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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Markets Rebound But Not to Pre-Tariff Announcement Levels; Soon, Supreme Court Ruling on Man Mistakenly Deported; Texas A.G. Ken Paxton Challenges Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) for Senate Seat. Recently Freed Hostage Fights For Brother's Release; House Votes On Senate GOP Budget Blueprint. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 09, 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 ANCHOR: 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.

[18:00:05]

Why this race is going to be one to watch and could be the most expensive in U.S. Senate history.

Plus, a man kidnapped by Hamas now free. What was his life like being held hostage by the terrorist group? He will join me here in studio.

And we are standing by for the U.S Supreme Court to weigh in on a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador.

Our Lead Tonight, the stock market finished with a boom today. Nice to see all that green reacting to President Trump pausing most of his tariffs on the world for 90 days after injecting mass chaos and fear in the markets. That pause does not include the tariffs he's been posing on China. Trump hiked that tariff rate to 125 percent.

So, what made Trump blink or cave or change his mind, whatever verb you prefer? He said his decision, quote, came together early this morning and, quote, was written from the heart, whatever that means. It probably also had to do something with the bond market, he said, which is usually safe in times of uncertainty. It didn't appear that way this morning, of course. Here's Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Oh, I was watching the bond market. The bond market is very tricky.

I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: They were getting the yips, he said. CNN's Richard Quest is with us now. Richard, Trump claims that China wants to make a deal. If you were a betting man, do you think China and the United States are going to come to an agreement? Do you think China's going to cave? Do you think the U.S. is going to cave?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: I think China is going to watch to see whether or not that you should have -- do tit-for-tat, tit-for-tat, but the tit-for-tat gets lower and lower until you end up somewhere in the middle. And that's why I think the 125 is an interesting number that Trump went for, from 104 to 1 25.

Is that number just small enough that China can either live with it or just about beat it. Because at some point, one side or the other is going to telegraph that they are ready to meet. The only thing against what I've just said, to argue completely against myself, is that the Chinese statement overnight is that they are in this to the bitter end, and that's the worrying part because China maybe just has written off the United States for the foreseeable future and is just going to go head to head toe for toe. We're going to have to wait for a few more hours to see if they match the 125 from Donald Trump.

TAPPER: And, Richard, Goldman Sachs says, Trump's trade retreat has not changed their own recession forecast even though the stock market went up today. It's the best day in 16 years, still not back to where the stocks were when Trump announced the so-called liberation day. Are the gains today, is it like pushing an old lady down the stairs and then wanting credit for helping her back up at the bottom there? How do you see it?

QUEST: That's very --

TAPPER: Thank you. I made Richard laugh, all right.

QUEST: I was going to sort of say it's like the arsonist calling the fire brigade and then taking credit, similar sort of idea. No, this is why Goldman is saying what it's actually said. Number one, you still have the auto tariffs. Number two, you still have the steel and aluminum tariffs. Number three, you have the Chinese tariffs at 125 percent, the largest bilateral trade relationship. And number four, you have a new global U.S. tariff of 10 percent, which is three times the previous average of 2.5 percent. So, yes, the worst in terms of Japan, South Korea, the E.U. has been staved off, but there is so much tariff in the system at the moment that's just going to wash over the global trading system. We are so far from being out of this.

TAPPER: All right. Richard Quest, thanks so much.

Before pausing the tariffs, President Trump posted this morning, quote, be cool. Everything is going to work out well. Moments after he made his big reversal, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to take a victory lap.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Many of you in the media clearly missed the art of the deal. You clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Joining us now is someone who knows the inner workings of the Trump White House, well, former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farrah Griffin.

Alyssa, how did you take that, none of you -- many of you in the media clearly missed the art of the deal, you clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here, when President Trump, in his own words, made it very clear that this didn't seem to be part of any strategy? He just saw that people were getting queasy.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. I mean, listen, this was clearly, and Donald Trump said as much on the South Lawn that he was looking at the bond markets collapsing. And that was what forced his hand into this reversal.

And this take, you know, from an outsider's perspective, but who was once an insider there, I get the sense that a lot of the major decisions these past few days have been made in a very small circle and a lot of the communication staff and the staff who are going on television, talking about what's going on are often kind of behind the curve in the president's decision-making because we were repeatedly told this is not a negotiation that Donald Trump says it is a negotiation.

And beyond that, I do believe the White House is hearing from foreign leaders, but more importantly, they're hearing from business leaders, business leaders who, a lot of them, bet big on Donald Trump. They thought he was going to be good for the economy. They were expecting Trump term one all over again, and then they saw the markets in shambles.

So, I think his hand was forced here. And thank God you're hearing a big sigh of relief from Capitol Hill and from our allies around the world right now.

TAPPER: You say during your time at the White House, Trade Adviser Peter Navarro, who Elon Musk has been insulting over and over this week, that Navarro sometimes presented ideas that were half baked, but there's still a lot of loyalty between Trump and Navarro. Today, Republican Senator Rand Paul, who doesn't believe in tariffs, he called Navarro a walking economic fallacy, which is, I should note, at least nicer than Elon Musk saying he's dumber than a sack of bricks. Do you think Navarro's days are numbered at all in the White House or Trump doesn't care about any of that?

GRIFFIN: I actually don't think they are. I think Peter Navarro will be around. I think perhaps his influence over global markets and sweeping trade policy may be sidelined. He's a person who -- listen, if you listen to him in a small, narrow way and then take in the advice of other people could potentially be helpful to the president.

But what this White House wasn't able to do based on what I'm going to call the Navarro plan that they rolled out, is explain exactly what the full plan is. Is it full reindustrialization of the U.S.? Are we trying to bring back every factory that was lost? Are we cutting off basically all foreign trade and thinking we're going to be able to build everything from iPhones to sneakers here? And in that aspect of it just was not clearly articulated.

I think Donald Trump feels some alignment with Navarro and his policies, but he's a businessman who understands how you create jobs and how you keep an economy going. And Navarro's ideas are just the antithesis of how you do that.

TAPPER: All right. Alyssa Farah Griffin, thank you so much.

Our panel's here now. The Navarro conundrum, that's like a Robert Ludlum book. I don't know if you read it. Phil, according to the latest jobs report, there are nearly 500,000 vacant manufacturing jobs right now. Now, Trump's talking about bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States, which sounds wonderful, but if there are 500,000 vacant manufacturing jobs right now, are those jobs even desired by people?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: It is a question that has not been answered by the Trump administration, in part because they just aren't anywhere close to that point yet. Like that would probably be viewed as a good problem to have where all the manufacturing has actually moved back to the United States, and we're trying to train a workforce. But it is a clear reality right now in the marketplace.

Manufacturing has changed dramatically over the course of decades. It is so tied to automation and technology, robotics, that the types of jobs are high skilled labor.

Now, to be very clear, JD Vance, the vice president, in a speech at a summit a couple of weeks ago made clear they're not trying to create manufacturing jobs that would be equivalent to cheap labor back in the United States. They want innovation. They want those types of high skill jobs when those manufacturers come back.

But it gets to, I think, an issue that people don't necessarily grasp, but with good reason. There's been some serious stuff going on, which is the number of things that have to connect and go right for the Trump administration's theory of the case to be born out are very complicated and very tied to things that are out of their control. And right now, they're just trying to kind of get out of the gate on some level.

TAPPER: Yes. And J.D. Vance 2.0, as opposed to the one we have now at 3.0, said that he didn't think protectionism was the way to bring back these jobs. It needed to be addressed with automation and education. MATTINGLY: Right. He shifted. I should note, our colleague, Samantha Delouya, has a great piece on this through marlyand.com (ph). Like read it. It was much smarter than what I was trying to roll through.

TAPPER: No, you're right.

Ashley. It seems like not even the U.S. trade representative knew that this change, that this pause for 90 days was going to happen. He was testifying before the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives when it happened. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long is the pause? How many days? How many weeks?

JAMIESON GREER, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: I understand it's 90 days. I haven't spoken to the president since I've been in --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So the trade representative hasn't spoken to the president of the United States about a global reordering of trade --

GREER: Yes, I have. I've just been in the hearing with you, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But yet he announced it on a tweet? WTF, who's in charge?

GREER: The president of the United States is in charge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what do you know about those details?

GREER: Well, as I mentioned --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like your boss just pulled the rug out from under you and paused the tariffs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, Ashley, Chuck Schumer on the other side of Congress, the Senate Democratic leader, he called this a government of chaos. Do you think -- what do you think is the role for Democrats here? Because I've also seen Democrats trying to say, well, some tariffs are good. I like some tariffs. These ones are not good. But what should be the role of your party?

ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: Well, I mean, I think that what they need to do is lay out the case.

[18:10:03]

There's two things at play here. It's, one, either sheer incompetency on the part of the president or he's intentionally trying to tank the U.S. economy. I happen to think it's actually both of them. And I think that is a position we --

TAPPER: Do you think he's trying to tank the economy? ETIENNE: There is no other way to explain it. How else do you explain the sort of haphazard nature of it all? How else do you explain that that markets have been dropping and tanking globally for weeks, and he still continues to pursue this effort? I don't understand it. And then more importantly, we've learned the lessons from his first term where there was a mixed bag in terms of results of his tariff agenda.

So, I don't know how else to explain it. And I think that is what the party needs to put forward to the American people and then really make the case that the people who are the victims of all this chaos, it's the American people, from their pocketbooks to their retirement. That's what's actually suffering right now.

And let's just take a step back because this is the one thing I think my party has failed to really lay out, and that is less than three months --

TAPPER: There's only one thing you think your party is --

ETIENNE: Yes. I mean, effectively, less than three months into this administration, we're talking about a recession.

TAPPER: Yes.

ETIENNE: I mean, let me repeat that, a recession in less than three months. That is remarkable.

TAPPER: And it's people --

ETIENNE: It's unprecedented.

TAPPER: -- like Jamie Dimon talking about a recession.

ETIENNE: Absolutely. But it's the people on the ground who are already feeling it. That's why they protested all weekend. This is why Republicans are trying to rein in the president on this tariff agenda. I mean, it's a real thing. But my party's failing to really lay that out.

TAPPER: I could offer what I think is Trump's theory of the case, but we have you here, so why don't you give it a shot?

MIEK DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: And I'm just sitting here smiling to all the jokes getting thrown back and forth. Listen, I think, to Phil's point about the manufacturing jobs, I think there's one part of it. The other part of this is trade deficits. You hear that from the president all the time.

And so these tariffs in his mind, he's not trying to tank the U.S. economy, but he is a firm believer in tariffs. And part of that is trade, these trade deficits.

The other part of this is, I mean, if you listen closely, there's a reason he keeps bringing up 1913, the glory age that ended in 1913, because that was the day, that was the year that we got the income tax in the United States. And so the other part of this, and we're going to get to that one big, beautiful bill at some point, but the other part of this whole story is taxes. And I do think that at some point the president will come out and not just on tips but talk about at 150, at 100, at some point, Americans will not have to pay taxes because of these tariffs. It's all part of that. So, if you want me to give you --

TAPPER: That's their theory of the case.

DUBKE: This is the whole theory of the case, and that's the question you ask --

TAPPER: You don't necessarily believe it?

DUBKE: I'm not -- as I've said before, I'm not the biggest fan of tariffs in the world.

TAPPER: Right. I'm just -- I just want to make sure people at home before they spam (ph) you. Yes.

DUBKE: He's got a reason to the madness that you're trying to create.

ETIENNE: Here's the real question though, Mike. Why would American people trust someone who has tanked and run a casino into the ground to reorder a global --

TAPPER: I think three casinos.

ETIENNE: I mean, that's beyond me. Why we would trust someone like Donald Trump's word on this?

MATTINGLY: To Mike's point, though, there is a plan.

TAPPER: Right.

MATTINGLY: There is a fulsome play. It is different than the first term in the sense of it's an economic team that is aligned. It's an economic team that supports the president, isn't necessarily battling with them on a daily basis. It's an economic team that has an expansive kind of not just theory of the case but actual tangible plan. The difficulty in this moment, particularly with this rollout, is the tax bill is now completely contingent on the narrowest of majorities and anybody who steps out of line is officially problematic. You can't do any of the manufacturing stuff they're trying to do without the incentives that come from the tax bill. So, they did the hardest, most disruptive thing first and waited to do the things they're going to absolutely had to.

DUBKE: They had to do that part. Because if you do believe in tariff, you understand that it takes a period of time, and they didn't have the time. They had to go first.

TAPPER: It does sound as though you agree though that they -- with your colleague here, that there needs to be more explaining of what's going on. Okay.

DUBKE: More explaining is necessary.

TAPPER: All right. Thanks to our panel.

CNN Town Halls kickoff tonight with Anderson Cooper moderating a discussion with Senator Bernie Sanders, two feisty white haired gentlemen on a stage, that's tonight at 9:00 Eastern. And then tomorrow, I'll host a town hall with CNN's Kaitlan Collins featuring four lawmakers from battleground districts, Republican Mike Lawler of New York, Republican Ryan MacKenzie of Pennsylvania, Democrat Johana Hayes of Connecticut, and Democrat Derek Tran of California. That's tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern here on CNN.

Anyway, on Trump's tariffs reversal, what is the plan? We just heard people saying there is one. What is the strategy? A congressman who just tried to get some answers today will join us next. I'll also ask him why he says trusting Trump and Elon Musk doesn't pass the smell test.

And how will this vote go down in the House on the president's budget plan? Will the president be that one step closer towards getting his one big, beautiful bill? Keep it here. We're going to find out.

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[18:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): Consumer confidence is plummeting and it's going down, down, down. And you guys are saying trust us, that the Republicans, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and you guys know what you're doing. So, that doesn't pass the smell test.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, lawmakers today grilled Trump's top trade official Jamieson Greer on Capitol Hill today, Democrats especially, demanding answers on the tariff whiplash that we've been experiencing from the Trump administration.

Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez from California joins us now. And, Congressman, obviously, you questioned U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer ahead of the announcement of the 90-day pause today about the tariff strategy. Does the announcement today of this pause assuage any of your concerns about the Trump administration's strategy, such as it is, when it comes to these tariffs?

GOMEZ: Not at all. During the middle of my questioning is when Donald Trump actually issued the reversal on those tariffs or some of the tariffs.

[18:20:00]

So, it -- and here's the thing, it just shows that it's chaotic. It shows that they don't really have a plan. Remember, this guy is listening. Donald Trump is listening to, first, Pete Navarro, who made up an avatar of an economic expert that it spells out Ron Vera that doesn't exist to justify his positions. They had a formula that was panned by conservative think tanks that basically said your terra formula doesn't add up. And some people assume that it was actually created by ChatGPT. And then they're trying to say that there's going to be short-term pain, but everybody knows that once you -- once these painful hits, when it comes to the cost go into effect, those prices are probably never going back down.

So, everything that they're doing, everything that they're saying doesn't pass the smell test. It actually raises more questions when it comes to why are they actually doing this in the first place.

TAPPER: And we should note that we are pursuing U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. We would love to have him on the show.

What do Democrats do over this 90-day pause? Is it even possible to prepare for another switch up in the tariff policy? How do you guys strategize?

GOMEZ: One of the things I think we need to do is continue highlighting the fact that the tariffs that are currently placed, that 10 percent across the board, that the tariffs are going to still increase prices. So, the National Federation of Business came into my -- into the caucus today, described how small retailers have receipts, saying their cost of their products are going up 20, 30 percent, and that they already have to take that into account. That means people are going to still pay more when it comes to a lot of different products, from shoes for their kids.

Remember, 99 percent of shoes of this country are made outside the United States. So, a lot of products, like shoes are going to keep going up, so we should still keep hammering that message because this hasn't gone away. This hasn't relieved the stress that the American people are going to feel. And let's remember Donald Trump said he was going to lower prices on day one. He's done the opposite.

TAPPER: Surely, you have sympathy for the desire to have fairer trade with other countries and to have more U.S. manufacturing, more manufacturing jobs, return to the United States, right?

GOMEZ: Yes. I say that I'm not against all tariffs. I'm against dumb tariffs. And dumb tariffs are tariffs that unnecessarily cause chaos in the marketplace, make prices rise up and hurt working men and women, scare off investors to actually put more money into building factories because that's what is also occurring, and then at the same time, lower consumer confidence. That's what we're seeing.

I helped negotiate USMCA, the one that got 398 votes in the House of Representatives, 90 votes in the Senate that Trump said it was a high watermark and a model for trade policies moving forward. The one that now he's claiming is defunct. So, yes, we know how to do it, but you have to do it with targeted tariffs that actually have targeted investments to build factories and put people back to work, not this craziness that we're seeing from this administration. TAPPER: Well, let me ask you just theoretically, take a country like China, which constantly violates trade agreements, steals intellectual property and uses what many call slave labor to build, you know, iPhones or Nikes, like how do we stop them from doing that without getting into a trade war?

GOMEZ: You know, one of the things is when you start firing in a trade war, people shoot back. I want to be clear, China has been preparing for this moment since this last administration. And one of the things that you have to do, you have to partner with your allies. But what does he do? He slaps tariff on China -- not China, on Canada, on Mexico, on the European Union. He hurts the people that we need to rely on in order to take on China.

So, one of the things is you got to have a strategy that is global, that you need to be able to reach into Asia using Japan, using South Korea. You need to be able to build an alliance. But this guy thinks he can do it alone. That's complete nonsense. We need all our allies at the table, but this guy is actually scaring them off and creating an opening for China to take advantage of.

TAPPER: Congressman Jimmy Gomez, Democrat of California, thank you so much. Good to have you on. I appreciate it.

GOMEZ: Thank you for having me.

TAPPER: A pending decision by the U.S. Supreme Court will determine if a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador from Maryland will be returned to the United States. His wife spoke with CNN earlier today. How this case will set precedent on future cases, that's next.

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[18:25:00]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling to return a migrant deported to El Salvador in error is expected any day. The White House admits that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported by mistake due to a, quote, administrative error. But yesterday, the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, said this is why the Trump administration doesn't want to bring him back. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL: It was an administrative error as to why he was deported, and he is a known gang member. I testified he was a gang member and we believe he should stay where he is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: His wife, Jennifer, we should note we're not using her last name for privacy reasons, pushed back on that claim today on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER, HUSBAND MISTAKENLY DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR: My husband is not a gang member. He's actually an amazing father, an amazing husband. That's who he truly is.

My kids ask when is he coming home? And I just say, I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Here now is CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paul Reid and CNN Legal Analyst Carrie Cordero.

[18:30:03]

Carrie, I'm going to get to you in a second about this evidence that he's a gang member. But, Paula, let me start with you. We could learn literally any minute as to what this US Supreme Court is going to do here. What impact could this ruling have on this deportation process going forward?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: There's so much at stake here for the administration and anyone who could have to go through this. Because, look, if for some reason the Supreme Court comes back and says, actually, you don't have to bring it back to the U.S., I mean, that is likely going to embolden the administration. They would likely be less inclined.

TAPPER: Embolden, it's tough to imagine emboldened, but okay.

REID: I could see it. I mean, if that's what Chief Justice John Roberts comes back with, yes.

TAPPER: If they deport you and me --

REID: Gitmo seems kind of peaceful right now as a pregnant lady covering the Trump administration.

But, look, if they're allowed to not have him brought back to the United States, I think that would embolden them, they would be less likely to follow through with the process that the Supreme Court has said they have to do in some of these cases. Now, if they do have to bring him back, again, I think that would be a cautionary tale for them. Perhaps they would be more careful, but they're watching for this.

They're also though watching for birthright citizenship, the Supreme Court's answer on that, and in both of these cases, they're a little nervous.

TAPPER: Congrats on that breaking news, by the way.

REID: Thank you.

TAPPER: Carrie, let me ask you. So, we just heard Attorney General Pam Bondi say that this man -- they have admitted that it was a mistake that he was deported. But they say he's a known gang member. Now, we should note this is not agreed upon established fact. A judge did rule that that was to be the case, but that was in an immigration court where you have to take ICE's word for it, whatever they claim you have to agree upon. Here's what the district judge who ordered this man's return says about this evidence, quote. The evidence against Abrego Garcia consisted of nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant claiming he belonged to MS-13's western clique in New York, a place he has never lived. So, that's the so-called evidence. And if that's an accurate description, what impact do you think that if will have on this decision, if anything?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, with respect to the record of evidence it may be that's all there is. And if that's all there is, then that certainly doesn't seem to rise to the level of actually deporting the person. But maybe there's more information that came out through his 2019 immigration proceeding.

Either way, he's still entitled to some level of due process. And this is what I think gets lost is that even though he was a non-U.S. person, not a citizen, not even a green card holder, non-U.S. person, this individual, still, any person in the United States has some basic levels of constitutional protection.

And so there could be an opportunity for this to go back through the court system, and for whatever evidence that the Justice Department has and that the attorney general is confident in for that information to come out, but he is entitled to that basic level of process.

TAPPER: And also we should note, even though he was -- he's in this country illegally, but the immigration courts knew that he was here and he had been granted some sort of protective status.

CORDERO: Right. So, in 2019 the immigration court ordered that he could not be deported based on a perceived harm that would he would potentially be subject to. So, what the Supreme Court has to look at is whether or not the removal -- I don't even want to use the removal, because removal is a technical word under immigration law. I don't want to call it a deportation either. This is a spiriting away of a person. This is really in disappearance territory of a person where they have absolutely no recourse. And they are not only separated from the United States and placed into a foreign country, they're placed into a prison. This individual has been placed into a prison --

TAPPER: A hardcore prison in El Salvador, yes.

CORDERO: -- which is a whole another level of a deprivation of anyone's rights.

TAPPER: And, Paula, the White House claimed victory after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that they had every right to use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged gang men members. There could be some hurdles, though, because a federal judge in Texas just temporarily halted deportations under the act. What's going on exactly?

REID: Yes. In Texas, this is specific to that district in Texas, and this is judge putting in place the process that the Supreme Court ordered earlier this week, this individual, these individuals deserve a chance to be heard. So, he paused this for two weeks. There's going to be hearing, there's going to be a process. It doesn't mean that they may not be deported, but he is implementing what the Supreme Court said the administration has to do when they deport people under this law.

TAPPER: Carrie, the Supreme Court's emergency ruling did not address the Constitutionality of the act, but is that where this is headed ultimately, do you think?

CORDERO: So, on the Alien Enemies Act pertaining to the Venezuelan gang members, so on that, yes, the Supreme Court hasn't ruled on the merits of it. If they were going to get to the merits of it, then what they really have to wrestle with is whether or not the activities of this criminal gang are -- constitute an invasion under the Alien Enemies Act. The historical context for it does not necessarily support that argument but that that would be if they actually get to the merits of it.

[18:35:02]

Right now, though, they're just saying that D.C. wasn't the right place for that case to be brought and instead it needs to go to Texas.

TAPPER: All right. Thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

Republican Senator John Cornyn has some choice words for the Texas attorney general who just launched a campaign to primary him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): Mr. Paxton has a checkered background. He is a conman and a fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Tell us how you really think, John. We're going live to Texas where this primary is only one day in, and it's already a very heated race between Paxton and Cornyn. That's next

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, let's head to Texas where the stakes are already being raised for a vicious Republican Senate primary. It could end up breaking records for fundraising. Attorney General Ken Paxton is officially challenging veteran Senator John Cornyn.

[18:40:01]

He announced that overnight the incumbent senator responding attacking Paxton, calling Paxton, quote, conman and a fraud.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has some details of an already quite contentious race.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CORNYN: President Trump needs a partner. ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The frontline of a MAGA-style Civil War drama is unfolding in Texas. Four- term Senator John Cornyn is bracing for what might just be the toughest Republican primary challenge of his career.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ken Paxton is running for Senate to stand with President Trump and help him make America great again as our next Senator.

LAVANDERA: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who built his career in the age of President Trump says Cornyn isn't Republican enough.

KEN PAXTON, TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: So, there's certainly many things to focus on that he has not done, and I think it's time that somebody held him accountable for that.

LAVANDERA: Even with the U.S. Senate primary in Texas still almost a year away, Cornyn is wasting no time brandishing his MAGA credentials in new campaign ads,

CORNYN: President Trump and Senate Republicans are securing our border, reining in government, unleashing energy production, and putting America first. We can't go backwards to inflation, crime and DEI.

LAVANDERA: Cornyn boast voting with President Trump 92 percent of the time, but still Cornyn has struggled to connect with the MAGA wing of Texas Republicans. Critics say he hasn't been strong enough on gun issues and building a border wall.

The signs of trouble have been bubbling for some time. Almost three years ago, Cornyn was booed while speaking to his state party's convention.

You good, Ben?

BEN FERGUSON, CO-HOST, VERDICT WITH TED CRUZ: I'm ready.

LAVANDERA: Ben Ferguson hosts a podcast with the other Texas senator, Ted Cruz. He argues one of the highest ranking Republicans in the U.S. Senate is vulnerable.

Do you think John Cornyn is in trouble?

FERGUSON: I do, I think he's in big trouble. I don't think he's going to be able to Jedi mind trick them and say, hey, I really am this big conservative leader and I'm fighting for the Trump agenda, which clearly Texas wants, and that's his Achilles' heel.

LAVANDERA: Ken Paxton is one of the most polarizing politicians in Texas. For years, he's been mired in legal and personal scandals. The state Republican-controlled legislature impeached Paxton in 2023 on charges of bribery and abusing his office. The impeachment also revealed details of an affair. But Paxton, who denied all charges and allegations, survived and remains in office. On Capitol Hill, Senator Cornyn made clear he's going after Paxton's character and fitness for office, and calls Paxton's campaign a conman's vanity project.

CORNYN: Mr. Paxton has a checkered background. He is a conman and a fraud. And I think the people of Texas know that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (on camera): Jake, one of the questions looming over this race is which candidate, if any, will get President Donald Trump's endorsement. And I also spoke with a prominent Republican strategist here in Texas today who said, hey, we should point out that both of these candidates despise each other, and he predicts that this race will be, quote, one of the nastiest campaigns in Texas History. Jake?

TAPPER: it's already incredibly nasty and it's day one. Ed Lavandera, thanks so much.

Our next guest spent nearly 500 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza. He called it hell. His brother remains there. His fight to get his brother back, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:47:27]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IAIR HORN, FORMER HOSTAGE HELD BY HAMAS: My name is Iair. I've been in hell for 498 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: That was released Argentinian Israeli hostage Iair Horn speaking at the National Republican Congressional Committee dinner last night. Horn was released and reunited with his family on February 15th of this year. His brother Eitan is still being held hostage by the terrorist group Hamas.

And Iair horn is with us now.

And, first of all, I don't even have the words to say. I'm so sorry for what you and your family have gone through and are going through. We hear you're still having trouble with your vision from -- from your time in captivity. What is it like to return home? What is it like to be back in freedom?

HORN: Well, I try to do things like I was socially do. Like making a salad or just to have a nice meet -- meal and -- but it's really difficult because my brother is still in Gaza.

TAPPER: Eitan.

HORN: And I feel -- every, every little thing I do, I feel guilty. That's the reality. TAPPER: So, you were with Eitan at Kibbutz Nir Oz. Is that where you

were?

HORN: Right, yeah.

TAPPER: When you were taken by Hamas on October 7th?

HORN: Yeah.

TAPPER: He's 38 years old. You're the big brother. There's a middle brother. He's the baby.

Tell us about Eitan.

HORN: So, Eitan, it's my little brother, my baby brother. He works as an educator. And. We are a family of education, of sports. And we love also music.

I love to sing. And I play a little bit of guitar. So -- also, my brother Amos. We love sports. We love music and good meat.

TAPPER: Were you had -- were you held captive together or no? You and Etan?

HORN: Yeah. Most of the time, we were together.

[18:50:01]

I think maybe 440 days, we were together. Yeah.

TAPPER: Saturday is the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Pesach or Passover, which is a celebration of the Jews getting out of bondage.

HORN: Yeah.

TAPPER: Your brother still in bondage. He's still in imprisonment, unfair terrorist imprisonment. Are you going to have a Seder on Saturday or Sunday?

HORN: So, first of all, the Passover, Pesach for my family, it's maybe the most important. Yeah, I think we're going to try, but -- I think about my mother. She -- she need to cook.

TAPPER: Yeah.

HORN: She knows Eitan want be with us, but -- maybe -- maybe we -- we going to have a set of Pesach with an empty chair.

TAPPER: An empty chair?

HORN: Yeah.

TAPPER: Sure.

HORN: I don't really know. We -- if we have that energy to do that.

TAPPER: Yeah, it'll be tough.

HORN: Really tough. Yeah.

TAPPER: You praised President Trump last night and credited him for helping to bring about your release.

HORN: Yeah.

TAPPER: Do you have a message to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu? Is there do you want him to be doing anything more to get Eitan out?

HORN: I need him to bring him -- him out and all the 59 hostages. I hope soon, because every second counts. You know, I've been in hell with terrorists, crazy people. And, you know, in the second leg, just can take a fire gun and shoot at him.

TAPPER: Yeah.

HORN: And every second count. We have no time. The hostages have no time.

TAPPER: I have a little brother.

HORN: Yeah.

TAPPER: With a beard. It must be awful.

HORN: Yeah. It's awful. You think? I supposed to protect him -- protect him? I can do nothing now. I can, I cannot get back to the Gaza Strip, to the tunnels.

So, I fighting my fight --

TAPPER: Yeah.

HORN: -- right here.

TAPPER: Yeah.

HORN: Everyone who want to hear the story, I'm going to tell the story.

TAPPER: You're fighting for him. You're fighting for him right now.

HORN: Yeah. Yeah.

TAPPER: You're -- you're fighting for him right now.

HORN: That's what I try to do. I -- you know, I was released in February 15th. I cannot have -- I cannot start my rehab.

TAPPER: Yeah.

HORN: I cannot start my healing. I cannot -- I just -- I need them back.

TAPPER: Yeah.

HORN: Yeah.

TAPPER: Thank you for being with us. And thank you for telling us about Eitan.

HORN: Thank you for having me.

TAPPER: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:57:58]

TAPPER: Breaking news in our politics lead, the House of Representatives just voted on President Trump's budget bill that embraces -- they're about to vote on President Trump's budget bill that embraces trillions in tax cuts and offers no new spending cuts.

Let's go right to chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju on Capitol Hill.

Manu, what is going on right now?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is a furious effort right now, Jake, by the Republican leadership to try to convince a number of Republican holdouts to get in line and vote for this proposal, which is essential to moving ahead with Donald Trump's larger agenda.

But there is a deep division about how they would go ahead with spending cuts that are called for as part of this budget blueprint. Right now, a number of these holdouts are meeting with the speaker of the House just off the House floor as they keep a separate vote open until they can get enough votes to muscle this through.

Now, Jake, this came after these same holdouts met with the Senate Majority Leader John Thune just moments ago, as Thune tried to reassure these skeptics that they would move ahead with spending cuts when that larger bill starts to come together.

I talked to some of these holdouts as they left, and they were holding their fire, including Congressman Andy Harris, who's a leader of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: It sounds like you're now yes?

REP. ANDY HARRIS (R-MD): It's going to depend on what the group. Again, we -- we travel as a group.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: We travel as a group. As indication that some of these members may ultimately all decide to

vote one way or the other. And, Jake, this is so key because the House and the Senate need to agree to an identical budget blueprint. And once again, if they do, that's when they can move on the bigger plans to deal with the overhaul of the tax code and spending cuts and all the rest of the Trump agenda.

But this vote, critical. Will they delay it? Will they derail it, or will they fall in line?

TAPPER: All right. Manu Raju, we'll be watching. Thanks so much.

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. And in October, "Race Against Terror", about the hunt to prosecute an al Qaeda terrorist who killed Americans and was out to kill more. Check them out at jaketapper.com. You can preorder them.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Substack, TikTok. You can follow the show on X @TheLeadCNN. If you ever miss an episode of THE LEAD, you can listen to all two hours on our podcast from whence you get the podcast.

And Erin Burnett is "OUTFRONT", and she starts right now.