Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

White House On Tariffs, Trust In President Trump; Judge Says Mahmoud Khalil Is Removable From The U.S.; U.S. Prosecutor And Trump Ally Launches Probe Into New Jersey Democrats; State Department: 17 U.S. Citizens Killed In Nightclub Disaster; As Trade War Escalates, Chinese Ev Maker Gains On Tesla. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 11, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

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

This hour, it has been a very tumultuous week for the U.S. economy, and we're at the end of it, thankfully, even though the markets are currently closed, the issues are far from solved.

[18:00:06]

What comes next for your wallet after China fired back today, starting a new chapter in the trade war.

Plus, all week, we've been introducing you to business owners across the country worried about how these tariffs are going to affect them, their company, their employees. Some of them support the president, some of them like the tariffs, some of them feel differently. Tonight, we're going to go live to Tennessee where a home builder who voted for Trump has a message for the man for whom he voted.

And we're taking an inside look at one of the world's hottest car companies that just happens to be a major rival of Tesla. How these electric vehicles are trying to put Elon Musk in the old rearview mirror.

The Lead Tonight, pressure building on the White House to negotiate these trade deals with China and the rest of the world as financial markets continue to teeter.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny and Kylie Atwood are with me. Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, at the end of a very humbling and tumultuous week here, to put it mildly, at the White House, global confidence is shaken in the United States, and that is seen in the bond market. We've not seen this before for quite some time. However, the optimism here at the White House is surprisingly high despite all these metrics. We asked the White House press secretary why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Why is American consumer competence so low?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, I think there's a great optimism in this economy, great optimism for the American people, a lot of reason for people to feel optimistic. The president is, as I just said, trying to renegotiate the global trade agenda that is ripped off the American people for far too long. As he said, this is going to be a period of transition.

Trust in President Trump. He knows what he's doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Trust in President Trump, Jake, that was something that Karoline Leavitt told us again and again today, but that does not explain the disconnect really that is happening between what we're seeing in the markets, this optimism of the White House, but far from it from a consumer incentivism.

But as this trade war with China intensifies, the question is, which country is going to blink first? The White House also asked about that today, and there are no signs of a conversation with either of the leaders of the superpowers here, even as we're reaching a dramatically high rate of tariffs. Jake?

TAPPER: Yes, extraordinarily high. And, Kylie, you have some new reporting about how the president is trying to negotiate this deal with China on tariffs. Tell us more about that.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well listen, President Trump wants, or he is open to a phone call with President Xi. That message has been relayed to China repeatedly during private dialogue at a working level between the two countries. Over the last two months, it was relayed again as recently as in the last 24 hours, I'm told, according to a source, familiar with that dialogue, but China has not actually requested a phone call with President Trump. U.S. officials believe that President Xi doesn't want to be seen as weak, doesn't want to be seen as capitulating to Trump during this escalating trade crisis between the two countries.

And you also have to understand that systematically the two countries operate incredibly differently. President Xi, his system, is used to preparing at great lengths for any leader-level dialogue while President Trump would be willing to hop on the phone if President Xi was willing to make that request. However, he thinks that Xi needs to make the request. He's not going to go to him and say he wants to have that phone call.

So, we're at this standstill really right now. That major question, that really pressing question as to when the two leaders might actually talk, remains an unknown. And we also don't know that there is actually any substantive movement in that direction at the working level because the White House doesn't want to be dealing with the Chinese foreign minister. They don't think that he's close enough to President Xi. They don't think that he's someone who is trustworthy. So, there's not even working level dialogue to work up to a leader- level conversation at this moment. Jake?

TAPPER: And, Jeff, there's another story out of the White House I found intriguing, President Trump apparently commissioned some new artwork, a portrait of himself in the White House Grand Foyer today. Tell us about it.

ZELENY: Jake, take a look at this picture here, perhaps one of the most iconic images from the campaign. This, of course, was from that assassination attempt last summer in Butler, Pennsylvania, and now this is hanging in the grand foyer of the White House, one of the most prominent places for all visitors, both official and unofficial alike.

This was hung this morning, we are told, and it is replacing the official portrait of Barack Obama, which has been hanging there. I'm told the Obama portrait has just moved across the grand foyer. It is still hanging. That means that President Bush's portrait was also moved.

This reminded me of the first term in some respect when the president moved out the portraits of a Presidents Bush and Clinton and put them in the old state dining room, which is something that's not really used.

[18:05:02]

But in this case, this picture of President Trump, this painting is hanging there. And, Jake, we've not seen anything in history like this before because usually there is not a portrait of the sitting president. It's of the former president, but, of course, he's the 45th president as well. But it's the type of image that he chose. This, of course, has been the emblem and anthem of his candidacy. Now, it is right there in the White House for all to see.

As for President Biden, of course, his portrait has not yet been formally commissioned.

TAPPER: All right. Jeff Zeleny, Kylie Atwood, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

I want to turn to something unusual and rare that we saw in the stock market this week as Trump's on again, off again, tariff policy played out, because it wasn't just a massive stock selloff, but you can see here that US Treasury yields skyrocketed this week as investors sold U.S. bonds. Now, a lot of economists say selling U.S. bonds is a major red flag for an economy.

Now, let's bring in CNN's Allison Morrow. Allison, first, can you explain to everyone at home what a bond is and also what does it mean that people are selling them?

ALLISON MORROW, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: Thanks, Jake. It's Friday night. I would love to discuss the bond market with you. Very simply, a bond is a loan, so I give you some cash and you eventually give me that cash back and give me some interest payments along the way, pretty easy.

With U.S. treasury bonds that we're talking about, this is tens and trillions of dollars coming into the United States from all over the world. And that asset, that bond is considered to be one of the safest places any investor can put their money because it is backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. So, ultimately, a U.S. bond treasury is a safe haven.

So, this is important to what happened this week. Normally, in times of economic turmoil, we would see stocks sell off and investors go to bonds. That didn't happen. We saw investors selling stocks and bonds, and that is really a red flag because it's only happened a handful of times in history, and it's a signal that investors can't really see which way the economy is going, and they're kind of putting their pencils down and saying, we're sitting this one out, and it's a big red flag, as you mentioned.

TAPPER: What does it mean for the big picture when it comes to the U.S. economy?

MORROW: Right. So, the U.S. economy is in a really precarious position right now, and one thing we know about when the ten-year treasury yield, that is the benchmark yield for all kinds of consumer loans, your car payment, your mortgage, your credit card bill is all affected by the tenyear yield. And as you noted, when bonds are sold off, the yield goes up, and that is exactly what we saw this week.

So, in addition to potential inflationary effects from tariffs and other economic unease, the yield could make your loans more expensive.

TAPPER: CNN's Allison Morrow, thank you so much for your insights. I appreciate it.

My next guest is somebody who correctly predicted the dot com bubble in the year 2000, the 2008 great recession, the 2021 COVID bubble. His name is Howard Marks. He's the co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management. Mr. Marks, thanks for joining us.

You said this week that, quote, tariffs are changing everything. How?

HOWARD MARKS, CO-CHAIRMAN, OAKTREE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Well, changing tariffs have the opportunity to change our entire trade mechanism throughout the world, what we buy where, where we get the goods we consume in this country, but also to have a profound effect on geopolitics.

TAPPER: And do you think that's a good thing or no?

MARKS: Well, first of all, nobody likes the status quo to be disrupted. The last 80 years have been pretty good and most people would settle for a continuation of that. Now, there are people who think that the world has been unfair to us in trade matters, and President Trump is trying to redress that by coercing people to the negotiating table, among other things. And, you know, some of his goals are legit and tariffs have the potential to accomplish them. The challenges, second order consequences, just the things that Allison was talking about on the last segment.

TAPPER: Today, we saw U.S. consumer sentiment plummet to its second lowest level on record, and the record goes back to 1952. Does that concern you?

MARKS: I think it is concerning. Obviously, the economy operates on what John Maynard Keynes called animal spirits confidence certainty, positive feelings. And people don't like uncertainty. They don't like the feeling that they have no idea what the future holds, which while these things are going on, they don't. So, you know, should you buy today or keep your money in the bank, should you build a factory to build products in the United States or expect to continue to be able to import from abroad?

[18:10:05]

Until we know the tariff regime, we have no idea how to make answer those questions.

TAPPER: You just heard me talking with Allison about the U.S. Bond yields going up normally not a good sign. Do you think the bond market's broken? What do you think is going on there?

MARKS: No, it's not broken. It is working fine, but it's reflecting, number one, a belief that these activities could be inflationary, and the higher inflation is, the more people want interest rates higher to compensate for it. And the other thing is, I think there is, it indicates some diminishing (ph) of feelings about the United States.

You know, Allison said that -- that she said treasuries are believed to be the one of the best, safest investments in the world. Historically, they have been considered the safest investment in the world. And now some people somewhere may be starting to think they're not as safe as we thought.

TAPPER: What is the U.S. market telling you about the way Americans, just regular folks, are interpreting the planning and the policies from the Trump administration on the economy?

MARKS: I think the main message is that when people are more uncertain and less confident and more worried, they shrink back from things. They become more reticent. And what we say in the investment business, they demand more compensation for taking risk. And the way that compensation comes is through dropping the prices, which, everything else being equal, adds to the potential return. So, uncertainty brings on lower prices from which the investor hopes higher returns will compensate them for the risk.

TAPPER: The U.S. dollar is also not strong, which you would not necessarily expect with these tariffs in place. Should we in the public be worried that the market is acting so unusual?

MARKS: You know, Jake, I've been in the investment business for 56 years. And this series of events has more potential to alter the way things work than anything else I've ever seen. So, you know, if you're confident that you know how this is going to come out, I think you're misguided.

TAPPER: I am not confident that I know how this is going to turn out. Howard Marks, thanks --

MARKS: Well, the you, in that case, was not you, it was really the one confident. TAPPER: Yes. Have a great weekend. Thank you so much, sir. I appreciate your time.

MARKS: Thank you.

TAPPER: Will Trump's tariffs get in the way of building new housing here in the United States? I'm going to ask a home builder who voted for Trump to see what he's expecting from the tariffs.

Also, the Trump administration is fighting back after accusing one governor of telling law enforcement in his state to not comply with federal agents conducting immigration enforcement and deportation.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

TAPPER: Back with our Money Lead, from bakers to builders, American business owners are bracing for tariffs to upend their bottom line. The National Association of Home Builders estimates that $204 billion worth of construction goods were used in 2024 to build new housing, $14 billion or roughly 7 percent of those goods, came from outside the United States. And when you drill down on lumber used in U.S. home building, 85 percent of it comes from Canada, according to the NAHB. Canada plans to double its tariff rate on lumber this year because of the U.S. escalation on tariffs.

A custom home builder based in Tennessee, Dan Mitchell, joins us now from a construction site now. And, Dan, we should note that you voted for Trump. You hoped that deregulation would help your business, help home building. Are these tariffs affecting you? Are they affecting your customers?

DAN MITCHELL, FOUNDER AND BUILDER, EAGLE CDI: Well, currently, Jake, they're not. And, first of all, thank you for having me. We're not seeing the tariffs having an immediate impact on our business at this moment. You know, as the administration did not put the tariffs on lumber coming into the country, as well as cement and some potash material that's coming over from Mexico along with gypsum. So, we're not having the impact that the tariffs are having in other industries right now.

TAPPER: Do you believe President Trump when he says this is only going to cause some short-term discomfort.

MITCHELL: Well, I'm hopeful that that's going to be the case. I mean, obviously, you know, any increase in pricing of any type of construction material causes our consumers to be able to pay more. And a thousand dollar increase on a normal home basically takes out about 10,000 consumers from being able to build a home. That's part of our national statistics.

So, you know, we are concerned about the rising prices, we are concerned about the commodities that we're using in new construction, and obviously lumber, cement, and other commodities such as that driving up prices for the consumer is going to be, you know, have an impact on our ability to be able to provide homes.

TAPPER: Obviously one of President Trump's goals here is to return manufacturing in greater numbers to the United States. Is it possible right now for your construction teams to only use materials made in the United States?

MITCHELL: No, not at this particular moment, especially when we're talking about the soft wood material like you spoke about a minute ago. You're correct. You know, 60 percent of the imports or 70 percent of the imports, softwood lumber actually does come from Canada. And it represents about 25 percent of the total material. We do have about 60 percent national production, in other words, domestic production of lumber. But still that number of soft wood product that's coming in from Canada is important in our construction industry.

[18:20:00]

So, any increase in cost or any increase in the tariff and lumber itself, or concrete or gypsum material, as well as any other electronic components that relate to appliances, such as going to our homes, you know, that does have an impact on our consumer's ability to be able to purchase them.

TAPPER: How many homes do you build a year?

MITCHELL: It depends on the year. Of course, I've built as many as 50 in one year, and there's other times that I've built as less than 15. The style of homes, like in this particular development you see behind me, there's already about 200 homes that are built here and there's about 600 more that are going to go into this particular development that's right here in Tennessee.

TAPPER: Maybe it's just too soon to tell, but I'm just wondering if any potential customers have expressed any concerns just because of the volatility of the market and the potential impact of the tariffs.

MITCHELL: Well, there has been, obviously because of the impact that the mentioning of tariffs have had on the stock market. Some of our higher end customers that, you know, get their funds and are going to use their funds from the stock market are kind of putting their plans a little bit on hold until they kind of see how the stock market's either going to even out. You know, they do use that particular. The money that's coming from the stock market cashing in, like you say, their 401(k)s, are cashing in their stocks to be able to pay for some of the construction.

So, they're taking a wait and see approach right now to kind of see what the stock market's going to do. And two or three of our higher end customers have just said, we're going to wait and to see what happens with these tariffs before we move forward with our construction project.

TAPPER: I know with a lot of employees and a lot of materials that there's probably not a huge window for a huge margin for you to take the hit if these prices go up, right? I mean, a lot of American businesses are operating on a 5 percent, 10 percent profit basis, that it's not like they mark things up 50 percent, 100 percent. If construction costs rise, will that have to be eaten by your customers?

MITCHELL: Well, yes. You know, we're putting escalation clauses in our contracts right now, you know, telling our consumers, especially on our custom bills, that as prices go up, we have to pass those costs on to you. On the spec building, these type of homes that you're seeing behind us as well, well, if it raises $10,000, then that goes on the back end of the price of the home.

So, yes, consumers are becoming very aware that as prices increase for the construction of their home, that cost is being passed along to them. And you're also correct, you know, in the construction industry, you know, we work between the 5 and 8 percent margin on all the construction that we do. And so if there's any impact at all on that margin, then, obviously, our profits go down and it makes it less affordable for us to even be able to put homes on the market.

TAPPER: Right. President Trump is known to watch the occasional cable television news show. If you could say something to him right now about the tariffs, what would you say?

MITCHELL: Well, I would say that I understand that what you're trying to do is to be able to even the playing field across the world to be able to make trade more beneficial to the United States citizen, and I get that. At the same time, I really want you to focus on what's going on in the housing industry to make sure that none of those tariffs have an impact on our ability to be able to put affordable homes on the ground. Because right now, that's the biggest issue is housing affordability.

And the biggest issue that we're facing right now that goes along with that is the interest rates that, you know, the consumers are having to pay. If we have an escalation of prices across the board, inflation increases. That means the Fed's not going to cut the rates, and then that means less consumers are going to be able to afford a mortgage. So, the idea here is for us to get interest rates to start coming down, that would bring more people into the market to be able to afford homes because it does come down to a monthly payment for a lot of people, and that's part of the interest rate and their mortgage payment.

TAPPER: Dan Mitchell in the beautiful state of Tennessee, thanks so much for joining us today, sir. I hope you have a great weekend.

MATCHELL: Jake, thanks for having me. I appreciate you.

TAPPER: The new investigation being launched by a Trump ally less than three weeks into her role as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00] TAPPER: Our Law and Justice Lead now, a federal judge today ruled that the Trump administration failed to comply with her order to provide information about how the government is working to facilitate the return of that man at mistakenly deported last month, as they were told to do by the U.S. Supreme Court.

CNN's Paula Reid is here. Paul, explain this ruling. What could happen next? Is there any teeth to it?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, there's something bigger going on here, right, and that is that the Trump administration is resisting judicial oversight. This is separation of powers 101, but they're pushing back on the idea that judges can tell them what to do or restrict the Trump agenda nationwide. And here, we're talking about a lower court that ordered Mr. Abrego Garcia to be returned to the United States. Last night, the Supreme Court could have said, yes, we affirm, or, no, we overturn. Instead, they took this mushy middle road and said that the administration needs to facilitate his return.

Now, the administration is seizing on that ambiguous language and in a very tense hearing today, they could not say where this man is. They would not provide the court with any details about what they are doing to facilitate his return. And the decorum in the courtroom, Jake, it was really unusual. It was clear they weren't showing the judge as much deference as they usually do. So, she gave them some homework. She said she wants daily status reports on what they're doing to facilitate this man's return.

They'll all be back in court on Tuesday, but it's rare that you see a Supreme Court decision where both sides declare complete victory. I think the Supreme Court's ambiguous language here is really an opportunity for the Trump administration to, again, continue to undermine the integrity of the courts.

TAPPER: So, in other deportation news, there was this ruling in Louisiana in the case of Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student detained after anti-Israel protests on campus.

[18:30:07]

So, is that it, he's going to be deported?

REID: It appears that he has been deemed removable. So, that either means that there's a violation of immigration law or a lack of immigration status somehow. But, remember, this case has gone national headlines because his lawyers have pressed for more details on why they're trying to deport him, and what they've gotten is this like two-page memo from the secretary of state just talking about his protest activity.

Now, once again, President Trump, the administration, they're testing the bounds of presidential power. They're using a 1952 act to facilitate this deportation because it gives the secretary of state a lot of power to facilitate these deportations. We're still awaiting some more details out of this hearing, but, yes, at this point it does appear that this is going to move forward and that he has been deemed removable.

I just want to note that over the past ten days, Jake, I mean the Trump administration is racking up a lot of wins in court, some having to do with their efforts to call the size of the federal government, but a lot of this litigation, as they always expected, is around their controversial moves on immigration.

TAPPER: Yes. And just de facto, any administration has a lot of leeway when it comes to people who are in this country who are not citizens.

REID: Yes.

TAPPER: Any administration really basically can kick out anybody for any reason, almost.

REID: As we're seeing.

TAPPER: Yes. All right, Paula, thanks so much.

Also, in our law and justice lead New Jersey Democratic Governor Phil Murphy and his Democratic attorney general are pushing back on the Trump administration's hard line immigration cracked down. They've instructed New Jersey law enforcement to not comply with federal agents. And now, Trump's interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey and former personal attorney, Alina Habba, is going after them. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALINA HABBA, INTERIM U.S. ATTORNEY FOR NEW JERSEY: I want it to be a warning for everybody that I have instructed my office today to open an investigation into Governor Murphy, to open an investigation into Attorney General Platkin, who has also instructed the state police not to assist. Anybody who does get in that way, in the way of what we are doing, which is not political, it is simply against crime, will be charged in the state of New Jersey for obstruction, for concealment, and I will come after them hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig and Republican Strategist Greta Joynes are with us now.

And, Elie, Habba just got this job. She's an acting U.S. attorney investigating a governor. Announcing on primetime Fox that she's investigating a governor is a pretty big first swing at bat. And correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not an attorney, but aren't grand jury investigations and sort of these things usually not announced ahead of time?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Typically you do try to keep a grand jury investigation secret. And, Jake, I think this is a snapshot of what's gone wrong at the Justice Department. Here, you have a person, Alina Habba, who's given an extraordinary position of power as the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, with, let's say, marginal qualification. She's never been a prosecutor. One day before this, she did not exactly cover herself in glory, what she was representing Donald Trump in the civil cases. And then she publicly, on Fox News, announces a criminal investigation of the governor and the attorney general of the state. Why? Because state police is not going to work hand in hand with the feds on immigration issue.

Now, I've been on both sides of this. I was with the state, I was with the Feds. It's great if they decide they want to cooperate, but they don't have to. There is no crime. If one side says, no thanks, we're not going to work with you, we're not going to assist you.

So, I think that shows Alina Habba's lack of prosecutorial instinct and experience, and the way she rolled this out publicly, I think, tells us that this is a political show more than a serious criminal investigation.

TAPPER: So, Greta, Democrats are saying that this shows that President Trump's previously stated disdain for the weaponization of the Justice Department was not really sincere. Take a listen and this is some of what he has said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: This is all weaponization of DOJ and FBI. They raided my house.

The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.

Four long years of corruption, weaponization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, Democrats say, when you look at what Ms. Habba is threatening, not to mention the very controversial dismissal of the prosecution against New York Mayor Eric Adams, and then just Wednesday, he ordered the investigation by the Justice Department of two first administration aides turned critics in terms of Miles Taylor, and then somebody who refused to say that the election was stolen, Chris Krebs. How do you respond to people who say that looks like the weaponization of the Justice Department too?

GRETA JOYNES, FORMER HOUSE AND SENATE LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR: Well, I lived through four years of the Biden administration and I remembered the countless investigations into Republican governors across the country. So, this happens.

I will say this particular case, it's important to recall that Governor Murphy has said that he was actually hiding people with, I believe, questionable legal status in his garage, and also used his own personal security detail to prevent an ICE raid in New Jersey.

[18:35:12]

So, I think the broader concern here is those comments in additions to not wanting to cooperate with ICE, it lends itself to the belief that there is a host of problems with immigration enforcement in New Jersey, and federal law is also applicable there.

TAPPER: Elie, you have a new piece in New York Magazine, which speaks to Trump's threats to imprison critics like Taylor and I don't even know if I'd call Krebs a critic, but he said what he said, you say, quote, notably absent from the orders is any plausible notion that either man might have committed a federal crime. This hardly needs to be said, but it's not a federal crime to be a bad faith actor, or to stoke dissension, or even to be a wise guy, as Trump called Krebs from the Oval Office. What's your take on this?

HONIG: There's no dispute about weaponization. Just read those orders targeting Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor. They're being targeted because they said things Donald Trump did not like. This is an abuse of the attorney general's prosecutorial power. If Pam Bondi was truly independent, she would decline to open investigation because there's no evidence suggesting any of them committed a crime. Being a bad faith actor or a wise guy, to use Trump's terminology, none of that's a federal crime. This should be ignored by any competent A.G.

TAPPER: Do you agree?

JOYNES: I think that we have to wait and see. There's no harm in opening up an investigation and looking at some of these questionable statements and see if they align with where the attorney general believes there have been potential problems in the past.

TAPPER: You don't think there's reputational harm for these two gentlemen considering that there's no evidence they did anything illegal?

JOYNES: Well, I certainly hope that they didn't do anything illegal, but I certainly believe that there is a strong voice at the -- within the Department of Justice who will ultimately be able to determine that for the president.

TAPPER: Thanks to both of you. I appreciate it. Have a good weekend.

A big blow for Democrats as today a fourth U.S. senator announced he will not run for reelection. Democrat -- other departing senators, Democrats are sitting down with CNN's Lauren Fox to explain why they are heading for the exits. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado has announced he is not going to seek reelection because he's going to run for governor of Colorado. News of Bennet's exit comes as three other Senate Democrats are calling it quits. Their exits are exposing a stark reality that deal-making seems near impossible to so many in this hyper partisan Congress.

Here's CNN's Lauren Fox. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): I always reach across the aisle to work in a bipartisan way. But I will say over the, these last few years, it gets harder every single year.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The middle is disappearing?

PETERS: The middle is disappearing.

FOX (voice over): At a moment, Democrats are under pressure to stand up to Donald Trump --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are the times we are in. We need to show greater resistance than what we are showing now.

FOX: A trio of Democratic deal-makers known for their institutional knowledge and quiet work ethic are headed for the exits in the U.S. Senate.

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): The base has gotten to the point where if you work with the other side, that's considered by some to be a negative character trait of what people are doing. And that's a really bad position for us to be in.

FOX: Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Gary Peters of Michigan and Tina Smith of Minnesota may not be household names, but their decision not to seek reelection will make it even harder for Congress to get things done.

All three senators have been instrumental to bipartisan negotiations.

SEN. TINA SMITH (D-MN): I don't honestly have a ton of patience for people who will tell me privately the things that they don't like, but don't speak out about it in, you know, where everyone can hear them. And there -- I'm -- also, I get that they're under huge pressure and I understand that there's even like a sense of fear. But as we say in my office, that's why they pay us the medium bucks.

FOX: But the reemergence of Trump, the polarization of the country and the limited power in the minority have all weighed heavily on them.

PETERS: Unfortunately, in this country, it tends to be the people with the loudest voice, who yell the most aggressively, get the most attention.

FOX: Their departures also come as the Democratic Party is grappling with how to both win back Trump voters and confront him.

SMITH: You cannot look at where we are right now and not conclude that we have big problems in terms of the relationship that we have with voters that we thought were our voters. And they're just not that into us.

FOX: That divide came into sharp focus in March when Democrats voted en masse against a government funding bill that their leader, Chuck Schumer, backed both Shaheen and Peters, joined with Republicans to advance the bill, to keep the government open.

SHAHEEN: You know, one of the things I learned as governor is that you don't have the luxury of saying, I'm not going to work with this person and I'm not going to solve this problem.

FOX: The majority of your caucus did not vote that way though. They voted potentially to shut down the government.

SHAHEEN: Well, I disagree. I don't -- I think they weren't thinking about what the seriousness of the alternative was to have a government shutdown.

FOX: Democrats will need to settle on a unified message as they seek to convince voters to put them back in power.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): If the Democrats can't compete in the Midwest and the Great Plains, then the path back to majority, it's going to be a long time coming,

FOX: But the departing trio also acknowledges there are risks to staying too long.

[18:45:02]

SMITH: I am not burdened with the idea that I'm the only one who can do this, and I actually am energized by the idea of making space for the next great leader to step into the role.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOX (on camera): And of course, Jake, the challenge is that how do you reach those Trump voters that you lost in the last election, while also energizing your base? I mean, that is the challenge for Democrats, and no one really has a cohesive answer here.

In fact, all of them had really different views of how you achieve that. Do you stick to kitchen table issues? Do you fight about health care?

But that is the key question. And that really is going to determine if Democrats can take back the majority in the next election, because the map is tough.

TAPPER: Yeah. Well, Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan and New Hampshire, those are all states that theoretically could elect a Republican to replace those four Democrats.

Thanks so much, Lauren Fox. Appreciate it.

New demands today from the family members of those who were killed in the tragic nightclub roof collapse in the Dominican Republic.

Our teams are on the ground there and we'll go there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Our world lead now: The State Department is now saying that 17 U.S. citizens, 17 were among those killed when that nightclub roof collapsed in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday.

[18:50:00]

CNN's Stefano Pozzebon is on the ground in Santo Domingo with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Jake, what you are witnessing is perhaps the most painful chapter of this terrible tragedy. We are at the morgue in Santo Domingo, the. Institute of Forensic Medicine, where the families, the friends, the relatives of the victims have been called up to continue the process of identifying the bodies before their final deliveries and just by the sheer number of people around me, you can appreciate the scale and the impact of this tragedy where at least 220 people have been killed in that fateful roof collapse on Tuesday morning.

These families here have been waiting, sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, for information, and hopefully to receive what remains of their loved ones in order to conclude their process and be finally able to mourn.

In the meantime, this morning, we also were able to visit the premises again of the night -- the nightclub. And you can feel that that page is now turned. The area is clear from the majority of the debris, and we saw investigators from the attorney general's office and the earthquake authority here in the Dominican Republic getting ready to start their investigations.

Of course, many of the people here want to know what really happened there. And how could this tragedy be allowed to happen? And we will be here to try to tell you when we hear the results of this investigation, Jake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: All right. Stefano, thank you so much.

There is a massively successful car company taking aim at the success of Tesla. But these cars are not sold in the United States. Not yet. Buckle up. We're heading to China.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:19]

TAPPER: In our money lead, if we need an example of one place China has an upper hand in this trade war -- well, look no further than electric cars where a Chinese company sales have now surpassed those of Tesla.

CNN's Marc Stewart takes a look at this electrifying competition.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the streets of Beijing, a fast-moving battle within a much wider trade war. As tit- for-tat tariffs drive the world's two largest economies apart, the U.S. and China are racing for dominance of the global EV sector. Leading that race, Tesla in the U.S., BYD for China, and because of already existing tariffs, BYD isn't even in the U.S. market.

DAN IVES, GLOBAL HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: Look, I mean, this is an arms race that's playing out, and I think the fact that they have been able to be so successful and not be in the U.S. is just that much more impressive.

STEWART: As Tesla slides toward one of its worst quarters in history, BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, has become Elon Musk's nightmare.

What is it that BYD is doing that's really setting it apart?

IVES: The silver bullet of success with BYD has been price, being profitable at lower cost vehicles with massive technology, and they figured out a formula that others were trying to replicate and can't really do it.

STEWART: BYD is comparatively affordable. An entry-level model costs around $10,000 in China, one third the price of the cheapest Tesla.

These cars are basic but comfortable and filled with technology. And unlike Tesla, you can get it in hybrid or full-electric.

When it comes to sales, BYD brought in a reported $107 billion last year, beating Tesla by 10 percent.

IVES: I mean, when those came to the U.S., they've been massive sellers.

STEWART: But, here is the thing. If you want to buy a BYD in the U.S., you won't find a dealership like you can here in China. They have essentially been locked out of the American markets.

Analysts point out that BYD's success is coming as Musk appears distracted in D.C.

BYD founder and CEO, Wang Chuanfu, is also important to his country's own leadership, which has spent billions subsidizing the EV sector.

For Beijing, BYD now serves as an example of how a strong Chinese company with a good product can thrive completely outside the U.S., but it still relies on its home market for some 90 percent of its sales.

Now, BYD must drive beyond China if it's going to put Tesla in the rear-view mirror.

Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Our thanks to Marc Stewart in Beijing for that.

Coming up on Sunday, on the season finale of "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL" the story of Jack Abramoff. Abramoff became known for his influence on the inner workings of D.C. politics and lobbying and legislation. But in the early 2000, it was revealed that Jack Abramoff was involved in conspiracy and fraud and tax evasion.

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: When you look back at Jack Abramoff's world, was it just about greed for him? Was it about power? Was it about attention?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, do I think he is he worst lobbyist that's ever walked the Earth? No. Jack could take your wallet and make you think it was okay. And I don't mean that in a bad way. He was like a chameleon. He could --

TAPPER: But you're really not describing a chameleon. You're really describing a sociopath, though.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, yeah.

TAPPER: I mean that's --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That -- sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: All right. Tune in for "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL", the season finale, Sunday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.

Coming up Sunday morning on "STATE OF THE UNIOn", White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren. That's Sunday morning at 9:00 Eastern and again noon, only here on CNN.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. I'll see you Sunday morning.