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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Orders 90-Day Pause On New Tariffs Except For China; Trump Targets Officials Who Criticized Him In First Term; Global Trade Whiplash Impacts Largest Port In U.S.; At Least 124 Killed, Dozens Trapped After Roof Collapse; DHS To Screen Migrants' Social Media For Anti-Semitism. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired April 09, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:41]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Will this brand new surprise Trump tariff policy last through our next commercial break? The Lead starts right now.

The president announces he's putting a 90-day pause on most of his tariffs after Wall Street lost nearly $6 trillion in one week. There is one exception. He is upping the ante on China. Is there any strategy here? Is this any way to run a global economy? We'll discuss.

And breaking news, President Trump now ordering his own Justice Department to investigate for whatever his former administration official for correctly attesting to the cybersecurity of the 2020 election. Trump blatantly using the Justice Department to try to find a crime committed by a public servant who told the truth.

Plus, the nightclub, the tragedy and a frantic search for any signs of life under the rubble of a roof collapse, we're live on the scene.

Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

Our breaking news this hour is President Trump's tariff pause too little, too late for the U.S. economy? And does it signify any sense of predictability or stability, even though almost all the tariffs that took effect at midnight are now paused for 90 days except China, which will see tariffs increase to at least 125 percent. Goldman Sachs says this pause does not change their forecast, which stands at a 45 percent chance of recession. Trump's tariff pause this afternoon sent markets back up. They're in the green now after days of plunging in the red.

The reason for all the recent volatility and confusion, all that money lost from 401Ks and pensions was because of President Trump's haphazard mixed messaging. One week ago today, it seemed the Oprah giveaway approach to tariffs. Every country knew they were probably getting something, they just didn't know exactly what until the world saw the Trump tariff chart, which, incidentally, according to conservative economists, was calculated incorrectly. Though the Trump team denies that. All the while Trump officials were insisting these tariffs were not negotiating tactic, they were here to stay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No chance of standing.

HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: I don't think there's any chance they're going to, that President Trump's going to back off his tariffs.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Will the president reassess his approach?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No, the president is firm in his approach. And the president is ensuring economic stability here in the United States of America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you be open to a pause in tariffs to allow for negotiations?

TRUMP: Well, we're not looking at that.

LEAVITT: He's not considering an extension or delay. He expects that these tariffs are going to go into effect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: They did technically go into effect for all of 13 hours. But then Trump said the bond market's very tricky. He was watching it. But last night people were getting a little queasy. And now, according to his administration officials, this tariff pause is the plan the whole time and it's four dimensional chess.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: This was driven by the president's strategy. He and I had a long talk on Sunday and this was his strategy all along.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: His strategy all along. CNN's Jeff Zeleny at the White House.

And Jeff, you just spoke with the president after he made this announcement and you asked him about his change of plans. What did he say?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, the president is taking credit for what he calls historic gains in the stock market, never mind the fact that they were made after the historic losses that his policy caused. Throughout the day here, I can tell you, this felt like the first Trump administration where administration officials and advisers and aides were scrambling to keep up with the about face decision making that was underway. But we did ask the president what led to all of this confusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Can you walk us through your thinking about why you decided to put a 90-day pause on tariffs?

TRUMP: Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippee, you know, they were getting a little bit yippee, a little bit afraid.

ZELENY: You said that these tariffs would go into effect on Monday, you said no pause.

[17:05:01]

And today there is a pause. So, how can people believe you we're today?

TRUMP: I think you have to have -- yes, it's not a question of that. You have to have flexibility. I could say here's a wall and I'm going to go through that wall. I'm going to go through it no matter what, keep going. And you can't go through the wall.

Sometimes you have to be able to go under the wall, around the wall or over the wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So talking about credibility there, that was the question. How can anyone believe the president's words from foreign leaders to business leaders going forward if he changes course and he brushes it off his flexibility? And just moments ago in the Oval Office, he was signing a series of executive orders and effectively taking somewhat of a victory lap after this, really a tumultuous week here. And the question is at this -- at this hour, Jake, was all of this worth it? Was it worth the trillions of dollars in losses? And that is a question the president has not answered.

TAPPER: Jeff, just last night before this pause, Trump said he would soon announce other tariffs, these targeting pharmaceuticals. This has a lot of people worried. How can we have any idea what the tariff policy is going to be given all of the capriciousness, the back and forth, the changing of the mind, it just seems like -- I mean, Wall Street values and any business, values predictability.

ZELENY: Predictability and certainty has been completely in short supply. And that's an understatement. I mean, the reality is the president has talked about pharmaceutical tariffs. You're right, Jake. We have no idea if he will impose them or not.

And adding more uncertainty onto this, the president was also asked, he was at an event in the South Lawn of the White House with the NASCAR players and some cars there, that's where we asked him the question. And he was also asked about exempting other businesses from tariffs going forward. He said that's something he will keep in mind. So what we do know, this policy is very much an on again, off again one. But what it has led to is a sense of that feeling once again of that first term chaoticness where he was reacting to things. But for all the talk about how he does not look at the stock market, today he acknowledged he did. Jake.

TAPPER: But also the Treasury Secretary said that this was a plan. But Trump himself, in the sound bite you just played for us, he said he did this because people were getting queasy and yippee.

ZELENY: He did. And he said on the bond markets as well, he said last night he was noticing that he was watching, he acknowledged watching some advisers some business leaders on business television. And he acknowledged -- he said the quiet part out loud, which the president often has done over the years. He said, you know, the unease in the market was one of the things that led to this. That's what I mean by when I say administration officials were rushing to catch up with him because the treasury secretary, of course, was deeply involved in this.

But he said it was the president's decision, not the markets. Jake.

TAPPER: Jeff Zeleny doing a yeoman's job there at the White House. Thank you for trying to explain this to us.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich is in New York, and CNN's Marc Stewart's in Beijing.

Vanessa, we see all of the grain in the stock market. That's, I guess, a good sign. It, of course, doesn't tell the whole story. So, give us some perspective here.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, traders I've been speaking to here on the floor said that today was a good day because any time the Dow ends up almost 3,000 points, that is a good day. The NASDAQ was up 12 percent and you had the S&P --

TAPPER: OK.

YURKEVICH: -- up 9 and a half percent. However, it is worth noting that does not erase the losses that Wall Street has seen since the beginning of the Trump presidency, $11 trillion in losses and $6 trillion just in the last week alone. And it's also worth noting that people who have 401ks and pensions have really struggled this last week to make sense of what is exactly happening with their money and for what purpose.

Now, traders here on the floor are sort of in two camps. One set of traders I spoke to said that they have confidence in the president's plan going forward. Others said that this day did not need to happen and this whole week did not need to happen because of this policy. But everyone is unanimous in the fact that they've never seen anything like this in the decades that they have been on this trading floor. The volatility in particular, because so much of these swings in the market are tied to the president's post on Truth Social and any bit of news that leaks out about this trade war.

But, Jake, going forward, traders said that tomorrow is a new day. And despite the fact that the market ended up, a post on Truth Social could totally change that dynamic. And let's not forget, Jake, we still have auto tariffs in place. We have tariffs on steel and aluminum in place. We have that 10 percent universal tariff in place.

And there's questions about what kind of negotiations could actually happen in the next 90 days that would change the course of this trade war. So traders here just bracing for a new day tomorrow, I know I've said this a million times, Jake, but just more uncertainty of what's to come, Jake.

TAPPER: Yes. And Marc, tariffs on other nations are paused or at 10 percent for the reciprocal tariffs.

[17:10:02]

But Trump says he is raising tariffs on China from 104 percent to 125 percent. This after China raised tariffs against the United States last night, and on and on. So the trade war against China is still full steam ahead. How is the Chinese government reacting to this?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Jake well, first of all, this is all been unfolding, these latest developments have all been unfolding overnight here in Beijing. So it may be several hours before we get some kind official government response. But over the last 48 hours or so, the messaging has been one of defiance. The president claimed that China was willing to make a deal in all of this, but the communications that we've been getting from government officials suggest otherwise, saying that the United States hasn't expressed a genuine willingness to have such serious talks.

The government is also making it clear that it is in it for the long haul and that it has the economic policies and the tools to do so. It's a point that was made recently by the Chinese premier. It's also a point that came up in a recent press briefing here in Beijing. Let's listen to what an official had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIN JIAN, SPOKESPERSON, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY (through translator): External shocks cannot alter the fundamental strengths of China's economy, its stability, abundant advantages, resilience and great potential.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: So the question is, what will China do next? What can it do next, Jake, certainly we could see more additional tariffs. China can make it very difficult for companies that do business here to operate every day. In addition, China really could put restrictions to make it difficult, make it tough for Americans to get things such as rare earth minerals, which are so important in manufacturing as well as pharmaceuticals, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Marc Stewart and Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks to both of you. Let's discuss this all now with Mark Zandi. He's the chief economist at Moody's Analytics. And you're not wearing a neck brace there from all the whiplash that we're experiencing, Mark. Do you believe the Treasury secretary when he says this was always the plan to pause tariffs after using them as leverage? Or do you think they're just winging it?

MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: Jake, it feels pretty haphazard to me. I don't see the strategy. I mean, it's very reactive. But you know, to some degree, thank goodness, I mean, the stock market when I got up this morning and I took a look, the futures were down. We were in bear market territory, you know, down more than 20 percent from the previous peak.

And it felt like there was going to be a lot of red today. In the bond market, you know, that's really something. Bond yields are rising which is really a sign that perhaps global investors are losing faith in the safe haven status of the United States, which is a very big deal. So they reacted to that and that's good news. But the bad news is we're still here with the tariffs.

I mean, you pointed out the Chinese tariffs, 125 percent. Even taking away the so called reciprocal tariffs, if you add it all up, Jake, the overall effective tariff rate today right now is the same as it was at the beginning of the day, about 20 percent, 25 percent. So I don't think the coast is at all clear here. We got a lot of script to be written.

TAPPER: Right. I mean, these 125 percent tariffs are still pretty huge. And I mean, Americans buy clothes made in China, sneakers made in China, phones made in China, laptops made in China, trinkets, housewares, et cetera, et cetera. And those expenses, the tariff that's going to be passed on to the consumer, right?

ZANDI: Yes, I mean, it's $600 billion in trade between the two countries. The only other -- the only other place that we trade more with is the European Union, and of course that's a bunch of countries. So this is a -- this is a big deal. And 125 percent, that's more than doubling the price on everything that you just mentioned. And that means that the global -- the trade between these two countries could come to a complete standstill or virtually so.

And the impact of that on the U.S. economy, on the Chinese economy, will be devastating. So even though the reciprocal tariffs are down, at least for the time being, for 90 days, we'll see how this goes. You know, we're still left with very high tariffs. It's still going to be a very large, if what's currently being proposed is actually implemented, it's still going to be a massive tax increase on American consumers and businesses. And I don't think, you know, what we saw today in the stock market is the end of the story.

There's a lot more red to be -- to be had here.

TAPPER: The chief economist at consulting firm RSM said today, quote, "My sense here is that the U.S. economy is still likely to fall into recession given the levels -- the level of simultaneous shocks that it's absorbed. All this does is postpone temporarily what will likely be a series of punitive import taxes put on U.S. trade allies." Do you agree? I mean, I guess Jamie Dimon said something similar, that he still thinks the likelihood is that there will be a recession caused by all of this.

ZANDI: Yes, I think recession is more likely than not. I mean, you know, even the delay just creates another problem.

[17:15:02]

And that's just the -- you said, where's my, you know, neck brace? I mean, it just creates a lot of uncertainty, you know, up on again, off again. And that serves as its own tax on the economy because businesses freeze. They don't know what to do with that. Federal Reserve doesn't know what to do with that, so they can't respond to what's going on.

Consumers, you know, are very nervous about it. So, you know, even though we might get the reciprocal tariffs right now and maybe we'll never get them, the uncertainty that this will creates, I think, put some miasma over the economy and recession risks are clearly very high.

TAPPER: Mark Zandi, thanks so much.

We're standing by for a major vote on Capitol Hill. Can the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, secure enough Republican votes to pass what the president wants to call a big beautiful bill? We may find out this hour.

But first, my next guest manages imports and exports in the United States with much of it from China. We're going to go live to the California coast to get his take on Trump's tariff reversal and the escalation against the Chinese government ahead.

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[17:20:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And we're going to find out about this guy, too, because this guy's a wise guy. He said, we've been proved this is the most secure election in the history of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Breaking news in our law and justice lead, President Trump moments ago signing an executive order targeting his former cybersecurity chief, former Republican official Chris Krebs, for a Justice Department investigation. Krebs apparent crime is telling the truth about the 2020 election. Trump also talking about taking on a different official, Miles Taylor, who worked at his own Department of Homeland Security. Let's go right to CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid.

Paula, this is shocking. What exactly is the president ordering here? PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, I've covered President Trump and various legal issues for a decade, I have never seen anything like this. This is a blatant attempt to violate the First Amendment and weaponize the Justice Department. As you noted here, he is targeting two former Trump administration officials. One, Miles Taylor, he was a Department of Homeland Security official and he was eventually revealed to be the author of a book that was originally signed by Anonymous. It was very unflattering about the first Trump administration.

Now, he's also targeting his former cybersecurity and infrastructure Security Agency director Chris Krebs, who was, of course, fired a few weeks after the 2020 election after he rejected Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud. But just moments ago in the Oval Office, Trump ordered to strip them of any security clearances they may hold. OK, but then he ordered the Justice Department to investigate both former officials. I mean, this is the latest example of Trump trying to weaponize his Justice Department.

I mean, Jake, investigate them for what? For words? In the case of Krebs, I mean, his assessment is the overwhelming consensus about the status of the 2020 election. Unless you're President Trump or someone really close to him who is worried about angering him. Then when it comes to Miles Taylor and his book, he suggests that he may be guilty of treason.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has repeatedly said, Jake, that she is not going to allow the Justice Department to be weaponized, that people will not be targeted based on their political beliefs. If she follows this instruction from the president, it will be clear that those declarations are a farce. So this is a very important question for the attorney general, will she follow this order or not? Because there is no legal basis to pursue an investigation into either one of these individuals.

TAPPER: Yes, I guess the bigger question, beyond Pam Bondi and Donald Trump doing this, as you noted, unconstitutional against the First Amendment, the weaponization of the Justice Department, not terms that we throw around at all in general. The big question is he's targeting two former Republican officials. Are any current Republican officials going to stand up and say, no, you can't do that? This is un-American? Or are they going to be next?

Because it doesn't stop with Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor.

REID: It's a great question. He has an army of lawyers. He has a really good lawyer. David Warrington is White House counsel. He has Todd Blanche.

He has Emil Bove. All these great attorneys, were they consulted? Did they weigh in on this? We heard Will Scharf, one of his legal advisers, who is there in the Oval Office, what is their opinion?

Look, I get it. Everybody has a boss, right? Sometimes you got to let him put on paper, you know, his thoughts and feelings, it's been a difficult week. But this, this goes beyond anything we have seen before. Calling the Justice Department to investigate people who have said unflattering things or things that you disagree with, again, that could potentially be this constitutional crisis that people have been talking about for a long time because it would be such a blatant violation of what the First Amendment is supposed to protect.

You are allowed to criticize the leader of the free world, speak out against them, contradict them without fear of a criminal investigation.

TAPPER: And by the way, I mean, neither of these are acceptable. But what Chris Krebs was doing was his job.

REID: Yes.

TAPPER: He was attesting to the cybersecurity of the 2020 election and there has never been any credible evidence that any -- I mean, remember all the cockamamie theories that they were putting out there, that the Italians used satellites to hack into voting systems? All that stuff was unfettered nonsense. And Chris Krebs said these elections were secure, and they were.

REID: Yes.

TAPPER: They were. He -- they -- he's now -- and it's exactly, here's the defendant, go find the crime.

REID: That's exactly right. As I said, this is the overwhelming consensus. The only people who don't want to come out and say this are President Trump and some very closely aligned individuals who are afraid of drawing his ire, or in this case, potentially being targeted by the Justice Department.

[17:25:04]

Though, of course, at this point, we have not confirmed that the Justice Department is actually going to act on this order. But this is a big, yet another test for the attorney general that clearly any other legal advisers who were consulted, if they agreed with this and went along with this, clearly failed.

TAPPER: If only we had a legislative branch to provide oversight. Paula Reid, thank you so much. Appreciate it as always.

Much more ahead, including that tragic roof collapse at a nightclub killing a staggering 124 innocent people. Several notable names are among the victims. The scramble right now to find anyone who may still be alive under the rubble. That's next.

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[17:30:01]

TAPPER: Back to our Money Lead, a sigh of relief as President Trump hits pause on most tariffs, dropping most countries down to a universal rate of 10 percent, but anybody who does business with China is still bracing for impact because Trump ratcheted -- ratcheted those tariffs up to 125 percent. You heard me correctly, 125 percent.

Joining us now, Gene Seroka, he's the Executive Director of the Ports of Los Angeles. Gene, I -- I want to know, what was your reaction today's -- to today's news? There's a 90-day pause on tariffs, dropping most countries down to a 10 percent universal rate, but then also upping the trade war with China.

GENE SEROKA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PORT OF LOS ANGELES: Well, good evening, Jake. The pause was encouraging, but it's not a lot of runway for folks in our business to make planning requirements. Typically, an importer here in the U.S. puts their orders into the factory overseas three or four months ahead of a ship leaving Asia, and that takes another two to four weeks to get here to L.A.

So, some orders may stay intact with a little bit of relief, but more than doubling the price of products coming out of China is problematic for the U.S. economy.

TAPPER: And -- and those tariffs raised on China to 125 percent, what does that mean for America's biggest port? China, as I understand it, is that port's biggest trading partner.

SEROKA: That's right, more than 40 percent of our business here in Los Angeles is trade with China, both imports and exports. So, what we've seen, I'll take you through the last several months. Large importers started bringing additional products in knowing that this day would come, last Wednesday, when a broad and the most sweeping tariffs announced in the United States history happened in Washington. Folks tried to average their cost down by bringing that product in.

Now, it's a game of wait and see and simulation. Folks are back in the office trying to recalculate what all these tariffs mean and how much it's going to impact their bottom line. There are negotiations happening with manufacturers, but more than likely, what I'm hearing directly from CEOs is if the cost can be passed on to the American consumer, it will.

TAPPER: The rest of the countries are being dropped to a 10 percent universal tariff rate. Is that more manageable for the people who use the port or is that still going to be disruptive?

SEROKA: It's going to be difficult on the American consumer and about the same amount of cargo that comes in, finished goods, for retailers throughout the country, we also bring in parts and components for American factories. Those prices just went up 10 percent with this announcement. That's more than the run rate of inflation that we've been working so hard as a country to bring down. We've seen the price at the pump, the price of eggs. This is just additive to that inflationary spike that we're going to see.

TAPPER: And obviously countless people are involved in the trade process. People who work at the ports, people who drive the trucks, the businesses, the manufacturer, the businesses that order. What does all this uncertainty mean for everyone whose jobs depend upon trade?

SEROKA: The folks that we work with, Jake, are plain and simple worried about one in nine jobs. More than a million people here in the five county Southern California region go to work every day because of the efforts that we have here at this port of Los Angeles. That's problematic across a variety of industries.

So here's what I see coming up the second half of the year. The volume at the port of L.A., the nation's largest will drop by at least 10 percent. We've got more product in here because of that front loading of inventory, and the American family is going to be a little bit choosier about what they purchase. Prices go up. They're going to be selective. That means the demand for imported containers will likely come down, and maybe a trucker today is hauling four loads.

If that product starts dropping on the flow coming in here, they may move three loads a day. The dock worker who's getting regular overtime may go back to standard hours. We're not going to see mass layoffs, but the amount of work will be much less than it traditionally has been over the several years.

TAPPER: So this pause is just 90 days. Um, what support do you need from the Trump administration to prepare for whatever comes after these 90 days are over?

SEROKA: We need a clear line of sight as to what's going to happen and make it sustainable. Our job here on the infrastructure side is long term investment. We have decades long approaches to building up our warps, our main channel rail roadway connectors and bridges. We, because of our strong financial policy, will continue to invest through cycle. Not all companies can do that, Jake. We've got about 125,000 importing companies, and they're not made up of all the big guys. You've got small family businesses, medium sized companies that really are going to take the hit right on the chin with these tariffs and 125 percent. Those orders may just stop.

[17:35:00]

TAPPER: All right, Gene Seroka at the port of Los Angeles. Thank you for your time and expertise. Really appreciate it.

In just a few hours, CNN is going to kick off two big nights of special events, first at 9 o'clock this evening, Eastern Time. Anderson Cooper is going to moderate a town hall with Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

And then tomorrow night, join me and CNN's Kaitlan Collins for a town hall with four lawmakers from battleground districts. Republican Mike Lawler of New York and Republican Ryan MacKenzie of Pennsylvania and Democrat Jahana Hayes of Connecticut and Democrat Derek Tran of California. That's tomorrow night at 9 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

Right now in Capitol Hill, the House is getting close on a major vote on the president's agenda. We're going to be monitoring that. But first, the latest from the Dominican Republican, the horrific details we're learning after Monday's roof collapse at a nightclub. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:40:14]

TAPPER: In our World Lead, recovery efforts continue searching for any survivors of that deadly roof collapse in the Dominican Republic yesterday. At least 124 people, including two former Major League Baseball players and at least one U.S. citizen, were tragically killed when a nightclub ceiling caved in. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon is in Santo Domingo, where desperate families are waiting and praying.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fernandez Reyes-Reyes (ph), Joel Manuel Santana Pion (ph).

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST (voice-over): The names read out loud by forensic doctors, each of them alive, cut short. More than 100 bodies have been recovered, but dozens yet to be identified in the rooftop collapse of a nightclub in Santo Domingo. A growing death toll cuts in through the soul of this nation.

The jet set was an iconic venue. Monday night, many local celebrities had come here to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Several are now being mourned, including two former Major League Baseball players, a Latin music star and the governor of a local province.

Dominican President Luis Abinader declared three days of national mourning to commemorate. Outside the venue, relatives search for the names of their loved ones in lists hanging on a field hospital.

I've lost two brothers. This is a national tragedy. We are just heartbroken, says these men. The rescue operations continue in the dark. There are still people to be found, a race against time, even when hope is fading fast. A small group of faithful singing their pain and refusing to let go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POZZEBON: And Jake, as you can see from the cranes just behind my back, the search and rescue operations have continued throughout the night and are continuing to this moment.

While here, the media, the journalists, the friends, the families, an entire community is still waiting for an answer, Jake.

TAPPER: Santa Domingo, what a tragedy. Thank you so much.

The Trump administration is finding a new way to target immigrants and foreign students in the U.S., this time scrubbing their social media accounts, looking for any evidence of what? Well, we'll tell you what authorities say they're specifically looking for, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:47:41]

TAPPER: In our National Lead in an effort to crack down on anti- Semitism in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security announced today that U.S. immigration officials are going to start scrubbing through the social media feeds of immigrants and they will be looking for any anti-Semitic activity or expression before granting immigration benefit requests.

With me now is CNN's Priscilla Alvarez. Priscilla, this doesn't just apply to foreign students, you say?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: No, this also includes lawful permanent residents and immigrants affiliated with educational institutions where there has been anti-Semitic activity, translation, visa holders, students.

Of course, this is coming against the backdrop of what we have seen play out over the last several weeks, which is the administration revoking student visas in some cases because of what they -- what -- what they have pointed to as their anti-Semitic expression. Now, they go a little further in this in terms of how they're going to continue reviewing social media feeds for those who receive the visas. And I'm going to quote here, according to USCIS, is what they say.

Under this guidance, USCIS will consider social media contact that indicates an alien endorsing, espousing, promoting or supporting anti- Semitic terrorism, anti-Semitic terrorist organizations or other anti- Semitic activity. Now, what we should also note, Jake, is that there was a State Department memo that went out several days ago that similarly told U.S. embassies and consulates to review social media activity when they're looking at these visas for certain student visa applications and taking screenshots to preserve what people are doing on social media, aware that some people may be scrubbing their social media now, given what the administration has been saying.

But of course, it's as another layer of concern for advocate groups now that there is this supervision of the social media activity. But, Jake, frankly, the administration has a lot of authority in terms of who they decide to grant a visa to or not.

TAPPER: Did the Department of Homeland Security say in any way how they are? I mean, look, obviously there is blatant anti-Semitism, but it's not that simple with any kind of bigotry, sometimes. There's uglier stuff than there, you know, there -- there are shades. Some stuff is uglier than others. Did the Department of Homeland Security explain how they're going to define this?

ALVAREZ: They did not go into detail as to how exactly they are going to be scrubbing for social media, what is going to meet the bar beyond the statement that I read -- that I read to you. But this is going to take effect immediately. And they do have a lot of tools at their disposal.

[17:50:08]

They have entire targeting and vetting centers that are used frequently, just generally to scrub social media of anybody that's coming into the United States, any concerns of terrorism, et cetera. So they certainly have the tools at their disposal. The question is, what is going to meet the bar? Because as we have seen with some revoking of visas that we have -- that they have done, like the Tufts University student, the op-ed was the only thing her attorneys pointed to. So where we go from here, I think, is still remains to be seen.

TAPPER: I would also note that this administration seems to have a very low tolerance for anti-Semitism on the left and a very high tolerance for anti-Semitism on the right. But that's just my observation. Let me ask you about this new reporting you have about the Trump administration and that notorious mega prison in El Salvador where they are sending individuals, they say are members of Venezuelan violent gangs.

ALVAREZ: Well, El Salvador is a key ally. That is very clear that the Trump administration is leaning on them heavily. And I'm being told by officials that they plan to send more immigrants with criminal records, they say, to this notorious mega prison, particularly after the decision by the Supreme Court this week, which allowed them to use the Alien Enemies Act for now that sweeping wartime authority that allows them to more quickly deport those people that they are targeting.

But what was also interesting over the course of this reporting, Jake, is that I learned that amid the legal back and forth that was happening, the Trump administration also fielded a proposal from that notorious private security contractor, Erik Prince, about setting up a U.S.-run immigrant detention facility in El Salvador.

What this tells us is that he still has some influence as he comes back into the orbit, as we've previously reported, but also that El Salvador is going to continue to be so key to what this administration does on immigration. And I'll also note that the president, who is a Trump-friendly president, will be visiting the White House on Monday.

TAPPER: Oh, interesting. OK. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.

Breaking news in our Politics Lead, we're standing by for a full House vote on President Trump's, quote, big, beautiful budget blueprint, a bill that embraces trillions in tax cuts, offering no new spending cuts. This also has a handful of Republicans in the House insisting that they're going to vote no on this bill. There's Congressman Chip Roy of Texas. I suspect he's one of them.

He is a fiscal hawk. Let's go right to Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. Manu, trying to count votes here for House Republican leadership has been tough.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it. Remember, Jake, you can only lose three Republican votes on any party line vote, assuming all members are here and voting. And there are more than three Republicans who plan to vote against.

RAJU: So these are threatening to vote against it. But the Republican leadership is gambling. They're betting that eventually that these members will be flipped when the vote happens just in a matter of moments.

And at this moment, a number of those holdouts are actually meeting in the Senate Majority Leader's office, John Thune, as they try to discuss how to proceed, because there is a huge disagreement between Senate Republicans and House Republicans about the spending cuts that are called for in this budget blueprint. In the House plan, it calls for about roughly $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. In the Senate plan, it calls for the minimum $4 billion.

I can show you how significant the discrepancy is between the two chambers. But there's a hope that they can bridge the gap among the Republican leadership in this upcoming vote. But in talking to a number of these conservatives, they are indicating that they do not plan to flip unless something dramatically changes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I don't know why we're bringing it up for a vote right now. It clearly doesn't have the votes. There's I know over 12 members that are planning to vote against it.

RAJU: So you're a firm now.

BURCHETT: Currently.

REP. RICK MCCORMICK (R-GA): It looks like there's 15 members that are holding out right now. So unless something changes, if you can't pass it, you pass it. So you do something better.

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): They use the Rules Committee resolution to circumvent U.S. law. So that's the difference.

RAJU: What -- what's your reaction to that?

MASSIE: It's illegal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And that last comment came from Thomas Massie, referring to actual language that was included in the first procedural vote to advance in this budget blueprint. That language would nullify efforts to try to target Trump's tariff policy that was included by the speaker of the House and Republican leaders to do that. You heard Thomas Massie calling that move, quote, illegal. He's one of those Republicans who plans to vote against the underlying budget blueprint tonight, Jake.

And as you know, in order to move on the larger Trump agenda, the Senate and the House must adopt an identical budget blueprint when they do when and if they do. That's when they can move the sprawling plan that includes an overhaul of the tax code. Also, those deep spending cuts, as well as new enforcement provisions on immigration related measures and new projects to deal with energy drilling.

But none of that can be done unless that budget blueprint gets adopted as soon as tonight, which is why this is such a significant vote that could happen here in a matter of minutes, Jake.

TAPPER: Manu Raju, thanks so much.

[17:54:58]

Tonight, President Trump says he has good reason to flip the script on his tariffs and put a 90-day pause on most of them. But putting an exception on China, in fact, he is raising tariffs on Chinese imports. The whiplash this is causing on the global economy and see how the movie even caught members of the Trump administration off guard today. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, President Trump reversing course, pausing most of his tariffs, but not for China. Wall Street likes what he did today. What about his voters? I'm going to ask someone who used to craft his White House messaging.

And quote, a con man and a fraud. That's the label put on the newest Republican Senate candidate from Texas, Ken Paxton. As the firebrand controversial attorney general takes on longtime Senator John Cornyn. Why this race is going to be one to watch and could be the most expensive in U.S. Senate history.

[18:00:08]

Plus, a major --