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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Fires Pam Bondi; Soon, Artemis II Leaves Earth's Orbit; Oil Prices Surge After Trump's Speech. Americans Sour On Economy One Year After Trump Unleashes Tariffs; Doctors Studying Long-Term Use Of Beta-Blockers. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 02, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

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[18:00:00]

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

This hour, Pam Bondi is out, fired from her job as U.S. attorney general. Sources say President Trump was upset over her handling of the Epstein files and for failing to successfully prosecute sufficient political opponents of the presidents. And the man now in the role of acting attorney general, Trump's former personal lawyer who defended him in that New York Hush money case. So, what should we expect from the Justice Department now?

Plus, we're nearing the crucial step for the four art astronauts on the Artemis II mission. Tonight, they're going to attempt to leave Earth's orbit and start their journey around the moon. We're going to talk to a former astronaut about what we can expect to see over the next few hours.

Also, oil prices surging again today after President Trump pledged to hit Iran, quote, very hard. The average price of gas is now $4.8 per gallon, regular or unleaded, with some analysts predicting we could hit the $5 mark. Is there a solution in the works? Does the president realize how this is affecting Americans?

The Lead tonight, President Trump has fired his Attorney General Pam Bondi following conversations in recent days with his allies and conversations with Bondi herself, sources tell CNN. The president confirming the news himself on Truth Social calling Bondi a great American patriot and loyal friend, saying that she will transition to a much needed and important job in the private sector, a job he did not specify what it is. However much you want to believe that job currently exists, well, that's up to you.

Sources say Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Bondi's handling of the Epstein files and her failure to successfully prosecute sufficient political enemies of his. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the president's former personal attorney, will now step into the role for the time being. Let's get right to CNN's Kaitlan Collins. She's at the White House. Kaitlan, how do you, what do you know about how the conversation with Attorney General Bondi unfolded?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, Jake, the line of independence between the White House and the Justice Department had been so eroded that the president had been openly telling Pam Bondi who to prosecute.

And while she attempted to follow through on many of those orders from the president and even hung up that banner of his face at the Justice Department right over the entrance where you go in. Even all of that was not enough to save her when the president eventually soured on her and her running of the Justice Department, but also mainly for what you see that she was speaking about right here in this moment on Capitol Hill a few weeks ago, which was the Epstein files and that investigation, and the fallout that not only earned the president criticism from Democrats, but from many Republicans and members of his own base who did not like how they had handled that, from when Pam Bondi brought in about a bunch of right wing influencers here to the White House, distributed binders that they said contained inside information on Jeffrey Epstein but certainly did not. And then now to this moment, obviously the president had soured on her.

And, Jake, that conversation you referenced is one that we are told that Pam Bondi and the president had yesterday where he made clear that her days essentially in that job were going to be numbered and that she wasn't long for this world running the Justice Department. It wasn't quite clear to Pam Bondi in her inner circle how quickly that could happen, Jake. It had been something that had been kind of culminating and percolating ever since January. And at times the president's anger with her and frustration would subside and it would seem that her job was safe.

But it really hit a breaking point this week over that frustration when it comes to not going after enough of his political opponents, but also, Jake, a deadline that is two weeks away, which is a scheduled deposition for Pam Bondi on Capitol Hill for Congress' investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, something that even Republicans voted to subpoena her for, and an appearance that the White House did not want to have to deal with the fallout of again.

TAPPER: Kaitlan, where does the president stand on a potential replacement for Bondi?

[18:05:02]

COLLINS: That's a great question and we don't know. Lee Zeldin, who is the EPA administrator, is one name that has been mentioned, but it is quite telling that the president did not mention Lee Zeldin in his post today confirming that Pam Bondi had been fired as the attorney general.

You'll remember he did similar when Kristi Noem was ousted as the Department of Homeland Security secretary. He quickly announced that it was going to be Senator Markwayne Mullin taking over. We didn't see that here. It doesn't mean that it won't be these Zeldin. It still remains to be seen what that looks like.

But, Jake, one thing, and you'll obviously recall this from covering Trump in round one, he obviously was more inclined to fire people then he has been way less inclined to do so in this term. He has been more risk-averse with those firings. But now, after the Kristi Noem firing and seeing that it didn't generate a lot of backlash for him, the president was much quicker to fire Pam Bondi this time around.

And so that has raised a lot of questions and suspicions inside the West Wing that the president's, you know, concern about firing people and the chaos that it creates doesn't seem to be something that is hindering him or holding him back any longer.

TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thanks so much.

And, of course, don't miss Kaitlan on her show later tonight, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. Her guest tonight includes Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

Joining us now to talk about all of this is Jim Trusty. He's a former attorney for President Trump. Jim, you represented the president. You know him personally. Take us inside his head right now in light of him firing Attorney General Bondi.

JIM TRUSTY, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: Oh, yes. I don't know that I have that kind of magical skill, but I'd focus on a couple of things. I mean, number one, in President Trump's first term in office, he literally had to rely on insiders for advice on who to put in place. I mean, there's just too many appointments to pretend that President Trump's going to personally know and vet everyone he put in office.

I think this round, this administration, he made a very solid decision inside that he really wanted to have people that were going to be loyal to him. That was a very important component because he had, you know, folks running around doing kiss and tell books and stuff at his expense after they were let go. So, I think, you know, that's a driving factor.

I think it's interesting that from all public appearances, at least, there's still affection there. He still seems to -- you know, he is not trashing her on the way out the door, and Bondi is not saying anything to suggest that she's angry at the president. So, I think you have to go back by -- maybe by deduction and say that this is a lot about Epstein, you know, that the Epstein file was absolutely mishandled, the announcements that everything's on my desk, you know, that was unfortunate.

Now, maybe she's got a little bit of a defense, which is maybe a whole bunch of these 3 million documents were sitting in New York without her knowing it. And if that's the case, head should have rolled. But the bottom line is that wasn't handled on kind of the level of smoothness and professionalism that any president's going to want from his A.G. TAPPER: Our White House reporters are also reporting that President Trump is frustrated that Bondi hasn't been more successful in prosecuting the president's perceived enemies. For example, the Justice Department did indict former FBI Director Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, but both cases were eventually tossed out. Do you think that the problem here was Bondi or maybe the problem was just the weakness of the cases?

TRUSTY: Yes. I mean, look, you know, first of all, the attorney general doesn't try the cases themselves, right? So, it's not like she's going in court and, you know, fumbling in front of a jury. I think each of those cases had similar issues. I do think Comey is a thoroughly unsympathetic character in terms of the stuff he did. And James, basically, they were, you know, duplicating kind of a chicken scratch, I'll be nice for family television, type of fraud case, like the one she brought against him. I get that.

And so I'm sure the president's frustrated because he saw a very weaponized DOJ and feels like, hey, these people were villains that deserve their comeuppance and maybe they don't get it by criminal cases out of the Eastern District of Virginia out of D.C.

John Bolton, on the other hand, by all accounts, you read the search warrant affidavit, read the indictment, that looks like a righteous case against a very verbal enemy of President Trump.

So, you know, criminal justice, you can't just create evidence, you can't create the statutes. You've got to have people that dig hard, come up with good evidence, and either the case come together or they don't.

TAPPER: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, another former personal attorney of the presidency, he's stepping in to be acting attorney general. Sources say the president's also floating the idea of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin as a potential replacement. He's a former New York congressman. Who do you think should be the next U.S. attorney general?

TRUSTY: Yes, good question, and I don't have any inside track on it. Look, I'll give you one explanation of why I think Todd Blanche is probably a pretty solid pick. I'm old. I was a prosecutor for 27 years. So, I tend to be biased towards experience. I like the thought of somebody guiding that big aircraft carrier full of thousands of lawyers that's kind of been in the trenches, that's tried cases, that knows the federal practice, you know, knows really how you put together cases and including not just criminal cases, but civil and espionage-type matters.

[18:10:12]

So, I like the idea of some experience and Todd certainly has that, and he's had a year on the job as the deputy attorney general.

But at the same time, you know, the president has the right to pick whoever they want. It is a political appointment. You've had folks like Eric Holder, say, I'm the wingman to the president. You had one president pick his brother to be attorney general. So, if there's a comfort level in terms of judgment and loyalty with someone like Zeldin, then that's going to be the pick. Again, you know, I don't know that we're even on the right universe. It could be somebody totally out of left field compared to those two names, but I think there's probably benefits for each one of them.

TAPPER: Jim Trusty, thanks so much, I appreciate it.

Much more on reaction to Pam Bondi's firing in moments including whether she will still have to testify for the House Oversight Committee, despite being ousted from the role. Democrats and at least one Republican are insisting that subpoena still stands. But does it?

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[18:20:00]

TAPPER: We're back with the breaking news in the Politics Lead. Pam Bondi out as President Trump's attorney general, following months of building frustration over her handling of the Epstein files and her failure to successfully prosecute more of his political enemies.

Let's bring in CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez and Lanny Davis, the author of the forthcoming book, finding The Third Way, Lessons in the Politics of Civility From My Journey Through History.

What is this civility you speak of? Is it -- it sounds --

LANNY DAVIS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: It's an ancient --

TAPPER: It's a word I've heard before.

Evan --

DAVIS: It doesn't live here anymore.

TAPPER: Evan, what are you learning about the reaction to this s news, the firing a Bondi inside the DOJ?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I think inside the department, one of the things you hear from people is, finally. I mean, they've been expecting this and we thought she might not survive, you know, last summer when there was a crescendo of criticism, from people like Laura Loomer and so on, over the handling of the Epstein files. So, there has been some expectation that the attorney general was not going to be long for that job.

But, you know, I think there is still a little bit of the idea that the president finally pulled a plug. And the fact that he didn't have anyone already named, you know, the way he did it, which is essentially firing her and not having anybody waiting in the wings, not doing it in a more sort of polite way, I guess.

TAPPER: Interesting. And, Lanny, Bondi's meant to have a deposition still on April 14th for the House Oversight Committee and their investigation into the Epstein files. The ranking Democrat on that committee, Robert Garcia of California, spoke to CNN about that. Take a listen.

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REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): Well, she has to comply with the subpoena. I mean, after that appearance and from a couple weeks ago, Chairman Comer reaffirmed the subpoena was still in place. It's legal. It was voted in a bipartisan way, all Democrats, a handful of Republicans. And that subpoena, by the way, is very clear that Pam Bondi is to appear in front of our committee in just under two weeks whether she's attorney general or not. The subpoena is for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Do you think that's going to stick? Is there any way that because she's fired that that won't happen?

DAVIS: Yes, I think it will stick. Look, when she did appear before the committee, there was a firing offense. I never thought I'd say this, certainly not on CNN that I agree with President Trump, those words sound unusual coming from me, that she deserved to be fired, but not for the reason of not prosecuting his enemies. But she had victims of Jeffrey Epstein standing behind her, and she wouldn't even turn around and nod her head. So, it was about Epstein. But Donald Trump should have fired her for that, not for wrongfully prosecuting, or failing to prosecute his enemies.

TAPPER: And, Lanny, part of Trump's frustration was reportedly because of her failure to fully execute his wishes to vanquish so many of these political enemies with the legal system. That's been a frustration of his for quite some time. Remember that tweet or Truth Social posts that he did that, you know, it's been reported that he thought he was sending her a private message and instead it was public.

Do you think that the next attorney general will take up this mission and try to be more successful? I mean, that's not what you want, but do you think they will?

DAVIS: Well, I think Todd Blanche is an experienced prosecutor. He's very smart. And I have some respect for him. I disagreed with what he did with Ghislaine Maxwell. I think he did that under the orders of the president. But I do have some respect for him as an attorney and as an experienced prosecutor.

He knows that he can't bring indictments where the facts don't justify it. You can indict a ham sandwich. I think that's been seen by the failure of Mr. Trump to get indictments against political enemies. So, I think Mr. Blanche is an experienced prosecutor, might just say to President Trump, we can't bring an indictment when we don't have the facts. So, that just may be my best hope for him.

TAPPER: In addition to Blanche as a possible replacement, there's a floating of the name of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, a former Republican member of Congress. How are people inside DOJ reacting to that, those two?

PEREZ: I mean, he's not -- he's certainly not a known character inside the department. But the thing is, Jake, I think everyone is looking at this and thinking, you know, the fact that Bondi was so willing to do everything the president wanted. I mean, obviously, there are certain things that she cannot be blamed for, for example, the inability to get a jury to convict her on certain things. And so the idea that even she ended up this way, right, with an ignominious exit, really doesn't bode well for whoever next has this job.

And so Lee Zeldin is one of the names.

[18:20:01]

Jeanine Pirro is another name that has been floated. Again, some of this has been floating around since January when we thought Trump might do this. And so, you know, Trey Gowdy is another name that has been floated. We don't know which of these people the president really will settle on, but the thing is the facts won't change. Some of these cases are just not very good cases. And so I'm not sure that he's going to get a better result.

TAPPER: When the president showed Kristi Noem the door, he had a replacement waiting in the wings. Markwayne Mullen, the senator, now secretary, and he had a job, whatever the position is, I'm still not even quite certain, lined up for her to stay in the administration. None of that right for Bondi, no replacement, that he's ready to nominate and announce at the same time. No gig for her. He said she's going to go in the private sector, an important job to be named later, which suggests to a lot of people --

PEREZ: It doesn't exist.

TAPPER: Yes, that she does not have a job. What do you make of that pretty ignominious way out the door?

DAVIS: My guess is that the adverse telephone calls he's getting from friends and associates about Bondi is not about the failure to get prosecutions when the facts aren't there. My guess is that moment, and I go back to that moment where the victims of Jeffrey Epstein in MAGA and Trump land, as well as in my world, and she wouldn't even turn around and nod her head at them. He must have gotten a load of criticism from MAGA world who thought the Epstein case was very important to expose, as well as from social friends. Her behavior was so low not to do that, that I think that is the ultimate reason, not that it offended Mr. Trump because he should have fired her right then, but I think the feedback he got for that moment in time, even from members of the committee were too much for him to accept.

TAPPER: All right. Lanny Davis, Evan Perez, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

As President Trump demands allies do more to help free the Strait of Hormuz from the clutch of Iran. I'm going to be joined next by a lawmaker from the state that has the highest gas prices in the country. He's going to tell us his thoughts on how long these high prices could last.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten, nine, eight, seven, RS-25 engines lit, four, three, two, one, booster ignition and lift off. Artemis II now bound for the moon, humanity's next great --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Houston Integrity, good roll pitch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Those are the sight and sounds, of course, from NASA's historic launch of Artemis II yesterday. There's still so much more to come on this high-stakes space mission. The four astronauts on board the Orion capsule are expected to head toward the moon this evening. One of their major goals, travel 4,600 miles of beyond the far side of the moon, that would be the furthest than any human has ventured in space before. And while that in itself is mindboggling, we're also curious about what life looks inside the Orion capsule.

CNN's Tom Foreman shows us now everything that is packed inside the crew's new home in space.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is life like for the Orion crew right now? Well, I can tell you it is busy and it's really interesting.

Let's get rid of the service module for a moment here, although it will stay with the crew capsule for almost the entire mission. I just want to talk about the crew capsule now though, and give you a sense of what they're dealing with.

First of all, this is a big capsule, 23,000 pounds at liftoff, more than 11 feet tall, 16 feet wide. So, that's big. And the interior is bigger than anything NASA has put up in the space since the space shuttle. But this is all a relative thing. If you were to come inside here, you would say, well, they have a lot to get in here too. All four people have to live here. They have to have places to be strapped in or sit. They have communications equipment, they have control equipment, they have emergency supplies, medical supplies, food, water, waste facilities, exercise equipment, even some things for entertainment. So, yes, it's a lot to get into this space, as spacious as it is.

If you look at this NASA video, you can get a sense of what it would really be like inside. Although I should point out you're not stuck to one space. Remember, in microgravity, they can use all of this space to do what they want to do. Still, it's four people in this space for ten days. That's not a whole lot of room, and they have to all work in concert to make it work properly, and interestingly enough, that includes sleeping at the same time. Yes, that's right. At the same time, they will all strap in for the night, close their eyes, and they will sleep and dream as they drift through the cosmos from the Earth all the way up to this historic return to the moon.

TAPPER: All right, our thanks to Tom Foreman for that piece.

Let's bring in former NASA Astronaut and International Space Station Commander Leroy Chiao, who's also the author of a new book coming out in June. It's called Dinner With an Astronaut.

Leroy, the next big milestone we're expecting in about an hour is the translunar injection burn, or TLI, which will propel the astronauts toward the moon. Tell us why this step is so crucial.

LEROY CHIAO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Sure. So, they've been orbiting the earth in a high elliptical orbit since launch last night, and checking out the spacecraft flight controllers, engineers, checking out the spacecraft, the upper stage, everything, making sure it's all good. And if everything stays good, then around 1:00 A.M. or so tonight, they will do the TLI burn, the translunar injection. The upper stage will light its engine and it will propel the spacecraft out of Earth orbit towards the moon.

And the trajectory they've designed for this is called a free return trajectory. So, it's going to go towards the moon, loop around and then use the moon's own gravity to swing it back around towards the Earth.

[18:30:08]

So, they're not going to actually orbit the moon, but they're going to make a pass around and then come back to Earth.

TAPPER: So, you've been on forest space missions. What are your thoughts about the food that the Artemis II crew gets to have on their ten-day journey? There's more than ten drinks they can choose from, including a mango peach smoothie, apple cider, lemonade. To eat, there's vegetable quiche, tortillas, couscous with nuts, barbecue beef brisket, five different hot sauces. Did you have anything like this? What? What did space food taste like when you were there?

CHIAO: Oh, sure. You know, space food is okay. It's pretty good. I have to give kudos to the folks in the food lab on both sides of the Atlantic, both in Houston and out in Moscow and Star City. They've done a really well -- a really good job of making things that, you know, basically don't need refrigeration and tastes pretty good. We'd have a lot of freeze dried items. We have some canned items and we use a lot of items on the U.S. side from the military, the meals ready to eat, or the MREs. They come off the same assembly line. They come off in that same olive drab, you know, green color packaging that the military gets. And they're okay. It's not bad. You can live on it for a while, but nothing like the food here on Earth.

TAPPER: What you're looking at on the screen out there, I'm talking to my viewers now is live images and it's the Orion moving ever so slightly on NASA's feed. The astronauts are working out right now, we're told. They're expected to do that for at least 30 minutes a day. Why is it important for astronauts to exercise like that every day and how are they physically able to do it?

CHIAO: Sure. On a short ten-day flight, like these folks are on, it is still important to exercise. It's not as critical as if you're on a six and a half month flight or something like that. During space station stays, crews are scheduled for two hours a day of exercise. It's critically important for your bones, your muscles, your cardiovascular system, everything.

So, we split our time doing aerobic exercises, as you would expect, like running on a treadmill with a harness holding you down on the track or on the exercise bike. And then we have resistance exercise devices that mimic weightlifting so that we can keep our bones and muscles in shape. It's actually very effective.

And so it's difficult in a limited space, like these folks have, four of them, in a relatively small spacecraft, but, you know, NASA's been pretty good about making compact exercise devices. They're probably using some evolved devices from our space shuttle days, and I'm sure they'll stay in good shape for their ten-day flight.

TAPPER: If the astronauts get to fly by the far side of the moon, which is anticipated it's going to happen on the sixth day of the mission next week, the information they gather we're told could help determine future landing sites for the next Artemis mission on the surface of the moon. But how do you even begin to identify what's a good place to land on the moon and what's not?

CHIAO: Well, I imagine they'll probably be taking some photographs, that you're going to have cameras that are be automatic probably as well, and just looking for good landing sites on the moon. You want an area that doesn't have a lot of boulders in it. You'll remember Neil Armstrong famously had to take manual control on the first landing because they were heading straight for a big boulder, and he steered the lander away from it and did a manual landing.

So, you know, it is not without its risks or without its requirements for skill, but every bit of data that we can get is a little bit more risk we can buy down.

TAPPER: All right. Leroy Chiao, thanks so much, I appreciate it, as always.

President Trump is laying out yet another timeline for a possible end to the war with Iran. That's next.

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[18:35:00]

TAPPER: Our World Lead now, President Trump says the U.S. could end its military campaign against Iran in the next two to three weeks. For those keeping score, we're already nearing the six week of his initial four to six week timeline. So, keep that extended timeline in mind while also noting the thousands of U.S. troops and service members have been sent to the region in potential preparation for a possible ground incursion.

Joining us down to discuss, Democratic Congressman Adam Smith from Washington State, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, did you hear anything in the president's address last night that makes you think that this conflict will actually end in the next two to three weeks?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Well, not really. I mean, what all I heard that was confirmed is that it's going to continue for another two or three weeks. The president didn't say what the conditions were that would lead him to end it at that point. And I think that's the biggest gap right now.

For all of the tactical successes that we've had in terms of destroying missiles, destroying launchers, industrial capacity, on the major strategic objectives of ending their nuclear program, ending their ballistic missile program, fundamentally getting Iran to change their behavior, really no progress has been made on that and it's hard to see how another two or three weeks of bombing would increase that, would make Iran more likely to fundamentally change on those issues. So, it's hard to see what the plan is to force them to make those changes.

TAPPER: Do the military achievements that the U.S. military has made so far, will -- if President Trump in two or three weeks says, I think we've we're done with what we said we're going to be set out to do, which specifically are destroy the Iranian air force, destroy the Iranian navy, destroy their missiles, and destroy their ability to build more missiles, is it possible that those four tasks, goals could be accomplished in the next two to three weeks?

SMITH: Not the last one, not their ability to basically build anything more, build more drones, build more missiles. And I don't think it's really possible from the briefs that I've received to completely eliminate Iran's military capacity or certainly their capacity to support terrorist organizations in the region.

So, it was always the underlying premise that we would hit Iran so hard that they would cave, that we would break them and they would acquiesce and they would agree to some deal to completely suspend their nuclear program and all those other things on the list.

[18:40:06]

And if anything, since the war started, the Iranian regime seems to have hardened their position in the first place.

Then the two other big factors about this is the cost of this war. Certainly, there's the 13 service members who we've already lost, the hundreds who have been injured, a couple thousand civilians killed, but the impact on the economy. I mean, and it's not just us. Certainly, we've seen a dollar a gallon increase in the price of gas and a severe impact on our stock market and our economy. But, globally, you've seen the stories, there's people in Pakistan and Bangladesh getting killed over the gas shortages. We have devastated the global economy. So, there's the cost factor of it.

And there's also the fact that now Iran has choked off the Strait of Hormuz, which they hadn't done before the start of this war. It's like we've made them aware of a central chokepoint that they have on us, and the president has no plan to fix that problem.

So, yes, I mean, we could have achieved most of those objectives, but not the ones that would've even begun to have made those costs worth it.

TAPPER: Democratic Congressman Adam Smith from Washington State, thank you, sir. Good to see you. I appreciate it.

It's been one year since President Trump declared Liberation Day and instituted his sweeping tariffs. Are the American people feeling the liberation? Our panel weighs in next.

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[18:45:07]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Our politics lead now, today marks one year since President Trump unleashed those reciprocal tariffs across the globe, or as he called it, the liberation day. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled in a 6-3 decision that Trump's signature tariffs were illegal, unconstitutional.

Democrats marked this day by sharing this highlight reel of promises made by the Trump administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These tariffs are going to give us growth like you haven't seen before, and it'll be something very special to watch.

STEVE MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR POLICY: So, you're actually going to see prices go down.

PETER NAVARRO, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's going to be a golden age.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president is focused every single day on lowering the cost of living in this country, while simultaneously implementing these very effective tariffs.

TRUMP: The markets are going to boom. The stock is going to boom. The country is going to boom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Boom.

My panel joins me now.

Brad, the economy is booming?

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the stock markets up 32 percent. The Nasdaq is since -- that day, since before he imposed the tariffs. The trade deficit with China is down about 25 percent. So, both those things are as President Trump said, you know, I was on TV here that day wearing a bowtie, saying, today is the day to buy stocks. And in fact, it was a good day to buy stocks.

This is a new adjustment. We didn't get into this situation overnight, and its going to take a little while to get it right.

TAPPER: So, of course, the stock market, which you're happy about, I'm happy about and you're probably happy about are not -- this is not the same thing as the daily economy as I don't need to tell you.

ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS: No, you're absolutely right. And that is really the concern is what are the American people experiencing? I will say this Democrats haven't been winning, flipping 28 seats, winning statehouses from New Jersey to Virginia on this issue of affordability if it were not for Donald Trump's disastrous tariff policies.

That's actually what I would consider an economic self-sabotage, I think is going to cost the Republican the midterm elections. He promised he was going to lower prices. Prices are spiking. He promised that, you know, on day one, we're going to, you know, lower grocery prices. That still hasn't yet happened. Now, we have gas prices going up.

So, this is really an economic failure on the part of the president that is his greatest vulnerability going into this next election.

TAPPER: Are you not concerned at all?

TODD: Of course, I am. But the thing I'm most happy about is that, finally, Democrats have acknowledged that when you raise taxes on corporations, they'll pass them down to their customers.

You know, when we had the tax cut in 2017, Democrats acted like cutting taxes for corporations was a terrible idea. But now we know higher taxes on companies increase prices on consumers. Great. Let's all cut taxes together.

TAPPER: You're saying that a tariff is a tax?

TODD: Well, it is a tax on a foreign corporation.

TAPPER: It's a tax on someone.

So let me ask you because. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called liberation day, quote, a complete and total failure when we have seen a lot of bad numbers from President Trump and those election wins that you just mentioned. But the numbers aren't great for Democrats either.

As you know, CNN did a poll, only 25 percent of voters feel congressional Democrats have the right priorities. That's slightly lower than president Trump's 32 percent. The numbers can't really get much lower for Democrats at this point. Why do you think Democrats are not capitalizing, at least in the poll numbers, in those 28 elections, I take your point, at least in the poll numbers, in terms of confidence for Democrats.

ETIENNE: Well, I think they have to offer an affirmative agenda. They have to offer a vision for the nation that contrasts with where Donald Trump is. If you -- you know, if we go back to the tariffs, we've lost 150,000 manufacturing jobs. You know, we're bailing out farmers to the tune of $12 billion. Again, our second time doing this.

The American people are really feeling the pain right now. And there's no sign we're going to get out of it any time soon. And I think it is a failure on the part of the Democratic Party that they've not yet rolled out a proactive agenda.

When I was running the opposition for Speaker Pelosi, by this point, we had, launched a proactive agenda jobs, health care and corruption that transformed the polling numbers.

Soon after, we launched that proactive agenda started running over it. Going into the summer, we were up by double digits against Republicans. So, I think that is where the gap is right now, as Democrats have not laid out for the American people, who we are, what were for, and why it matters in their lives.

TAPPER: Can I give you a theory? I talked to a Democratic lawmaker the other day who said the voters are angry. They hate everybody. And so, if you're an incumbent Democrat governor, it's not great for you. And if you're incumbent Republican member of Congress, not great for you.

Democrats could do well, but only because they're not running anything right now. What do you think of that theory?

TODD: I think that the voters don't like chaos, and they see Democrats as providing cultural chaos. They think Democrats are way too far out of the mainstream on cultural issues. They also sometimes think Donald Trump causes chaos. And I think it's a lesson.

TAPPER: The devil you say. I think it's devil.

TODD: I think it's a lesson for the administration that if they just lock in on a few things and do the same things every day that are popular.

[18:50:06]

A lot of what Donald Trump's policies are -- have been popular. That shift will -- focus will shift back to Democrats who have not moderated one bit since the 2024 election.

TAPPER: So last night, Trump tried to boost support for the war. But before his address to the nation, he said this during an Easter event at the White House. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I said to Russell, don't send any money for daycare because the United States can't take care of daycare. That has to be up to a state. We can't take care of daycare.

We're a big country. We got 50 states. We have all these other people. We're fighting wars. It's not possible for us to take care of daycare -- Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. They can do it on a state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It's like Hakeem Jeffries was providing the teleprompter there, like, honestly.

ETIENNE: The talking points, right?

TAPPER: I mean, I saw the Democrats immediately, Brad, immediately take that clip. You know, we're a big country. We have 50 states, we're fighting wars. It's not possible for -- that's not -- talking about the message you want the president to be delivering. That's not it.

TODD: That's not in the three things I said you should talk about every day.

TAPPER: We're fighting wars. We can't pay for daycare, Medicaid or Medicare.

TODD: Yeah, well, we have to fight the war to keep America safe. That's the job of the government.

TAPPER: I'm just talking about the message.

TODD: But it's -- we'll see that again for sure in advertisements from Democrats this year. Lucky for Republicans, we don't have to be perfect. We just have to be better than Democrats. And that's a pretty low bar right now.

ETIENNE: But, Jake, here's the real reality. Theres now a debate on Capitol Hill among Republicans about cutting health care for the American people to pay for this war. This $200 billion price tag on this. You know, self-imposed war that we're in right now.

So, this is only going to get worse. They have no ideas about how to transform -- transform the economy. They have no ideas how to lower costs. You know, again, you've got gas prices skyrocketing. So, this is really a downward trend for the Republican Party. And I don't see any way they can get out of it. They're only making matters worse. And the benefit for Democratic Party is our best organizer. Best fundraiser is a Donald Trump.

TAPPER: Donald Trump. You're about to say Barack Obama.

ETIENNE: I was, yes. TAPPER: So, I'll just say this. President Trump had a very strong

message. We have to stop spending money on foreign wars so we can invest in home. And he just delivered the exact opposite message. I don't think you'll disagree.

Brad Todd, Adrianne --

ETIENNE: You're about to say Barack Obama?

TAPPER: Ashley Etienne. You're confusing me with Barack Obama stuff. You're bringing me back to 2009, having flashbacks.

Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

After a heart attack, survivors are often told they need to take beta blockers for life. But now doctors are reevaluating if that's really necessary.

And CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here next to explain why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:56:45]

TAPPER: In our health lead, for decades, surviving a heart attack meant a lifelong prescription of beta blockers, lifelong. It's a medication that lowers blood pressure and slows heart rates, reducing the risk of another heart attack. But a new study in "The New England Journal of Medicine" is forcing doctors to take a closer look at whether long term use of this medication is really necessary.

Let's bring in Dr. Sanjay Gupta, paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, how big a deal is this new study?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, I got to tell you, in the world of medicine and particularly cardiology, this is a pretty big deal. This is a very large drug class. Most people have heard of beta blockers.

About 10 percent of the adults in the United States take beta blockers, one in 10 people. So, a lot of people paying attention to this.

First of all, just the background here, someone has had a heart attack. They have this stress on their heart as a result of that, certain heart tissue has died. They use beta blockers to try and alleviate that stress, lower the blood pressure, slow down the heart rate. That's been the thinking as to why beta blockers are beneficial after heart attacks.

Lower the stress on the heart. Maybe prevent a second heart attack. That's been the thinking for decades, but that's what's changing here.

Part of the reason it's changing, Jake, is because there's been all these advances in medicine since that time. You can -- you can do an angioplasty and restore blood flow to the heart. You can use blood thinners, medications like statins. All these things have made it more likely that even in someone who's had a heart attack, they don't have that much damage to their heart. Their heart function is relatively stable.

So, here's the study. Let me just show you the study results that people are talking about. People on beta blockers, people not on beta blockers. Three years later, and they found there wasn't a big difference in terms of the need for hospitalization. So, the idea that a significant percentage of people may not need beta blockers as a result of this study, that's what people are really talking about here.

How many people? Well, out of out of everyone who potentially would go on a beta blocker after a heart attack, what they're really trying to figure out is what is their heart function right after their heart attack. How much of a hit did their heart actually take?

And what they're finding about half of people in today's day and age after a heart attack still have pretty good heart function, meaning most of the blood is actually being pumped out from their heart. Their heart is strong enough to pump that blood out in a way that is pretty normal. Again, pretty big deal. Jake, one of the largest drug classes in the country.

And keep in mind as well, there are side effects to these medications. Beta blockers slow down your heart. They lower your blood pressure. As a result, there's not enough as much blood flow to your hands and your feet. You can get cold hands and feet. People get sometimes very tired using these beta blockers -- weight gain, dizziness, feel lightheaded, taking beta blockers because it may drop your blood pressure.

And also, there's a cost associated with this. It's not an expensive drug, Jake. About 20 bucks a month on average. But for many people up until now, they were taking these medications and then staying on them for their whole life. And obviously, that can add up -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

And Sanjay is going to take your questions on this topic. Scan the QR code on your screen right now. See it right there? See it? Scan it, put up your phone, scan it, and you can submit a question if you scan.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to be back tomorrow to answer some of your viewer questions. The good ones, not the bad ones.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now.