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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Police Say, Downtown L.A. Curfew Remains in Effect Tonight; Fears and Questions After Feds Target Omaha Meat Plant; Soon, Trump to Arrive for Les Miserables at Kennedy Center. Andrew Cuomo Endorsed By Former NYC Mayor Bloomberg; Brian Wilson, Co-Founder Of The Beach Boys, Dies At 82. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired June 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 ANCHOR: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.
This hour, Los Angeles officials gave an update just moments ago about the arrests and charges after a fifth day of protests. But as these demonstrations spread across the country, what comes next? We're going to go live to downtown Los Angeles tonight.
Plus, are tensions finally thawing between President Trump and former first buddy Elon Musk? What we're learning today about a call between the two men and a 3:00 A.M. tweet from Musk saying he regrets some of the comments he made about Trump. Does that including -- does that include accusing the president of being in the Epstein files? One wonders.
Also, disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo scoring a big endorsement, yet another endorsement from someone who is once a big Cuomo detractor, as Cuomo tries to complete his political comeback from disgrace.
[18:00:03]
And with the primary less than two weeks away, is Cuomo about to go from frontrunner to the Democratic mayoral nominee?
And our small business series takes us to Vermont and a company that makes accessories for all of your special events and for even your pets. They make their products in the U.S. So why are they still being hit with tariffs?
The Lead Tonight, it's not just Los Angeles protests over President Trump's immigration enforcement policies are happening across the country, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he's ready to replicate the Trump administration's massive military mobilization, two other states.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, just last hour, we learned L.A. officials are ready to track down violent protesters through social media footage. The district attorney also announced new charges against five people who engaged in violence, including one individual who shot fireworks directly at law enforcement officers. But the D.A. added this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATHAN HOCHMAN, LOS ANGELES DISTRICT ATTORNEY: If you only saw the social media and the media reports of what's gone on over the last five days, you would think that Los Angeles is on the verge of war.
99.99 percent of people who live in Los Angeles City or live in Los Angeles County have not committed any illegal acts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: I think that's been pretty clear by CNN's coverage. But let's check in with CNN's Erin Burnett out in Los Angeles. Erin?
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Jake, I would agree that's been very clear from our coverage. But what we're seeing now, and this is, I guess, on the heels, Jake, of the news of the curfew is this is outside the federal building, so you're right outside the detention center here where all of this began. And you've got National Guard troops, so you've got about 30 of them.
We've been calling it a changing of the literal guard, Jake, because they will switch on and off. There's a whole group of them inside that parking garage where police and other official vehicles are, they come in and they come out. We also have DHS, CBP Police here and National Guard. They have been on duty guarding this building.
And as we have seen Jake all the way through, they're on this side, they're on the other side. They are National Guard right now sticking close to this building, although, as we have reported, they have also been present on ICE raids throughout L.A.
Now, I don't know if you could just hear all those cars going by. There are some protesters here, there are cars going by who are cheering them on. There could be the loud music, but it's muted, much more muted than we've seen in recent days. And what happened immediately when that curfew was announced last night, Jake. And we were out here thinking, okay, curfew just got announced. We have, what, 90 minutes. What are people going to do? And people behave. They obeyed it. They did. They went in. And even restaurants, for example, you know, they sort of said, okay, you got to get in and out of here in ten minutes because the curfew's going to hit. So, the curfew continues. And we'll see how it transpires.
But I'll say, Jake, obviously, it's muted. We'd seen it in recent days. I think it's just worth juxtaposing that with the fact that the president of the United States has said that there are 4,000 National Guard on the ground ready to go and 700 Marines. And we had said from our reporting it did not seem that any of that was necessarily, it certainly doesn't feel that way right now. But you do have the National Guard on the ground here as we are heading, you know, still a few hours away from the curfew, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Erin Burnett in Los Angeles, thank you. And you can look for much more of Erin ahead on Erin Burnett OutFront, coming up at 7:00 Eastern right after The Lead only here on CNN.
Joining us now, CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller. John, the ICE X or Twitter account posted photos yesterday showing National Guard troops close by while ICE were arresting people. What did you make of that?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it was remarkable because you see federal law enforcement agents affecting an arrest in the field. But behind them you see two National Guard members with M4 rifles that appear to be loaded doing perimeter security for these agents during the arrest.
So, today NORTHCOMM the command that is handling the 4,700 troops, 4,000 National Guard people and 700 Marines, that are assigned to guard these federal buildings and provide this force protection for agents in the field gave some information to the media today.
And just to clear up one thing, earlier, it was reported by the Associated Press that they were out on operations and that National Guard people were detaining people during some of those operations. It turns out, yes, they are still out on operations and they are providing perimeter security during arrest, but they have not yet detained people on their own yet. What we were told today is that they can. And they will.
So, let's hear from Major General Scott Sherman, who's running this operation for the president and secretary of defense.
[18:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. GEN. SCOTT SHERMAN, U.S. ARMY: On Title 10 on federal orders. These soldiers do not conduct law enforcement operations, that like arrests or search and seizure. They are strictly used for the protection of the federal personnel as they conduct their operations and to protect them, to allow them to do their federal mission.
They're allowed to temporarily detain and wait for law enforcement to come and arrest them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MILLER: So, Jake, that's the rub, which is if they are protecting people doing law enforcement operations, aren't they doing law enforcement operations? And if they can detain people until law enforcement or agents get there, isn't that making effectively an arrest? These are questions that are going to really have to be sorted through by the lawyers and the bosses and the chiefs of police and the mayors.
TAPPER: And, John, there were big protests again in the city where you are, New York. Mayor Eric Adams said New York does not need that kind of federal assistance. Will this be a totally different story in New York if Trump decides to override the wishes of Mayor Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul? MILLER: Well I think what's happening in Los Angeles, and Mayor Karen Bass said this herself, she said, what we are is we're a grand experiment. They're trying to see how far they can push these limits in Los Angeles, and we can expect that to spread across the country. The key difference is New York City has over 30,000 police officers. It's really hard to imagine that they need more to control protests, but they will not accompany ICE agents out on operations that are purely civil immigration matters.
TAPPER: All right. John Miller, thanks so much.
And joining us now here in studio Republican Senator from Montana Tim Sheehy, he's a retired Navy SEAL, he graduated from the Naval Academy. Thanks for being here. I really appreciate it.
So, I'm really interested in your perspective as a veteran what you think of military, members of the military, whether National Guard or those 700 Marines being used in this way. That's obviously not why most people join the military to be doing perimeter operations for ICE agents in major American cities.
SEN. TIM SHEEHY (R-MT): Well, as John Miller just said, he pointed out, you know, that there's going to have to have a lot of lawyers looking at this to ensure the legalese is being followed appropriately. I'm confident that it is. But let's invert the situation.
So, I was involved in a number of operations overseas, Iraq, Afghanistan. There'd be many operations we would have U.S. law enforcement attached to military units.
TAPPER: FBI.
SHEEHY: Yes, in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, that when we were capturing certain terrorist leadership positions, sometimes we didn't want them necessarily to go into the military detention process. We wanted them to be prosecutable, should we have prosecutable evidence.
So, the history of law enforcement in the military working together and exchanging information and using, as you heard, the general refer to Title 10 authorities, this isn't the first time it's been. In fact, as you know, the National Guard's been deployed many times throughout American history.
So, protecting our federal personnel on the ground, protecting federal facilities is well within the legal writ of the National Guard, and it's well within the president and the secretary of defense's authority to do so.
Now, I think in this scenario, though, you know, the outrage over sending 700 Marines and 4,000 Guardsmen to protect a city that has been undergoing tremendous unrest, you know, where was the equivalent outrage when, 10, 15, 20 million, we don't even know how many, illegal immigrants were allowed into this country en masse over the last four years? You know, there wasn't an equivalent pearl clutching from the Democrats and legal think tanks questioning the constitutionality of completely opening the border unfettered and letting all those folks in.
So, you know, solving that problem and digesting millions and millions of undocumented immigrants who are here illegally is going to be a challenge. There's no question about that. There's no easy, clean way to do this. But let's be clear, this problem was created over the last four years, and this administration is trying to solve it.
TAPPER: Well, you could argue that the problem's been created over the last several decades because there hasn't been an update of our immigration laws in accordance with where we are as a nation since 1987, really, and I'll get to that in a second.
But just as a member of the military, do you have -- just on a personal level, do you not have any ambivalence or misgivings about the U.S. military being -- I'm not saying it's illegal. I'm not saying that there's no authority to do this, but just, you know, seeing that National Guardsmen holding an M4 while ICE agents arrest somebody for who knows what, does that not bother you at all?
SHEEHY: No. I mean, listen, every single one of those troops you see on camera, regardless of what color the camouflage uniform is, they've swore an oath to the Constitution of the United States. And in war, whether you're deployed or Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, whether you're deployed to a contingency operation in a non-war zone, like peacekeeping, or whether you're deployed domestically, you have to make incredibly hard decisions.
You know, I think often about those Marines that Abbey Gate at Kabul Airport.
TAPPER: Yes.
[18:10:00]
SHEEHY: While I was trying to evacuate interpreters who get friends of mine, the citizens out of the country, and those 19-year-old Marines in that wall literally had to decide which babies am I going to grab and pull up over the wall and save, and who am I going to leave down there to die? Because those are the decisions, unfortunately, that you have to make when you are sworn in as a member of our military, you are trained and empowered to make life and death decisions. They're not easy decisions. They never are. And I can promise you those troops are in a challenging spot, no question. But, you know, they also know when they're given constitutional legal orders to carry them out and due to the best of their ability.
TAPPER: The Wall Street Journal reports at the White House and Department of Homeland Security are frustrated by the lower than hoped deportation numbers. And they've pushed to, in Stephen Miller's words, Stephen Miller, the top White House aide, just go out there and arrest illegal aliens. Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales was on the show yesterday. He said if you're going down where you're just picking up everyone who's here illegally, one that takes you away from tackling the biggest problem in our country, which in my eyes is the convicted criminal, that makes us all unsafe. There was another Republican David Valadao from California who said something similar, let's focus on the criminals.
Other people who are not hardened criminals are being picked up. I'm sure you see the stories all over the country. There was a raid on -- I mean, there are a lot of undocumented people who are doing work in factories and, yes, they should not be there employed, et cetera, but some of these ICE raids are not of violent criminals. Do you think the priority should be the violent criminals?
SHEEHY: It absolutely should be, and quite frankly, I think it has been. There's no easy way to have a drag net and catch only the fish you want. The reality is when you're targeting a high value fish, oftentimes you're going to catch others that are not necessarily in that core group, but still fall within the rubric of people that you want to be deported.
Obviously, the American people spoke very loudly last year that this was one of the top issues of this election and, frankly, of the last two elections also, that the illegal immigration issue was hugely important. And I think the legal forensics that go on when we talk about trying to address these issues now are oftentimes not equated with legal forensics on the other side, where we say, well, you know, we're so worried about the rights of illegal immigrants who chose to come here illegally.
I don't disagree. Our immigration code is outdated, 100 percent. We need to revisit how we welcome people to this country legally. That's a huge problem. But these people chose to come here illegally and some of them maybe to make a better life, for sure, most of them probably. Some of them didn't. Some of them came here to kill to, to deal drugs, you know, but there hasn't been the focus on the constitutional rights of Laken Riley, and Rachel Morin and Jacqueline Nungaray, who were murdered ruthlessly and dumped on the side of the road like trash. Why aren't we talking about how their rights were depraved from them and their family?
So, I think, you know, this is a moment of reckoning now because the president's promises are being carried out and the nation's watching. And I think most of the nation, roughly 60 percent of Americans are saying, we want deportations to continue. We want this to happen. This is what we voted for.
TAPPER: So, lastly, before you go, we've heard some expressions of reservation from some of your Republican Senate colleagues, Kennedy and Rand Paul specifically, about this military parade that's taking place on Saturday in honor purportedly of the Army's 250th anniversary, although it also, we should note, coincides with President Trump's birthday.
I know you're a Navy guy, but it's going to cost at least $45 million, probably more. What do you think of it?
SHEEHY: Well, I think that means the Navy has to have a $45 million parade too.
TAPPER: Well, that's the fear. And then the Coast Guard gets one and the Air Force gets one. SHEEHY: Go Navy, beat Army, right?
TAPPER: But what about, you know, all these DOGE cuts and like the need to like reduce our deficit and everything? Isn't this unnecessary?
SHEEHY: Well, listen, I mean, the Army's going to decide how they want to celebrate the 250th birthday of the greatest army the world's ever known, you know, and I think it, it's appropriate to honor that service for frankly just concluding our nation's longest war. And, you know, the forensic financial analysis of our budget when we were sending $45 million a week to the Taliban, there was not near as much outrage in pearl clutching from my Democrat colleagues when we were sending that amount of week, every single week, that amount of money to the Taliban.
But now that we're going to celebrate our nation's 250th anniversary for our army, I think it's appropriate and obviously we want to honor our troops and it's going to be a great day.
TAPPER: Just for the record, I was quoting the pearl clutching of Rand Paul and John Kennedy, Republicans, but I appreciate what you're saying.
Republican Senator Tim Sheehy of the great state of Montana, thanks so much for being here. I really appreciate it.
We're continuing to follow the news out of Los Angeles as the city prepares for more potential protests. A curfew for downtown is set to go into effect again tonight in just a few hours.
Plus, Elon Musk regrets he has a few about some of the things he said about Donald Trump. We're going to learn new details about the behind the scenes efforts of allies trying to get the two men to not kiss but make up.
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[18:15:00]
TAPPER: And we're back in our National Lead. Just moments ago, the Los Angeles County Sheriff said his office is investigating whether there is a conspiracy or any sort of organization behind the crimes being committed at nightly protests we've been following in L.A. He said there's some evidence of that, but he did not want to share it.
Let's bring in CNN's Nick Watt in downtown L.A. And, Nick, since these protests started last week, we've seen the crowds start to grow right around this time of day, 3:00 or 4:00 Pacific Time. Are you seeing the same today?
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are Jake. Definitely in the past hour, this crowd has gotten bigger. This crowd has gotten larger. And as you can see, they are right up against the line of National Guardsmen who are defending this federal building. These protesters have been cursing at the National Guard, asking them why they are doing what they're doing, basically suggesting that the National Guard are on the wrong side of the law.
Now, L.A. officials lay down the law earlier. What is acceptable? What is not? Hurling insults, that's okay. Hurling projectiles, that is not okay. Graffitiing insults, not okay.
Now what's been happening out here has been pretty calm, unless A DHS or an ICE convoy is coming in, at which point there are a lot of insults being thrown at that convoy, nothing physical thrown.
And that's what happened at around this time yesterday.
[18:20:01]
It had been peaceful, Jake, and then a couple of water bottles were thrown at the National Guardsmen, and that kicked everything off, ended up with this whole area being evacuated by law enforcement.
Now, law enforcement also stressing today that if you break the law, you will be held to account, and also that they have enough, nearly 18,000 officers here, between the Sheriff's Department and the LAPD, plus other departments around that can help, they don't need the feds. That's what they say. They have got this under control.
And also a lot of people making this clear today, as we have been, these protests are very narrow. Officials estimate about 4,000 people have been protesting and only a fraction of them doing that violently. In a county of 11 million people, that is a small number.
But, yes, definitely a few more people showing up with profanities scrolled across their chests, and there you see one of those convoys coming in, Jake.
TAPPER: Yes. All right --
WATT: Lots of shouting, nothing actually thrown.
TAPPER: Stay safe, Nick. Nick Watt on the ground in L.A., thanks so much.
Although Los Angeles ICE raids have been the focal point of national intention for days, immigration agents are rounding up folks, undocumented folks, in other cities as well. And as CNN's Dianne Gallagher reports the tactics and results of some of those raids are raising questions and raising fear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Intense scenes outside a Nebraska meat packing plant, as protesters throw rocks at government SUVs. Dozens of workers crammed into white buses. A surprise immigration rate at Glenn Valley Meat Packing Plant in South Omaha, as seen on this edited video provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. CNN has not reviewed the raw footage, but this does show a coordinated effort that employees say happen during a morning meeting. ESTEFANIA FAVILA, SUPERVISOR, GLENN VALLEY FOODS: Well, they just came in and said that it was a raid and we had to get everybody out of production, and I just went inside production and told everybody, hey, immigration is here, stop running. So, they just started hiding everywhere and then they found everyone.
GALLAGHER: Scanning faces, checking fingerprints and demanding I.D.
FAVILA: So, they guarded me to my car and I showed them my I.D. and that's when they were putting these bracelets to identify you if you were a U.S. citizen or not. And then they did let me go.
GALLAGHER: ICE telling CNN it was, quote, executing a federal search warrant at Glenn Valley Foods into the large scale employment of aliens without legal work authorization, adding that during the raid, an undocumented man from Honduras, quote, brandished a weapon and assaulted federal agents and officers.
More than 70 people in total were detained. The state's Republican governor issuing a statement supporting federal partners while local officials tried to ease the community's concern.
MAYOR JOHN EWING JR., OMAHA: This does impact our community and it does create fear.
ROGER GARCIA, BOARD OF COMMISIONERS CHAIRMAN, DOUGLAS COUNTY, NEBRASKA: My community is being terrorized by immigration raids at this moment.
GALLAGHER: Douglas County Commissioner Roger Garcia says the human impact is wide-reaching.
GARCIA: It's a tight-knit community here in South Omaha, specifically.
GALLAGHER: Touching even his own family, his wife's aunt is detained.
GARCIA: She's been here for at least a couple decades, if not longer. She's raised family here.
GALLAGHER: Republican Congressman Don Bacon's office says ICE verified that Glenn Valley Foods complied with E-Verify 100 percent and is a victim in this as well.
DHS says this was the largest work site immigration operation in Nebraska under this Trump administration.
The chilling effect of one big raid and rumors of more already being felt in Omaha.
GARCIA: A typical normal day with thriving culture and people is now in fear. And many have closed down shop for now.
GALLAGHER: Dianne Gallagher, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE) TAPPER: Our thanks to Diabne Gallagher for that report.
The company that operates the plant in Omaha released a statement saying in part, quote, we are strongly committed to following all laws and regulations. Our company has continuously utilized E-Verify as part of our hiring process. That's a process to verify that one has legal status before they can be employed. That's what E-Verify is. Our company is not being charged with any crime. We have been 100 percent cooperative and will be transparent with all communications regarding this matter, unquote.
We're standing by for President Trump. He's going to head to a performance at the Kennedy Center to see Les Mis. Multiple cast members reportedly are boycotting his appearance tonight. That's ahead.
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[18:25:00]
TAPPER: Happening now in our Politics Lead, President Trump will soon arrive on the red carpet, although, to be honest, everything at the Kennedy Center has a red carpet, for an opening night fundraiser and performance of Les Mis at the Kennedy Center.
Les Mis, of course, the musical based on the Victor Hugo novel about class and poverty and injustice, people being wrongly imprisoned and on and on.
The renowned cultural epicenter of Washington, D.C., which Trump named himself the chairman of earlier this year, fulfilling a dream he dreamed from the first term to cement his cultural influence. But there could be some empty chairs and empty tables tonight as his attendance is provoking boycotts from the cast and Kennedy Center subscribers.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins and David Chalian are here. They are masters of the house.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Can you hear the people sing?
TAPPER: I'm waiting for you to sing, David. This is the first time Mr. Trump's going to see a performance at the Kennedy Center since he cleared out the leadership there and replaced them with his loyalists.
What does this night mean to him? Why is this so important to him? There they are, by the way, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump leaving the White House on their way to the Kennedy Center, master of the house, as it were, master of the White House.
[18:30:02]
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, this is something we never saw Trump do his first term in office. He never attended a show or performance at the Kennedy Center. He didn't have a lot of interest in kind of, you know, Washington's social life then. And so to see even just this moment now -- let's see if he speaks to reporters.
TAPPER: Let's listen, if we can.
REPORTER: -- military personnel and authorized to leave the Middle East?
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We'll have to see. Thank you.
TAPPER: He's obviously being asked a policy question there, presumably about Los Angeles, and he said something, we'll have to see, or something like that.
COLLINS: Yes, wasn't completely clear what the question was. The reporters were kind of distanced from Trump because of the construction and stuff that they're doing ahead of the military parade on Saturday.
TAPPER: I'm told it was a question about the Middle East. We covered earlier in the show about the evacuations of some U.S. embassies in Iraq and Bahrain and Kuwait.
COLLINS: You can see the president there flipping through some papers.
But what this is, what they're going to, it is a culmination of him taking over the Kennedy Center, appointing himself to chairman, removing the board members and replacing them with his own allies and friends and donors. And tonight actually is a fundraiser. Some people are paying up to $2 million, I believe, to go and attend this first performance tonight. And so this is something we didn't see at all before.
What's interesting is remember when Vice President J.D. Vance went with the second lady, they're already there on the red carpet, but when they went earlier this year in March, they were booed by the audience in attendance.
So, obviously, people will be watching closely to see what the president says when he gets there but really this is something that. We didn't see it all in his first term, and it's just this culmination of his takeover this time.
CHALIAN: And Second Lady Mrs. Vance is one of the new board members of the Kennedy Center, as is Susie Wiles, as is Pam Bondi, the attorney general.
TAPPER: Yes. And we should note that 10 to 12 about of the cast members of Les Mis were told are planning to sit out tonight's show and protest. It's a good thing they have understudies, I guess. Other performance leaders in the year have been scrapped altogether, including the amazing show, Hamilton.
Does Trump, do you think, David have any feelings about this revulsion to his taking over the Kennedy Center by so many people in the artistic community?
CHALIAN: I think he welcomes this as a cultural battle to fight. This -- I think, you know, he made clear when he first showed up to the Kennedy Center and installed Rick Grenell as the head of the Kennedy Center that this was part of the effort to end wokism and get rid of woke. That was sort of how this whole decision was framed.
And so I think when he gets blow back from some artistic corners or other progressives about his taking over the center and now showing up for this performance, I think he sort of welcomes that back and forth. I think it feeds right into the cultural battles he wants to.
TAPPER: It's just a shame because Hamilton's such an amazing show.
CHALIAN: Such an amazing show.
TAPPER: I took my daughter to see it last time. It was just incredible.
Kaitlan, changing gears for one sec. Elon Musk walked back his tirade against President Trump in a late night post on social media. He wrote, I regret some of my posts about President Trump last week. They went too far. Presumably, he didn't go into detail, but presumably he's talking about suggesting that Donald Trump is on the list of notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, although he didn't specify. I would think that probably went a little too far up.
COLLINS: The furthest that he went.
TAPPER: Yes. I mean, also we don't have any evidence that it's true. You have some new reporting today about what's going on behind the scenes.
COLLINS: So, this came out in the middle of the night last night where he said he regretted it. We kind of already --
TAPPER: 3:00 A.M. or something.
COLLINS: Yes, we got an indication that was the case because he deleted several of his post over the weekend. Also --
TAPPER: Oh, well then nobody will ever know that they ever existed.
COLLINS: Yes, deleted, it didn't happen. And then also, you know, posting in support of what was happening in Los Angeles and the efforts by the Trump administration, you could see that kind of, you know, effort by him on his massive social media platform.
What we've now learned and confirm from The New York Times is that Elon Musk called President Trump on Monday night. I was told by White House official it was a very brief call. They only spoke for a few moments. But then you saw Trump today commenting on the Post from overnight saying he thought it was a very nice thing for Elon Musk to do.
It doesn't seem that things have been totally repaired between the two of them. I mean, you can only, you know, go so far when you've accused someone of being in the Epstein files and saying that's why they're blocking the release of them.
TAPPER: Calling someone a pedophile, you really can't walk away from that.
COLLINS: Yes. I've heard White House officials downplaying this today. Obviously, that is something that stands in contrast to that.
TAPPER: It's pretty awful.
COLLINS: And when you talk to people who were kind of trying to broker peace between them as they'd been doing on Friday before he had posted the pedophile thing about the Epstein files. That was something they were trying to do, but thought maybe that was a bridge too far.
I will say in terms of, you know, the reviews of Elon Musk's contracts through the federal government, Karoline Leavitt downplayed that today at the briefing and essentially said it didn't seem to be top priority for them. The Tesla that Trump bought, I was told, was moved from the White House today but it is still under Trump's name. He hasn't sold it or gotten rid of it, but they no longer have it on the White House campus, as they did just a few hours ago.
TAPPER: And, David, I want to ask you because Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, who is not been on the program, as it were, when it comes to President Trump's big, beautiful bill, he says it adds too much to the deficit, he was also critical of the military parade taking place this Saturday, saying that it's the kind of thing you see in North Korea, not America.
[18:35:07]
Apparently, he was upset that there's been some blowback from the White House.
CHALIAN: Well, apparently, he was talking to Man Raju and other reporters on Capitol Hill and went on quite a lengthy tirade, if you will, complaining about what he saw as pettiness for being disinvited just in the last few hours, apparently he got word that he was disinvited from the White House's Congressional picnic tomorrow. He said these are the kinds of things I've been at for ten years here go to the White House every year. He had his young grandson going with him. And he said, now my grandson has been disinvited from the White House because they're playing petty politics.
He also made clear that like he's still a potential yes vote on the bill if they remove the debt ceiling increase from it, that he would be open to voting for the bill. And he said, but they clearly have already counted me out of that calculation because this is what you would do if you were trying to actually woo somebody.
COLLINS: Yes. I mean, White House officials say this is not surprising at all. Rand Paul has been a thorn in their side, as they view it. They have been irritated with what he's been saying about the bill. They don't think he's going to ever get to be a yes vote because they're not getting rid of raising the debt ceiling in this vote or in this bill because they can't, they believe, and so they've been irritated by this. So, their kind of view on this when I talked to some people was why would he be invited to the White House?
TAPPER: Yes. I just have this flashback to ten years ago, the Republican debate that CNN did it and at the Reagan library, and one of the very first things President Trump did, then-Citizen Trump did, was complain that Rand Paul was on the stage. It was like one of the very first things out of his mouth. Not a lot of love lost there.
David Chalian, Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. Don't miss Kaitlan on her show, which is coincidentally called The Source with Kaitlan Collins. Tonight, Kaitlan will talk with the Los Angeles Police chief and the attorney general of California. Wow, that's two big bookings there, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: A lot of news happening.
TAPPER: Nice work. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern, only on CNN.
We're going to go to Vermont now for our Business Leaders series. The CEO says this company is struggling with tariffs despite the fact that they make all of their products here in the United States. He has a plea to make to lawmakers. That's next.
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TAPPER: And we're back with our Business Leaders series where we hear from small business owners from coast-to-coast about President Trump's tariffs. Some are in favor of the tariffs, others are struggling to keep up with the ever-changing trade war.
Our business leader today, Beau Ties Limited in Middlebury, Vermont. It specializes in men's formal accessories, ties, pocket squares, cummerbund, suspenders, even some women's items, such as headbands or scarves.
Owner and CEO Greg Shugar joins us now. Greg, thanks for joining us. So, explain to us how you work with China to create your fabrics, your goods, and what impact the tariffs have had on your business so far.
GREG SUGAR, OWNER AND CEO, BEAU TIES: Hi, thanks for having me, Jake. So, we work directly with our partner in China and in Italy to design our own creations of designs, paisley, stripes, all the stuff that you probably wear, Jake, and we've been with them for over 20 years. We rely on these factories overseas because there are no silk factories in the United States. It makes silk jafford. Silk jafford is the type of silk that you'll be wearing on your ties and that most men wear on their ties. And so we've been working directly with them for over 20 years, and we need them in order to make our ties.
TAPPER: Have you had to raise your prices because of the tariffs?
SHUGAR: So, I kind of got out ahead of it. Early in the year, I ordered extra fabric from our factory, three and a half times as much as I usually do every January, knowing that we were about to face some kind of spike in tariffs. And so I prepared ahead of time. I ordered a lot of fabric and we kind of held firm. We ordered nothing additional in April. The 145 percent tariff made it nearly impossible to do anything and so we just kind of held firm.
And so for now we are not holding prices, but we do have a new order of fabric that's coming in, that's coming in under the new 30 percent tariff, which, by the way, is on top of the previously existing 25 percent tariffs. So, we actually pay 55 percent tariff on all our fabric that comes in from China. And right now, we're paying about 10 percent from Italy, which was at 20 percent, as announced by President Trump on liberation day.
And we don't even know where that's going to go. As you may remember, a couple weeks ago, President Trump mentioned that he might increase tariffs on the European Union to 50 percent. So, we don't really know where that's headed either.
TAPPER: We should note that you also make products for dogs. Are you noticing a change in the behavior of your customers because of the tariffs?
SHUGAR: Not quite yet. We thought we may have seen a little panic buying in early April, but that kind of tiered off quickly. But for now, everything seems to be normal based on last year's performance.
TAPPER: Your senators are Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch. You sent a proposal for legislation to them. You called it the Made in the USA Tariff Exemption. It would provide tariff exemptions for American businesses that manufacture goods in the United States while acknowledging the reliance are on imported inputs.
And, in fact, I mean, if the kind of silk you use is only -- you can't get in the United States, it almost doesn't make sense in terms of manufacturing or at least bringing manufacturing to the U.S. Have you heard back from either Senator Welch or Sanders?
SHUGAR: I haven't, unfortunately. And it really does feel like a very easy bipartisan political win for legislators, because, really, we're trying to protect made in America companies. I think that's the whole policy idea behind tariffs. And so if made in America companies are also getting hit by tariffs, it's sort of defeating the very purpose of it.
I just can't imagine any elected official or really any voter would have any problem exempting factories in the United States who are paying tariffs on fabric and materials that they're importing from overseas, especially when those fabrics and materials aren't even available in the United States.
TAPPER: Were they ever made, were they ever available in the United States?
[18:45:00] SHUGAR: I've been in this business for over 20 years, and the answer is no. But for sure, there were -- there have been made in America factories, but we've all been importing. I mean, the truth is, is that China makes most of the world's silk.
TAPPER: Yeah.
SHUGAR: And so while there are some silk factories in India and other parts, we really do rely heavily on China.
TAPPER: All right. The business one more time is Beau Ties limited? And I should spell that out. It's B-E-A-U, Beau Ties Limited. It's in Middlebury, Vermont. If you want to support them, Google.
Greg Shugar, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
SHUGAR: Thanks for having me, Jake.
TAPPER: And take a look, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, they've just arrived on the red carpet for an opening night fundraiser and performance of Les Mis at the Kennedy Center.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- handing it out to people.
TAPPER: Let's listen in.
TRUMP: You saw what they did to damage. So, if you don't do something about that, there's something very wrong. We are going to have law and order in our country.
Thank you.
TAPPER: President Trump there, law and order in the country. Let's continue to listen in.
REPORTER: It's been reported that some actors may be boycotting.
TAPPER: I couldn't care less. Honestly, I could -- all I do is run the country well, the economic numbers. You saw them today. They're setting records.
We took $88 billion in tariffs in two months far beyond what anybody expected. There's no inflation. People are happy. People are wealthy. The country is getting back to strength again.
That's what I care about. And we're going to have a safe country. We're not going to have what would have happened in Los Angeles.
Remember, if I wasn't there? If I didn't act quickly on that, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground right now.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President, could you provide an update on Iran?
REPORTER: How excited are you for the new era under your great new leadership with Ambassador Grenell?
TRUMP: Well, he's a great guy. Ric is great. He's always done well for me. And the new era right here is going to be something. The bones of this facility are incredible. We're going to make it really great.
REPORTER: Mr. President, is it your favorite show?
TRUMP: Tonight's going to be great.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: A question from Newsmax, give us an update on Iran.
TRUMP: Say it again?
REPORTER: Yes. A question from Newsmax. Could you provide an update on Iran? Were hearing reports that U.S. personnel are being moved out of the region within striking distance.
TRUMP: Well, they are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place. And we'll see what happens. But they are being -- we've given notice to move out. We'll see what happens.
REPORTER: Is there anything that could be done to dial the temperature down in the region?
TRUMP: They can't have a nuclear weapon. Very simple. They can't have a nuclear weapon. We're not going to allow that.
REPORTER: A question on the musical. Have you seen the musical before? And do you identify more with Jean Valjean or Javert?
TRUMP: Oh, that's a tough one. That last part of that question, that's tough. I think you better. You better answer that one, honey. I don't know.
TAPPER: Okay. We are going to take a quick break. As the president contemplates whether or not he identifies more with Jean Valjean or another character in Les Mis.
We'll be right back.
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[18:51:48]
TAPPER: In our politics lead, with just under two weeks away from the primary for New York city mayor and what very well could be the next step in the political comeback of disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Yes, the very same Andrew Cuomo who resigned the governorship in 2021 amid allegations of sexual misconduct, which he now denies. Despite several women making these allegations on the record. The very same Andrew Cuomo, who faces continued questions about his handling of the 2020 COVID pandemic, when more than 12,000 people in New York nursing homes died. He also denies any wrongdoing in that area. Regardless, polls show the very same Andrew Cuomo is the favorite heading into his party, Democratic Party primary.
David Freedlander, covering the race for "New York Magazine".
David, thanks for joining us.
Shockingly, Cuomo was just endorsed by former New York mayor and former Cuomo antagonist and rival Michael Bloomberg. How much of this is just because there are so many people in the Democratic Party are terrified of this very, very far left candidate Mamdani?
DAVID FREEDLANDER, POLITICAL COLUMNIST & FEATURES WRITER, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Well, I think -- I think that's a lot of it. But I mean, you know, to be clear. Like almost everybody in New York politics was Cuomo antagonist at some point. So like, you know, anybody who's endorsed him at one point opposed him. I mean, everybody called for him to resign three years ago, and now he's back.
But no, I think that's exactly right. I think the Mamdani surge has sort of put the fear into a lot of kind of center left and moderate New Yorkers.
TAPPER: Do you think that Andrew Cuomo, known for bullying, known for pretty ugly political tactics, obviously known for sexual harassment and assault allegations against him, known for the nursing home or order fiasco and disaster and tragedy. Do you think that that man has -- is chastened at all, has changed at all?
FREEDLANDER: You know, I mean, he says he is -- you know, he told me that that in his sort of exile, he kind of prayed and meditated and actually wrote his sins down on a piece of paper and, and threw them into the Long Island Sound as a kind of cleansing ritual. I think people that have been around him, you know, in private rooms, see the sort of same old Andrew Cuomo, you know, with the same old tactics that he had before, which is just a kind of ferocious political operator who, you know, one of his aides once said his -- his M.O. was get along or kill. And I think we're seeing that.
TAPPER: I find it hard to believe that he's changed just because his attorneys were going after Charlotte Bennett, the one of the women who accused him, like trying to subpoena her gynecological records. I mean, that's pretty shocking and gross. But given the fact that he does look like he's on track to possibly win the primary, has he said what his agenda is for the city if he wins?
FREEDLANDER: Yeah. I mean, I think he's really focused his campaign on crime and on being the person who can. Now he's just talking about sort of being the person who can stand up to Donald Trump. But I think he's sort of playing that and relating that to the crime issue. But that's really the agenda. I mean, it is about sort of bringing order to the chaos of city streets.
TAPPER: There was a debate a week ago.
[18:55:01]
Cuomo sparred with his chief rival, at least according to polls, State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who -- he's part of a lot of very, very far left groups. I think he started Students for Justice in Palestine when he was in college. He's part of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Tell us more about him.
FREEDLANDER: You know, he's 33 years old. He's only been in the state assembly since 2021. You know, he is a -- he's a remarkably charismatic politician. And he's really kind of like inspired a movement here in New York city unlike anything I've seen in quite some time.
I mean, there are tens of thousands of volunteers that your signs are everywhere. You know, you walk down the street, you see people wearing Zohran T-shirts and carrying bags.
So, you know, he is on the far left, but it's really become a phenom. It's quite something to watch.
TAPPER: All right, David Freedlander, thank you so much. We'll have you back. Great to have you on.
Brian Wilson, legendary artist and leader of the Beach Boys, so talented, he wrote a song that Paul McCartney once called the best song ever written. He died today at age 82. We'll remember Brian Wilson, next.
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TAPPER: In our pop culture lead, one of the most popular and influential composers and musical innovators of his generation, died today. Remember we said --
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TAPPER: Remember we said popular as in "Good Vibrations" popular. Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, tortured genius, dead ed today at age 82. He was the creative force behind the band's harmonizing, layered voices and joyful, bouncy tunes.
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TAPPER: If you're of a certain younger age, just stream the album "Pet Sounds" tonight. "Pet Sounds" inspired the Beatles to make "Sergeant Pepper" in a competitive kind of way. "Wouldn't It Be Nice".
Wilson's life, of course, was not all fun, fun, fun. Wilson overcame drug abuse and battled depression and seclusion. He eventually took part in Beach Boys reunions and tours up through the last decade.
In announcing his death today, his family posted on Instagram, we are at a loss for words right now. We are sharing our grief with the world.
What a gift we had in Brian Wilson from 1942 until 2025. May his memory be a blessing.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now.
