can stop it kind of thing that they've been doing?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it slows it down, but it's still very complicated for the immigrants who could be subjected to this Alien Enemies Act, that sweeping wartime authority. The reason, they would have to go through the complicated process that Elie could speak more to of habeas and they would have to go through that in conservative courts in Texas because that is where they are likely detained

TAPPER: Habeas means produce the evidence, right?

ALVAREZ: Correct, right. And so those two things all happen within the context and the backdrop of do they have counsel? Not everyone does. And what does it mean reasonable time? If the administration is notifying you that you have been subjected to that, how much time do you have to talk to your counsel, to find counsel to then start this process of challenging it?

All of this, of course, is very different from the usual immigration process, where people, yes, do challenge their deportations, but they do it through the immigration court system. So, this is adding a whole other host of questions that we don't have the answers to, but it solves for the concern of them just being swept up in the middle of the night and sent to another country.

TAPPER: Paula, when we talk about due process, right, do the people who have been detained and deported or facing deportation, do they even know about how that process works or the rights to which they are entitled or not entitled?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Supreme Court laid out what they expect, and this nuance is what prevents this from being a total victory for the Trump administration. The whole point of using this act is so that there wouldn't be any process, so that they could expedite these deportations. But in this partial victory, the Supreme Court said that these individuals should get the right to contest their deportations. They should get a notice that they're subject to this act and the opportunity to be heard before a federal judge.

So, look, this is a victory for the Trump administration. One of the more significant ones that they have netted before the high court, but it's a partial victory because they will be expected to follow process, small P.

TAPPER: So, you say it's a victory, but a partial victory. That's not how Trump aide Stephen Miller sees it. Take a listen to him on Fox last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR POLICY: This is a monumental, colossal victory for the rule of law for the Constitution. This was a huge, I mean, a monumental victory for President Trump, the biggest legal win of this administration so far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Again, we all agree that it's a victory, but is it a monumental, colossal victory?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I wouldn't pop the champagne quite like that. So, it is a victory in that the Trump administration can continue with the process of these deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. However, what all nine justices agreed on is you have to give some due process. In fact, what the ruling really says is the way you ship these people out to Venezuela was wrong.

TAPPER: Or to El Salvador.

HONIG: Oh, excuse me. Yes, you're right, Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. The Supreme Court said that was wrong, that was illegal, and you're not allowed to do it that way moving forward.

[18:35:03]

You have to give them some due process, not a lot, but some due process. And, importantly, you have to give these people reasonable advance notice. You can't just whisk them away. Now, what is reasonable, I think, is going to become the next issue. But you have to give them some reasonable opportunity to get a lawyer and to challenge this. So, it's a win. You can put it in the W column, but that is a vast overstatement.

TAPPER: Yes. Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Miller might have different interpretations, like of the word reasonable.

Priscilla, the IRS reached an agreement with ICE today to share data to help them find undocumented immigrants for deportation. This is a significant shift for the IRS.

ALVAREZ: It is. It's remarkable for many reasons, but also because it flips everything that we know about undocumented immigrants taxes, the IRS on its head. Here's why. Undocumented immigrants do pay taxes. They do so to build what we call good moral character, to show some record of the United States to show contributions to the U.S. economy so they can eventually get some level of legal status. And the government has encouraged that. This is now doing the opposite because it could use that data against them.

Now, the details of this were redacted in the document that was submitted to the court. In fact, how much information will be provided? We know it's at least names and addresses that ICE would have to hand over and then get additional information on these people.

But this is a significant amount of money. When they do contribute taxes, they do so with the individual taxpayer identification number. Just to give a sense of scope, in 2019, according to the IRS people who paid their taxes via that was $6 billion. So, the chilling effect will be interesting here as well,

TAPPER: Very quickly, if we can, there was another Supreme Court victory for the Trump administration having to do with those laid off employees, what are they called, probationary federal employees who had been ordered to be reinstated, and the Supreme Court said, not so fast.

REID: Not so fast. You can remove them from the payroll. Now, this is a technical victory because this was decided on standing. Do you have the right to sue here? The Supreme Court found that the groups, the unions that sued, did not have a standing. But there's also at least one other judge who has ruled that a different group of probationary employees have to be reinstated.

So, really, the only people who have job security right now in Washington are the lawyers litigating this. And

TAPPER: And, Elie, very quickly we see the Supreme Court acting with a lightning speed that we didn't see, for example, when they were making decisions about Donald Trump last year.

HONIG: This is the emergency docket. This is not the full briefs that we get with the booklets and then the oral argument, but they have to rule on an emergency basis because these deportations, these firings, they're happening right now.

So, look, the losing side always complains. We shouldn't be doing it this way because it's too rushed. But that's always what the losing side is.

TAPPER: All right. Priscilla, Paula, Elie, thanks so much to all three of you. A new advancement could help determine your risk for Alzheimer's disease and help you lower that risk. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Guptas here coming up next to explain how it all works.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

TAPPER: New in our Health Lead, researchers have found a way to use simple blood tests to not only determine a person's risk for Alzheimer's but to use biomarkers to check their progress in fighting that disease.

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to tell us all about this unique study in which he was also a participant. And that's fascinating stuff.

So, Sanjay, we know that research shows that blood testing can diagnose dementia. How does this study take it a step further?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is the big thing. So, it's really been sort of a diagnostic test. Do you have it or do you not? Is there plaque in your brain or no? Think of this more like a cholesterol test, Jake. So, you get cholesterol tests before you have heart disease to basically try and ward it off. I'm doing a better diet, I'm taking medications, whatever it might be to try and decrease my risk of heart disease.

Think of dementia now the same way. We are at the early stages of this, and I think the researchers will say, we want to be careful, but this is very exciting because the idea now you can measure certain biomarkers and they really focus on two proteins. They're amyloid and their tau. There's lots of different biomarkers, but they focus on those two things.

If you can measure those and then you do certain lifestyle changes, do those biomarkers get better and does that decrease your risk of developing Alzheimer's? The answer seems to be yes, according to this small study. So that's pretty exciting.

You know, people thought, look, either I'm going to get it or I'm not right. If I get it, there's nothing you can do about it. That was how we thought about this just a few years ago. Studies like this are changing that.

TAPPER: We're showing you getting blood tests for this. And you mentioned more than 125 individual biomarkers, although two are the main ones you're looking at, why so many? 125 is a lot.

GUPTA: Ultimately, I think the idea is to try and personalize the type of interventions you would make. I mean, you know, people know that they should be eating right and exercising. That's pretty obvious. The same things that are good for your heart are going to be good for your brain. We've known that for a while. But it's a little bit more complex when it comes to the brain. I'll give you an example. When I did this, when I was in the study, there were certain things after measuring all these things in me that they recommended. So, in addition to exercise, for example, they said I should start doing weighted walking. So, wearing a rucksack, for example, when I walk,

TAPPER: That will affect your brain.

GUPTA: Yes, because the reason being that you're actually improving your bone density and your muscle density as a result of actually just doing a weighted walk. So, you want to get rid of fat. We know that that actually can make an improvement overall with memory, but improving lean muscle and improving your bone density, that makes a difference as well.

I was told to wear a glucose monitor. Insulin resistance is very associated with metabolic problems that affect your memory. So, actually, measuring my glucose in response to certain foods that I ate, I did this with my wife, Rebecca, who you know, we chartered our glucose to see what foods actually spiked my glucose. That made a difference.

Here's another simple one, barefoot walking.

TAPPER: Barefoot walking?

GUPTA: The reason being that we lose what is known as our proprioception. When we're wearing shoes all the time, your feet, basically, the nerves that are going to your spinal cord, they start to wither away because they're not really being used that much. When you barefoot walk or even use toe spacers, which is something that Richard Isaacson talks about, that actually can help improve the those nerves.

[18:45:04]

And the last one I'll say is measuring inflammation. In addition to amyloid and tau, which we talked about measuring inflammation.

Do all these things and you can actually see a decrease in those biomarkers, which is associated with an improvement in your cognition.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: How soon can just like a regular joe like myself sign up for something like this? You are in a test, right?

GUPTA: I was in --

TAPPER: Like, when can -- like, I obviously get tested for cholesterol and all that stuff, and, like, I might be on a lipid and improve my exercise. But how do I get this kind of knowledge and insight?

GUPTA: I think that's a great question. I think that's what these guys are all working toward. I think within the next year or so, they're going to publish the rest of this data. And I think you're going to start seeing these biomarkers available at your doctor's office, where they ultimately would like to go is to be able to do this type of testing, even at home, through -- through finger testing.

So, you actually prick your finger at home. Youd be able to get these cards that you'd send back in and get your results back. And importantly, track it.

TAPPER: Yeah.

GUPTA: So, it's not just one result. You get six months, get another result. Hey, are the things that I'm doing making a difference? And can I objectively say that it has decreased my risk of Alzheimer's? This study says yes, small study, but I think perhaps most encouraging.

TAPPER: We're out of time, but quick one how much? Wait, how much does your rucksack weigh?

GUPTA: Thirty pounds.

TAPPER: And do you do the rucksack at the same time? You have no shoes on?

GUPTA: No, I haven't done that yet. I'm basically going barefoot, mostly around the house.

TAPPER: You got to watch out though. The streets, the streets of Atlanta. I don't know -- I don't know where you're going to step on. Especially if you -- got a lot of dogs in that area.

All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, good to see you. Thank you so much.

A frantic search for survivors tonight after a roof collapsed at a nightclub. We're going to go live to the scene of the tragedy. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:45]

TAPPER: In our law and justice lead, today, a California man pleaded guilty to attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The judge accepted the plea, but said she doesn't yet know what the sentencing guidelines will be. Prosecutors estimated the sentencing range to be between 30 years and life in prison.

In our national lead, some Indiana residents opened their doors this morning to be met by the Ohio River. The region has been heavily hit by storms this week, with threats of even more rain starting tomorrow night. The woman who shot this video told CNN, quote, it feels and looks terrifying.

Dozens of water rescues were reported in some of the hardest hit areas.

In our sports lead, the national champion Florida Gators returned home this afternoon to celebrate their big win. The men's basketball team defeated the University of Houston in a nail-biter last night after trailing for most of the game. It's the University of Florida's third national championship in basketball.

We're going to squeeze in a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:51:03]

TAPPER: In our world lead, CNN has confirmed the tragic news that former World Series winning pitcher Octavio Dotel was among the dozens killed in a roof collapse this morning.

Video shows the moments before the collapse at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic. Authorities say at least 66 people were killed. Many more remain missing.

CNN's Jessica Hasbun is outside the nightclub in Santo Domingo.

Jessica, do we know how this happened?

JESSICA HASBUN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At this time, Jake, we don't have details how this happened. Authorities are working hard to find people under the rubble at this time. Nightfall is upon us, and authorities are working frivolously to try to find those that are still under the rubble.

Like you said, 66 people up until now, according to authorities, have lost their lives and 154 have been transported to local hospitals. This is a popular nightclub here in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo. And while authorities and emergency crews continue to transport numerous victims to nearby hospitals, this search and rescue operation continues.

The race against the clock. Authorities are still trying to locate individuals that could be trapped beneath this rubble. Juan Manuel Mendez, the director for the emergency operations center, said that about five -- 300, 300 people could have been inside at the moment that this roof collapsed.

We know that at least 154 ambulances have transported. We don't have an official number as of right now, of the amount of people that have been injured. This coverage continues. And this is -- this is a true tragedy. And like you said, with the confirmed death of Octavio Dotel, a beloved baseball player here in the Dominican Republic, the tragic news hits hard -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Jessica Hasbun in the Dominican Republic for us, thank you so much.

CNN exclusive now just into our national lead, brand new details about a near-miss between a Delta Airlines flight and a formation of military jets near Reagan National Airport. Yes, the same airspace where 67 people were killed in January's airliner and military helicopter collision.

Let's go bring in right now, CNN's Pete Muntean.

Pete, what are we learning about this latest incident?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, these details have not been reported until now. This near collision on March 28th, essentially in the same spot of airspace where that collision happened on January 29th, involving that Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines Flight 5342.

This involved four U.S. Air Force T-38 trainer jets that were doing a flyover of Arlington National Cemetery and a Delta Airlines flight that was leaving Reagan National Airport at the same time. And sources tell me, essentially, this incident should never have happened.

And the investigation now really focusing on maybe a communications error, essentially a communications breakdown by air traffic control, the standard protocol during these Arlington cemetery flyovers is to stop flights. From taking off from Reagan National Airport. That was supposed to happen, sources tell me, at 3:12 p.m., giving about a five-minute window to this 3:17 p.m. flyover on March 28th.

For some reason, that did not happen. And so, the data now shows, according to sources, that these flights came within about 3,800 feet. We're talking about five seconds from collision as air traffic controllers frantically tried to turn this formation of jets away from this Delta flight that was departing. They essentially tried to make it so that this would not happen. Alarms were going off at the radar approach control facility.

This is a really big deal and we're just now getting these new details just in tonight.

TAPPER: All right. CNN's Pete Muntean, I know you're going to find out more and have more on this later today.

I have two books coming out. In May, "Original Sin", about President Biden's decision to run for reelection and the cover up of his decline. In October, "Race Against Terror", about the hunt to prosecute an al Qaeda terrorist who killed Americans, who was out to kill more. You can check them out and preorder them at jaketapper.com.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now. Thanks for watching. I'll see you tomorrow.